What Recession?

IT recruiter Robert Half Technology's quarterly IT hiring index foresees a net 8% increase in IT hiring for the first quarter of 2009. Not bad in a recession.

Click on chart to enlarge

It's not surprising, though. Companies run on computers, and that means managers can't automatically layoff IT pros when staff levels must be reduced. Here's what Jerry Luftman, distinguished professor of at Stevens Institute of Technology, said to me in an interview earlier this week:

"In previous economic downturns, IT used to be the first place to cut, slice and dice: 'It’s expensive, no value, get rid of them.' This economic downturn is very, very different from previous ones. No, I’m not going to say that IT is not going to get impacted; it clearly will, it’s going to depend on the severity of recession. But clearly, this time is different, because now IT isn’t the first place being asked to be cut.

"Today, companies are going to IT and asking them for ideas as to how IT can be leveraged to reduce the costs of other parts of business. Innovative IT leaders are being proactive and going to the business people and saying here are some ideas you might want to consider. This is how we can work together in leveraging IT to help improve productivity, to improve processes, whatever, which in these trying times is critical as companies are trying to figure out how to reduce costs and survive during this downturn.

"It’s very, very different than previous downturns, which is excellent news ... but they better deliver because here’s an opportunity to make lemonade out of lemons, and really turnaround and take a giant leap forward. Because if IT can be successful during these trying times and help the company internally, the next logical step would be looking at more strategic initiatives externally to the paying customers."

And, I guess there are paying customers, considering the Robert Half Technology survey shows that nearly one-third of respondents from companies that plan to expand their IT staffs next quarter are doing so because of business growth. That's something you don't hear a lot about these days.