The average entry-level salary for IT graduates has jumped $2,000 to $38,000 according to an annual survey by IT professional training company, Excom Education.
Demand for IT staff remains high among the 25,000 organisations surveyed across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, but there is a renewed focus on the amount of practical training IT graduates have when they enter the workforce.
Excom Education’s chief marketing officer, Cassandra Ashworth, said employers have become fussier and expect new staff to be job ready.
“Graduates need to make sure that they do ‘have it all’ and employers want to know that you’ve built a sound network,” Ashworth said. “Employers require real-world troubleshooting problem solving.”
Ashworth attributes the rise in entry-level salary to employers vying to attract the high-quality IT graduates who have invested in themselves, as job requirements are greater than this time last year.
“We’ve seen a huge demand for our graduates with Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) and Cisco training, and they’re for entry level roles,” Ashworth said.
“A few years ago employers would have thought that type of training is too high-end, but today they want IT graduates to have it all so they can promote them quite quickly and confidently through the ranks.”
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