News
Study: Jobs Are Out There
There are some good tidings for those who think the slowing economy is translating to even fewer IT jobs.
According to a report recently released
by the independent certification company CompTIA, IT staffing is one of
the top issues facing CIOs and HR professionals.
“Keeping pace with technology is no longer the most frequently cited
challenge facing CIOs,” the report states. The top issues include keeping
IT staff up-to-date (66 percent), finding qualified staff (58 percent)
and retaining quality staff (50 percent).
In addition, the study found that one in 12 IT positions (of the average
25 IT positions at a typical company with revenues of more than $20 million)
remains unfilled and that open jobs tend to remain as such for more than
a month and a half.
What are CIOs doing about this problem? Well, one thing they aren’t doing
is depending on recruiters, the report states. Rather, they’re turning
to local and national advertising and Internet job banks and putting their
recruitment resources toward training staff.
There’s also increasing CIO support for certification. Fifty-one percent
(compared to 41 percent in 1999) perceive value in certification by an
independent IT industry association, and 57 percent say they’re willing
to pay more for certified professionals. In fact, more than half of CIOs
(51 percent) and HR professionals (54 percent) said they’d hire a new
technician with certification and no professional work experience. But
47 percent of CIOs and 38 percent of HR professionals also said they highly
value internships for new technicians.
You can read about all the study’s findings at www.comptia.org/aboutus/pr/pr011003.htm.
About the Author
Kristen McCarthy is Senior Editor, Reviews of MCP Magazine.