Every month we record the volume of skills in demand in roles advertised on our site, which provides a strong indication of the state of the market.

We are pleased to report that since the beginning of 2010, the number of roles advertised on site has remained consistent.

As per the first half of the year, IT manager and IT support roles represent the highest proportion of jobs on the site. Other core skills in demand include: software developers, SQL and project managers.

Contract positions continue to rise, currently accounting for approximately 30 percent of jobs advertised.

Demand for IT security roles continues to witness an increase, representing growth in non-core areas, and an indication of the skills that IT pros should be seeking to master from a training perspective.

And here’s an insider’s tip for you: when it comes to job applications, summer tends to witness a seasonal lull. However this trend does not apply for jobs on the market. That means if you want to get ahead, now is a great time to apply.

Everyone’s been talking about Apple’s latest trophies: the ipad and the iphone 4.

Unfortunately the latter appears to be experiencing some ‘technical difficulties’, yet according to an article on Computer Weekly today, they’re not going to recall it. How gutted would you be!

The ipad, on the other hand, has been much more successful. (And John Allen has already shared his thoughts on it).

It just looks like a giant iphone and at first I thought it appeared a bit cumbersome to be a handheld device or that it might accidentally just slide off your lap. But when I managed to get my hands on my mate’s for a test drive, I must say I was more than a little envious!

The ipad has certainly been making an impression amongst IT professionals too. In the first month the ipad was launched, visits to the site via this gadget increased by 571%.

Not surprising, I hear you say, considering this device did not exist before.

So one month on, how are the stats looking? Still increasing.

So what if you don’t have spangley new £429 ipad?

The top 5 mobile platforms used to visit the site (including the % increase) are:

1) iPhone + 28.54%
2) Android + 16.35%
3) iPad 21.24%
4) Blackberry + 15.14%
5) iPod + 18.52%

At the other end of the spectrum, visits to the site from an old Nokia are down 42.9%.

Old skool Nokias are definitely out, the ipad is officially the hottest new thing since the Ferrari 458 Italia.

And if you specialise in developing mobile devices, you know where to go

Since England’s exit from the World Cup, there has been a 23 percent increase in employment searches online, according to Experian Hitwise , the leading global online competitive intelligence service.

And, it seems the IT community has played its part in this trend. Reinforcing the Hitwise statistic, we carried out our own research – analysing the two weeks pre- and post-England’s knockout against Germany .

Comparing the week before and after the match, the .co.uk site saw an 18 percent increase in natural search traffic, and a 10 percent rise in total site visits. Did the World Cup distract IT pros from their job searches? Or did they choose to just put their hunting on hold?

When it came to the all important CVs, there was a 20 percent increase in new CVs being uploaded to the site, and 25 percent of existing CVs were updated.

Therefore the stats suggest that the World Cup acted as a real distraction from UK job searching; with the IT sector proving to be no exception.

However, our recent World Cup survey highlighted tournament fever was failing to distract UK IT departments, with the majority stating that they would not call in sick for any of the games. But this doesn’t seem to be the case when it comes to IT pros’ job searches.

Since the Germany Vs England match, The IT Job Board.co.uk has seen a real increase in site visits, and in the number of CVs being uploaded and updated online. Perhaps an early bath for the team has stimulated movement in a traditionally sluggish summer period.

Maybe if we’d stayed in a bit longer, we could have procrastinated a bit more. Now, don’t even get me started on goal line technology…

Election fever has officially hit the UK, and with all the talk of online polls, Twitter and other social networking tools being used to fuel debate, The IT Job Board decided to investigate how these new channels are adding a different dimension to the 2010 election campaign.

A new era

68% of IT professionals revealed that they have been following the television debates between the three main parties in this election campaign. Some even informed us they felt that the television debates have made it the most interesting election for decades.

Survey respondents also divulged that they use a combination of online news channels and traditional print newspapers to keep up to date with election news.

Our survey base confirmed that the main advantages of using new mediums such as Twitter are:

• Speed – instant updates
• Opinion – gathering the diverse viewpoints
• Debate – interact in live discussion

IT professionals in our survey also felt that social mediums are helping to engage a younger audience who have shown no previous interest in politics and represent a huge step forward from the traditional approach.

70% also stated that each political party has had to become more web savvy in order to attract the modern voter.

All talk and no action

However there was a general consensus: there is obvious scepticism towards all parties in general.

Faced with the question of whether any of the parties’ manifestos will have a positive effect on the IT and technology industry:

• 32% stated yes, if they actually keep their promises
• a further 34% stated they were not sure

In addition, 45% do not believe any of the parties’ plans will play a positive role in the number of IT jobs and 30% claimed no party would offer support for the IT and technology industry.

Therefore each party has a lot of work to do in convincing IT professionals that they can make a difference.

