Market Watch Q2 2008

According to the “Demand and Supply in the I&CT Sector” e-Skills report, commissioned by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) IT and Communications Sector Group, demand for IT skills is at its highest level since Q4 2001. Reassuringly, the report also states that the size of the ICT professional workforce has increased over the same period. However, the increase in workforce is not of the same magnitude as the increase in demand; thereby leaving a shortfall that will make competition for skilled staff fiercer than ever before.

Report highlights

Demand by skill:

• C# is the sixth most commonly requested skill, with a growing popularity; increasing in demand consistently every quarter for six consecutive quarters.
• Demand for .net, Dbase, SQL, SQL Server and Tibco skills has also continued to increase over a 12-month period.
• Demand for DSP, AS400, BSD, Novell, RAS and Siebel skills has consistently declined over the same period.
  

Demand by role:

• By far the most sought-after role is that of Systems Developers (both permanent and contract); having increased in demand over the last four quarters.
• Also in demand are Systems Administrators, Technical Pre- and Post- Sales Support and Webmasters/Content Administrators.

Commentary

In some respects the report simply confirms what anyone working in the IT industry already knows: this is an industry under pressure. As organisations become more reliant on IT; wanting and expecting to lower costs and achieve greater efficiencies, they are increasingly finding that costs are being driven up by market forces. The classic response is the short-termism of turning to the contractor market or an outsourced software house. But, there is another way...

Beat the system

Step one: Recognise and classify your internal talent into two groups: skills you can’t afford to lose (i.e. the ones you pay dearly for and that consequently hold the organisation to ransom) and those that are easily replaced (i.e. the ones whose owners will come and go without much remark).

Step two: Take steps to retain the skills of the former group by rewarding the very scarcity of their skills. Recognise that in such a competitive market, cash is not the only consideration for employees and contractors: become a competitive employer by offering a great environment as well as a commensurate salary.

Step three: Understand how to get the best from the latter group by rewarding their effectiveness. Create a hothouse of internal talent by adopting a robust succession plan: invest in young, relatively unskilled and therefore easy-to-recruit workers, provide the education and training that will grow their skills, then reap the benefits of a steady stream of talent that you can move up through the organisation.

The beauty of this three step approach lies in recognising the nature of the skills you need and consciously farming them in the most effective way. Although some skills will always be hard to come by and expensive to reward, long-term succession planning can reduce your employment costs at the other end of the scale; then, as you naturally lose trained workers, there will always be a ready supply of motivated, upcoming talent to take their place.

This article was written by Trevor Meadows. If you'd like to know more about succession planning, or for a full copy of the REC/e-Skills report, please contact Trevor Meadows via e-mail at trevor@meadowsconsulting.com or via phone on 01647 221360.