CIOs Change Hiring Tendencies For 2014

Even though the information technology industry has continuously been adding jobs to the world’s economy, its rapid expansion appears to have slowed down recently. With fewer positions being created throughout the IT field, chief information officers are going to have to choose their new hires even more wisely then before.According to Computerworld, the tech industry has proceeded to tack on jobs to its workforce, though in less significant proportions. Over the past few months, the employment growth rate has decreased nearly by half. The source explained that TechServe Alliance found that the IT field gained 6,100 posts in September, but then proceeded to expand its labor force by only 3,100 in October and 3,200 in November.Although the industry has followed an upward trend in terms of employment over the past couple of years, the latest reductions in job expansion could cause CIOs and IT departments to shift their hiring priorities. For this reason, tech experts anticipate various changes in employment trends to come out of the woodwork throughout the coming year.CIOs fill limited IT positions wiselyInfoWorld explained that IT executives are going to be shying away from taking on full-time employees, outsourcing their work in a variety of ways. This means that any gains experienced in this industry’s hiring statistics are expected to evolve even more.In addition to fluctuations in the number of IT professionals that tech departments decide to employ, the field is predicted to change in terms of the types of candidates companies opt to integrate into their operations. By and large, CIOs are going to be looking to enlist applicants who demonstrate competencies that allow them to handle the latest technologies incorporated into their businesses’s IT repertoires.Due to the rapid transformation that the technology field is undergoing, traditional IT skills are now considered secondary compared to some of the more recent capabilities. InfoWorld stated that CIOs now expect their staff members to know how to create and implement everything from mobile applications to cloud computing programs.Consequently, IT executives are expected to begin expanding their employment opportunities by formulating short-term projects dealing with more niche forms of technology, outsourcing the legwork to contractors. Among all of the initiatives that temporary workers are planned to carry out, many of them may concern companies’ mobile applications.Avoid a narrow recruiting scopeAs more and more businesses continue to recognize the importance of using sophisticated solutions over the course of 2014, they will place increasing stress on their IT departments to adopt them. To meet the technology demands of their organizations, but while still staying within their budgets, CIOs will be looking for contractors with specialized skills that will help them develop, update or employ customized applications for their companies.All of that said, InformationWeek cautioned IT executives hoping to take on only contracted workers with too narrow skill sets. If departments concern themselves with hiring these kinds of tech professionals, then they run the risk of pigeonholing their functions.Instead, the source pointed out that there are numerous benefits to employing seasoned workers who may have a more solid grasp on traditional technological skills. Solely considering candidates who are on the younger side and equipped with more specific competencies could prove detrimental to their recruitment process. Numerous CIOs are already preoccupied by a supposed IT skills gap, and limiting their employee requirements may only cause this discrepancy to worsen.To counteract a skills gap, IT executives should seriously entertain hiring professionals with more experience and a broader, more profound tech knowledge base. By broadening their perspectives in terms of who they consider deserving applicants, CIOs may find that they create a more balanced department that is able to conquer a more expansive range of IT tasks.By sticking with a workforce that has a firm understanding of conventional capabilities, tech executives can ensure that they at least have all of the basics covered. From there, they can easily invest in some onsite training that will enable their experienced representatives to acquire the know-how in more precise topics like mobile applications and big data analytics. This way, CIOs can quell their concerns about filling any open IT positions that they may have, as well as build a more diversely talented team that can tackle various tech tasks – from traditional to trendy.