Big jump in Bay of Plenty healthcare job advertisements

Health and IT jobs have emerged as the Bay of Plenty industries with the biggest increase in job advertisements during the year. Rotorua Daily Post reporter Jean Bell dives into the latest data and speaks to recruitment agencies, business figures and a business on the hunt for an IT grad.

New data shows it is a good time to be a nurse or caregiver in Rotorua, where advertisements for healthcare jobs have skyrocketed 19.6 per cent in the past year.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's latest Jobs Online report also showed a sizeable jump of 19.1 per cent for IT jobs.

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The data showed job advertisements increased an overall 1.3 per cent in the Bay of Plenty during the year, despite a 0.4 per cent fall in the quarter ending September.

The ministry said advertisements repeated in successive months were not counted but new adverts were counted if they were reposted after a break.

Lakes District Health Board human resource manager Hannes Schoeman said most vacancies were because of general turnover rather than more jobs, a few new roles and some staff opting to work part-time.

Schoeman said the DHB has 66 permanent, fixed-term and casual roles - in the nursing, health care, administration/managerial and midwife areas.

It also had eight full-time equivalent vacancies for senior medical staff, including endocrinologist, cardiologist, general surgeon and an emergency department specialist.

Vacancies for clinical psychologists, midwives, mental health community nurses and anaesthetic technicians could be difficult to fill but this was a nationwide issue, Schoeman said.

Accent Health Recruitment founder and co-owner Prudence Thomson said vacancies for skilled medical specialists and nurses could not be filled fast enough so staff were being recruited from overseas.

Thomson, who has been recruiting medical staff into the Bay of Plenty and around the country for more than 20 years, was recently in Singapore recruiting staff and would also interview in the United Kingdom and America.

She said there were always seasonal fluxes but a steadily increased demand had emerged in mental health, emergency and critical care, driven by New Zealand's ageing population, positive net migration, mental health needs and medical and technological developments that kept patients alive longer.

"Twenty years ago, babies were born and died. Now they stay alive and they need medical treatment throughout their life."

Medcall Bay of Plenty regional manager Shirley West said the "huge growth" in retirement villages and facilities contributed to the healthcare job advertisement increase.

West, who hired temp workers, said nurses and caregivers were always in demand as it was a challenge to find people with the right qualifications and enough experience.

"[Temp staff] have to be able to walk into a new workplace environment, orientate themselves and hit the ground running."

Rotorua Chamber of Commerce chief executive Bryce Heard said any general increase in job advertisements was good news as many people were on the hunt for work.

He said some companies struggled to fill some roles as candidates with the right "aptitude and attitude" could be hard to come by, particularly in lower-skilled jobs.

YUDU editor Kirsty Wynn said more than 1300 healthcare jobs were listed on the jobs website, plus about 330 IT jobs.

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment manager for workforce and workplace Rose Ryan said the relationship between job advertisements and labour demand was complex.

An increase in job advertisements might indicate expansion or a high turnover of workers while a decline could signal reduced employment in an industry or that the industry was using alternatives to online advertisements, such as word of mouth.

On the hunt

NZWindows is in the process of hiring a graduate software and application developer.

Group services support and systems development manager Chris Newton said the Tauranga-based business was expanding and hiring a new graduate was "future-proofing" the business' IT platform.

He said about 35 people had applied for the role and the business was sorting through a shortlist. Most of the applicants were from outside of the Bay of Plenty and the role even attracted some overseas interest.

He had expected the role to be easy to fill and to receive quality applications. It was important for the new employee to have the necessary skills while still being able to fit into the team.

"It's a fine mix," he said.

Hottest industries: job advertisement annual changes in the Bay of Plenty
Top three
Health care - 19.6 per cent increase
IT - 19.1 per cent increase
Sales - 8.4 per cent

Bottom three
Manufacturing - 9.5 per cent
Construction - 3.8 per cent
Primary industries - 3.6 per cent

Source: Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment