It's a great time to graduate in IT: Olivier

The IT graduate job index rose by 267 percent in March, equating to 66 jobs on offer compared to 18 from the previous month.

Director of the Olivier Group, Robert Olivier, says March and April are "very telling months" for the future of IT graduates, as it is the period in which many firms do their recruiting.

"This is a good indication that this year employers are taking a longer term perspective on growth in their IT sectors," said Olivier.

Olivier says that the most likely reason for such a boost is that companies are gaining stronger footing in the market, and as such are building on their in-house IT departments.

"Company's invest in graduates for the future, and organisations are becoming more confident as the market grows, creating a boost for graduates," said Olivier.

In the overall job market outlook the IT sector was a "relatively strong performer", according to Olivier, ranking fourth in growth statistics and fourth overall as having the largest number of job advertisements online.

Olivier says the IT sector has consistently held its rank as the fourth most advertised vocation in the last nine months, with all indications pointing towards continued growth.

"I think i'ts gaining momentum," said Olivier, adding "2 or 3 years ago IT was first in the Internet jobs index, however it has slowed down and other sectors are also finding out the benefits of advertising online."

All vocations under the IT jobs index have reportedly grown in the last month, with the area of software development and engineering rising by 10.65 percentage points from the March 2003 IT job statistic, and specialist areas such as instruction, training and writing also increasing by 29.24 percentage points from March last year.

The only IT sector to decline in the number of jobs advertised from the February to March comparisons was database development and administration occupations, recording a marginal decrease of 1.35 percentage points.

Olivier says the IT job market is more open to worldwide changes than the other industries, which consequently, he says, could attribute the rise in Australian IT jobs to the growth of the US IT market.

"IT is more sensitive to global fluctuations and since US job figures have been very positive it may have carried on to the Australian market," said Olivier.