November 29, 2004
(Computerworld)
Recruitment agency officials and corporate CIOs are painting very different pictures of the current outlook for IT hiring.
More than a dozen CIOs and corporate recruiters interviewed last week said their organizations are being prudent about adding full-time IT workers in order to hold down expenses. These companies are typically opting for contract workers to help meet their near-term project and support requirements.
At the same time, executives at recruiting agencies said at this month's Recruiting 2004 Conference in New York that job postings for IT workers have reached the highest levels since the dot-com bust in 2001, signaling a rebound in the U.S. IT job market.
Dennis Callahan, CIO at The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, said "we're close to flat in permanent staff from year to year." Any near-term additions to New York-based Guardian's 401-person IT staff -- which is augmented by 200 offshore IT consultants -- will focus on replacing workers who leave and hiring specialists in technologies like WebSphere and IT security, Callahan said.
Wyndham International Inc. has no plans to expand its 82-person IT department with more full-time staffers, said senior vice president and chief technology officer Mark Hedley. Instead, the Dallas-based hotel chain will round out its workforce with contract workers as needed to meet peak demands. "We have taken a conservative approach on the economy and will match our IT spending with the growth of the company," Hedley said.
Mixed Outlook
That's consistent with the sentiment of other CIOs as economic forecasts continue to be mixed. For example, while some signs, such as the stock market's recent rise, have been positive, a composite index of economic indicators compiled by The Conference Board Inc. fell in October for the fifth consecutive month.
An uncertain economy is a key reason for the increased use of contract IT workers, said conference attendee Peter Weddle, CEO of Weddle's, a research, publishing and recruiting consultancy in Stamford, Conn.
Rick Stockfield, managing partner at Talenthire.com, an Atlanta-based business-to-business online recruiting exchange, said demand for IT workers has increased over the past three to six months. Stockfield cited particularly strong demand for IT auditors in response to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as demand for IT security experts.
While many CIOs remain cautious about adding to their payrolls, there are exceptions. For instance, Science Applications International Corp. in San Diego plans to increase its IT staff by a whopping 29% by early next year -- from 556 to 716 workers -- by adding both full-time and contract employees and by partnering with business units that deliver systems to customers, said CIO Cora Carmody. The company is hiring people with a broad range of skills, including architects, software developers and business analysts.
Juniper Networks Inc., a networking equipment vendor in Sunnyvale, Calif., expects to have an IT staff of 140 people by the end of the year, up from the 70 it had prior to its April acquisition of NetScreen Technologies Inc., said CIO Kim Perdikou. The company added 35 IT personnel from NetScreen and expects to hire 35 more by year's end to help support its growth. Perdikou estimated that Juniper will grow its IT staff by another 10% to 15% in 2005.
Truman Medical Centers Inc. has a few openings for full-time IT workers, said CIO Bill McQuiston. But he said he's somewhat concerned about the Kansas City, Mo.-based organization's ongoing use of contract IT workers to meet some of its short-term needs. The contract workers can't always transfer their knowledge to the health care company before they complete their assignments, McQuiston said.