IT Hiring Heats Up

Recruiting, hiring and retaining top-notch information technology employees into government is about to get even more competitive with the private sector, as demand for such workers heats up, a new Dice survey suggests. The survey of nearly 850 human resource managers and recruiters who primarily hire IT professionals found that 60 percent of hiring managers and recruiters expect to step up hiring in the first half of 2011. Of those, 45 percent project they will increase hiring by at least 10 percent, while another third anticipate increases of 11 percent to 20 percent. Fifteen percent expect to bring in 21 percent to 30 percent more tech workers.

The most in-demand skills for 2011 include developers for java, .net, software, web and mobile, as well as project managers, business analysts, business intelligence professionals and those with SAP expertise, Dice found. "Number ten on the list stands apart -- security analysts," the report states. "This shows recognition of the increasing number of threats companies face and the shortage of experience in the field to deal with those threats."

Despite the demand for IT workers, however, finding such talent is becoming harder, respondents noted. Forty-six percent of those surveyed reported that filling positions is taking more time relative to last year, largely because of the inability to find qualified technology professionals. This could result in more calls from headhunters to technology employees, creating more pressure on retention and likely compensation, the study noted.

Salaries for tech workers have either risen slightly or remained flat over the past year, Dice found. Fifty-two percent of respondents indicated that salaries for existing tech staff have been flat over the past year, while 41 percent said salaries have risen at least slightly. Salaries for new hires have not changed much either, with 55 percent of respondents saying salaries for new employees have stayed the same, and 26 percent saying they are slightly higher than last year.

Wired Workplace is a daily look at issues facing the federal information technology workforce. It is written by former Government Executive reporter Brittany Ballenstedt and published on Nextgov.com. Click here to read the latest entries.