9.25.2002
A recent dispatch from the Aquamarine Fairy, our correspondent from the front line of the employment wars!
"Recently, I have been fielding calls from recruiters and noticed a new trick. They are trying to find out if I rent or own my home where I am living. For example. one recruiter asked me on the Tuesday after the Labor Day weekend: "So, how was your weekend? Did you spend it doing yard work". I was only suspicious at that time, but I just got hit with the same crap today from a different recruiter who asked me if the rain we were having today would be helping my grass grow. Why all the sudden interest in my flippin "lawn"? It never stops with these jerks! ... Now, what difference does it make if I own my own home? Does that make me more vulnerable to needing a job and being negotiated downward...?"
Maybe it does. But a good Job Fairy like Aquamarine has a real big... slush fund. ;> So tactics like these are just annoying to us. Just a heads up that recruiters are trying to extract whatever concessions they can at YOUR expense. Remember, there is enough of a shortage of the truly qualified IT personnel that their prices to the employer haven't dropped as much as you'd think. Since there is less volume, they're trying to get a bigger margin on each piece of business. Try to think of it as just business, not take it personally, and that it really doesn't have anything to do with you. But don't reveal any personal details to a recruiter or potential employer that might give them an advantage.
9.24.2002
"Demand for IT Workers Drops SharplyBy Roy Mark
The U.S. IT workforce has grown less than one percent since the start of the year, while the demand forecast by IT hiring managers for new workers has dropped sharply according to a newly released update to the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) annual workforce study, Bouncing Back.
The Arlington, Va.-based ITAA's quarterly update finds that the overall size of the IT workforce has grown by a net 85,437 positions since January, from 9,895,916 to 9,981,353. Employers added 782,466 IT workers and dismissed 697,029 IT workers during the period.
The update also found that hiring managers have adjusted their 12-month hiring outlook considerably since earlier in the year. In January, these individuals indicated their intent to fill 1.1 million IT positions over the subsequent 12 months but by July, the volume of demand had dropped by 27 percent, to 834,727.
At the same time, the study found that the rate of hirings to dismissals of IT workers improved substantially over the previous 12 months, moving to a net gain compared to full year 2001 in which dismissals exceeded hirings.
"Today's survey results are one more indication that where the overall economy may be recovering, the IT marketplace is still coping with recession," said ITAA President Harris N. Miller. "Hiring managers appear to be less bullish than at the start of the year -- even as many forecasters have predicted an IT industry turnaround in 2003. My concern is that a sluggish job market today could turn off many prospective information systems and computer science students, resulting in rampant IT talent shortages a few years down the road."
Included among the more notable findings of the ITAA quarterly update are:
- Despite the uncertain economic outlook, the worst may be over for currently employed IT workers. The number of IT worker dismissals has dropped substantially in the last 12 months. Between January and December 2001, companies released 2.6 million IT workers or more than 218,000 per month. Between July 2001 and June 2002, the monthly total dropped to 116,000. According to the ITAA report, this suggests that companies may have made the cuts necessary to their IT worker rolls and current employment levels are in tune with current economic realities;
- IT jobs are harder to get. Companies hired far fewer IT workers in the last 12 months. Between January and December 2001, companies hired 2.1 million IT workers, compared to 1.6 million workers between July 2001 and June 2002. Hiring dipped 25 percent during this tracking period;
- IT companies are hiring fewer workers. At the start of the year, IT companies (as opposed to companies not primarily in the IT business) accounted for almost 20 percent of all IT worker hiring. By July, that percentage had dropped to less than five percent. Hiring by large IT companies is off 85 percent and hiring by small IT companies is off by 79 percent. This suggests, according to the report, that IT companies continue to be buffeted by unfavorable economic conditions, and that IT job prospects are more favorable outside of the IT industry;
- IT workforce growth will remain relatively flat through 2002. If current hiring trends hold, the total U.S. IT workforce will reach just over 10 million workers by yearend, 10 percent below expectations earlier in 2002;
- Tech support specialists remain the most often hired workers. Of 440,282 IT workers hired in the last three months, almost one-third 147,649 were in the tech support category. Web developers were the next most popular hiring category, with 93,410 added to work rosters, followed by network design/administrators with 47,463;
- Top skills holding stead. Top in-demand skills haven't changed much since the release of the Dice Tech Skills Profile, compiled for the ITAA from dice.com job listings data. Hard tech skills including C++, Oracle, SQL and Java remain at the top of the list, and demand for these skills has held steady or increased slightly.
"ITAA's findings indicate that IT hiring managers have adjusted their initial expectations for 2002 to the current economic situation. Most interesting are the findings that the rate of layoffs has declined and that even in a tech recession, companies, especially those outside the IT industry, still need skilled technology professionals," said Scot Melland, president and CEO of Dice.
The update, sponsored by Dice, complements ITAA's annual study, intended to present data that better reflect current market conditions. ITAA contracted with Market Decisions Corp. of Portland, Ore., to collect the workforce statistics. The survey is based on telephone interviews with 300 hiring managers, selected at random at IT and non-IT companies. Results have sampling variability of plus or minus 6 percent at the 90 percent confidence level."
Despite all the chatter about a double-dip recession, maybe the worst is over for those in the IT field. But you should think about pursuing technical jobs in non-technology fields, such as in the medical services or products sectors. That section of the economy didn't seem to be as hard hit, and it's recovered nicely. Plus, with all the aging boomers, anything to do with healthcare should be solid for years to come.
9.22.2002
You Say Economic Downturn Like It's Such a Bad Thing!
Sure, you can be a gloomy Gus and focus on all the negative aspects of this recession, such as losing your job, your car, or your house. But what about all the fun things? Here's why us Job Fairies in Colorado LOVE the current economic climate:
- Hardly any Looky-Lou recruiters calling you for jobs that don't exist. In fact, the overall number of recruiters has decreased, and pretty much only the ones with a clue/skills/real connections are left.
- Being able to get a seat in any of the good restaurants on a Friday or Saturday night without waiting. Now that all the Californians are gone, you don't have to spend for valet parking, either!
- If jobs are posted, they're most likely real jobs. Recruiters no longer have much time to fool around with those resume database stuffing maneuvers of yore.
- There is now an ACTUAL shortage of people with certain specific technical skills, as opposed to the line that employers have been mouthing for years in order to bring in cheap H1B labor. Be careful what you wished for, employers; now you have it.
- Not having to worry about how all your friends are laid off and can't get jobs (they're all Fairies, so they get new positions quickly even under current conditions).
- Being able to confirm, beyond the shadow of a doubt, which people are value-adds in the IT career field and which were only dead weight.
- Lots of available parking downtown. (Gee, guess all the Texans must have gone home too!)
- Mortgage rates are the lowest they've been in decades. I've already saved over 100K in interest costs over the life of my loan - and I'm about to refinance again!
- Car deals out the wazoo. Seems like everyone and their cousin is offering some 0% financing arrangement. And salespeople are treating their customers with the respect they deserve these days.
- Last, but not least: Remember former President Clinton's remark about the haves and the have nots? Well, we REALLY enjoy that our exes are all doing so much worse than any of us are right about now...!
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