IT Industry Health Check

The IT industry is looking pretty rosy, if results from our annual Recruitment and Retention report are anything to go by. For the last 5 years, we have asked respondents to indicate how strongly they agree or disagree with 5 statements:

• We can see that for the next 3 years demand for IT services and products will remain strong
• IT is meeting business demands and driving business improvement
• IT budgets are increasing as a % of company revenue
• The supply of IT talent is aligned to the demand for it
• The industry has a reputation for delivering value and results, on time and on budget

The index is currently at its all time highest level, reflecting the gradually improving reputation of the industry following the reputational disasters of Y2K and dotcom.

Great news for job seekers in 2010

We’ve just released our annual Recruitment and Retention Report and the good news is that employers are looking to hire a lot more people.

According our survey 43% of respondents expecting to increase IT staff numbers in 2010 compared with 29% in 2009. 44% expect to increase permanent IT staff numbers and 28% expect to use more IT contractors. The difference between perm and contract can be partly explained by the much more rapid decline in perm hiring during 2009.

While contracting demand held steady during the downturn, perm recruitment levels fell by about 50%. So, there is likely to be more of a bounce back in perm during 2010. With unemployment still at the relatively low level of 5.4% and job vacancies increasing, the pendulum is quickly swinging back towards a candidate shortage.

 This means good candidates will have more job opportunities and offers to consider and salaries which have been steady for 18 months are likely to come under pressure. To be successful in hiring the best people, organisations need to sharpen up their recruitment processes – make sure they are ‘recruitment ready’.