2008: Crunch time for IT jobs?

Julia Bosworth, a manager on the contract staff side of the business for recruitment company Project Partners, which specialises in finding IT staff for the FS sector, said while demand for contract staff has been high some of the big investment banks have slowed down permanent hires - which may be a result of the credit crunch.

She told silicon.com: "The way the financial market is at the moment has led to massively increased demand on contract market, perhaps due to reluctance to rise the permanent headcount."

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Z is for Zero-day

Bosworth added: "We're busier on contract than we have been for a while… If you've got specific skillsets or systems experience that's always continuing to grow."

Harvey Nash's Wassell said the end of last year saw strong demand for IT staff with project management and business analysis skills. Tech workers with SAP and .NET knowledge were also in demand, he said.

Michael Page Technology's Packham also said project managers and business analysts are in demand, adding that around 80 per cent of current recruitment work at his companies involves areas such as project management, business analysis and system analysis.

Those working in tech who have good business skills - such as strong communication skills and commercial acumen - are in highest demand, said Packham.

He said: "If you ask any CIO at the moment their biggest recruitment need will be people who have strong communications skills, the ability to work at all levels of an organisation - so from end users through to director level - and who really have that ability to act as the genuine conduit and partner with the business."

He added: "We're seeing a lot of clients asking for… people who have the ability to understand what the problem is and find the right technical solution and implement it, not just find a piece of technology they know loads about and put it into the business."

The demand for IT and comms workers in the UK is at its highest level since the end of 2001, according to a recent report by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation.

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