Many businesses across a variety of sectors are already dealing with the repercussions of the IT skills shortage, with many companies having no choice but to leave essential vacancies unfilled while the search continues for the skilled and available IT professional.

In response to this, Computeach's recruitment service has partnered up with leading businesses, including Dell, Siemens, Virgin Media and Cable and Wireless, to provide staff who have already demonstrated an aptitude and enthusiasm for IT. Computeach now offers both the qualifications and experience necessary for career changers to get a foot in the door of the IT industry, whilst helping businesses take a pro-active approach to the skills shortage.

Katie Jansz from Siemens explains, "We have appointed a number of recently qualified IT staff to work across a variety of positions. Many of them have very diverse career backgrounds and have funded their own training to enable their career change. We find that these individuals have a real sense of motivation and accomplishment; some having raced through their training courses, such is their determination to succeed."

MaryAnne Clayton, Head of Recruitment and Careers at Computeach adds, "The majority of our students come from industrial backgrounds, many of whom have never written a CV, attended a formal interview or worked within an office environment. Yet they have demonstrated, through funding their own training courses with us, an ability and drive for IT. This, accompanied with the qualifications they're studying towards, makes them extremely attractive candidates for employers."

Computeach's recruitment team, which is made up of six consultants and two administrators, has just placed its 100th student so far this year. Last year, the team placed one student for every working day of the year and are on target to double that figure in 2008. With over 40 years of experience in the IT Training Industry, Computeach provides innovative and truly blended learning solutions to a wide range of customers. For more information visit www.computeach.co.uk.  

IT contractors have reason to be cautiously optimistic about surviving the current economic crisis. The financial services sector will create more jobs for them than any other sector over the next 12 months.

IT contractors may not have as much confidence in the sector as they used to, but they do believe that it will still be their dominant client by 2009, according to a research conducted by the Giant Group.

The IT hiring freeze and offshoring of IT jobs has left IT departments in big companies significantly thinner. Contractors tend to profit from economic uncertainty, as they are easier to let go than permanent IT employees if things go downhill.

"What we are seeing is a fairly measured response to the downturn," reads a statement from the Giant Group. "Some IT projects which will not yield a short-term return on investment are being given lower priority, but the market hasn’t fallen off a cliff by any means."

"Large organisations [will] strip the 'perm' workforce down, reduce fixed overheads, and look to opt for more project based or ad-hoc staffing solutions, using staff as and when required, in this case potentially contractors," says Nick Hardisty, managing director of Inspired Recruitment, an IT jobs agency.

Matthew Brown, director of the Giant Group, says that there is no sign of panic among contractors, adding: "Sentiment is on the wane, but few are expecting a repeat of the mass bloodletting we saw in the 2001/02 downturn... The general trend in [contractor] joblessness has been upwards. But the proportion of contractors out of work long-term (3 months or more) has remained relatively static at around 4% over the last year. To put this in perspective, 13% of contractors were jobless for three months or more in 2003, so the market is still in reasonable shape."

Talent Technology Corporation, provider of award-winning Resume Mirror resume parsing and extraction software for corporate HR departments, announced the Version 2.0 release of its Oracle iRecruitment Connector for Resume Mirror Extraction Enterprise (RMX Enterprise) today at the Global OHUG 2008 Conference.

“We are excited to feature our latest Oracle iRecruitment Connector here at the Oracle Human Capital Management (HCM) Users Group Conference in Las Vegas,” says Jade Bourelle, CEO, Talent Technology, “The robust system administration capabilities and web browser interface provide a productivity boost to recruiters and hiring managers, allowing them to be “power users”, able to manage their system without heavy reliance on busy IT resources”.

The comprehensive system administration module and enhanced error log handling capabilities of version 2.0 of the Oracle iRecruitment connector enables HR departments to use and maintain their Resume Mirror solution while respecting the workflows, rules and controls that protect the integrity of the core enterprise database.

