"It's very clear that Australian ICT workers will continue to be disappointed and if we don't care for ourselves, who will? Claims of a skills crisis must be doused as soon as possible before it spreads throughout the corridors of power. There is no shortage and we need to be more vocal in getting this message across. "

He also says the bodies supposed to be representing the local IT industry, such as the ACS and AIIA, have been unwilling to do so.

Nice to hear a different voice sometimes. Very brave, Vincent.

Read the full piece at ZDNet.

Paul Knapp (editor@brainbox.com.au)


Articles and advice on brainbox are for general interest only. You should never act upon anything you see here without first seeking professional advice. Please see our Terms & Conditions for full details.

Skills shortage = Lobbyist crap.

ITCRA, ACS etc et al are trying EVERYTHING to get Vanstone to increase the number of 457 visas in order to appease their corporate masters.

Offshoring is all the rage (follow the link)

http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;91119175;fp;16;fpid;0

Layoffs are still happening (3000 more get the axe at Qantas) and all the "industry groups" can do is spread their crap in the hope that more Indians can get a visa and further ruin the IT job market.

GO VINCENT GO!!!!

You have my support

I don't get involved in debating issues in public with our members. The Association's member forums held in all capital cities at least four times each year provide adequate opportunity for members to debate and reach a common mind about the Association's policies. On this issue I took the precaution of canvassing all our members views before producing the advice that we provided to Minister Vanstone. Not all our members responded but those who did were fairly unanimous in their view of a need for an increase in the skilled migration quota. When this view was presented to the Minister in the company of representatives of about twelve other industries, the view was of a need for an increase was similarly unanimous. So this is not just ITCRA's view. I am confident it is the view of ITCRA member companies and the other industries where a skills shortage is currently being experienced.

Apart from this, I hope I can assist your readers to arrive at a sound conclusion in regard to the issue of what Australia's Migration Program in 2005-2006 should be. What I actually said to Minister Vanstone on the 31 January is attached.

I hope that they will consider it carefully. The economic proposition which underlies this advice is comprehensive, well researched and widely documented. It is none the less very simple.

1. During the past five years, millions of Australian's have taken out mortgages at manageable interest rates. Their livelihood is dependent on those interest rates remaining close to where they currently are.

2. The most significant economic event that would influence the Reserve Bank to increase interest rates is increased inflation.

3. The most significant factor that would cause inflation to increase is upward wage pressure.

4. The most significant cause of upward wage pressure is a shortage of skilled personnel.

Therefore the central strategy that could be adopted by the Australian Government for keeping millions of Australians with mortgages in their new homes and to protect them from defaulting is to address Australia's (and much of the Western world's) shortage of skilled personnel.

Please also note that my advice to Minister Vanstone was in respect to all skill categories in short supply in Australia not just highly skilled ICT personnel.

Some other key pieces of information which may be of assistance to your readers in arriving at a balanced view of this matter are:

1. ITCRA members role is to find the best person for the job whatever their nationality or location.

2. They would actually prefer to (and try hard to) find a local person for any position for which they have a client assignment due to the fact that that they can usually get a local person into place more quickly and without the hassle of a 457 Visa process.

3. There is no financial gain for ITCRA members in sourcing a person from another country. In fact, generally the reverse the case.

4. ITCRA members run ethically managed businesses under a Code of Conduct that requires that they meet the highest professional criteria in their relationships with their clients, candidates and each other. I have met nearly all of them and find them to be good citizens of Australia with a sound understanding of the importance of their role in the Australian economy and their local community.

Norman, when did ITCRA acquire Reserve Bank responsibilities?

As you well know, the responsibilities of ITCRA members are to maximise profit for their owners and shareholders, not to look after the interests of property investors. The fact that you would attempt to present such a strange argument undermines your case.

Secondly, you still don't produce evidence or proof of skill shortages. Please show me research by professional, unbiased labour market economists.

Third, why should property investors be protected from the market, Norman? We keep hearing that professional software engineers should not be protected, even though everyone else in the economy is protected.

Fourth, self-regulated systems are practically useless. Tell me how many complaints ITCRA has investigated against its members, what the results were of those investigations, and who sits on the investigating panel.

How about we have a debate on these issues. While we're at it, let's get the Australian Computer Society to discuss some issues too. They could sit on your side.

Few points or queries I'd like to make also.

