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Maybe it’s just me, but sometimes I can’t help but scratch my head at some of the conflicting and often contradictory signals in the IT labor market. Some studies point to an overall uptick in hiring for full-time IT staffers. Other reports offer a tepid hiring outlook at best.

There are a few explanations for this. Surveys will yield different results. Plus, there are pockets of strength and weaknesses for various types of IT positions in different regions.

But it’s more than that. The IT jobs scene seems to be a reflection of the current economy which continues to struggle to gain momentum. It’s one step forward, two steps back. Or two steps forward, one step back, depending upon your perspective.

In a recent podcast on the current job market and career opportunities for project managers, John Challenger, the CEO of global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas says the job market for mid-career project managers is the strongest it’s been since the recession peaked in the first half of 2009 and companies are renewing investment in their IT infrastructures and in technology.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean that CIOs are making hiring a top priority. According to 1,586 global CIOs polled under Gartner’s 2010 CIO Agenda, 54 percent of CIOs surveyed claim they don’t have the right mix of skilled staff, yet they don’t list IT hiring as one of their top five priorities. The top three business priorities cited by CIOs polled are improving business processes, cutting enterprise costs and increasing the use of information and analytics in decision making. Only 19 percent listed IT hiring as a top five priority and only 27 percent of CIOs believed they had the right mix of IT skills inhouse.

The survey was conducted between Sept. and Dec. 2009, so it’s not entirely reflective of what the current IT hiring scene is like.

Yet if you talk to CIOs from different industries and geographies, they’ll tell you how tough it is to find people with the right mix of business and technology skills. One CIO for a Midwestern grocery chain recently told me how he’s spent more than six months trying to fill a .Net developer opening. Another IT manager for a government agency in the Southwest says they’re having a lot of trouble finding project managers with the kind of background they require.

So what does the current IT jobs scene look like? I guess it depends who you ask – and where.

Comments (1)

	1. 03-26-2010 22:07
	It has always been a bit of an enigma, but I think you have it with the comment about various pockets of growth. There are certainly different markets which have yet to be really affected by the weakness in the markets. But other positions seem to have continued a downward spiral. I think these surveys all come down to wording (as usual) and should be read with that in mind. Make sure if you are using these surveys to read the question well before trying to analyze the results.    -sean Registered

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