“Our out-of-the-box integration technology leverages years of development expertise and experience in integrating resume extraction and parsing technologies with our customers’ recruiting solutions ”, said Andrew Cunsolo, Director of RM Product Development, Talent Technology, “RMX Enterprise customers benefit from faster deployment times, easier maintenance and reduced costs with our Oracle iRecruitment Connector”.

RMX Enterprise is delivered as an on-demand hosted service providing advanced resume extraction and resume parsing functionality for users of Oracle iRecruitment. It virtually eliminates the need for manual data entry or manual processing of resumes and dramatically improves the ease with which candidates can apply for jobs on a company’s career portal, resulting in a higher number of quality applicants.

Currently processing millions of candidate resumes every month, RMX Enterprise is the leading solution for companies in the Fortune 1000.

Media, customers, and partners are invited to visit Talent Technology in booth #426 in the Grand Ballroom at OHUG 2008 to learn how Resume Mirror Extraction and Resume Mirror Search can add value to Oracle HCM investments.

Talent Technology will also be co-presenting a session with Sue Sellers from Symantec: Symantec Success with eRecruit and Resume Mirror - Wednesday, June 25, 2008 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm in Room MEC C3.

Resume Mirror Extraction Enterprise is available directly from Talent Technology Corporation. For more information or to schedule a live demo of RMX Enterprise’s Resume Parsing and Extraction technology, visit www.talenttech.com. 

Talent Technology customers should contact Resume Mirror Support at 1.866.919.9989 or rmsupport@talenttech.com for additional information.

About Talent Technology Corporation

Talent Technology Corporation is a leading provider of on-demand applicant tracking and component recruiting technology for the recruiting/staffing industry and corporate HR departments. Our award-winning Resume Mirror products lead the market in providing resume extraction, resume parsing and conceptual resume search solutions for all forms of recruiting systems across all sizes of organizations in all types of industries. Resume Mirror Extraction and Search Technology can be found as embedded components or add-on modules to the world’s leading ERP systems, including Oracle iRecruitment and PeopleSoft Talent Acquisition Manager (TAM). In addition, hundreds of organizations ranging from Fortune 1000 firms to independent recruiting/staffing agencies rely on our products to automate, improve and better manage their sourcing, recruiting and hiring processes. Learn more about Talent Technology at www.talenttech.com.

Wandsworth prison in London has a new vocational learning academy for the inmates, who will get a chance to acquire some networking skills while in prison. 

 

An IT training program was conceived to reduce the IT skills shortage gap and help prisoners learn the skills necessary to perform data cabling and network installation work. The demand for these skills outweighs supply by some 20 percent.

 

Network management company Cisco believes that one in five jobs in this area go unfilled, which amounts to 61,000 jobs in the UK and almost 600,000 across Europe.

The academy at Wandsworth is the latest project to come out of Cisco’s Networking Academies scheme, which was launched in 1997. Since then, it has expanded into 26 prisons in the UK and more than 10,000 institutions in 167 countries.

The academy is a joint project, delivered by Cisco and the HM Prisons Service. The training course will initially be offered to 12 inmates and last 70 hours and 100 offenders are expected to finish the training course by the end of the year. Once they complete the program, they will be interviewed by BeOnsite, a not-for-profit training company. If the interview is a success, they will get a job once they are released.

“We believe it’s imperative that private and public sectors continue to work together – industry, government and academia – in innovative ways to expand the available skill base to ensure the UK prospers long-term. The Academy at HMP Wandworth will develop real-world, in-demand skills helping to prepare inmates for the workplace and therefore reducing re-offending,” said Scot Gardner, Cisco’s UK public sector director.

Skills minister David Lammy said: "The Academy is a demonstration of the power of partnerships coming together to benefit employers, transform offenders’ lives and make society safer by reducing re-offending. I particularly applaud the plan to use Train to Gain to continue to build skills once offenders have left prison, helping deliver long-term benefits for employers and communities… I would encourage all employers to see the business benefits in linking with prisons to get offenders into training and into work."

Even in the current economy, "It's hard to find good help" is an adage to which many information technology (IT) managers can relate. In a new survey, more than three-quarters (77 percent) of chief information officers (CIOs) polled said it is equally or more challenging to find skilled candidates for IT jobs than it was last year.

