How to Win the Talent War
By Esther Shein
Times are good for technology workers looking for a new job or just entering the workforce. Already one of the fastest-growing industries in the U.S. economy, the tech sector will continue to expand, thanks to the ongoing innovation in computer systems design.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of computer programmers and information systems experts is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2014. Consequently, the demand for managers to oversee these workers and systems administrators will also increase.
In addition, replacements will be needed for info-tech workers who retire or move into other occupations. Unemployment for skilled IT professionals is currently less than 2 percent, experts say, and situation will only tighten over the next 10 to 15 years as baby boomers retire from the workforce.
The Coming Talent Gap
At the same time, there has been a marked decrease in the number of people graduating from school with technology degrees since 2000, studies show. "My hypothesis is that IT has been less of an attractive area after the dotcom bubble burst," observes Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology, a staffing firm in Menlo Park, Calif.
"It is absolutely getting more challenging -- not only in the identification of the right talent but the attraction," says David Bair, national vice president of KForce Technology Staffing in Tampa, Fla. "The reality is, the number of individuals available to do the jobs is not enough. There continue to be gaps."
Tory Soli, president and senior managing partner at I.T. Staffing Services in Phoenix, Ariz., offers another theory on the unsatisfied demand for IT workers. "A lot of companies outsourced to India and got cheap labor, but found it wasn't working [that well] and are taking things back in-house,"' says Soli. (article continues)
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