Anticipated Growth In The First Quarter of 2015 Means Great Things For the IT Industry
Overall job growth in 2015 is looking incredibly positive. PR Newswire released their findings from a recent survey of 18,000 US employers, 16% of which were looking to hire in the first quarter of 2015. Amazingly, this anticipated growth has not been reported since the first quarter of 2008. Employers are optimistic that they’ll find the candidates they’re looking for and match job growth not seen in 7 years. This growth is comparatively stable compared to the fourth quarter in 2014 and marginally improved from January 2014, which was a successful hiring month as well.
Growth through the final quarter of 2014 was relatively modest. The IT sector specifically saw a 3.3% growth in employment comparing November 2013 to November 2014. However modest growth is nothing to sneeze at because, according to Mark Roberts, the CEO of TechServe Alliance, “while the rate of growth in IT employment ebbs and flows month-over-month, we have now had a stretch of 56 consecutive months of positive numbers.” Steady growth in the information technology industry has lead to steady technology job openings that indicate a healthy outlook for 2015.
So far it’s all good news, but what is the downside of all of this positive job growth in the IT industry? Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance believes, “future growth in many IT and engineering skill sets will actually be impeded more by the lack of supply of qualified candidates than by lack of demand.” With stringent experience requirements and a vast array of technology needs, certain companies will struggle to fill their positions because there isn’t always a perfect candidate available for hire. If you want your organization to avoid the pains, expenses and delays of a long hiring process, implementing training initiatives and looking for candidates who are willing to learn on the job will help you streamline the process.
So far the outlook for the information technology industry in 2015 is positive as many employers are anticipating hiring within the first quarter of this year. The only thing holding back IT growth may be the shortage in qualified candidates and the shortage of companies willing to train new employees in the technologies they need.