Sydney’s A&D industry is confident for the year ahead after a challenging 2020

2020 was a challenging year for practices in Sydney; March through to June saw most practices affected by delayed projects across the retail, hospitality, commercial and residential sector. Thankfully, the impact of COVID19 and the nationwide approach to suppression of the transmission meant the market in NSW and Queensland recovered alongside the reducing numbers. 

Practices affected by projects going on hold delayed recruitment through mid-year and many quickly became under-resourced as projects became live and the market recovered. The July and September quarters were both strong with lots of practices looking to hire. Initially the trend was for contract, but this has also levelled out with more permanent roles offered toward the end of 2020 with confidence for the year ahead and practices competing for talent. 

Small-to-mid-sized practices with strong market position have been hiring throughout 2020. We have also seen a particular spike in hiring across the private residential and landscape sector practices. Industrial, justice and government-driven sectors have also been buoyant. Some smaller practices we work with also remarked that they have had no negative affect from the pandemic in 2020 which is incredible!

"We have seen a steady demand for exceptional all-round architects at all levels, ideally with ArchiCAD or Revit experience."

The demand for particular skill sets at the moment varies across different sectors of the industry. Strategically, practices are looking for sector leaders and rain-makers to facilitate the crucial business recovery over the next few years. In architecture we have seen a steady demand for exceptional all-round architects, ideally with ArchiCAD or Revit experience as practices are looking for people who can design, document and deliver – crossing through different roles in leaner teams. We have also noticed the interior design sector looking for those with private and high-end residential sector experience, and a steady demand for networked account and relationship managers in the product market. Finally, towards the latter half of 2020 we have seen an increase in the need for office managers and graphic designers. 

There were redundancies across the architecture, interiors and product sectors and those people who were planning on moving jobs in 2020 delayed their move due to the market; we have seen a spike in people looking to move from September and predict we will see more movement in 2021 as a result. 

Practices have had to adapt the way they work and the way they interview and on-board. We have seen many remote interviews and even remote working for new starters was widely accepted. Most practices have resorted to face-to-face interviews although some may do the first round via Zoom or telephone interview. 

Most practices in Sydney have seen a shift to remote work and flexibility for their entire teams with workdays in the office reducing to adapt to COVID-safe workplaces. Smaller practices seem to have returned to the workplace faster than larger practices and there seems to be a varied approach to remote working as we move to 2021.

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