1/ "The most significant cause of upward wage pressure is a shortage of skilled personnel."

While this may be true, this pressure will occur due to the shortages in other industries. There is NO shortage of skilled personnel in IT in Australia. An increase of ICT personnel to Australia will not have ANY affect on the shortages of ...Nurses etc.

If the other industries wish to import workers into them well that is their business. It is not approriate for ITCRA to seek changes to immigration because others are doing it.

As for these other industries...during the boom years ICT had a lot of people from other industries coming into IT. If industries say...construction is having trouble, wouldn't they be seeking to entice the experiencd workers back..wages should be high too!!

Same goes for education..

2/. "ITCRA members role is to find the best person for the job whatever their nationality or location. "

That may be so...but not all your members have a global reach. It is one thing to hunt with all resources at your dispoal for the appropriate person. It is another to simply increase the pool that you can trawl through to see what you can turn up and or reduce rates, by importing workers en masse or allowing them easier entry.

If a person abroad has the required skills and say 5 years exp. and a local has the required skill and 2 years exp, ignoring other factors like language and personality etc..It could be said that the local is not the best person for the job. fair enough. But if the person abroad is unable to get in the country, what ever the reason, then they are not the most appropriate person either, and in that case the local is.

If there was not a local available..it may be appropriate to import that person from abroad, transfer the skills etc.

Australian ICT workers are valued as skilled employees overseas. Our Universities and TAFEs ARE world class. This alone should negate the argument that 457 visas for ICT need to be increased. We have the same broad technical and other skills here. Australian workers travel O/S and return.

Some exchange and movement of workers should be encouraged. In both directions. Ideas are developed, people do learn new ways of doing things. They bring ideas into a country and back again.

But to ignore the talent that presently exists locally in favour of workers abroad under the false premise that there is a shortage is wrong.

Pre Boom

I for one noted in the pre boom years this majical 30,000 figure shortfall of workers that was being predicted. The problem that I had with it is that it was approximately the same figure that was being bandied around the UK and USA. 2 countries with very different population bases, whose ICT sectors are both much bigger than ours.

How could the figure be so similar? someone put their finger in the wind and the world caught the same cold.

Norman, the fact that you're saying it's all about interest rates just confirms my suspicion that ITCRA has something to hide on this.

Where in ITCRA's charter does it say you have a responsibility to property investors? What have interest rates got to do with ITCRA?

Next you'll be saying you're only doing it to help the Tsunami victims.

You say that ITCRA members get no benefit from sourcing workers overseas, yet a number of your members are management companies, including two that put their names to your submission. The main business of these management companies is to sponsor overseas workers, and hopefully sell them some tax services on the way. More immigrants means more business for these people, so they clearly benefit.

Perhaps that is why CXC and Entity are named on the submission, but no major IT recruitment agency? Why won't Candle, Icon and Spherion put their names to it? If there's a skills shortage, surely they'd be the first to notice.

It's pretty clear to anyone reading your press release and comments about that you're trying to hide something. You mention a number of other industries (health, construction) etc, which ITCRA has no responsibility for and interest rates, which again is not the responsibility of ITCRA.

If you're going to publicly push for this, you could at least come clean about why.

It's too late for Australian IT in my opinion. The lack of government support/investment has irevocably damaged the IT sector, with companies being encourages to nor only offshore but base their operations outside of Australia.

Despite the fact that IT contributed almost 40% to GDP growth in the last few years doesn't seem to carry any weight.

It is all coming undone for the "fiscally responsible" Howard government that so many Australians seem to have voted for.

The recession Australia had to have is very close to fruition and that alongside a bursting property bubble is going to affect most industrys very harshly indeed - especially the shrinking IT industry as it is one of the first costs to be cut in hard times.

If you can get out of Australia now I would most definitely recommend you do this for the next 5-10 years until the dust settles.

Expat UK, it's good that it's all coming undone, because any first world nation that can vote a gibbering monkey and mass murderer like J Coward into power deserves everything it gets. Costello as treasurer means it deserves even more on top.

The only reason we had some economic growth in the past 4-5 years was because people turned to the property market, including a lot of ex-IT people with some extra cash to burn. Their jobs were gone so what else could they do? This had flow throughs to the share market as well. Now that it's all exposed and the overheated property market is going down, it's all going to come crashing down on us mighty hard.

