Communications of the ACM
Full-Time IT Hiring is Gaining Ground, Finally
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Heading into 2015, the odds of success in the job hunt appear to be improving for IT professionals with in-demand skills. The economy added 321,000 jobs overall in November 2014 and IT hiring was part of the upswing. According to Foote Associates, an IT labor analyst and research firm, the number of new IT jobs stood at 17,300 in November, compared to 12,900 in October. Similarly, Janco Associates, a consulting firm that tracks IT hiring, reported a gain of 12,700 IT jobs in November, compared to 6,900 in October.
The differences between the Foote and Janco IT employment numbers reflect the categories of U.S. Labor Department data each uses to create their analyses. But both show an uptick and the analysts agree on what the findings show: November was a good month for hiring in general and IT hiring in particular. There are several trends that are underlying the employment gains. When the economy turned down in 2008, many firms shed IT workers, along with many others, and then shifted to consulting firms and contract workers to fill gaps and take on new projects. Firms are now systematically replacing consultants with full-timers as well as expanding their staffs.
The IT professionals that employers are most actively seeking fall into several areas. Employers want people with business and technical skills, analysts, architects and software engineers, as opposed to traditional infrastructure jobs. People with specialized skills, such security or data analytics, are also in demand, and that's been reflected in the willingness of companies to pay premiums for certain types of certifications. In Foote's analysis, the monthly IT job gains in November were the second largest of the year, following September 2014, at 22,700 new jobs.
From Computerworld
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