The Limestone Coast is in the midst of a COVID-led employment shortage, with a record number of job vacancies recently recorded in South Australia.

Mount Gambier’s Latitude Recruitment is at the forefront of the jobs boom, reporting their busiest January in history.

Latitude Recruitment director Karen Bryant said the agency had been incredibly busy across both the South East and western Victoria.

“There definitely are lots of jobs available at the moment in the region which is really wonderful,” Ms Bryant said.

“I think it is showing as well that recruitment is tough at the moment because we are still

kind of having the effects of that hangover of COVID, with the migrants not being able to come in and move to Australia and start working.

“It has really changed the dynamic and made some areas very candidate-sought.”

Ms Bryant said the busy times were starting to normalise across the South East, however they remained extremely busy across Western Victoria.

Ms Bryant said job vacancies were across the board, however trade-qualified professionals were the most sought after.

“They are the hardest to find, any trade-qualified professional especially fitters, boilermakers, welders, carpenters, electricians, anyone with a trade qualification is really in high demand and can really have their pick of jobs are the moment,” she said.

“Although the trades are the most in-demand that we are seeing, any industry is really looking for good-quality staff that are reliable, have good skillsets, want to work in a really good team environment, those people are being snapped up really, really quickly.”

Ms Bryant said many companies required people due to lots of growth, expansion and exciting projects happening post-COVID.

“In the Limestone Coast there are certainly lots of companies doing really interesting things and trying to grow and trying to utilise the opportunities coming up in the markets they are working in,” she said.

Ms Bryant believed a factor that may have prompted the post-COVID growth was companies pausing for two years due to COVID and now launching into plans, ideas and accelerating their business.

“I think it is just all of the market conditions and everything, there are lots of things trying to move forward,” she said.

“There are lots of expansions going on for the bigger businesses which then trickles down to lots of smaller businesses in our region as well.

“All of the tradies and then all of the other places that supply to those bigger places that are expanding, with obviously some government help, everyone is really reaping the benefits which is wonderful.”

Mrs Bryant said the local job market was great for candidates with experience or some level of experience.

“We are seeing certainly for candidates with some experience they are really getting access to roles they would not have had access to a few years ago because their competition was a lot tighter, whereas now if you have got a candidate that has a little bit of experience or is good for a particular role, they have probably got two other offers as well,” she said.

“The candidate is really sitting in the driver’s seat, it is just a change from a few years ago where they would not have had that many offers on the table.

“Skilled people with qualifications or experience that is relevant to roles, they will just get snapped up really, really quickly.”

Ms Bryant said although the skills were difficult to find, they were still out there and there were skilled locals who might make the move if a great role was on offer.

“And we are still seeing new people coming to the region bringing different skillsets or niche skillsets which is wonderful,” she said.

“We are definitely seeing people wanting to move out of the cities or returning from doing FIFO or something like that, they are coming back to the region they might have grown up in or have friends or family in, which is wonderful because it is bringing new skills to the area.

“There are so many opportunities for people within the region or people coming to the region and there are lots of fantastic roles around.

“So hopefully candidates, anyone looking for work can get out there and get themselves a really wonderful role.”