The October-December quarterly report found the Australian labour market was very healthy but tight, with a growing list of skills now in short supply.

"Australia's job market is very healthy as businesses ramp up their hiring activity," Hays Energy regional director Simon Winfield said.

"Employers in the energy sector are putting on permanent as well as temporary staff. But increased demand has quickly exposed the underlying shortage of specialist skills.

"The cloud above job security may have gone, but we're bracing for a storm for skills."

In the oil and gas sector, project managers, business development managers and engineers of all disciplines with LNG experience are being sought in Queensland, where major LNG projects are about to reach final investment decision.

"With these skills in short supply, employers are increasing salaries and benefits in order to aid their candidate attraction," the report said.

Geoscience candidates are in high demand in New South Wales in response to the turnover of existing staff, while in Western Australia, petroleum engineers and development geologists with between five and 12 years experience are in demand, along with design engineers and process engineers with between four and eight years of post-graduate experience.

The report also found that while employers remain very specific in their expectations and requirements when recruiting, the trend was about to change.

"This requirement is expected to change to general heavy industrial construction and heavy industrial design skills over the coming three to six months,"

Looking ahead, the report said salaries would increase over the next six months as the number of projects increase and the number of skilled candidates decrease.

Non-financial benefits are also expected to improve and would likely include compressed working weeks, income protection insurance and life insurance.