IT employers overlook Australian graduates

According to a report by the Grattan Institute, the percentage of recent Australian IT graduates who have secured full-time employment is at its lowest since 1982.

While there is no shortage of jobs available in the field, the ‘Mapping Australian higher education 2016’ report cites “weaknesses in IT university education” and “competition from a globalised IT labour force” as factors that are hampering the efforts of new graduates in finding a job. Further, in 2014, only 64% of those who had managed to find full-time employment had secured a job that matched their qualifications. Graduates who lack skills in customer service, relationship management and contract negotiation are at a particular disadvantage.

The research also suggests that Australian employers are not satisfied with the overall quality of IT graduates. With strong competition in the global labour market, large numbers of IT professionals are now being employed from overseas. In 2015, 30% of IT staff had qualifications from other countries.

Despite the fact that IT has the largest labour market of any of the STEM fields, the report asserts that Australian universities are not supplying graduates with the requisite skills for this industry. It states that “universities could do more to prepare their students for the labour market — something they accept in STEM, and generally”.

Businesses in Australia that face a skills shortage can also hire workers from overseas on 457 visas for a period of up to four years. The report found that while 457 visa holders in the engineering and science professions have been declining since 2012, in the IT field the opposite is true. In 2016, there are now almost 11,000 IT workers on these temporary visas.

IT students report greater dissatisfaction than those in other industries and are more likely to quit their courses prior to completion.

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