If you've been job hunting in Australia and wondering whether the market is really as competitive as it feels, new workforce research suggests the opposite is happening behind the scenes: employers are struggling badly to fill roles, and it's starting to cost them real money. For candidates with the right skills, that's leverage worth understanding.
The data comes from ConnectOS's 2026 State of Offshoring Report, built on responses from over 200 Australian employers and nearly 500 employees. While the report is framed around offshoring trends, the underlying numbers paint a useful picture for anyone currently applying, interviewing, or weighing a career move.
Employers Are Losing Business Because They Can't Hire Fast Enough
This is the part job seekers rarely get to see from the outside. A third of employers say hiring delays have already hurt their service quality. Almost a third have lost customers over it. More than a quarter have had to turn down new business because they didn't have the staff to deliver it. Before many of these companies expanded their search further afield, critical roles were sitting open for one to two months at a stretch.
That's not a market with too many applicants and not enough jobs — it's a market where the right applicants for certain roles are hard to find, and companies know it. If you have skills in an area experiencing shortage, you're negotiating from a stronger position than the general "tough job market" narrative might suggest.
Where the Real Demand Is Right Now
The report flags specific functions where employer demand is intensifying: IT and engineering, data and analytics, cybersecurity and compliance, finance and accounting, and increasingly marketing, digital, and HR — fields that used to be filled almost exclusively through traditional local hiring and are now considered priority growth areas. Looking out to 2028, employers expect data and analytics, AI and automation, and compliance and risk to be the most critical skill areas of all.
Separately, national labour data cited in the report shows close to a third of assessed occupations are currently in shortage, with wages climbing as employers compete harder for the people who have these skills. If your background touches any of these areas, it's worth leading with that in applications rather than burying it — employers are actively short on this expertise and it's a genuine differentiator.
AI Isn't Shrinking the Job Market — It's Shifting What Employers Want
A lot of job seekers are understandably anxious about AI eating into hiring demand. This research suggests it's changing the shape of demand more than reducing it. Two-thirds of employers are already using AI tools, and the fastest-growing roles in this same group are data analyst, AI engineer, and automation specialist — people applying AI, not roles being replaced by it.
The practical message for anyone job hunting: employers are automating repetitive, rules-based tasks, but they're placing higher value on people who can interpret data, exercise judgement, and work confidently alongside AI tools. Being able to speak to how you use AI in your current role, rather than avoiding the topic, is increasingly a hiring advantage rather than a liability.
What Employers Say They're Actually Looking For
When asked what would define their best hires and partners going forward, employers ranked AI capability first, followed closely by ongoing skills development, then cultural fit — with cost or salary expectations ranked well below all three. That's a useful reframe for candidates: employers are less focused on being the cheapest hire and more focused on people who can grow into a role and fit the team, which is a much stronger pitch to make in an interview than simply being available.
The Retention Data Reveals What Good Workplaces Look Like
For job seekers evaluating an offer, the employee-side findings in this report double as a useful benchmark. The large majority of employees in the surveyed workforce reported strong pride in their employer, low intention to leave, and engagement levels well above typical industry benchmarks. The two things employees named as their biggest reasons to stay were flexible working arrangements and compensation — and the two biggest reasons to consider leaving were better pay elsewhere and stalled career progression.
If you're comparing offers or deciding whether to accept a counteroffer from your current employer, those two factors — flexibility and a visible path forward — are worth weighing as heavily as the headline salary number.
What This Means for Your Next Move
Put together, the data points to a labour market where certain skills are in genuine, measurable shortage, employers are under real pressure to close hiring gaps quickly, and the roles growing fastest sit at the intersection of technical skill and human judgement. If your background lines up with any of the in-demand areas — data, IT, cybersecurity, compliance, or AI-adjacent skills — this is a good moment to be selective, negotiate confidently, and apply with the understanding that many employers need you more than the job ad lets on.
