Sector Information
Information Technology

Permanent:

In last year's IT salary survey, we noted an increase in demand for candidates in all ICT disciplines in the preceding 12 months and projected growth in 2006. That growth has continued unabated with Brightwater seeing a 15% increase in registered IT permanent positions in 2006. The impact of this growth on the permanent market has been significant with demand for experienced IT jobseekers continuing to outstrip supply; it has become increasingly common for our candidates to be interviewing with several organisations concurrently. We have also seen a clear increase in counter offers over the last year. Increasingly many employers are broadening their recruitment search, and are also focusing on the talent pool coming through from international markets.

Salary levels have risen in most areas by 10-15% with business analysts and project managers with proven backgrounds in financial services seeing increases of up to 20%. Solid analyst programmers on all platforms, network and system administrators, business intelligence and datawarehousing consultants continue to be in demand and salaries have also increased in these areas.

Typical benefits include health insurance, bonuses from 10 - 30 per cent based on company, team and individual performance, contributory pension averaging 7%, educational support ranging from €1,000 to €5,000 per annum, share options in some cases and flexible hours. Work from home arrangements and other perks are becoming more common as the battle for talent continues. Most companies are projecting increases in IT spend in 2007; growth is set to continue into 2007 which will put further strain on supply. Speed of the recruitment process, flexibility and innovation in terms of package are going to be essential for employers in 2007.

Contract:

There has been a significant increase in the demand for IT contractors in 2006. The number of contract requirements registered in Brightwater increased by 12%.

Overall on the candidate front, we are seeing a shortage across the board of skilled IT contractors particularly business analysts (Financial Services), .Net Developers and J2EE Developers. These candidates are difficult to source in Ireland and we are now looking overseas to fill these niche skill sets. Skilled candidates on the contract front are being offered a number of roles at any one time and this has led to daily rates being increased in order to gain the competitive edge. As a result of the buoyancy in the contract market, we have seen a large number of people coming out of permanent roles and opting to contract. They find this route attractive as it gives them an opportunity to up-skill and increase their market value.

As a result of the shortage of skilled IT candidates in the market, there has been an upward trend in the rates. They have increased approximately by 15% on average over the last year. We have also seen a large increase in the number of fixed term contract requirements on the client side but career contractors are reluctant to go down this route due to the tax benefits of remaining as a contractor.

In Northern Ireland the Public Sector remains buoyant and both the Public and Private sector is predicted to reach an annual IT spend of £875 million by 2010. A number of leading IT companies have recently set up operations in the region and existing operations have expanded their resources. There have also been a number of recent announcements of foreign investment plans for the NI technology market over the next few years.