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IT Job Market Continues To Improve
By Sheryl Silver
Information technology (IT) professionals may be in for a stronger job market in 2005. According to the Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report, nine percent of 1,400 chief information officers (CIOs) polled nationwide plan to add staff during the first quarter. That's up 6 percentage points from projections made for first quarter 2004.
The survey found business expansion to be the primary driver of this first quarter hiring. Forty one percent of those planning to add staff cited it as their reason for doing so while 26 percent mentioned a need for increased customer and end-user IT support as theirs.
What skills are CIOs looking for when hiring IT staff?
Microsoft Windows (NT/2000/XP) administration skills were mentioned by 75 percent of survey respondents while wireless network management, SQL server management, and Cisco network administration skills were mentioned by 53, 45 and 44 percent of respondents respectively. Oracle Database management, .NET development, Active server page development, and Visual Basic development were mentioned as "in demand" skills by 28-37 percent of the CIOs polled.
"Companies continue to take a slow and steady approach to hiring adding full-time employees only when there is a vital need," said Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Menlo Park, Calif.-based Robert Half Technology. "Employers aren't willing to risk layoffs by expanding their teams too quickly."
Spencer Lee attributes some of the increased hiring to work related to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which mandated stronger internal controls and governance measures for public corporations. "Corporations are actively recruiting individuals with network security expertise who can help them comply with new internal control requirements," she said.
A regional review of the survey data found executives from the Pacific states to have the strongest first quarter hiring projections. Eighteen percent of CIOs from these states expect to add employees while just three percent anticipate cutbacks. The net 15 percent hiring increase is six points above the national average and up eight percentage points from the region's fourth-quarter 2004 forecast.
Nationwide, the wholesale sector of the economy appears poised to do the most IT hiring this quarter. Technology executives in the retail, business services, finance, insurance and real estate industries are also planning staff additions.
For IT professionals hoping to advance into management and executive roles, technical skills alone won't do the job, said Matt Moran, author of the new book The IT Career Builder's Toolkit published by Cisco Press. According to Moran, "A lot of technologists have had difficulty moving beyond or outside the IT departments of the companies they work for because they haven't demonstrated the kind of business savvy or the communication and interpersonal skills organizations look for at the management level and above."
Moran says communication skills play a key role in the ability of IT professionals to sell management on the value of their projects and the IT resources they need. Such skills come in handy when technologists need to run meetings with managers and end users, too, he added.
"The more effective someone is at presenting ideas and running meetings, the more that person will be considered for opportunities that require both communication skills and technical skills," said Moran.
Moran encourages IT professionals to hone their communication skills by making presentations in public speaking classes or Toastmasters groups.
According to Moran, another priority for technologists aspiring to management is business savvy. The author said it's especially important for IT professionals to understand how technology impacts the specific companies where they work. With that goal in mind, Moran encourages IT professionals to ask such questions as: What technologies are being used to assist in the production and tracking of the company's products and services? Can the technology being used be improved or optimized? Are there new technologies available or being developed that may enhance the delivery or tracking of the company's services and products?
Moran urges IT professionals to ask enough questions of their internal and external clients to insure that the technical solutions they provide fit the companies' needs. "Without asking such questions and listening to the answers given, the technology solution requested or provided may be a costly mismatch," he explained.
The importance of good "people" skills can't be overlooked, either. According to Moran, "Technologists need to learn to work with different and even difficult personalities."
Moran also reminds technologists to make sure their attitudes don't undermine their ability to collaborate with non-technical co-workers with whom they interact. "Don't let your technology expertise go to your head," he said. "No matter how good you are technically or how strong the demand for your skills is today, things can change."
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