Not Good News for IT Professionals - Salaries Remain Flat
IT Pros see little improvement in pay according to Janco's IT Salary Survey
Not Good News for IT Professionals - Salaries Remain Flat - The IT Salary Survey, just released and eJobDescription.com, is not good news for IT Professionals. The survey shows that hiring and salaries has not significantly improved for IT professionals in most North American metropolitan areas.
Salaries are up less than 1% for IT pros in the past 12 months and the only winners are the top level postions in mid-sized companies. Salaries for most IT pros have finally gotten back to the level they were at in 2007 and that is a very good sign.
The seven major findings of the survey are:
- IT compensation for all IT Professionals has increased by 0.67% in the last 12 months.
- CIOs compensation has stayed flat in larger companies and increased in smaller and mid-sized companies in the past 12 months.
- Positions in highest demand are all associated with the quality control, BYOD implementation, and service level improvement.
- Over the long term IT executives have fared better in mid-sized companies than large companies.
- In 2013 the IT job market grew by 74,900 versus 62,500 in 2012 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) - better but not enough to employee the number of IT graduates from US universities or to increase demand.
- Lay-offs seem to have tapered off, however some companies continue to cut the size of the IT organizations.
- Cost control is still the rule of the day; however we have seen an increase in the number of "part-timers" and contractors who are focused on particular critical projects. This has resulted in few IT Pros getting health coverage
- On shore outsourcing has peaked and companies are looking to bring IT operations back into their direct control and reduce operating costs.
- Mandated requirements for records management systems and electronic medical records have increased the demand for quality control staff and custodians (librarians) of mechanized records.
- Companies are continuing to refine the benefits provided to full time IT professionals. Though benefits such as health care are available to 80%, IT professionals are now paying a greater portion of that cost.
NOTE: the table below is updated automatically with the latest IT salaries when a new salary survey is published. That happens every January and June. The historical data is available.
Latest Median IT Salaries
For the latest data go to the current IT Salary Survey
A summary of the most recent salary survey can be obtained by visiting Janco IT Salary Survey at https://e-janco.com/salary.htm
Read on Salary Survey Order Salary Survey Download Summary
Hiring Best Practices
Hiring is the most critical aspect of a CIO's role. For a CIO it can be fatal of they hire a new employee find out there is a mismatch.
Background screening is a critical part of the hiring process for the majority of organizations today, but it is even more essential in the current economy for several reasons. eJobDescription.com has found that a shortage of key skills is the number one challenge facing CIOs and IT functions. This may seem counter-intuitive at first given the news of continued high levels of unemployment and a "jobless" economic recovery. However coupled with many discussions with CIOs and HR professionals in end-user organizations, confirms that finding the right talent - the talent with the right mix of skills, behaviors and values to fit with the organization - is still a challenge. In fact, more applicants in the pool makes filtering and screening even more critical to ensure that time isn't lost on applicants who aren't a good fit or who might not be qualified for the position.
Hiring managers understand that a often an individual's capabilities are not necessarily a good fit. Capability refers to the skills, tools and experience that a person needs to successfully perform a job. It is not new information that many applicants exaggerate their abilities on their resumes and job applications. Things to look for are:
- Skills Definition - Good Job Descriptions - Do you know what skills are needed to succeed and whether the employee possesses those skills? If they do not possess the necessary skills, how will the CIO help them to acquire them, and how long will that process to take? It is in everyone's best interest for the CIO to set appropriate expectations for the employee from the beginning. This is especially true if the position requires unique technical capabilities.
- Tools Definition - Good IT Infrastructure - Even if an individual has the skills and experience to do the job, do they have the tools to deliver peak performance? For example, a highly skilled and experienced web designer cannot build a website without adequate computer hardware and software. The tools do not have to be the most up-to-date, but a system that crashes can be incredibly frustrating and unproductive, even to the best performer.
- Experience - Just because an employee has the skills to do a job does not mean that they has the experience to apply those skills in his specific position. This is especially true for recent graduates, outside hires from different industries and internal hires from different departments. While the required skills may be similar from one job to the next, differing applications and terminology may require that the new hire take time to learn the nuances of his new position
