InformationWeek

January 1, 2001

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Demise Of Dot-Coms Eases IT Talent Crunch

By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee

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hen it comes to finding and retaining IT talent, some IT executives expect things to get a little easier this year, particularly because the demise of many dot-coms has freed up a lot of skilled workers.

"It's as though a light switch was turned on," Tony Scott, chief technology officer at General Motors Corp., says of the sudden availability of IT candidates for jobs at the automaker. "Before, we had a very hard time finding people. But over the last two or three months, we haven't had problems hiring." Not only has GM been able to hire former employees of dot-coms, but the attitude of dot-com wannabes has changed as well. "Some people had ideas of starting their own dot-coms, but now they're changing their minds," Scott says.

Indeed, staffing and employee retention is a key consideration for the majority of IT executives surveyed for InformationWeek Research's Outlook For 2001 Study. In all, 82% of respondents say funds for IT salaries and benefits are likely to be increased in their budgets this year, ahead of hardware and technology purchases, applications, and research and development.

Still, skills such as networking and infrastructure continue to be in high demand and are expected to remain difficult to find. "All companies need [networking staff], and there are never enough of them," says Jim Treacy, chief operating officer of TMP Worldwide, a human-resource management company that owns Monster.com and other placement-services businesses. Treacy says a lot of skilled IT talent, particularly younger workers, flocked to Internet-related jobs. But with the collapse of Internet stocks, many of them realize those jobs aren't going to make them millionaires in their twenties.