The "New World Order of IT" Puts Execs in Driver's Seat.

The roller coaster of change: Stronger relationships and heightened expectations rule.

  Anyone who doubts that change, such a simple word, can lead to a new sense of reality and revised expectations has only to look back a few months and relive the dot.com debacle. A lot of folks got on the bandwagon of high hopes only to see cash and careers hit bottom.

  With change in mind, we asked a number of IT executives to share their insight into the dynamics of change and how it has affected their relationships with IT professionals and the industry that recruits and places them in both project and full time positions. The results show that change can be good, and the good if not great IT gurus that embrace it are continuing to reap the rewards of staying skill-current and enjoying new and challenging assignments.

  For instance, P.V., IT Director for an internet services company responded, "As an employer I appreciate some of the effects of the recent market changes. Between 1999 and early 2000 I feel there was a marked decrease in the quality of talent being placed in the industry. There was so much work that less talented people were being placed and with inflated salaries. They showed little interest in the companies they worked for and stayed on for 6-12 months at most. Today, I turn away from resumes that look like this. My attitude is certainly related to the events of the past year. I spent alot of energy cleaning up after short-time employees and consultants."

  P.V. also looked back a few years to highlight staffing trends and looked into the future. "From 1999 to early 2000 I used many staffing companies to fill positions and made heavy use of consultants and external project management companies.

  Then, from May 2000 to just recently, projects had been dramatically curtailed. Internal staff had been reduced and the use of consultants and external project management companies were all but eliminated.

  Currently, we're slowly adding new staff but still making little to no use of consultants and external project management companies.

  In the future, say 2001 to June 2002, things will be similar to our current status, but July 2002 - 2003, I see us making more use of consultants and external project management companies."

   T.G., Team Leader in the customer support arena had these thoughts to share. "In the last three years our service level has increased 10x. Management wants more information and they want it faster. And, it seems that attitudes have changed in the customer support areas I have been involved with since Y2K. Employees are no longer looked at as being easy or desirable to replace. Well-trained employees in tech support are much more valued. Customer service has a higher standard now, and a lower concentration of management supervision is needed with these experienced employees. A self-sufficient team is the ideal. Over the next two years we see the continuation of keeping our employees up to date with the fast changing market of technology of highest importance. Even if it isn't exactly job related it is very important to most employees to stay current with industry technology, and we find that that kind of effort keeps employees happy."

  On the subject of staffing company opportunities, T.G. and others had the following comments: "Using more then 2-3 companies for our staffing needs gets very confusing. One company I like is Consultis. They treat their employees like they are more than contractors. They are treated like they are part of their organization."

  (IT Manager) "Our fundamental view is that if we are to pay a staffing company to look for some of our key needs, they should be getting us candidates that have a strong possibility to fit in technically and personally. Nothing drives us more nuts than just getting resumes passed on to us. Safe to say demand for e-business types of activities will be important. Just like every new technology and approach, those most capable of taking advantage of these needs will succeed. Though they may not be as sexy and exciting as first envisioned, e-business projects will give strong companies the advantages they need."

  (IS Manager) "I will continue to expect to have qualified candidates from a staffing company, plus a good working relationship and the option to hire on the consultant."

The Chronology of Change . . .
An IT Systems Manager in the Insurance industry offered these insights:

  1998: "We established a tier system for contract programming vendors. Previously we had tried everything from an exclusive arrangement with one vendor to a large wide open list. These extremes did not work for various reasons, but a first and second tier approach has worked well ever since, giving us enough talent to choose from, but still have a manageable and incentable number of vendors."

  1999: "We saw a sharp reduction in the need for contracted employees as the year went on. We saw a sharp reduction in the number of contracted programmer vendors, too. Many just went away, or cut back drastically. Those that survived seemed to get stronger."

  2000: "With the end of the Y2K driven staffing, we saw a very healthy market for hiring former contracted employees, particularly with mainframe skills. Salary demands started to become a little more into realistic ranges after a rapidly rising period. e-Business pressures started to pose a great need on newer infrastructure technologies. These new skills are harder to find and are more costly."

  2001: "The hiring market for mainframe and client server programmers remains good for us. The market for specialized skills driven by e-Business gets even more difficult. Contracted rates are very high for these skills. Salary demands are getting difficult to match again."