Informationweek Article, and Judiciary Hearing Alert

Date: Tuesday, October 09, 2007 11:48 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1769 -- 10/09/2007 >>>>>

A dreadful article has been published on Informationweek. It's not the only
bad article to appear in the media lately; in fact people are sending me stuff
as fast as I can read them, and they are all bad. It's all part of the fall
campaign the get an H-1B increase, and of course the mainstream media always
plays the party line.

I'll probably send out another newsletter soon with a collection of the
stinkers. In the meantime read this one.

One positive thing I can say about the author of this article is that he does
read comments and has even replied to some of them. I left a couple with my
opinions under the pseudonym "RobSanz".

Speaking of a fall campaign to raise H-1B -- all of that and much, much more
is in HR 750. This Thursday they are having a hearing on it. At this time they
still haven't given a witness list, but it's probably a fair bet that Roy Beck
or Tom Tancredo won't be invited.

http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings.aspx?ID=183

Thursday 10/11/2007 - 10:00 AM
2237 Rayburn House Office Building
Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and
International Law Hearing on H.R. 750, the "Save America Comprehensive
Immigration Act of 2007"
By Direction of the Chairman

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202300143

Down To Business: Worried About IT Talent Shortage? Do Something About It

Employers must work more closely with universities, invest more in training,
and take a chance on workers they deem overqualified or over the hill.

By Rob Preston, InformationWeek
Oct. 6, 2007
URL:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202300143

For those of you still convinced that the IT talent shortage is a vast
conspiracy to depress salaries and control the tech-literate population,
consider the most recent evidence. For the first time in 10 Society for
Information Management surveys, the group's executive members cite an HR
issue--attracting, developing, and retaining tech talent--as their No. 1
concern.

No, those 130 CIOs and other business technology execs from 112 companies
didn't assemble around a mahogany conference table and coordinate their
responses. They're not attending SIM summits on how to keep the proletariat
down. They're worried. Worried that their baby boomer employees are retiring
and they don't have a deep enough bench. Worried that the nation's
universities aren't turning out enough tech graduates to fill the void, and
that the grads who do enter the market don't have the business acumen they
need.

And if they're worth their executive titles and salaries, they're worried that
they haven't done nearly enough to head off the situation they now find
themselves in.

Many tech workers, drawing mostly on anecdotes and creative interpretations of
the employment numbers and other research, claim that there's no talent
shortage, looming or otherwise. But the stats and surveys don't lie.

The unemployment rate for IT occupations fell to an all-time low of 2% in the
most recent quarter, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and
demographic data shows that more tech pros will retire from U.S. companies
over the next decade than can be hired domestically, even taking into account
foreign workers imported under H-1B and other visas.

Meantime, U.S. tech pros as a whole are more confident of their prospects than
workers in other sectors, according to a survey released last week by staffing
firm Hudson. Why the confidence? Tim Bosse, Hudson's executive VP, attributes
it to strong demand for tech talent, particularly for software architects,
business analysts, project managers, and Web developers.

Another indication that the tech labor pool is shallower than the general one
comes from a Conference Board CEO survey released last week. While the SIM
survey finds CIOs worried about attracting and keeping good people, the
Conference Board survey indicates that CEOs aren't nearly so troubled by
personnel issues. "Finding qualified managerial talent" is only the No. 6
concern cited by the 409 U.S. CEOs surveyed, followed by "top management
succession." (Finding qualified managerial talent is the No. 1 concern among
Asian company CEOs, however.)

Of course, plenty of IT pros, especially older ones, are having trouble
finding decent jobs. Many of them have stopped looking and are switching
careers, one reason the tech unemployment numbers, which measure only active
job seekers, are so low.

It is here where CIOs and other tech employers must step up. As a whole--
though with many admirable exceptions--they're not working closely enough with
universities to groom young people and establish a base of skills; they're not
investing enough in training and career development; they're not taking a
chance on workers they deem overqualified or over the hill. And in certain
high-profile cases, by their cavalier offshoring of key tech groups and
positions, they're signaling a bleak future for the domestic profession.

If you're on the short end of the IT employment stick, forget about returning
to the halcyon days of yesteryear. Globalization is one trend that's here to
stay. But CIOs and other employers also have a responsibility to think
differently--about how they hire, who they hire, where they hire, and how they
treat and cultivate their people.

As a manager, if you're worried about the job market, try doing something
about it. You're not just a passive player.

Rob Preston,
VP/Editor In Chief rpreston@cmp.com

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