BTW, I'm planning to leave AU, probably for good or at least 5-10 years as you recommend.

I'm not surprised agents are having trouble! Lets look at it:

1. Those with skills and experience often avoid agencies as much as possible.

2. The people agent’s treat poorly often become the same people that would use an agency to hire. Treat them poorly and in the long run you lose business.

Further, flooding an industry with labour has the effect of lowering wages, which in turn forces locals out of the industry (current & graduate) so you need to import more workers.

My point, if there is no money in an industry that relies on the highly skilled then few will train to join it. This is why we have skills shortages in nursing and other industries!

The only thing in shortage when it comes to IT is cheap labour. Employers want first world skills at third world prices.

The problem, as so many before me have said is that employers are very picky. They often wont accept candidate unless they are an exact match. No matter how ridiculously rare the skills sought or long the exposure to the required technologies. And technologies are being created all the time. And even when said candidates are found, they are often "out of our budget".

Talk of a skills shortage in IT (in Sydney anyway) is like saying there's a shortage of sub million dollar harbour front real estate in Sydney.

Also, a lot of people are not going through the agencies any more. Like one of the previous posters pointed out. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

An example: I hired two new developers last month all without the help of any agencies. That's $25-30k I saved for my employer. Consequently, that meant I was able to offer those developers a better salary. I also got my last 2 jobs in the same manner.

Word of mouth is a wonderfull thing. Build your contacts up, never burn your bridges, and you will never have to deal with those you do not trust again. I know many good people who share my views. Can I get an AMEN from the congregation?

If you are reading this Norman, your industry (especially the IT section of it) has an image problem. Too many shonk merchants and dodgey operators have ruined it for the honest people, who may not be all that few. But, humans tend to remember the bad more than the good.

This really leaves the inexperienced, the new migrants (fresh off the boat) and 457 visa applicants for the agencies to fight over.

And with a shrinking supply of talent to work with, is it any wonder they are pushing to include the once lucrative IT sector in the list of so called professions with a skills shortage?

If you want to help, go and convince more people to become nurses... Better yet, convince more employers to pay them better instead of importing cheap(er) labor from OS. All you are doing is pushing the problem into the future.

Can someone help me off my soap box now?

Dear Norman

You've outdone yourself this time - psychological warfare. You and your fellow brainiacs at the ITCRA must have been burning the midnight oil to produce such a gem. Are you really saying that out of all the logical arguments you could have given Senator Vanstone to deceive her into believing there's an IT skills shortage in Australia, all you could come up with was a general argument about interest rates and mortages? Nice diversion Norman. It shows us all you haven't produced even a single statistic or unbiased research to support your claims of an IT skills shortage. You can't find one, so why not abandon the facts and try a scare campaign about interest rates and mortgages.

Thank you Norman for pretending you have a deep concern for my mortgage and the mortgages of fellow Australians. Thanks to people like you, as an Australian IT worker I will struggle with my mortgage as our local market is in such poor shape. Jobs are few and far between, and hundreds of people are now unemployed with each day bringing worse news. I'll worry endlessly when my next contract comes to a close. My worry is justified, because I have witnessed time and time again the handywork of your disgusting member agencies. Over the last couple of years you people have hungrily placed cheap foreign workers in every available new IT job. My once promising career is in ruins due to the oversupply of workers created by greedy businessmen like yourself. By campaigning for even more foreign workers during a serious market decline, you're declaring war against all Australian IT workers who are doing it tough. How could anybody ever forgive you for this treachery?

As a contractor of over 13 years, let me pull no punches on what I think of salesmen like you and the ITCRA members you represent...

"1. ITCRA members role is to find the best person for the job whatever their nationality or location."

Simply put, your members always place the best person for the agency, meaning the person who they'll make the highest commission from. You and your agents absolutely crave foreign workers who are easily exploitable and deceived. You only pretend to care about delivering skills and quality to clients. Shame on you for exploiting people!

"2. They would actually prefer to (and try hard to) find a local person for any position for which they have a client assignment due to the fact that that they can usually get a local person into place more quickly and without the hassle of a 457 Visa process. "

What a load of bull. I only ever once met an agent who genuinely cared about me as we'd become friends. You know what happend to her? She left the recruitment business, telling me she "just can't do this to people anymore". Later on she spilled the beans and told how she had been forced to tell me lies, doubling dealing against both the client and myself to screw both myself and the client. The bottom line Norman is you and your agencies only care about margins. To increase them you'd lie, cheat and steal. You'd happily see millions of Australian IT workers lose their jobs and unable to pay their mortgages, replaced with cheap Indians. Just as long as you can pay your mortgage hey Norman?

