Monday, February 20, 2012

IT professionals insecure in jobs

IT professionals are uncertain about their futures in their current jobs and could be planning to jump ship, according to research conducted in the UK, from Star, a provider of on-demand computing and communication services.

IT professionals insecure in jobs

Star has said that this employee insecurity could lead to a company brain drain, leaving organisations without the technical leadership they need to return to growth.

Twenty-two percent of survey respondents said that they believe their current position to be secure for no more than 12 months - making it likely at least one in five is actively looking for a job at any given time.

Only half of the IT professionals surveyed by Star said that they are currently employed full-time by the company for which they are working.

"Current levels of IT job insecurity are helping no-one" said Paul Watson, interim CEO of Star. "IT professionals are moving from job to job, thanklessly trying to maintain legacy systems inherited from their predecessors - systems that are quickly becoming obsolete. They know they are adding little in the way of business value and are often not privy to plans regarding their future. The situation is morale sapping and the resulting churn puts both business continuity and business recovery at risk."

The company also said that IT professionals concerned about job security should be acquiring the management skills needed for the cloud computing era.

Twenty-three percent of job-seeking IT professionals consider strategy and 19% consider analysis to be the most important management skills for IT professionals yet most are more interested in improving their technical rather than their management capabilities, according to Star.

The large majority of university degrees held by IT professionals, 77%, are technology rather than business or management based, showing that there is a skills gap even among one of the most highly talented professions.

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