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Hiring Trends in Information Technology2010

Targeting the ideal candidates in an increasingly competitive marketplace

Chris Hood

February 2010

University of Dallas - GSM

The War on Talent Wages On

• Talent management programs are an absolute necessity• Employers must be able to court the “reluctant jobseeker” now more than ever. • HP has created a culture in which managers at all levels are accountable for

managing their talents• Misconception exists that employers can be stubborn with hiring demands• The right employee is still hard to find• Flexibility is key when evaluating any candidate• See the big picture

• Focusing on singular qualifications is not effective• Do not use salary, years experience and the like as singular decision drivers

• Recruit attitude, drive and culture fit over key definitions• "The (best) firms all offer good people, sound methods and a wealth of

experience, but individual chemistry between advisor and client is crucial.“• Source: Global Services Media

100 Best Places to Work in IT 2009: Employee ScorecardWhat are the top-of-mind issues for IT workers at Best Places?

What is Most Important About Your Job?• Working in an enjoyable environment 94% • Being fairly compensated for the work I do 93% • Having access to training and opportunities that

further my skills 88% • Having the means and opportunity to further my

career 86% • Working in a challenging environment 84% • Being able to work with cutting-edge technology

73%

What is the Best Benefit?• Paid vacation 77% • Health insurance 75% • Profit sharing/employee stock-ownership

program/401(k)/403b plan 52%• Flexible hours 46% • Telecommuting 45% • Bonuses 40%

How Do You Rate IT Department Morale?• Excellent 22% • Very good 37% • Working in an enjoyable environment 94% • Good 25%

• Fair 11%

How Do You Rate Job Satisfaction Factors?• 77% are very satisfied or satisfied with their health

benefits

• 77% are very satisfied or satisfied with their flexible hours

• 77% are very satisfied or satisfied with profit sharing or employee stock ownership plans

• 76% are very satisfied or satisfied with their company's training and development programs

• 58% are very satisfied or satisfied with their bonuses

How Do You Rate Workplace Stress Level?• Very stressful 8%

• Stressful 22%

• Somewhat stressful 50%

• Not very stressful 18%

• Not at all stressful 2%

Source: Computerworld.com

10 Hottest IT Titles

1. Security specialist/ethical hacker

2. Virtual systems manager

3. Capacity manager

4. Network engineer

5. Open source specialist

6. Service assurance manager

7. Electronic health records systems manager

8. Sourcing specialist

9. Service catalog manager

10. Business process engineer

Source: NetworkWorld

Note: Hiring trends and industry publications now shy away from specific titles like “Java Developer”, singular technicl skill or proficiency. Versatile consultants are the hot commodity in today’s market. Obtaining the “hot” candidates requires a job title appealing to interest in an industry, vertical or market.

Where We Used to Find Talent

• Job Boards• More effective than ever• Sweet spot (3-7 years experience) candidates harder to find in this space• Excellent source of referrals

• Referrals• It’s not what you know, its who you know

• Industry Groups• Networks• Alumni Organizations

The exciting news: We still use these sources, but they are much easier to connect with based on emerging social technology.

Web 2.0 and Social Media: Putting it all Together

Web 2.0 Defined: web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design,[1] and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Examples of Web 2.0 include web-based communities, hosted services, web applications, social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashups, and folksonomies• The new standard in communication• Real time, documented and dynamic communication standard

Consists of 5 models:

People Creating• Sub-industries & representative companies: blogs (Blogger, Typepad, Wordpress, etc.), user-

generated content (YouTube, MetaCafe, Gather, Helium, etc.), podcasts (Singularity, IT Conversations, In Our Time, etc.)

People Connecting• Sub-industries and representative companies: social networks (MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn,

etc.), virtual worlds (Second Life, Cyworld, OpenSim, WeeWorld)

People Collaborating• Sub-industries and representative companies: wikis (Wikipedia, Conservapedia, wikiHow, etc.),

open-source (Linux, Apache, Firefox)

People Reacting to Each Other• Sub-industries and representative companies: forums (tivocommunity.com,

quickbooksgroup.com, etc.), ratings and reviews (PlanetFeedback.com, epinions, rottontomatoes.com, expotv.com)

People organizing content• Sub-industries and representative companies: tags (Digg, Del.icio.us)

Searching for and Distributing Information

In general, the key characteristics of Web 2.0 are:

• Web-based applications can be accessed from anywhere

• Simple applications solve specific problems • Value lies in content, not the software used to

display content • Data can be readily shared • Distribution is bottom-up, not top-down • Employees and customers can access and

use tools on their own • Social tools encourage people to create,

collaborate, edit, categorize, exchange, and promote information

• Network effects are encouraged; the more people who contribute, the better the content gets

• Information regarding sought after skills are readily apparent

Source: BNet

Go2Web20

Web 2.0 Journal

Finding Talent for Free

WordPress

Recruiter Networks

Twitter

Linkedin

Web2.0 Job Posting Sites – Premium Sites / Premium Results

Recruit 2 Mobile

Jobs 2 Web

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