Posted

Anyone working in the IT industry knows that good jobs have been hard to come by in recent years. Rather than hiring, companies have been promoting from within, eliminating non-essential positions, requiring overtime, and even laying off employees or outsourcing temporary work overseas in order to cut costs while times were lean. That trend looks to be coming to an end – not a moment too soon for out of work IT professionals or those who are looking for career changes and/or advancement.

According to a survey by Robert Half Technology, 20 percent of the companies surveyed have plans for IT department growth in 2012. However, this is a mixed bag of IT hiring news as 10 percent of the companies surveyed are planning cuts. This leaves a net gain of 10 percent of companies with plans to hire IT professionals in 2012, which, in its own right, is cause for celebration.

Of course this is not a sign that all is well in the struggling IT industry. It is an indication that life is coming back into the industry. While overall employment is on the rise certain skills are more “in demand” than others. The strongest demand among those that were going to be hiring in the Robert Half Technology survey was for IT professionals who have network administration skills.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that the competition for high-level IT positions is fierce. The dot-com bust of 2006 left an excess of talented and experienced IT professionals jobless. IT professionals who really want to expand their employability would be wise to consider seeking IT positions for retail and/or manufacturing fields rather than limiting their job searches to IT firms. This gives them a greater pool to draw from and, in some cases, less competition for the available positions.

According to Dice.com global IT spending is expected to increase by 7.1 percent in 2012. That’s well above the original estimate that there would only be a 5.6 global increase in IT spending. Even better is the news that comes from the Society for Information Management where it was revealed that “boosting productivity and cutting costs” have fallen from first place to fourth in priorities for IT companies. Perhaps the most important bit of news to be found on the Dice.com blog relates to outsourcing as many companies have decided against outsourcing jobs offshore during 2012.

The IT industry as a whole has enjoyed quite a few highs and lows over the past decade. Now is a time where the industry is looking to pick up the pace and move on to bigger and brighter things ahead. The recession isn’t over but 2012 is definitely looking brighter for those in the IT industry. Get a jump start on your IT career when you sign up for contract work with TempStaff today!


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *