http://tinyurl.com/9ee87k

Only those who have seen it all before need apply for top IT jobs this year, as nervous Chief Executives look for strong governance skills and shy away from taking a punt on promising young talent.

Key Points

* Young guns are likely to be passed over for top IT jobs.
* Companies are looking for people who have experienced recessions.
* Employers hold the whip hand.

Olivier Job Index reports 6.8 per cent drop in IT&T job advertisements in December

by Trevor Clarke

The horror year for jobs in the Australian IT&T sector continued through December with a 6.8 per cent drop in job advertisements, bringing the decline over 12 months to 37 per cent, according to the Olivier Job Index (OJI).

The biggest drop in demand occurred in sales and management, software development and engineering, and the specialist areas of desktop support, and training and documentation.

The result was a marginal improvement on November, when the IT&T sector fell 7.6 per cent – compared to October’s 4.4 per cent dip and September’s 3.27 per cent fall.

The most recent OJI results showed across the national economy the job market recovered some confidence in December with a fall of 1.8 per cent, improving on the 9.8 per cent drop experienced in November.

However, throughout 2008 the IT&T sector performed poorly, falling 14 per cent more than the overall OJI, which finished down 22.98 per cent.

Late last year a Hudson recruitment report found IT&T employers unaffected by the current economic climate, but expectations had dipped and the focus had shifted to the passive job market. At the time Olivier predicted fierce competition between graduates in the New Year.

IT companies such as Data#3, UXC, Ericsson and Adobe have all cut local staff numbers.

ARN – Horror year for IT jobs.

Was thrilled to read this news item from a caring employer in the US. A good news story hopefully to counteract the doom and gloom that pervades the news. If only there were more of them! The news item extracts are below:

IDAHO FALLS – Eastern Idaho’s largest private employer made a big announcement Wednesday concerning its employees and the nations tough economic conditions.

“We’re promising our employees no layoffs. Not today, not tomorrow, not next month, not ever,” said Melaleuca President and CEO Frank L. VanderSloot.

VanderSloot knows economic times are tough but his employees don’t need to worry about their jobs.

“Part of our business model is enhance the lives of those we touch by taking care of people and helping them reach their goals and it’s our employees that we owe our biggest responsibility too,” said VanderSloot.

Wednesday afternoon VanderSloot spoke to his 2500 Eastern Idaho workers about the company’s economic conditions and even though things are generally good, Melaleuca is feeling the pinch too.

“Our bottom line is being strained,” said VanderSloot. “Even though we’re growing on the top line, expenses are hitting us like they’ve never hit us before.”

But that doesn’t stop the company from taking care of their employees as they gave out 1.7 million dollars in cash to long term workers as part of a new incentive program.

“We’ve given out, just in the last eight months, over eight million dollars in longevity bonuses,” said VanderSloot.

Employees receive 5000 dollars on their five year anniversary, 10,000 on their 10 year, 20,000 on their 20, and on up.

It’s a way to reward workers for their dedication and willingness to help a growing company…especially in tough economic times.

“We’ll be here a long time…we believe for generations…if we take care of our long term employees,” said VanderSloot.

 

This article is referenced in my video chat with you today.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Quotation from the article:

Tactics your CEOs are considering and how to help

CEOs tell Gartner they cannot write off assets fast enough — debts that won’t recover, investors who won’t play ball, projects that are not performing, employees. They want to clean financial house in a few fell swoops, Lopez said, on the assumption that the market won’t punish them as hard for the write-offs in troubled times.

CIOs should expect to support high-peak public relations campaigns as the stuff hits the fan. As public trust erodes in this financial crisis, the more information a company can provide to the public and investors about itself, the better. Some companies might even publish internal blogs to show they have nothing to hide, or invite external customers to participate in company social networks to foster trust. If there are things to hide — illegal stuff — CEOs who don’t want to go to jail probably want to flush it out. Data management will leap to the forefront once again.

In this climate, CIOs can also expect to get emergency business intelligence requests for information that could be needed in due diligence to acquire or to be acquired. You might be asked to unravel systems for a unit that is being spun off. Don’t be surprised if you’re put on a plane at 9 a.m. for a whirlwind tour of a target’s IT systems. Or called upon to do a “lash-up” acquisition integration in a matter of days, so at least the companies can have integrated financial systems.

Remember the words of Norman Vincent Peale:

Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities — always see them, for they’re always there.

http://searchwarp.com/swa332960.htm 

Taking it way too far, this article provides some seriously “outside the square” thinking for interviewing job seekers. His suggestions include checking out the applicant’s wallet to see if all the cash faces the same way, sniffing for cologne and perfume, checking out his or her car, threatening the job applicant, and making them uncomfortable with rapid fire questioning. Hope you never get this guy interviewing you!