Project management recruitment spikes in WA

Western Australia is booming and project managers for the property and resources sectors are in high demand, driving recruitment specialists into the state, according to Capstone Recruitment.

WA currently has the lowest unemployment rate in Australia at 4.3%, and more than a quarter of all active construction projects in the country are located there. Capstone opened a Perth office to capitalise on the continued employment growth of WA’s property and mining sectors and increasing interstate migration.

“Property is certainly one of the most stable employment sectors in the state with almost 10% of the workforce in construction and it still outperforms the mining sector in terms of job numbers,” reported Katharine Wicks, associate director of Capstone’s Perth office. “Last year alone there were almost 120,000 people hired in Western Australia in the construction sector.”

Perth has begun a number of major new civil infrastructure projects, including the $1.8 billion Fiona Stanley Hospital, $700 million Burswood Stadium and $609 million Perth City Link project, where much of the activity is concentrated.

Alasdair Spinner, regional manager of Capstone’s Resources, Energy and Infrastructure business, adds that interstate migration has also been a key part of filling WA’s positions vacant.

“Interstate migration has been instrumental in filling many of these roles with many relocating from the eastern states for the opportunity to be part of the property and construction growth,” he said. “This will become more necessary with continued growth in both the property and mining sectors in Perth and the local candidate pool becoming smaller.”