SFTA Member PROTECH Releases its 11th Annual South Florida Tech Leadership Survey and 9th Annual Tech Talent Survey Results

BOCA RATON, Florida /PRNewswire/ — According to two just-released surveys by Boca Raton-based Information Technology (IT) search and staffing firm, PROTECH, IT budgets and salaries continue to increase while employers show increased concern about losing key technology staff.

Average 2013 IT budgets increased to 11% from 10.2% in 2012. The 11th Annual Tech Leadership survey also revealed 64% of Tech Leaders plan to increase IT staff this year (up by 22% compared to 2012). And 53% of Tech Executives are concerned about losing top IT talent.

The top reason continues to be compensation with a 67% response (up from 58% a year ago) followed by lack of career path. "Demand outpaces supply for many key tech career disciplines which drives the higher salaries," stated Deborah Vazquez, PROTECH CEO.

Employees received an average 2012 pay increase of 5%, up from the 3% they received in 2011. "Many of our clients here in South Florida and other markets we serve are struggling with retention and unwelcomed turnover due to sharp increases in temp contract rates and salaries," said Vazquez.

"This valuable local IT market data shows how strongly our region is trending. I’m pleased to see strength in IT budgets and job market conditions in South Florida," said Linda Gove, SFTA Executive Director.

PROTECH surveyed over 750 IT Director to CIO level executives for its 11th annual Tech Leadership Survey; and over 18000 IT professionals for its 9th annual Tech Talent survey. All participants are located in Florida’s Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.

Additional survey highlights:

JOBS / BLIPS / U.S. Jobless Claims Rise By 28,000 To 4-Month High

… The economy will quickly adjust. This is just a reflection of Sequestration’s impact on the economy.

… A deeper look at the numbers shows that those areas that are addicted to federal defense spending are being hurt but almost no one else is noticing anything different.

In the end the rise in joblessness will be minor over the next few months and the pain will be barely a statistical anomaly … although folks that lose jobs will not be happy.

This summer and fall of 2013 COULD BE different. The big battle ahead is the Public Debt battle, aka ‘National Debt’. This battle begins in earnest in May 2013 when the borrowing cap is put back on the national credit card.

Regardless of how the federal budget wars resolve themselves, there are those that plan to use the public debt ceiling as a way to drive our economic approach — on both sides of the aisle.

—>> Practical implications: if the federal budget is approximately $845 billion but we need to borrow $400 billion to make it happen and we cannot then look for more cuts ahead.

BTW – our obligated spending and national debt repayment obligation is already much higher. Check out USGovernmentSpending.com for some slicing and dicing of what we are spending money on.

Best regards,

Bill Golden
IntelligenceCareers.com
USADefenseIndustryJobs.com
USAJobZoo.com

WGolden@IntelligenceCareers.com
www.IntelligenceCareers.com

LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/BillGolden
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Twitter: http://twitter.com/ICDefenseJobs
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– Ask Bill about strange jobs worldwide in good and BAD neighborhoods everywhere!

by Bill Golden
CEO, USAJobZoo.com
aka IntelligenceCareers.com

Think different. Start yesterday. That is when the future arrived.

What made for success in the past is not a guarantee for the future … your market value no longer ‘always increases’ … expect some skills to remain popular but value to drop … some to increase … expect flat salaries over the next decade … wherever you go there you are: always have a Plan B as you will probably change your core ‘what I do for a living’ at least 5-8 times before you finally collect a retirement check … from your 401K or IRA which you funded throughout your life … right?

How often will you change jobs in life? Survey sez …

A Department of Labor report from summer of 2012 found that the average American age 18-46 would change employers an average of 11.3 times … half of those changes would be between the ages 18-24.

++++ This information is not based on our current generation but on the experiences of Boomers born between 1957-1964.

++++ I realize that the numbers are probably quite different for today’s age group of 18-24 … many of whom are still trying to find that first job.

For those ages 24 and under: employment in your age group has always been challenging. In the old days (like 20 years ago) we still had a lot of manual-based labor jobs that you could always slide into while figuring out what life meant and where it was taking you. Those same opportunities are far fewer today … but so is the requirement for education. Survey says that for those currently under the age of 30: college degrees matter, even when applying for jobs that do not pay well.

As for salary and income expectation, things have changed immensely since even the mid-2000s. For experienced professionals it was not uncommon for an employer to ask you for a salary history for either your last 2-3 jobs or for the last 10 years. The idea behind was that real talent is always growing in compensation — resumes can say anything but the proof is in the money that you get as to how good you are.

In a recent Atlantic Magazine article entitled Robots Won’t Steal Your Job Next Decade (They’ll Just Steal Your Raise), the magazine talks about income remaining flat through about 2017 and then a miracle happens where income just takes off … recovering to 2005 levels by 2020 … or almost recovering to 2005 levels … if the miracle happens — which Atlantic calls the Little Orphan Annie theory of recoveries — catchup growth is always just a year away, until it’s another year away.

Future Outlook

We do more with less. MUCH LESS … or perhaps more grammatically correct: many fewer … people … we can do more with many fewer people … and at higher profit margins, too.

