Finding Skilled Staff Still a Major Concern

Locating experienced people tops the list of staffing concerns for technology executives today, a new survey shows. Nearly one in four (24%) CIOs polled said finding skilled IT professionals is their greatest staffing challenge. Providing employees with adequate skills training ranked a close second, cited by 23% of respondents.

CIOs were asked, “Of the following staffing issues within the IT department, which do you consider to be your greatest challenge as a CIO?”

·      Finding skilled technology professionals.................   24%

·      Keeping skills current............................................. 23%

·      Keeping employees productive................................ 17%

·      Dealing with personality conflicts between employees      11%

·      Developing defined career paths for IT staff members  10%

·      Other...................................................................   5%

·      None/don’t know.................................................    10%

“The need for experienced IT staff has grown in recent years as a result of increased investments by companies in new and updated systems and software,” said Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology, in a statement. “In areas such as Web development, database management, wireless networking and applications engineering, the supply of qualified professionals has not kept pace with the demand, leading to multiple job offers for candidates with the right mix of skills and experience.”

CIOs at the largest firms (1,000+ employees) are having the greatest difficulty locating IT talent: 27% of IT executives from big companies named this their top staffing challenge. At smaller-sized companies, skills development is a greater concern than hiring. Twenty-six percent of CIOs at small companies (100 to 249 employees) said providing adequate training is their biggest concern, above finding qualified IT professionals (22%). (See Table 1 below for a breakdown of response by company size.)

Lee noted that while companies with less staff may lack the budget for formal, in-house training or tuition reimbursement programs, their employees don’t have to forego technical education. Instead, these firms rely on outside trainers and the Web for skills training.