The way forward

Although news broadcasters are still the channel of choice for IT professionals, one survey participant summed it up nicely:

“The 2010 election has taken a refreshing approach to getting people involved and generally modernising their approach in reaching the general public and getting varying age groups and people involved.”

The IT Job Board has posted a couple of blogs in the past around the subject of professional networking as an emerging tool for job hunting. We decided to dig a little deeper into this new phenomenon and find out exactly how IT professionals are using these sites and how successfully they are doing so.

Use and abuse

So everyone’s talking about professional networking sites and anyone who’s anyone has signed up for an account. But what are IT professionals using these sites for?

While some (23.7%) use it to ask questions regarding a specific topic in their field of work that could help them with their day to day roles and gather opinions from their peers, most revealed they only joined because everyone else has (22.6%) and even admitted that they don’t really know how to use it.

The most common motivation for signing up to these sites was to build a profile of business contacts (52.8%). But what is the point of having all these business contacts if you are not using them for anything?

When asked if they use these sites to look for a job the response was near enough 50:50. Surprisingly, of those that do use this medium to search for jobs, 77% informed us that they do change their status to active when looking for a job. Given that you are generally connected to many of your current colleagues on professional networking sites, my personal concern would be that your current employer would see this.

However, 83% of our survey base was actively looking when they participated in the research, which could suggest that a good number of these respondents are out of work in which case you have no employer to hide anything from.

Those that do use it, do so regularly with people checking the site multiple times a day (21.5%), once a day (27.2%) or a couple of times a week (27.2%). Hardly anyone selected less frequently.

Bitter sweet success

But, as they say, the proof is in the pudding, and just under 80% revealed that they had never landed a job through one of these sites.

So where are candidates finding jobs?

Interestingly the channels ranked the highest by candidates were more direct (job boards & rec cons) whereas traditional mediums such as print were voted the lowest, but even online magazines were not rated highly.

As it turns out, LinkedIn and other such sites do have had a dedicated jobs section of which I was totally unaware. But perhaps the reason for its limited success is due to the fact these sites are global making it difficult to find jobs or candidates in your area and that they are not specialised enough.

The future is in our hands

Professional networking sites do not, therefore, seem to be a key channel for candidates when it comes to job hunting. Survey respondents revealed that the main routes for IT professionals finding a job remained job boards (41.6%) and recruitment consultants (29.5%).

Yet over 70% stated that they believe the use of professional networking in the job seeking process will only continue from strength to strength and is not just a fad that will disappear altogether. Now all we need to do is work out how to use it properly…

Back in December 2009 The IT Job Board predicted that wedding bells would be ringing for IT recruitment and the financial sector in 2010 following the results of a survey that revealed this sector as the perfect match for IT jobs.

At the start of the year there were anecdotal rumblings that this was set to be a reality and that the rumoured love affair between the financial sector and IT jobs would go the distance. Was it just a fling? We wanted to discover if our attempt at matchmaking paid off.

Making Up

An article published in the Financial Times last week reported a 60% increase in job vacancies in the square mile. A recent report by KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Council (REC) also reported strong jobs growth across the board. But what about IT finance jobs?

Valentine’s Day marked the Q1 half way line so now that the roses have wilted and chocolates eaten, has the love affair between IT jobs and the financial sector also had it’s day?

Kyle Halsey of specialist IT recruitment consultancy Madison Black reported that ‘things are looking much better, particularly in this sector. But although there is a lot more interest and commitment, most of it is speculative with clients carefully considering where to increase headcount in Q2.’

So did we come on too strong with our predictions or were we right to announce a match made in heaven?

Taking things slowly

Halsey went on to explain that ‘the year got off to a slow start due to extended Christmas breaks and the snow. February is already much busier than January with contracts on the increase. Permanent IT jobs still make up the vast majority.’

So what’s the reality for finance?

A match made in heaven?

But when it comes to marrying the financial sector and IT recruitment Halsey is the eternal optimist:

‘Most companies’ budgets were renewed in January and some are waiting until April/May. Organisations are slowly releasing more budget and contractor rates are returning to what they were. The banking and financial sector has not exploded as yet but it is looking positive for later in the year, probably Q2 or Q3. The roles that are currently available in this sector are very specific and employers are still very cautious.’

How to woo your sweetheart

However, IT finance jobs are much better paid and there appears to be a lot of rivals competing to win the hearts of your potential employer. Halsey had this advice:

‘Don’t forget to look at the relevancy of the company, skills and role in general and match them as well as you can. If you have experience in banking and finance and you are going for a job in this sector, make sure you shout about it.
If you have worked in another sector, such as insurance, there may be similarities that you can draw upon. This could include policies & procedures, methodology frameworks, processes and structures and certain technologies associated with this sector in particular.’

Sparks will fly

In short the finance and IT recruitment industry may not be soul mates but the relationship will definitely hot up later in the year.

Don’t miss the latest IT finance jobs along with all IT vacancies on site now.

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Source: www.theitjobboard.co.uk