Signs of a hiring thaw lifted market confidence this quarter. 🌤️
Although job cuts continue, steady inflation and rate relief mean more teams can finally plan past survival mode.
📍 WHERE WE’RE AT:
• RBA delivers another rate cut as inflation steadies.
• ASX fluctuates amid renewed tariff and trade tensions.
• Permanent hiring is lifting, while retention remains high and mobility drops.
• Contract work slows across enterprise and transformation projects.
• Major restructures announced at ANZ, NAB and Bendigo Bank.
• “Forward Deployed Engineers” bridging gap between product and client.
• Code tests and tech interviews shifting focus to reasoning and collaboration.
• Origin Energy and Telstra post gains while AGL slides.
• Canva now worth more than Telstra and Woolworths Group combined.
• Optus outage blocks Triple Zero calls, reignites debate on reliability.
• CyberCX sells for more than $1 billion in landmark local deal.
• Infosys acquires Versent to expand Aus cloud footprint.
• Atlassian faces valuation pressure as leadership distractions mount.
• Commonwealth Bank completes Aus-first core banking migration to Amazon Web Services (AWS).
• AI gadgets like the Limitless Pendant spark privacy and ethics debate.
• Redundancy drives a quiet wave of new founders across tech and finance.
• Local start-ups are racing to build home-grown AI models like Matilda.
🔭 WHAT’S AHEAD:
• Tech hiring expected to stabilise early next year, mirroring current US trend.
• Demand concentrated around AI, cybersecurity, cloud and data specialists.
• Canberra’s National AI Capability Plan to steer funding and skills priorities.
• Fintech, healthtech and life sciences set to strengthen with new funding and innovation.
• Renewables build-out will lift investment across climatetech and clean energy.
