Wanted: 2845 Online Managers

We at Global Reviews work with more than large 60 companies in Australia and NZ, and over the past 12 months at least 20% of these clients have asked us the same question: "Do you know anyone who might want to fill an online manager/producer role?"

Anaecdotally, the online industry generally believes there is a chronic skills shortage. We've felt it first-hand, as our growth has meant continually employing new people (and it's worse for us - you only need someone good enough to do the job, but we need someone good enough to advise your people how to do the job better!)

And the problem is getting worse. The most pain seems to be in Sydney, but Melbourne and Brisbane are not much better (companies like Wotif.com, Webcentral and Flight Centre are based in Brisbane and demand good online people). Just today, I noticed a big 4 bank ran a large ad in a National daily seeking two more e-commerce people.

But is this just an urban myth being espoused by the self-interested (ie: people in this area)? If you're a digital/online/internet/ecommerce manager, is now really a great time to be in the market? I decided to check australia.recruit.net, a mashup of Australian online recruitment sites, to learn the truth. I searched for Australian ads that included both the words "online" and "manager".

The result - 2845 ads! Online Marketing and Product Managers were the big ones that featured, but certainly there was a wide variety of openings - many sounding very desperate. To provide a comparison, there were 1152 ads for "personal assistant".

So it would seem that the subjective emotions people are feeling with respect to a skills shortage are born out quantitatively (at least prima facie).

I then wondered what Australian universities are doing to address this problem. I went to the UNSW website, because after all the biggest problem is in Sydney, and searched the Faculty of Commerce and Economics. There is no Bachelor of Ecommerce (unsurprisingly), but the only course offered as part of a Commerce degree with any online relevance is "Information Systems and Information Technology" (surprising). I checked the course info for IS & IT and it immediately became clear that this course is heavily skewed towards technical people. Hmmm.

The next place I looked was the AGSM link, who apparently are affiliated with UNSW, but this is focused on MBAs. RMIT in Melbourne does have a course with some e-commerce focus (I know as do some lecturing there), but it hardly seems the norm.

I therefore postulate that:
1. There is a strong demand for anyone with quality ecom/online/digital experience
2. There are not enough people to fill these roles TODAY
3. The demand is likely to increase (and is increasing) as the internet's role continues to grow
4. There is not a strong focus on increasing specialised graduate numbers
5. The problem is going to get worse TOMORROW

My advice is that if you're happy in your current role stay there and enjoy being part of an exciting and rapidly growing industry. But if you're not happy, explore your options. I know at least one company that is seeking quality people, and you are in demand.

And if you're an employer or manager then focus on more than just pay to retain your staff because, from our experience, pay is generally quite similar but what keeps people is an enjoyable enironment and challenging role. The more things change, the more they stay the same.