Demand for IT pros remained strong as 2012 propelling IT Recruitment Forward

Volume of permanent vacancies increase for the third time
Growth is driven by software house and the financial sector recruitment

Volumes of permanent IT vacancies rose for the third quarter in 2012,resulting in an overall strong performance for the industry last year. Contract vacancies have also remained strong, increasing 1.2% in the last quarter.

With increasing numbers of UK firms opting to outsource their IT requirements to cut costs, the rise has been driven largely byIT recruitment for software house roles, with vacancies making up a staggering 64% of all vacancies advertised. In a reversal of fortunes, the finance sector has also seen notable growth in Q4, rising 0.9% after consecutive declines in the last two quarters.

Richard Nott, Website Director of IT recruitment site CWJobs.co.uk explains: “The IT industry is strengthening. The increase in companies recruiting for permanent vacancies, given the economy’s current challenges, is really encouraging. The sector faces challenges if it is to continue to grow, the demand is clear but with that, comes greater competition for roles and an even greater need for quality candidates to fill these vacancies. IT is now a fundamental part of the business operation, so firms demand more from the modern tech candidate. IT pros need to better demonstrate their suitability for roles if they are to compete, highlighting desirable attributes such as an apptitutdefor adopting new skills quickly, business acumen and an ability to manage complex relationships.”

Fourth quarter data indicates the largest IT recruitment need is for candidates with SQL, but the skill has seen a 1.4% decrease on the previous quarter. Continuing a trend reported in Q3, Agile has seen a 3.2% boost in the last quarter, resulting in a steady quarter-on-quarter increase since Q1 and an overall 8% boost. The strong presence of requests for this experience further demonstrates the evolving nature of the IT industrytoward a more flexible and efficient way of working.

IT Permanent Software skills advertised
Quarter 4/2012 to Quarter 4/2011

Software	Quarter	Quarter	Quarter %	Annual %
	4/2012	4/2011	change	change

SQL	20,660	20,286	-1.4	1.8
C#	13,901	12,969	0.9	7.2
C	13,781	15,243	-3.0	-9.6
.NET	12,780	11,769	3.2	8.6
JAVA	10,138	8,857	2.9	14.5
SQL SERVER	8,918	8,639	-1.8	3.2
ASP	8,824	7,984	5.9	10.5
JAVASCRIPT	6,983	6,657	0.5	4.9
HTML	6,702	6,250	2.0	7.2
AGILE	6,670	5,945	3.6	12.2

IT Contract Software skills advertised
Quarter 4/2012 to Quarter 4/2011

Software	Quarter	Quarter	Quarter %	Annual %
	4/2012	4/2011	change	change

SQL	3518	3367	1.0	4.5
C	2644	2538	1.3	4.2
C#	2617	2317	1.4	12.9
JAVA	2289	2049	1.0	11.7
.NET	2003	1788	1.7	12.0
ORACLE	1924	1771	0.9	8.6
AGILE	1702	1521	1.7	11.9
SQL SERVER	1539	1404	0.9	9.6
SAP	1294	1198	1.9	8.0
ASP	1145	980	0.6	16.8