By Natasha Lomas, 27 November 2007 15:31
NEWS
Employers looking to recruit IT staff are facing tough times ahead, says recruitment industry body ATSCo, as the number of techies prepared to change jobs has fallen dramatically.
The proportion of IT workers looking for a new job or open to changing their existing one has dropped to 28 per cent in the last quarter, compared to close to half (42 per cent) a year ago, according to research from SkillsMarket/Association of Technology Staffing Companies which polled 5,000 workers.
Skills Survey 2007
Find out the exclusive results of this year's silicon.com Skills Survey:
♦
Are CIOs getting less cash?
♦ How the staffing crisis is deepening
♦ How techie salaries are faring
♦ Offshoring still a hot potato
♦ Banks hardest hit by staff crisis
♦ Industry falling out of love with IT grads
This shrinking pool of IT candidates could exacerbate skills shortages, said ATSCo, and may also drive wages up as employers compete to win the best staff on offer.
Ann Swain, chief executive of ATSCo, said in a statement: "Demand for IT skills is still high, so if people are reluctant to change jobs employers may need to offer more generous compensation packages than they have budgeted for in order to get the skills they need."
Greater levels of job inertia among techies may also have implications for training since workers are more likely to acquire new skills by changing jobs, meaning employers may have to spend more on training, said ATSCo.
One of the reasons IT staff may have become less keen to move on could be down to the increasing value of share options they have acquired, it added.
Swain said: "Share options in web start-ups are potentially much more valuable now. People have seen the big web 2.0 acquisitions and think the company they work for might be next. It's definitely had an impact on labour market mobility."
Expanding training opportunities and boosting the skills of the UK workforce is an ongoing focus for government. The Department for Innovation, Skills and Universities this week announced an expansion to its business training support programme, Train to Gain, which includes a funding boost for SME management training - from £4m per year to £30m per year, which it says will support some 60,000 key directors and managers in around 42,000 companies over the next three years.
Comments
There are 5 comments. Join the discussion
1. Richard Reece
I keep reading how IT pay is going up but it always seems to be somewhere else. Whenever I look round I see project managers on 60k but adverts for "London (City)- Banking. IT Analyst. Must have CCIE, MCSE, PhD in Agile Programming Methods (Oxbridge pref) and have 25 yrs' experience. Sal:20k plus excellent bens"
2. Anthony Hunt
Pay increases, or just recruit untrained staff and muddle on?
I know what normally happens and it isn't pay increases.
I feel fairly well paid, but I live in Kent and neither need nor want to commute. Travelling into London for a larger salary would be a last resort for me. I prefer having my family life and a holiday every couple of years.
3. Matt Horwell
I appear to be seeing the same adverts as Richard. Living in the Midlands seems to equate to living in an IT Black Hole! I don't see any 'well paid' jobs in Staffordshire. Never mind the North South divide, I seem to be in the Midlands Crevass!
I'd be willing to move into another IT job, even if the money is no better than I'm on now... however there's just no positions to move into!
4. anonymous
I see the same ads as Richard as well !
I've come to the conclusion that the only way to get passed the "have enough boxed been ticked" filter is to LIE ! No-one in their right minds with the skills listed for many of these jobs is going to consider them at teh pay being offered - so I am forced to conclude that the agencies have come to expect candidates to 'exaggerate' their skills, and in response 'exaggerate' the requirements.
The end results is, I suspect, that the agencies (and hence the employers they are seeking to service) are missing out on the capable but honest people (like myself, blush) with ethics standards that bar us from applying for these jobs that we apparently are not qualified for.
So I too am wondering where all these high paid jobs are - because I am not seeing them :-(
5. Arunn Ramadoss, Micro Focus
A more static workforce will, by its very nature, acquire a narrower skills base than a more mobile one, and this in turn will serve to further increase the problem at the heart of the current crisis; that there are insufficient numbers of workers with expertise in a number of crucial areas.
Whilst most major corporations continue to rely upon their existing IT infrastructure in their day-to-day tasks, those equipped with the skills to deal with these systems are quickly approaching retirement. Most Universities have moved away from teaching essential and widely used skills like COBOL, leaving the graduates without skills to replace these retiring experts. Recent research has shown that more than three-quarters of CIOs expect the recruitment of programmers with the skills to maintain these systems to be a key focus of their IT departments over the next five years.
Shortages of professionals in this and in other key areas show that more needs to be done to ensure that IT workers are proficient in those skills most required by businesses. Organisations conducting their own training may go a short way towards achieving this. But it is vital for organisations to realise the need for proper succession planning, and working with government and vendor led initiatives to support Universities to ensure future supply of skills to meet their business requirements.
Unless adequate steps are taken between the industry, government and academic establishments to bridge these gaps today, a catastrophic skills shortage will be inevitable in future.