Job markets and contracts

from skins, via

Monthly job ad numbers have been steadily increasing for months now in Australia. Has the market turned back to being one geared to the job seeker? We may not ever see the kind of craziness going on around jobs and inflated salaries that we did a few years ago, but short of that, the jobs market does seem to be expanding again and this can only be a good thing for job seekers.


With a little more buoyancy in the market, is there an argument for 'early career' professionals and graduates to start looking less for security and more for experience? Contract roles are always a great way to guarantee experience and outcomes in a specific area. Because of that, they’re a great way for people looking to gain experience and who already have skill set to offer. Obviously the down-side to this is that contracts are usually short to mid-term and this is often seen as a risk because of the end-date on the income stream. However, with graduates often being the least encumbered employees when it comes to financial commitments (i.e. fewer grads have mortgages, credit card debt, children etc), contract work could be an ideal opportunity if the risk is recognised and accepted.