"3. There is no financial gain for ITCRA members in sourcing a person from another country. In fact, generally the reverse the case. "

Oh come on Norman. Over the last two years the number of foreign workers working on my project has skyrocketted, yet the work in the IT industry has decreased dramatically. How can this produce a skills shortage when the work simply isn't there?

If you walk the floor where I work you'd think you were in India. Do you really think we are stupid enough to believe you're the next Ghandi and are doing this to be charitible to Indians? You and your industry are more like aristrocratic plantation owners, happily using armies of slaves to labour and toil for you as you sip on a latte and talk "IT". If these poor Indians haven't had a hard time in the past being exploited by English aristocrats, they now have to content with you people. I feel sorry for these people as all they're trying to do is get ahead in life. This is why everytime I meet one I make a point to educate them about the deceptive practices of IT agencies and the importance of knowing one's margin. All of them are paying high margins. I managed to get one guy to dump one of your unethical members taking a massive $20/hr from him and find a much cheaper agency. This sort of stuff belongs on A Current Affair. Anybody out there know Ray Martin?

"4. ITCRA members run ethically managed businesses under a Code of Conduct that requires that they meet the highest professional criteria in their relationships with their clients, candidates and each other. I have met nearly all of them and find them to be good citizens of Australia with a sound understanding of the importance of their role in the Australian economy and their local community."

You've saved the best until last Norman. Now you try to claim that IT agencies have an important role in the Australian Community. Good one! The real truth is that you people aren't needed in the IT industry at all. Give me the means and I'll find my own work, do my own negotiating and send my own invoices. I'm doing this now and am passing on the savings to my client, who will in turn cut costs and have more money to pay his own mortgage! Do you see how eliminating IT agencies can help Australian mortgagees Norman?

IT agencies are out of control and the Government needs to step in to regulate you before your greed destroys our entire industry. In these tough times what better way to cut costs by eliminating a useless middlemen from the equation? Project costs in IT could be reduced substantially by weeding out IT salesmen like yourself charging clients a premium and passing yourselves off as "industry experts" who can find the right candidate. All we really need is one great website (like Brainbox) where clients and IT professionals can find each other, all without the services and cost overhead of lying, deceptive and dishonest IT agencies.

Yours sincerley

Angry Aussie Contractor

Hey Angry....Lets form a union.

God that was good reading

Give Amanda Vanstone's office a call and just let them know they're not getting the truth.

(02) 6277-7860

You can also ring your local politician. Of course, the recruiting industry and the ACS have had a decade of smooth running on this, so it will take time, but we have to start somewhere.

It sounds obvious the Immigration Department is not hearing from anybody representing the interests of the Aussie IT professional. Senator Vanstone doesn't seem to be aware of the wide spread abuses of the 457 visa scheme by IT agencies. The ITCRA is highly organised, well funded and will stop at nothing to increase profits for its members by using foreign labourers to replace local workers.

If only more Australian IT workers would contact the Immigration minister and register their concerns about this appalling situation. This can be easily done by simply follow this link:

http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/contact/#email

If thousands of concerned IT workers emailed the minister our message might get through. Senator Vanstone needs to be woken up to the motives of the ITCRA and realise there is NO skills shortage in Australian IT.

Aussie IT workers, you have taken it on the chin long enough. Speak up now against those who wish to destory you. If you keep quiet you will lose your local industry forever to greedy local businessmen and foreign interests. Send the above link to ALL your IT colleagues and ask them to pass it on. Also pass on the brainbox site link (www.brainbox.com.au) wo we can get even more IT workers reading these excellent articles.

Regards

True Blue

I believe Norman is spot on.

Either let in more 457s, or get ready to see more work going offshore.

The government rightly percieves that its fiscal interest will be better served by letting in more 457s, who are legitimate temporary migrants, pay taxes and are not entitled to welfare.

At the end of the day, I'm sure common sense will prevail over emotion.

CD, Norman didn't actually say anything in support of his claims. Which part is right?

