HOLLAND ? More than 90 percent of both professional services and computer consulting companies in West Michigan expect to hire information technology staffers in the first half of 2014.
Only a third of health care companies are adding staff, fewer than in the past several years. Perhaps they had to do their hiring earlier to implement the recent increases in digital record keeping. Now their hiring can slow since the initial changes are in place, said Chief Recruiting Officer Beth DeWilde of Paragon Recruiting.
?Demand for technology talent continues to surpass supply. Companies are being somewhat more flexible in considering candidates who may not have the specific technology tools originally needed, but who demonstrate the aptitude and attitude to learn and who have a strong work ethic,? DeWilde said.
She said there is increasing demand for support workers while the demand for systems people is slacking off. This could indicate that new systems were put in place earlier and now the general users need more support in using these systems. Applications staffers continue to be most desired. Mid level workers are still most needed.
Slightly more companies expect IT pay rates to increase in the next six months than did during for the past half year. More companies will be outsourcing projects; twice as many expect to do national outsourcing as did in the last forecast. Local and offshore outsourcing will be down, DeWilde said.
Twice each year, since 2003, Paragon Recruiting polls senior IT managers in the West Michigan market to determine what the future holds for IT staffing, outsourcing, and pay rates. Each forecast includes responses from about 100 companies.
More details and graphs can be found at ParagonUSA.Com
