2002 Accounting and Finance Compensation Trends

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Preparing Students for Todays IT Employment
Market
Ted Mullin Metro Market Manager
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Robert Half Technology

• Places IT professionals on a project and
  full-time basis
• Robert Half International Inc. pioneered
  specialized staffing services
• Expert on career and management-related issues

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Todays Topics

• The IT employment environment
• Leading IT skills and specialties
• Non-technical skills in demand
• Starting salary ranges

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The Employment Environment

• Pace of investment in technology has slowed since
  tech boom
• Companies cutting costs through outsourcing
• Offshore component in delivery of U.S. IT
  services estimated to be 23 percent by 2007

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The Employment Environment

• Areas of IT investment
• Capital expenditures
• Spam/viruses
• Wireless communication
• Business intelligence
• The Internet
• Regulatory requirements

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The Employment Environment

• CIOs initiating projects that were on hold
• Cautious approach to full-time hiring
• New employees brought in on temporary or project
  basis
• Companies use strategic staffing approach

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The Employment Environment

• 63 percent of CIOs say its valuable to have a
• prospective employee work on a project basis
• as a means of evaluation for full-time
• employment.
• Source Robert Half Technology survey of 1,400
  CIOs

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The Employment Environment

• Long-term IT outlook is bright
• 49 percent of tech companies are hiring more this
  year than last
• Venture-capital funding increasing
• 9 percent of CIOs plan to add full-time staff
  this quarter

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The Employment Environment

• Industries projecting strong growth in 2005
• Business services
• Financial services
• Real estate
• Manufacturing
• Construction

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Leading IT Specialties
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Leading IT Specialties

• Networking
• Hands-on experience with OS applications
• Security-related hardware and software experience
• Certification

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Leading IT Specialties

• Technical support
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Customer-service focus
• Microsoft XP/2000/NT, UNIX and Microsoft Office
  applications experience

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Leading IT Specialties

• Internet/intranet development
• Experience in back-end web development
• Java, JavaScript, Java 2 Enterprise Edition,
  Enterprise, JavaBeans XML CGI, Visual Basic or
  ASP and C experience
• Familiarity with .NET platform
• Ability to create sites that align with business
  objectives and customer needs

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Leading IT Specialties

• Database management
• Understanding of relational database theory
• Oracle8i/9i/10g, Microsoft SQL Server or IBM DB2
  technologies
• Certification

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Top Technical Skills

• Technical skills include
• Windows administration
• Visual Basic development
• CheckPoint firewall administration
• Cisco network administration
• SQL Server management

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The Importance of Soft Skills

• 98 percent of CIOs consider strong soft skills
  essential for IT professionals

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Non-technical Skills in Demand

• Industry experience
• Communication skills
• Business fundamentals
• Interpersonal skills

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Industry Experience

• Students can gain real world experience and
  firsthand knowledge of industry through
• Internships
• Volunteer activities
• Part-time work

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Communication Skills

• Strong communication skills needed to clearly
  explain technical concepts to others
• English and business communication courses are
  helpful

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Business Fundamentals

• Ability to explain how IT spending will benefit
  the organization
• Understanding of principles of finance and
  accounting is useful

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Interpersonal Skills

• Interpersonal skills include
• Diplomacy
• Tact
• A team-oriented attitude
• Participation in group projects, on-campus
  organizations can be helpful
• Mentors provide guidance and advice

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IT Salary Information

• Average starting salaries to remain stable in
  2005
• Projected average increase of 0.5 percent
• Increases expected in high-demand specialties
• Slight declines in other areas

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The Ticket to Success

• Gain hands-on experience
• Develop in-demand technical skills
• Refine non-technical (soft) skills
• Explore job opportunities in the leading
  specialties

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Preparing Students for Employment in Todays IT
Job Market

www.roberthalftechnology.com