The headline of the Atlantic Magazine article mentions ‘Robots’ but what we are really talking about is the ability of information technologies when combined with physical and organizational processes.

Automation of processes, collaboration, logistics integration and manufacturing are the challenges that our workforce faces today and in the immediate future; these are the folks whose primary role in our economic society is to trade services for a paycheck … and since they no longer live on a farm then they need that paycheck to buy food and they need that paycheck to do all the things which they can no longer do as when our culture was primary rural and small town … as it was just a generation or so ago.

We need a bigger conversation about JOBS JOBS JOBS … because the future has arrived.

Think different. Start yesterday. That is when the future arrived.

Best regards,

Bill Golden
WGolden@USAJobZoo.com

by Bill Golden
CEO, USAJobZoo.com
aka IntelligenceCareers.com

Think different. Start yesterday. That is when the future arrived.

What made for success in the past is not a guarantee for the future … your market value no longer ‘always increases’ … expect some skills to remain popular but value to drop … some to increase … expect flat salaries over the next decade … wherever you go there you are: always have a Plan B as you will probably change your core ‘what I do for a living’ at least 5-8 times before you finally collect a retirement check … from your 401K or IRA which you funded throughout your life … right?

How often will you change jobs in life? Survey sez …

A Department of Labor report from summer of 2012 found that the average American age 18-46 would change employers an average of 11.3 times … half of those changes would be between the ages 18-24.

++++ This information is not based on our current generation but on the experiences of Boomers born between 1957-1964.

++++ I realize that the numbers are probably quite different for today’s age group of 18-24 … many of whom are still trying to find that first job.

For those ages 24 and under: employment in your age group has always been challenging. In the old days (like 20 years ago) we still had a lot of manual-based labor jobs that you could always slide into while figuring out what life meant and where it was taking you. Those same opportunities are far fewer today … but so is the requirement for education. Survey says that for those currently under the age of 30: college degrees matter, even when applying for jobs that do not pay well.

As for salary and income expectation, things have changed immensely since even the mid-2000s. For experienced professionals it was not uncommon for an employer to ask you for a salary history for either your last 2-3 jobs or for the last 10 years. The idea behind was that real talent is always growing in compensation — resumes can say anything but the proof is in the money that you get as to how good you are.

In a recent Atlantic Magazine article entitled Robots Won’t Steal Your Job Next Decade (They’ll Just Steal Your Raise), the magazine talks about income remaining flat through about 2017 and then a miracle happens where income just takes off … recovering to 2005 levels by 2020 … or almost recovering to 2005 levels … if the miracle happens — which Atlantic calls the Little Orphan Annie theory of recoveries — catchup growth is always just a year away, until it’s another year away.

Future Outlook

We do more with less. MUCH LESS … or perhaps more grammatically correct: many fewer … people … we can do more with many fewer people … and at higher profit margins, too.

The headline of the Atlantic Magazine article mentions ‘Robots’ but what we are really talking about is the ability of information technologies when combined with physical and organizational processes.

Automation of processes, collaboration, logistics integration and manufacturing are the challenges that our workforce faces today and in the immediate future; these are the folks whose primary role in our economic society is to trade services for a paycheck … and since they no longer live on a farm then they need that paycheck to buy food and they need that paycheck to do all the things which they can no longer do as when our culture was primary rural and small town … as it was just a generation or so ago.

We need a bigger conversation about JOBS JOBS JOBS … because the future has arrived.

Think different. Start yesterday. That is when the future arrived.

Best regards,

Bill Golden
WGolden@USAJobZoo.com

… Bill Golden says that it feels great living in the metro Washington DC area. The seven counties of northern Virginia and most of southern Maryland are truly the land of plenty. What few issues we have must sound like whining to the rest of America.

What happens if we were to wake up and ‘being smart’ were no longer enough? Metro Washington DC is made up primarily of knowledge capital workers. For various reasons there is a huge concentrated demand for these folks … living at the center of the empire as they do.

But what if anything were to disrupt the need for that knowledge? Are these Knowledge Workers smart enough to have a Plan B or C?

Chances are that this region of the USA could find itself in some turmoil over the next few years.

Washington Post headline on February 12th, 2013: One in 7 Washington households in the top 5 percent

VIEW interactive map of where wealth exists in the USA: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/nation/census-high-income/

Jobs Jobs Jobs – Once you find one then you need to start looking for your next one.

PRESENTATION: Professionals Constantly Hunt for Their Next Job … Bill G sez: Life happens. This is a good presentation. Successful professionals constantly have their radar on.

If always looking for your next job, even when you just found one, sounds like a serious case of lack of corporate loyalty then you need a new definition.

A hallmark of current American capitalism is to parrot the phrase ‘people are our greatest asset‘ and then to treat you like you really are just an asset … and not as someone that has either ongoing needs or some basic self-interests that desire some job security and a path for growth; there are many fine companies which do care but it would seem that they are not as common as we might wish to be the case. // An opposite view is that if you are looking for a path for growth then you will naturally follow the jobs and opportunities, and your relationship with your current organization will last just so long as it is mutually beneficial. It is common for employers to ask during the hiring interview process: where do you see yourself in five years: if the answer is not following the opportunities and growing in my career field (even if it means leaving the company) then you stand a good chance of being marked as a homesteader just looking for a desk to call home.

Corporate loyalty means that you don’t give away secrets when you leave a company. In a dynamic, often turbulent economy you need to consider that things can and often do go wrong.

Going wrong can mean:

• Your company gets bought out.
• Another organization comes up with a better idea (Blackberry vs Apple vs Droid vs …).
• Your job gets shipped overseas or to somewhere in the US where someone can do it cheaper (Iowa and North Dakota have benefited greatly from this).
• Stockholders pull the rug out from your profitable company because they can get more money elsewhere (it happens!).
• Technology change (CDMA vs GSM, or 3G vs 4G vs 4GLTE).
• Perhaps you are a defense contractor and our moribund Congress can’t even agree on what it disagrees on so your funding magically disappears overnight — in which case your company slashes the workforce within weeks, if not within just days.

Things happen. I am encouraging you to always have a Plan B and a Plan C.

Every time you find a job you should begin looking for your next — keep opportunities always on your radar. Life happens. Often.

Best regards,

Bill Golden
CEO, IntelligenceCareers.com
aka USADefenseIndustryJobs.com
aka USAJobZoo.com

LinkedIn: http://Linkedin.com/in/BillGolden
Twitter: http://twitter.com/USAJobZoo
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ICDefenseJobs
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/USAJobZoo
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/IntelligenceCareers

Below are December 2012 jobs numbers and where they fit in the big picture.

Get updates online at CRGraphs.com

The big picture has been that the jobs recovery period has been taking longer and longer and looooooooonger for jobs to return to their high point.

Back in 2009 a number of economic models were published that pointed to 2017 as the probable year when jobs finally recover to 2007 levels.

There are also some dark sides to the models that say full recovery will not be until 2022-24.

There are many different reasons as to why it is taking longer and longer for jobs to recover — and they never did recover to their high point from the 2001 Recession; the percentage of employed Americans has continually dropped since 2001 … with today being 2012 and that trend continuing.

You can blame left policies. You can blame right policies. But mostly we are doing two things which almost guarantee fewer jobs.

#1 is that we are enjoying the benefits of an information society tied to both industry and to productivity. The productivity rate of Americans is almost double that of population growth. Bottomline: we can do more with less, and when times get difficult we really can do much more with less … and once we do then there is no going back.

#2 is that our economy is so integrated with the world economy that we no longer feel bad selling our fellow citizens down the river if we can get a better price on a product produced anywhere else in the world. That may sound cynical but it is reality. There may be American flags flying at our shopping malls and in front of mega-stores but concepts like ‘borders’ and having an ‘integral economy’ really do not matter in our modern world — the only thing that matters is our own job which will enable us to keep buying whatever from wherever whenever we want.

Thoughts and ideas? You can reach Bill Golden at WGolden@USAJobZoo.com

Almost any topic is open for discussion if it involves jobs, employment and trends.

TUNE IN online at https://new.livestream.com/USAJobZoo at 3pm EST.

Are you a military member or a group of expats located overseas? Or perhaps you are in California, Alaska or Hawaii?

If 3pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) isn’t convenient for you, Bill is willing to hold a live broadcast mini-seminar for your location at a LOCAL TIME of your choice. This would be a live broadcast over USAJobZoo.com TV — we can take questions live and cover those career topics that are of interest to you.

You can also get your questions answered by visiting our Jobs Guru webpage.

[CATEGORIES ]

1) Amazon.com – 3,000 openings / Click HERE to apply!

2) Hickory Farms – 5,200 openings / Click HERE to apply!

3) KOHLS – 52,700 openings / Click HERE to apply!

4) Toys R Us – 45,000 openings / Click HERE to apply!

5) Walmart – 50,000+ openings / Click HERE to apply!

6) Target – 90,000 openings / Click HERE to apply!

7) Macy’s – 80,000 openings / Click HERE to apply!

Source: AOL Jobs

One of the advice items the WSJ story covered was on following up with recruiters.

From my perspective (Bill Golden, USAJobZoo.com):

As a general rule, please do not contact a recruiter more than once about every 10 business days. And after 30 days then that job probably just won’t ever happen for you so please move on. … HOWEVER, if you are truly qualified then please DO NOT take it personal that a company did not follow up with you. It is all about money!

This is especially true when it comes to defense contractors. Quite often a defense contractor advertises jobs because they have a government contract to provide a specialist for some purpose. Yet the government is not always so good at sending money when it should. This can sometimes cause jobs to exist without money being there to pay you if you were to be hired.

Experienced companies only hire once they know the funding is secure and/or has arrived. So you may have been told there was a job opening. And yes you may have been told that you were a good fit. But if the recruiter doesn’t get back to you (happens all too often) then it is probably because Uncle Sam hasn’t fully funded the contract … and what’s a recruiter to say? I would love to hire you but tight Uncle hasn’t delivered? Nah! Won’t happen. You’ll just get silence instead.