A majority of respondents (52 percent) attributed their recruiting difficulties to a shortage of qualified workers.

The survey was developed by Robert Half Technology, a leading provider of information technology professionals on a project and full-time basis, and conducted by an independent research firm. It is based on telephone interviews with 1,400 CIOs across the United States.

CIOs were asked, "Is it more or less challenging to find qualified candidates for IT jobs within your firm now compared to 12 months ago?"

Much more challenging 10%

Somewhat more challenging 12%

Just as challenging 55%

Somewhat less challenging 9%

Much less challenging 7%

Don't know/no answer 7%

Those who said it was more challenging to find qualified IT workers also were asked, "What is the primary cause behind the challenge in finding workers for IT jobs within your company?"

A shortage of qualified IT workers 52%

The inability to offer competitive compensation 28%

The inability to offer career advancement opportunities 10%

Other 4%

Don't know/no answer 6% 

"Despite economic uncertainty and a more competitive job market, there are still talent shortages in certain IT specialties, such as applications development, web development and network administration," said Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology. "Employers are struggling to find the most qualified candidates and some are more willing to negotiate higher compensation to get them on board."

Lee noted that recruiters can be a valuable resource for employers seeking the most skilled professionals. "By working with a specialized staffing firm, companies gain immediate access to an extensive network of potential candidates and benefit from a streamlined recruiting process, which ultimately saves them time and ensures projects stay on track," she said.

About the Survey

The national survey was developed by Robert Half Technology, a leading provider of information technology professionals on a project and full-time basis, and conducted by an independent research firm. The survey is based on more than 1,400 telephone interviews with CIOs from a random sample of U.S. companies with 100 or more employees. In order for the survey to be statistically representative and ensure that companies from all segments were represented, the sample was stratified by geographic region, industry and number of employees. The results were then weighted to reflect the proper proportions of the number of employees within each region.

About Robert Half Technology

With more than 100 locations worldwide, Robert Half Technology is a leading provider of technology professionals for initiatives ranging from web development and multiplatform systems integration to network security and technical support. Robert Half Technology offers online job search services at http://www.rht.com.

Leading staffing services firm Veritude has released a new report that shows that IT employees with specific skills are very much in demand and that the talent pool for such professionals is very limited.

The "2008 IT Hiring Trends" report confirms that, despite the recession, companies are aware of the need for highly skilled IT workers with strategic and cultural fits. These workers are now harder to find and keep, with the 2 percent unemployment rate among U.S. college graduates.  

More than half (53 percent) of the IT professionals who were included in the survey expact to raise the number of IT workers this year and 43 percent expect their IT staffing to hold steady. Only four percent of the respondents said that they expected their IT staffing to decrease,  

The survey also reveals that 77 percent of the expected new hires are permanent positions.

Veritude's senior vice president Kate Donovan says:

"Despite recent economic woes across many industries, we are finding that IT jobs are still in high demand with employers continuing to forecast steady growth of IT staffing levels. Many earlier advances in IT were in automating tasks and basic programming. Now employers need on-site IT professionals who can contribute at a strategic level in using IT to achieve and sustain competitive advantages."

As many as 73 percent of companies say that IT job candidates with higher-level business intelligence and enterprise solutions support are the most difficult to find. At the same time, 53 percent of the respondents say that the biggest challenge to IT hiring is finding qualified candidates, while 40 percent of them say that it is finding specific skills.

"In order to be competitive, it is critical that companies overcome the IT hiring challenges that our research has uncovered. In working with our clients to place IT professionals, we have found that cultural fit and flexible work conditions are often key tipping points to attracting and retaining the right candidates and becoming the employer of choice," Donovan says.

40 percent of the IT professionals who expect to increase the number of their IT staff also voiced willingness to work with an outside staffing services provider.The Veritude exec adds: 

"IT is a hot hiring segment now and employers routinely turn to external recruiters and staffing firms in these tight conditions."

To apply for the latest IT consulting jobs, visit out IT job board.  

