As a journalist at Computerworld Australia:
The number of jobs advertised online has risen by a massive 35.76 percent in the past 12 months, according to the Olivier Internet Job Index (IJI), released last week. Along with reflecting the state of the job market, the results reveal that the Internet is fast becoming the preferred medium for employers advertising job vacancies.
The Olivier IJI was established in January 2000, and analyses jobs advertised on Seek, CareerOne and MyCareer, across 21 sectors including trades and services, engineering and mining, and IT&T.
IT&T job advertisements in August 2006 rose 1.17 percent from July and 39.5 percent over the past 12 months. The 24,449 IT&T job ads also revealed a 1.63 percent increase in networks, communications and security roles, 2.36 percent in database development and administration, 4.44 percent in Internet graphics and multimedia, 8.87 percent in instruction and training, and 11.16 percent in hardware engineering systems.
"The overall message is that despite the interest rate rises and despite oil prices, the job market is still very strong," said director of the Olivier Group, Robert Olivier.
But it's not only the employment market that is driving the increasing Olivier IJI. "IT recruitment firms and direct employers are using job boards more," Olivier said.
A survey conducted by the Olivier Group in July 2006 found that 40 percent of online job advertisements were posted by direct employers, rather than recruitment agencies. This is a significant increase from the 5 percent recorded in 2002.
"It's a tough employment market; it's still very hard to find skilled people," Olivier said. "So even though job boards put their prices up, employers will continue to advertise online, because there's where the candidates are.
"Particularly in IT, the Internet's the first place people look for a job. You're going to get more choice online - you can look at job boards all around the world. The trouble is that there are so many jobs, it can sometimes be a bit of a minefield.
"From the employer's perspective, advertising online is a darn sight cheaper than in print."
Olivier said that although the popularity of online job boards is taking advertising revenue from print advertising, newspapers will continue to be of some use to employers. Due to the demographic of senior candidates, he said, advertisements for senior level positions tend to remain in print.
