Market Watch Q2 2009

If you’re preparing to recruit vital but elusive skills into your organisation or if you are polishing up your cv ready to begin a fresh job search, you may be surprised by what you find this autumn in the ICT sector.

Whilst you won’t be shocked to learn that salaries are mostly static or going down, and recruitment advertising in general has dropped off, you may be heartened to discover that:

When it comes to vacancies...

Employers haven’t stopped recruiting, even if the number of professionals seeking a change of role or company has dropped off. There are enough organisations looking to fill interesting junior and senior IT roles to make considering a change of scenery a realistic and achievable goal, despite the recession. However, you should expect competition to be fierce and for employers to be exacting. A recent report in Finance Week stated that “Around one in six IT/Telecoms recruiters (are) experiencing difficulties recruiting staff with the right skills, qualifications or experience”.

When it comes to skills...

IT skills demand is bucking the recession with business spend on training for IT professionals likely to increase during 2009. Research by the IOD showed that, in 8 out of 10 organisations, spend on training has either been maintained or increased over the six months to May 2009.
According to e-skills UK, the sector Skills Council for Business, “almost 25% of firms... (are) experiencing an ICT-related skills gap.”
The top three skills in demand as permanent roles have changed little in recent months, currently being Developer, Finance and .Net. There is no change in the top three contract skills, which remain as Developer, Analyst and Finance (in that order).

When it comes to salaries...

Some salaries or rates of contract pay are on the increase, notably permanent salaries for Finance, Windows, Analyst, Oracle, C#, Excel and Banking specialists and contractor rates for C# and Excel.

The trickiest challenge for recruiters in the ICT sector right now is recruiting the right resources into available vacancies because skilled workers who are in secure positions appear to be fearful of moving under current market conditions, preferring instead to wait for the recession to lift.

If you are one of the handful of professionals who is actively seeking fresh employment, the popular advice of business leaders such as Martha Lane-Fox and James Dyson is 1) to show passion for your work, the role and the industry, 2) to offer a spark of interest and initiative over and above the proffered job description, and 3) to demonstrate interests that indicate healthy enthusiasm for a variety of experiences and contributions outside of your day-to-day work commitments.

For advice on filling upcoming vacancies or ferreting out your next role please contact Trevor Meadows on 01647 221360.