Q1 shows largest increase in IT jobs for over 12 months

The IT jobs market for permanent staff has increased in size by 4.8 per cent during the first quarter of 2006, according to IT recruitment website CWJobs.co.uk. This represents the largest increase seen in the number of IT jobs advertised for over twelve months.

Advertising was up across all media but most significantly on the leading internet recruitment websites. In the first quarter of 2006 there were 5,569 more IT jobs than in the last quarter of 2005, of these 80% were placed online. The increase in jobs advertised was mirrored on CWJobs.co.uk the largest audited site for IT visitors* with a significant increase in the number of IT jobseekers coming to look for jobs. Over 350,000 unique users visited CWJobs.co.uk in March generating over 260,000 applications.

The benchmark job function within IT is for software developers. These make up 31% of all IT jobs advertised. Here the news was excellent in that demand in the first quarter of 2006 was up by 8.8% compared with the previous quarter. In other areaís demand for Project Managers were up by 20.2% and Business Analysts by 25.1%. Other surveys have indicated difficulties in recruiting this level of staff. These figures support that view. ëCompanies having trouble finding IT candidates should be advertising their vacancies on specialist IT recruitment websites to maximise their exposure to a large IT audienceí says Richard Nott Sales director at CWJobs ëOnline advertising allows companies to benefit from tailor made solutions to fit their needs. These range from simple additions like increasing the prominence of your advert & using your companyís brand to attract interest, to sending bespoke mail shots to targeted sections of candidate databases and searching CV databases directly for relevant candidates. CWJobs can advise companies on the best solutions and offer no obligation trials to recruiters wanting to maximise their IT recruitment success.í

Contract vacancies were up by 5.4% during the quarter. With the exception of the last quarter 2005 contract vacancies have been rising each quarter for over three years. In line with their permanent colleagues demand was highest for Project Managers with advertising up by 23.5%.

Key salary trends:
Advertised permanent salaries increased over the past twelve months by an average of 3.4%, with the largest average being seen in the public sector with average increases of 4.2%. Paid salaries also saw similar increases of 3.5% in general and 4.4% for the public sector. Advertised contract rates were up by 3.5%. The figures show that there is an average difference of 10.2% between salaries being paid and those advertised. The survey also shows that contractors earn on average twice that of permanent staff.

Key IT skills trends:
The demand for IT staff is primarily driven by the need for specialised software skills, and how these are applied by different business sectors. The rising demand for Microsoftís latest development tools such as .NET and C# have meant that recruitment for developers with these skills can be difficult for employers in sectors such as software houses and finance. Over the past twelve months demand for these skills have gone up by 27.7% and 52.5% respectively.

Companies currently recruiting IT staff can benefit from additional information in ëCWJobs quarterly IT Commentaryí which provides a detailed overview of the previous quarterís trends. To receive a copy please email marketing@cwjobs.co.uk

Companies wishing to trial CWJobsí IT recruitment tools & packages can also email marketing@cwjobs.co.uk for more information.

*CWJobs.co.uk is audited by ABCe the 2006 audit figures will be available in May 2006