Permanent and contract opportunities in the Irish IT sector are showing signs of positive growth, a survey of the sector by the recruitment firm Rescon has shown.
In the IT sector, permanent opportunities registered by Rescon increased by 44pc during the first quarter of 2003, with an average 11pc increase being shown month on month to September. The main factors behind this, Rescon found, are that software companies are expanding their testing and development teams and that hiring freezes are being steadily lifted by multinationals.
As well as this, the demand for strong technical salespeople has increased twofold. Small to medium-sized companies (SME) are also winning increased business and almost half of Rescon’s clients in the SME sector are increasing staff numbers.
Opportunities are also increasing in the IT contractor market, with an increase in rates for “in-demand skills”. According to Rescon, contract opportunities have increased by 34pc in the last three months due to cost-effectiveness of contractors when a specific job needs to be done and that as a result of hiring freezes, increased workloads make hiring contractors a more attractive option. The skillsets that are most in demand include Oracle, Windows XP/2000, Lotus Notes and enterprise resource processing (ERP) specialisation.
The random survey of professionals in IT, finance and administration found that 54pc of employees are placing an emphasis on health benefits and pension plans instead of bonuses and other job perks.
Across the professional work sector, being overpaid is something that no individual believes is happening. Some 63pc believe their salary package is average in the market, while the remaining 37pc believe they are being underpaid.
PRSAs were taken up only by 27pc of those surveyed. Almost half did not avail of the PRSA because they already had a pension, 16pc did not know if their company was providing the service and 17pc did not pursue a PRSA due to lack of understanding. A further 4pc did not bother with a PRSA because they admitted they were too lazy.
By John Kennedy