Job ads for healthcare and medical industry rising

The healthcare and medical industry continues to grow, with demand for employees increasing — particularly in the nursing sector — according to online recruitment site SEEK.

Between April and June 2017, job ads on SEEK for the healthcare and medical industry grew 9% year on year, making it the third largest advertising industry on SEEK behind information and communications technology (ICT) and trades and services. The national average advertised annual salary across the healthcare and medical industry on SEEK is $87,851.

The largest advertising healthcare and medical subsector on SEEK is nursing. With its many specialised areas, it comprises around one-third of all jobs being nationally advertised across the industry.

One nursing subsector showing consistent strength is aged care, with annual growth of 13% year on year. Growth is likely to continue given Australia’s ageing population.

Healthcare and medical specialist recruiter Elizabeth Pettit, director of Pettit Pharma & Device Search, agrees that the Australian healthcare industry is growing due to our ageing society, as well as the increase of chronic diseases and the development of drug molecules and medical technologies.

“I’m currently recruiting healthcare executives to market and sell pharmaceuticals and medical technologies and devices, to cater for the needs of healthcare professionals and to improve patient outcomes. The demand for talent across these fields is ever increasing,” revealed Pettit.

Other healthcare and medical subsectors that had strong demand on SEEK for professionals over the past three months were:

• physiotherapy, OT and rehabilitation, up 18% year on year
• psychology, counselling and social work, up 40% year on year

“Jobs in the industry that I am currently finding hardest to fill are healthcare and medical sales rep roles,” said Pettit. “It’s a candidate market for sales reps with more jobs advertised than candidates available.”

The states that offered the most healthcare and medical job opportunities on SEEK from April to June 2017 were the highly populated eastern seaboard states:

• NSW, up 5% year on year
• Vic, up 14% year on year
• Qld, up 7% year on year

“My top tips for healthcare and medical professionals seeking their next roles are: (1) set up a SEEK profile and job alerts, which saves you time looking [and gets] job ads sent to you directly; (2) connect with niche recruiters, like us, that specialise in this sector; (3) understand what you’re looking for and why, and identify who you would like to work for; (4) seek advice from specialist recruiters or do some research if unsure who you’d like to work for,” concluded Pettit.

Image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/ilbusca