Second, 457's are an essential part of offshoring. If 457's were tightened up, offshoring would drop away and you would have to turn to an honest living.

For a little bit of good news, I have heard that, although the government is obviously interested in the wider claims of skill shortages, they know ITCRA and the shills in the IT industry are a bit suspect, and probably won't be acceding to those demands in the IT sector. However it's all a bit uncertain.

Which big agency do you troll for CD? Probably one of the ones who has been busy of late stacking my project with cheaply paid 457s. You would have to work for an agency if you side with the pompous Norman, the self proclaimed new age Gandhi who proclaims to provide welfare to Indians. A wolf in sheep's clothing.

Norman is not right. Like most agents he's a greedy salesmen who knows nothing about IT, economics or interest rates or anything else. Cheap 457s replacing Australians can not prevent offshoring. The devestating outcome is the same for the unemployed Australian IT worker and the client doesn't save much as the greedy agency pockets the lot.

Want guaranteed cost cutting in IT projects? Forget bringing in 457s workers or the hassles of offshoring. Cut out the dead wood and save yourselves big money by avoiding the "services" of Storman' Norman and his untalented, lying and downright deceptive bunch of salesmen.

Angry Contractor

CD is from one of the IT analyst firms that make a lot of money from expensive offshoring conferences including providing PR advice on how to handle negative reaction.

Like all these clowns, he's also a member of ACS.

I'm not sure if Norman Lacy is a member of ACS, but he used to be certification manager for the ACS. Norman's background is as a politician. He was a Minister in a previous Liberal Victorian government.

Quoting Angry Contractor:

" Which big agency do you troll for CD? Probably one of the ones who has been busy of late stacking my project with cheaply paid 457s. You would have to work for an agency if you side with the pompous Norman, the self proclaimed new age Gandhi who proclaims to provide welfare to Indians. A wolf in sheep's clothing."

Angry-calling me a troll because I have a different take on the situation is an admission of defeat in debate. And the 457 is no welfare scheme for Indians- they have to put in serious hours to earn their hourly rate.

And why target the Indians? What do you have to say about all the Irish & English guys on 417 working holiday visas? Is that some kind of welfare scheme for Irish backpackers?

Quoting Tony:

"CD is from one of the IT analyst firms that make a lot of money from expensive offshoring conferences including providing PR advice on how to handle negative reaction.

Like all these clowns, he's also a member of ACS"

Tony, you flatter me. I wish I was in fact "making a lot of money"

In any case, I offer no apologies for practising a perfectly legitimate profession, and I regard offshoring as a perfectly legitimate business practice.

Also, last time I checked, being a member of the ACS was no crime. I regard the ACS as an excellent professional association which exists to promote the interests of the Australian IT industry.

CD, offshoring is a legitimate practice, but it currently relies on abusing the immigration system, and that should stop. There are whole chains of people involved in this. Are you not aware of that industry?

Secondly, my point about the ACS is that it's not really a professional society at all. It's actually an industry association. Almost anyone can join. Also, it doesn't represent professional interests at all. It is actually more of an association of para-professionals than anything.

"Angry-calling me a troll because I have a different take on the situation is an admission of defeat in debate. And the 457 is no welfare scheme for Indians- they have to put in serious hours to earn their hourly rate."

We all know that virtually all agencies support bringing in more 457s, simply because you make so much money from exploiting the scheme. Everybody in IT has taken a hit in recent years, except IT agencies. Contractor rates have come down but not high agency margins. The 457 visa scheme has in fact allowed agents to increase their margins and substantial reduce their workloads. You have latched onto it, using and abusing it to maintain healthy profits in a market that ordinarily couldn't sustain so many agencies. Unlike many small IT companies and independant contractors forced to close their doors, agencies believe they have the right to exploit cheap foreign labourers to stay afloat.

Yes CD, these Indians sure do put in serious hours for you for the extremely low hourly rate you pay them. They work and slave doing all the work. Let's consider what you do in return. For your money, all you agents do is make a couple of phone calls, email a resume here and there and strut around in a suit meeting people for coffee. It's really pretty simple being an IT agent, you don't need any knowledge about IT. All you need is the ability to lie. Your one and only goal is earning the highest possible commission. The 457 scheme is now your goldmine, allowing you to sit back and rob 457 visa workers out of a disgraceful $40,000-$60,000 commission.

