Monster Survey Reveals Higher Demand for IT Pros

A “Recruiting for IT Talent” survey of U.S. companies conducted by Monster, a worldwide leader in successfully connecting people to job opportunities and flagship brand of Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: MWW), revealed a large majority of employers who hire for IT professionals are likely to hire in the next 60 days. Their hiring activity is primarily driven by staff increases (60 percent) and company expansion (45 percent).

Employers of all sizes are focused on IT roles that support aligning business and technology goals with primary hiring needs; this includes application development (72 percent), database analysis and development (58 percent), Web design/development (57 percent), networking (56 percent), and business intelligence/analytics (55 percent).

“The demand for IT expertise remains relatively stable with employers confident that they will look to fill these types of roles in the near-term,” said Jeffrey Quinn, vice president of Monster’s Global Insights. “Meanwhile, on the job seeker side, the IT jobs viewed on Monster see millions of views each month, indicating high interest by, if not volume of potential candidates seeking employment in this field.”

While the survey revealed nearly one-half (49 percent) of employers were confident in their ability to find the talent they need for all these roles, some hiring challenges remain, including:

A skills gap, with 70 percent of employers reporting the number of qualified candidates available to fill all the opportunities as smaller than the total opportunities, creating increased competition for talent;
Specialized requirements, with 52 percent of employers reporting many of these technical roles are increasingly defined by highly specific skills, further limiting the number of qualified candidates;
An inability to attract talent due to compensation; 52 percent of employers report they are unable to compete on salary alone.

More than one-half (53 percent) of employers responded that there are fewer IT professionals searching for jobs in the U.S. And, nearly half of employers (48 percent) believe IT jobs continue to be outsourced to other countries, a contributing factor to a shrinking number of U.S.-based IT jobs to be available.

For those who may be seeking employment in the IT fields, it’s important to note that the majority of employers (92 percent) feel that careers in IT are promising and rewarding. Additionally these companies believe academic training is not enough (40 percent) while certifications provide an advantage (85 percent). Employers also report that qualifications beyond technical skills that are critical to the assessment of IT talent include communication skills, personality/cultural fit, type of work experience and interpersonal skills.

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