Consulting and banking may be very popular career choices, but it was Google that was chosen as the most desirable company to work for by MBA students for the second year in a row. These are the results of a new survey by Universum Communications.

Almost a quarter of the 5,769 students who participated in the survey named Google among the top five most desirable companies to work for after graduation. The survey covered students at 52 business schools. Mc Kinsey and Co. and Goldman Sachs came in second and third.

Google's director of global university programs Yvonne Agyvei says that what attracts so many MBA students to Google is that they “really get a lot of responsibility right at the outset. MBAs are looking for the opportunity to make an impact.”

Even though competition for a job with Google is fierce, with MBA students applying in thousands, Google hired hundreds of new MBAs last year alone.

Claudia Tattanelli, CEO of Universum North America, says that the search engine has become a “worldwide name, it is global and it recruits only the best,” adding that the company also treats its employees very well and in fact “has revolutionized how employees are treated. They are famous for keeping employees happy.”

Here are the top 10 companies and percentages of MBA students who listed them: 

 

1. Google 23.65%

2. McKinsey and Co. 15.84%

3. Goldman Sachs 14.98%

4. Apple 13.68%

5. The Boston Consulting Group 12.12%

6. Bain & Company 10.81%

7. Walt Disney 8.83%

8. Nike 8.82%

9. Deloitte 8.11%

10. J.P. Morgan 7.94%

 

Consulting firms in the top 100 include Merrill Lynch (#18), Ernst & Young (#22), Booz Allen Hamilton (#25), PricewaterhouseCoopers (#35), Accenture (#38), KPMG (#51), Mercer Management Consulting (#83) and A.T. Kearney (#96).

 

To apply for the latest consultant roles, please visit our IT consulting job board.

Information technology is still the top choice for future employment at engineering colleges in India for the Class of 2009, according to an AC Nielsen Campus Track T-schools study.

The study included 140 top engineering schools and surveyed students’ attitudes toward recruiting companies and prospective employers.

The top three companies among the students are Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Google and Accenture.

Asked about the top five industry sectors of the future, students listed IT products and services, nanotechnology, management consultancy, energy, oil and gas and finance.

Vatsala Pant, Associate Director, Client Solutions at The Nielsen Company, said:

“Though IT continues to be the favourite among engineering students, we can expect to see them face the heat from unexpected quarters in the years ahead through the resurgence of energy, oil and gas, financial services and banking firms, and an upsurge of nanotechnology.”

IT security professional, network engineer, software tester and web designer are among the ten jobs most likely to survive the current economic slowdown, according to a study conducted by the Learning and Skills Council.

Employment expert Sarah Berry, author of Write a Perfect CV in a Weekend and How to Love the Job You Do, says that IT jobs look set to survive the credit crunch, explaining that IT professionals’ skills will keep being in demand. She points to the growing use of websites and e-commerce and says that these areas will keep needing  computer professionals.

Adding that IT jobs are “fairly secure at the moment," she advises IT employees to become proficient in these skills to safeguard their careers.

"Companies are going to be looking to their employees to have particular skills, rather than bringing in outside people or contractors to do it for them," she concludes.  

 

To browse the latest opportunities in IT consulting, please visit our job board.

CV Screen, a leading UK IT recruitment agency, has conducted a comprehensive study of the IT job market and found that salaries for permanent IT jobs have risen by 4.1 percent over the last 12 months. The average advertised salary for an IT professional is now ₤34,217.

For the purpose of the study, the recruitment agency monitored more than 11,000 IT jobs advertised in the UK in the first quarter of 2008.

CV Screen’s managing director Matthew Iveson said:

“The IT jobs market is holding up well in spite of the wider economic problems. It is likely that as a result of the rising costs of living in the UK that more candidates will seek to move for financial reasons, thus putting further upward pressure on IT salaries.”

He added that there was still a “considerable war for talent” for IT professionals with technical skills in areas such as .Net, C# and PHP and that the “continued high demand for IT professionals has continued to put upward pressure on IT salaries.”

You can get a free copy of the IT Salary Survey on the CV Screen site.