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IT Recruitment February 2010
IT News |
09/02/2010
An exit from recession, as provisionally reported last month by the Office for National Statistics, is only likely to prove positive for the IT recruitment market.
UK firms are well aware of the pressing need to upgrade their legacy technology, and to hire specialists capable of maximising the benefits of IT, but other more immediate priorities emerged as the downturn ensued.
However, as companies look to plan their growth strategies for the coming months and years, IT investment ? both in terms of technology and personnel ? is well and truly back on the agenda.
A rise in the number of IT placements has already been witnessed this year, according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG.
Their latest monthly Report on Jobs noted that IT was the best-performing sector out of seven studied in terms of permanent hiring levels.
IT also created the second largest number of temporary roles, as many employers turned to contractor recruitment to quickly obtain IT expertise.
Based upon researcher discussions with recruiters, the REC says the sector's performance would have been even more impressive had it not been for the widespread snow and ice in early and mid-January.
Adding his view, KPMG partner and head of business services Bernard Brown said the jobs market was "continuing its journey back to health".
"Placements of permanent and temporary jobs have been rising again in January although at a slower pace than a month before, a reminder that the road to recovery will be bumpy," he added.
Ashdown Group director John Lynes echoed this cautious stance, after the recruiter's jobs index contradicted the Report of Jobs by witnessing a 1.32 per cent fall in IT recruitment activity.
He explained that after November 2009 witnessed high demand for such professionals, a minor tail-off in vacancies has been seen over the last two months.
However, Mr Lynes urged employers to keep sight of the overall market picture ? which remains highly positive.
"My forecast for 2010 is that IT skills, especially software development, will be the most 'in demand' skills in most businesses," he commented.
With more and more firms investing in technologies such as virtualisation and cloud computing, the value of skilled IT professionals will only become more apparent as the year progresses.
Posted by Jon Aspinell
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