As for all the English and Irish 457 visa workers, I'm glad you brought issue that up. Tell me CD, why am I not working with any of them on my project? Just like Australians they seem to be not getting much of a look in either from agencies these days. Perhaps the real reason is these people aren't from impoverished countries. Wanna rip somebody off? Abuse somebody from an impoverished, struggling nation like India or an economically ruined country like Russia. If it's not bad enough that you agents rip off clients and contractors for a living, you also exploit vulnerable and impoverished people.

You are not an IT professional CD and never will be. Agents like you need to think long and hard about yourselves and just what productive work you really do for the industry. Why does our industry even need the high cost overhead of you and your kind sitting around drinking coffee all day?

Hey everybody, want guaranteed costs cutting in IT? Forget 457 workers and the hassles of offshoring. Be like me and don't use an IT agency!

I really hope that they don't increase the number of skilled IT migrants into Australia.

It's hard enough trying to find work as a grad in a flooded IT market, without having to worry about it becoming even more flooded with other IT workers from overseas.

I worked hard in my University course (close to distinction average) and I would like a chance to work in the industry relevant to what I studied.

Dear IT Grad

You have my sympathy. Unlike the greedy ITCRA and the agents they represent, you had to study hard to earn your skills and gain a professional qualifications. Nobody at university ever told you the shocking realities of what is currently going on in the Australian IT industry. When starting your degree, and toiling to complete your studies nobody told you as a graduate your employment prospects were in the hands of Norm and his cronies.

You weren't to know these people have hijacked the IT industry through their blatant abuse and profiteering of government schemes, originally designed to alleviate legitimate labour shortages. You didn't know of the ITCRA and their hidden agenda to eliminate the Australian IT workers, giving them the IT skills shortage they so desperate crave. A shorgage that will make Australia dependant on foreign labourers, granting them a lucrative revenue stream, earnt dishonestly by legalised exploitation of cheap foreign labourers.

The cold hard truth about these disgusting individuals and the games they play is being told right here on Brainbox. I'm very sorry you have to learn these truths and I pity local Aussie IT graduates like you. All I can suggest is that you write to your local politician and the Immigration minister and tell your story. Contact others you went to uni with and get them to do the same.

Also don't bother using an IT agency or ever trusting one. Believe me, you'll find there's nothing they can do for that you can't do better for youself. It will save you and your clients lots of money and heartache.

Angry Contractor

IT Grad..

Read carefully what Angry has written.

It is, unfortunately, the truth.

Time for some more truth....read carefully..

CHANGE CAREERS. NOW. Turn around and make an appointment with the admissions officer at your local university and enroll in one of the following:

Law, Medicine, Physiotherapy, Pharmacy, Nursing, Commerce, Medical Science.

Accept the fact that your IT qualification is worthless thanks in part to the efforts of the ITCRA.

In time you'll see that I'm right.

~gloomy.

The ACS has finally got off their ar*es and piped up about the 457 visa system is being abused:

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,12472562%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html

Thank for you support finally Mr Mandela! Where have you been all this time?

People, just look at these amazing stats - 4129 IT work visas issued last year alone. 40% of these people paid the minimum 457 wage of $47,000. Well what do you know? Of course clients are still paying significantly more for these "cheap" resources, with *HUGE* margins being earnt by the agents. This is proof positive the trecherous Norm cares nothing about interest rates through his passionate support for expanding the 457 visa scheme.

These stats speak for themselves. No wonder there are no jobs for our young Aussie graduates and even bugger all about for more experienced contractors alike. No wonder contracts rates have plummetted in the last 12 months, shutting down many small IT firms and sending independant contractors to the wall.

The federal gov and the Immigration minister are responsible for this, aided and abetted by Storman Norman and his ITCRA cronies. Shame on you Norman for wrecking our industry for your own personal gain! You and your agents are nothing but a bunch of disgraceful, blood sucking individuals. What skilled professional in this industry could ever trust you or one of your ITCRA affiliated agency again?

Angry Contractor

Norman you are quickly going to lose your political friends if you think playing on the sore point of raising interests rates will help your selfish plight.

I am in the process of watching one of my current clients move most of it's back office functions (IT, Finance, Engineering, Supply etc.) to India. They have terminated most of the local Developers and hired an Indian to transition the offshore move. There's a skills shortage?? Maybe in Bangalore...

Now I don't have a problem with having to compete with offshore firms for work, what I do have a problem with is being undercut by a bunch of cowboys who have sucked in the local industry and government in with 'lowest price' instead of 'lowest cost'.

Don't think this problem is isolated to IT, as it's only a matter of time before other professions become fair game.

Celtic Trespasser/Expat UK - You're more than welcome to go back to your socialist paradise in the UK anytime you like. How about reestablishing the Raj and doing us all a favour.

I am a recruiter in the IT&T market place and have been so for the last 10 + years now. What I read here I find extremly concerning because I am at the forefront each day of dealing with skill shortages, recruitment drives and big business locking down accounts for whatever reason.

Established in 1998, ITCRA was initially devised with the intention of improving the reputation of the recruitment industry within Australia (at least that's what we are told). However, as is often the case, absolute power corrupts absolutely and ITCRA bears no exception to this rule. Having now grown to a point where it's morals and values are touted about like a cheap perfume, ITCRA and it's board of directors are now embarking on the true intention of what their organization was established to achieve. That is, to maximize the profits of it's various member organizations. Ironically, the image that ITCRA promotes is that of an organization which attempts to support the best interests of its members and it's contractors. Unfortunately, this couldn't be further from the truth because what is the best interests of IT recruitment firms is not necessarily same as the best interest of IT contractors.

Looking back to the IT market place in 2001 and 2002, many ITCRA members (referring of course to the top 5 IT&T recruitment organization) used the poor market as an opportunity to lock in various clients into 'preferred supplier agreements' and force contractors into contracting through these organizations at lower rates and lower service.. Such agreements can be extremely profitable in a poor market because it guarantees the agency large volume of work and a starving contractor is generally indifferent when it comes to the agency that he/she wishes to work through when there is a chance of paying the bills. However, as the market has continued to improve in recent years, such agreements have lost their strangle hold and as such have created a window opportunity for other agencies, organizations and contractors to provide consulting capabilities outside of the preferred supplier agreements. This of course, is good for IT contractors because it gives them more scope and flexibility in relation to becoming once again the masters of their own destiny. However, it reduces the power that the large power broking IT agencies have and as such there is now a mandate in place to help ensure that their power is once again restored. How? Simple, these agencies through ITCRA are seeking once again to control the supply of available resources and secure their position as the key provider of resources, no exception!

By having the capacity to bring in labor from offshore cheaply, the big players will be able to lock down clients who are very price sensitive. Of course, in a market which is half buoyant many of the larger agencies who are process driven and incapable of networking loose their grasp on big business supplier agreements and are left vulnerable due to an incapacity to satisfy client expectations. This of course means the client who has given them the requirement grows frustrated with a lack of service and will be happy to consider using other organizations who are not 'preferred suppliers'. But imagine a world where 3 or 4 key players have an unlimited and cheap talent pool which they can draw on with immediate results from overseas ! With an ability to bring in staff who will be ready to work in 7 days these large agencies will once again ferment their position in the market. Ironically, many of the ITCRA members will never have the ability to achieve this sponsorship status. It'll be left to the big boys who remain board members of the association. Others will be locked out of the major accounts because they'll never be able to hire staff locally at a rate comparable to someone from offshore. Yet it remains ironic that the same organization they joined on the pretense of securing their reputation is also working to destroy their viability.

ITCRA's current lobbying is totally self motivated with the intention of maximizing profit for it's board members. Those who will suffer will be the independent contractors and the small recruiters. Any organization that is a member of ITCRA should seriously reconsider it's allegiance (unless of course they are motivated by the idea of undercutting local talent) and more so, and contractor who is looking to maintain longevity in the Australian market place should boycott agencies who ally with a firm that has an agenda which will eventually mean a lower rates, and fewer contract opportunities.

Norman Lacy from ITCRA stated.

3. There is no financial gain for ITCRA members in sourcing a person from another country. In fact, generally the reverse the case.

Can you prove this Norm ? Coz we all know it's about as true as the fact that we need to change the immigration laws.

HMMMM - Lets see Norm, if we hire an AP from overseas we can get someone at 20 p/hour. Sell them at $60. $40.00 p/hour margin. As opposed to hiring a local - $50 . Selling at $60.00 - that's a whole of $10.00 p/hour.

If this logic is built on the same fabric as your 'code of conduct' I think I'll stick to using agencies who are not members of your organization.