The Hot Jobs for 2006

Industry observers are expecting a hot IT job market this year with

companies clamoring to hire experienced tech professionals with several

stand-out skill sets.

See Workers in Driver’s Seat in 2006 Job Market.

”There’s going to be fantastic opportunities for people who heeded the

warnings about diversifying their skill sets and understanding the

business,” says Kevin Knaul, executive vice president of the Hudson

Highland Group, a professional staffing and outsourcing company based in

New York City. ”Those folks will put themselves in a great situation.

But those folks focused on a specific technology run the risk of finding

themselves in a tighter market and tighter circumstances.”

Becoming business focused is the main piece of advice for IT

professionals these days. It’s no longer enough to be a skilled

technician. It’s no longer enough to be a specialist. Today, the

professionals who companies are looking to hire will not only have a

wide-ranging skill set, they’ll also understand how the business works

and they’ll have participated in business-side projects and teams.

”They need to get out of the server room and spend more time

understanding the business aspects and the ramifications of technology

decisions that are being made,” says Knaul. ”Those skill sets and

experiences are becoming more in demand. Go beyond the technology and

involve yourself in committees, organizations and the whole business

operation.”

Another hiring theme for 2006 is project management, according to Scott

Melland, president and chief executive officer of New York-based Dice Inc., an online

recruiting service for IT professionals. With business picking up over

the last year, the time is ripe for companies to begin upgrading their

systems and taking on new IT projects. That means they’ll be needing some

new project managers to run the show.

And a third theme for the new year is open source. ”Last year, we saw a

90 percent increase in that skill set,” says Melland. ”We still see a

lot of companies out there switching to an open source platform. This

trend will continue well into 2006.”

Here’s what Melland and John Challenger, chief executive officer of

Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago-based outplacement company, say

will be the hot jobs — and skills — for 2006: