Tech recruitment: why the British have the market stitched up

Bacon and eggs, rock and roll, Brits and IT recruitment – they’ve gone hand in hand for a long time. Sylvia Pennington finds out why UK professionals continue to dominate the high-tech hiring market in Australia.

There are around 850 ICT recruitment agents working full-time in Australia, according to the 2011 estimates of the Information Technology Contract and Recruitment Association.

The association does not collect statistics on the nationality of recruiters – but a straw poll of local players and numerous interviews suggest at least half of their staff once called Britain home. In some agencies in Australia, the ratio of UK-trained recruiters to locals can be as high as 80:20.

Peter Acheson, chief executive of Peoplebank, Australia’s largest information and communications technology recruiter, says the British path to Australia is well-trodden.

“The British people are naturally attracted to Australia as a place to work and live and the recruitment industry provides a good vehicle to facilitate this immigration,” Acheson says.

SOURCE: canberratimes.com.au