New IT job opportunities increase by 32pc this year


14 Nov 2006

Good news for students in technology disciplines: the Irish IT jobs market is buoyant, with new job opportunities up by 32pc this year.

According to Rescon IT’s 2006 Salary Survey, the number of new jobs is a 4pc improvement on last year’s figures. Rescon described the IT recruitment market as “busy, with steady increases in the number of new employment opportunities”.

The main growth from 2005 to 2006 was recorded in the second quarter of this year and has been climbing steadily since then, Rescon said. The number of new jobs has increased, on average, by 6.8pc throughout the second half of this year.

Overall, 22pc of companies said they were having trouble attracting IT specialists with specific skillsets, such as solutions architects, IT relationship managers, security auditors, business intelligence experts and ERP implementation specialists. Most in demand were advanced Oracle and .net development skills. Demand was greatest for those with lots of experience and qualifications, with more than 80pc of companies saying that they were having difficulties in sourcing senior IT staff.

Rescon also surveyed 10 universities and colleges around Ireland and found that just one third (33pc) had filled all of the places on their IT and computer courses. However, four out of 10 institutes said there was an overall increase of places accepted on IT courses.

In terms of qualifications, graduates with BScs in software engineering and in computer applications are the most desirable for prospective employers, Rescon found, with diplomas in software engineering coming in close behind.

When asked what was the deciding aspect when considering a new job, location was listed as one of the most influential factors by 34pc of candidates. Nessa Butler, managing director of Rescon IT, commented: “The fact that 34pc of candidates have mentioned location as a deciding factor clearly reflects workers frustration with long commutes to and from the work place.” Salary, not surprisingly, was the single most important deciding factor among 40pc of those surveyed.

The contracting market also grew by 33.5pc from June 2005 to this year, following “unprecedented growth” of 36pc in the previous year, Rescon said. The company attributed this rise mostly to the investment in IT by some of Ireland’s major multinationals. “Trends in IT spend appear to be up on predictions from the previous year. Over 80pc of Rescon’s clients have indicated significant spend on IT in 2006, relative to the company size. Hence, the contracting market continues to gain ground,” the report said.

By Gordon Smith