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Three quarters of IT leaders looking for new jobs

A report by Harvey Nash predicts that senior churn among IT professionals will stabilise, despite 72 per cent of IT leaders looking for new jobs.

By Ash Dosanjh, 19 Aug 2008 at 16:44

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As many global business sectors continue to struggle the number of IT professionals actively seeking out new employment is likely to fall, according to a new report.

Harvey Nash interviewed 360 UK chief information officers and senior technology professionals, in partnership with PA Consulting.

The survey found that nearly three quarters (72 per cent) of IT leaders were actively seeking new jobs or would consider a request from head hunters.

Nearly two thirds (63 per cent) of respondents said they were expecting to move on from their current job within two years.

Despite these findings, Harvey Nash predicts that the turnover rate in senior IT roles over the next year will be less than expected.

Although the survey found that 35 per cent of respondents expected to be in a new job within the next 12 months, the actual number who will change role is likely to be a lot lower.

Compared to Harvey Nash’s equivalent survey in 2007, which found that 34 per cent of respondents expected to change jobs within 12 months, this year’s survey revealed that less than half of those (15 per cent) are actually in new jobs.

However, although Harvey Nash predicts that churn may stabilise in the coming months, there is still a need for businesses to ensure that IT talent is kept motivated, as the number of IT leaders stating they would actively seek a new role correlates to falling job fulfilment and satisfaction.

The number of respondents who found that their role was either fulfilling or very fulfilling has declined from 84 per cent in 2006 to just 74 per cent in 2008. Those that found their job unfulfilling in 2006 stood at 17 per cent while this year one quarter of respondents said the same.

Matt Smith, director of UK regions at Harvey Nash said that a level of churn and movement was healthy for the IT industry.

“Stability is not necessarily a good thing. One factor driving this stability is the nervousness surrounding the economy. At times like this it’s better the devil you know. Not many people are going to want to take that leap of faith and look for a new job. So in that sense, a level of churn is healthy.”