HELP WANTED: NETWORKING SKILLS

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1 HELP WANTED: NETWORKING SKILLS An Anomaly in Today s Economy Since the start of the recession in December 2008, nearly seven million people in the U.S. and almost half a million workers in Canada have lost their jobs. Manufacturing and construction have taken the brunt of job losses, with unemployment rates above 15% in many light industrial skill sets. It would seem that this recession is so pervasive that few occupations could escape. However, several highly-skilled occupations, including IT networking, have done just that. Employers of these knowledge workers have actually increased their needs for experienced talent. Job Codes with Placement Growth in 2009 TEKsystems Placements Verify the Trend Confirmation of networking s unique story is evident in TEKsystems data. At the highest level, networking is one of the few areas where placements have increased year-over-year. Network placements have grown more than 150% and significant increases have been seen in Architects and s as well. Within the Network, Architect, and job codes, placements have risen exponentially for IT professionals with Cisco, Security, Management, Windows 2003, and Virtualization skills. Network Architect 16% 69% Competencies with Placement Growth in 2009 Cisco Network Security Network Security Management Network Windows 2003 System Architect Virtualization Network 57% 50% 129% 350% 484% 184% TEKsystems.com 1

2 Lowest Applicant Activity (Ratio of Applicants to Openings) s (Thingamajob) Network Storage Security 2008 Ratio Ratio Ratio Ratio Ratio Ratio 2.2 Thingamajob Activity Confirms Networking s Resilience While job openings are scarce in today s environment, some networking job postings increased year-over-year. Security and postings are up 4.6% and 0.6%, respectively. Layoffs have forced surges in applicant activity, as the ratio of applicants to openings has grown for all job categories. Some of the smallest increases in applicant activity are network-related with three categories posting less than 0.5 point growth year-over-year. Only two other categories Desktop Support and Training/ Instruction posted increases less than 0.5. Many areas, such as Mainframe positions, QA Testers, and Developers have ratio increases greater than 1.5. Gartner Provides Additional Evidence of the Trend According to Gartner, a leading IT industry analyst firm, three networking jobs are among the 10 hardest job titles to hire: Network, Network Architect, and Security. The average amount of time to fill each of these positions is longer than three months, despite the larger supply of workers supposedly created by the recession. Furthermore, SAN and UNIX skills are among the top 10 skills that are moderately-to-extremely difficult to hire. Sometimes Unemployment Rates Are Misleading In the third quarter of 2009, IT unemployment increased slightly to 5.8%. Surprisingly, the two networking skill sets tracked by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) have unemployment rates that are higher than the IT average. Unemployment for Network and Data Communications s increased to 5.9%, 74% higher than the previous year. Even more peculiar is that unemployment for Network and Computer Administrators rose to 9.6%, 300% higher than the third quarter 2008 rate! This rate seems to suggest that these workers would be easy to find. In this case, however, occupational unemployment rates may not be the best indicators of worker availability. National Unemployment for Selected IT Occupations Occupation Q Q Q Computer & Information Managers 3.1% 2.4% 3.2% Computer Operators 10.4% 6.9% - Computer Programmers 4.3% 3.6% 2.5% Computer Support Specialists 7.1% 6.3% 6.8% Computer s 4.2% 2.7% 2.3% Database Administrators* 5.2% 0.8% 2.4% Network & Computer Administrators 5.2% 5.7% 4.7% Computer Network Architects** 2.5% 0.5% 0.2% Software Developers, Applications and Software 3.6% 4.4% 3.3% Technical Writers 16.9% 6.9% 7.0% Telecomm Equipment Installers & Repairers 7.4% 3.0% 2.0% Telecomm Line Installers & Repairers 8.5% 4.7% 8.3% Web Developers** 5.9% 3.6% 5.6% Note: Statistics Canada does not track unemployment for specific IT occupations. TEKsystems.com 2

