Recruitment firm Hudson says 25 percent of employers in the IT industry intend to hire more permanent staff in the coming three months. The latest “Hudson Report: Hiring Expectations” shows the IT sector also leads among other industries, such as professional services, manufacturing, retail, construction/property/engineering and government, in their perception of hiring expectations.
The report says having carefully managed their businesses through the recession, employers are now starting to shape their organisations for future growth. At the same time, the report states that government organisations are investing in large enterprise resource planning systems that will generate increased demand for IT services for vendors.
Karyn Andreassend, who heads Hudson’s IT practice in New Zealand, says this upturn, however, has to be
viewed realistically.
She says while employers in IT are expecting to take on more staff, the total headcount will be less than from two years ago. “It is not a sudden increase of projects or increase in new headcount being signed off,” she says.
People have had to live with fewer staff and now they are able to get a clear picture of the actual status of their companies and organisations, they are able to put a business case for new staff.
She says that for people in existing leadership roles – whether as CIO or CTO – it is "absolutely crucial to take a true holistic snapshot of what their staff engagement is”.
She says the market will pick up, but not in terms of the skills shortage from 2006 and 2007. She believes that within organisations, "There will be opportunities for people eventually to look at other roles."
“The relationship with the manager [and the staff] at the coalface is very, very important,” she says. “CIOs who do [manage] that, are going to face less turnover than those who don’t.”
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