3 Explaining BLS Data We know networking has been hot in 2009, yet, unemployment for networking skill sets jumped 74% and 300% year-over-year. Companies would be wise to examine the industries that heavily employ IT workers before assuming that skilled networking talent has flooded the market. As shown in the table below, more than 85% of the recession s job losses have occurred in five industries: Construction, Leisure and Hospitality, Manufacturing, Administrative and Waste Services (low end temporary staffing), and Retail. These industries employ only 15% of all IT workers. In contrast, the Financial Services, Professional and Technical Services, Information, and Education and Health Services industries employ 65% of IT workers. These IT-dominant verticals have not seen unemployment levels increase at the same rate as the Construction, Leisure and Hospitality, and Manufacturing industries. This suggests that IT Industry Job Losses and IT Employment Share (BLS) Industry Job Losses (M) % of Jobs Lost % of Total IT Employment Construction % 0.2% Leisure and Hospitality % 0.3% Manufacturing % 8.3% Administrative and Waste Services % 4.4% Retail % 1.8% Financial Services % 9.9% Wholesale % 5.3% Transportation and Warehousing % 0.8% Other Services % 0.9% Professional and Technical Services % 33.6% Information % 12.7% Management of Companies % 5.9% Government -1.6 N/A 6.9% Utilities 0.0 N/A 0.5% Education and Health Services -0.7 N/A 8.3% occupational unemployment rates are not as relevant when assessing the health of IT occupations. Instead, the industry payroll jobs changes for IT-reliant employers are better indicators. Given the lack of layoffs in these IT-intensive industries, it is likely that the IT applicant pool is smaller than IT unemployment levels would suggest. IT occupational unemployment rates are not as relevant when assessing the health of IT occupations. TEKsystems.com 3

4 Unraveling the Wires It is clear that networking is faring well in what is the coldest job market since the Great Depression. Networking skills are still in demand because they save and generate money for businesses. Enterprises prioritize network-related projects like virtualization, data center consolidation, and convergence because they promise cost savings and efficiency improvements. Security also remains a high priority as organizations realize it is a necessity. Enterprises know that the cost of a compromised network is severe and could kill profitability. Few companies are sending security, network engineering, or network analysis responsibilities overseas to off-shore centers. Furthermore, a skills gap still exists for security specialists. In fact, the disparity between supply and demand of proficient security workers is one of the highest in the industry. The rapidly changing security landscape widens this skills gap further. IT Security spending has grown 36% from 8.2% of the overall budget in 2007 to 11.2% in This increase is driven by the following factors: High profile security and network breaches New and increased industry regulations and standards (HIPAA, SOX, GBL, and PCI-DSS) Changing IT infrastructure (virtualization, mobility, etc.) What Is Next? Compared to the broader IT and overall job markets, networking is unique. As the economy improves, the positive networking trend will continue to grow and the labor market will become increasingly tight. Companies seeking network talent may need to partner with talent acquisition firms to source hard-to-fill network positions. At a minimum, they will need to offer training to existing employees to develop and strengthen emerging network skillsets. They should also evaluate how well they can differentiate their organizations with unique employee value propositions (EVPs) to attract and retain quality talent. ABOUT US People are at the heart of every successful business initiative. At TEKsystems, we understand people. Every year we deploy over 80,000 IT professionals at 6,000 client sites across North America, Europe and Asia. Our deep insights into IT human capital management enable us to help our clients achieve their business goals while optimizing their IT workforce strategies. We provide IT staffing solutions, IT talent management expertise and IT services to help our clients plan, build and run their critical business initiatives. Through our range of quality-focused delivery models, we meet our clients where they are, and take them where they want to go, the way they want to get there. Written by: Tania Lavin and Rachel Russell. TEKsystems.com 4

5 Tania Lavin MARKET RESEARCH MANAGER Tania Lavin has more than eight years of market and competitive intelligence experience in the IT staffing and services industries. As Market Research Manager, Tania executes TEKsystems primary and secondary market research endeavors, provides market and competitive intelligence to TEKsystems leadership team and sales force, and presents opportunities for TEKsystems to increase market share based on her research analysis. Tania is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and serves as President of the Baltimore Alumnae Association of Kappa Kappa Gamma, which supports Reading Is Fundamental through fundraisers and outreach programs for Baltimore city schools. In her free time, Tania is an avid runner and has completed the Philadelphia Marathon with her husband. She also actively raises money and participates in races for charities. She resides in Baltimore, MD with her husband and daughter and enjoys traveling and spending time with her family. Prior to joining TEKsystems, Tania worked for Strategic Analysis, Inc. for five years, first as a Marketing Assistant before her promotion to Research, Consultant, Project Manager, and finally Project Director. As Project Director,she provided market and competitive intelligence for IT services companies. While managing one of the world s largest IT service company s account, she tracked more than 15 services competitors and led a team to explore different market opportunities within the IT services and solutions area. She was also credited with assisting and presenting Strategic Analysis company strategy and marketing plan to the company s shareholders. TEKsystems 7437 Race Road, Hanover, MD TEKsystems, Inc. is an Allegis Group, Inc. company. Certain names, products and services listed in the document are trademarks, register trademarks, or service marks of their respective companies. Copyright 2012 TEKsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in USA. 2010/03 TEKsystems.com 5