FRom "The Age" Melbourne. 19/07/2005

There is a paradox embedded in the much-discussed IT skills crisis.

It is difficult to find the right IT people in some areas, but unemployment is higher among IT workers than the national average. And although IT unemployment fell markedly over the past three years - much faster than the national rate - IT workers generally still find it more difficult to get a job than workers in other industries.

Programming, once seen as a guaranteed path to prosperity, could soon disappear as an occupation for all but a relative few locals as these jobs are exported to low-rent countries such as Malaysia, China and India.

Yet as some IT workers, such as programmers, look set to join the ranks of the long-term unemployed, there is fierce head-hunting for those with other skills.

Edward Mandla, president of the Australian Computer Society - a national representative group for IT workers - says employers can't find IT staff with the skills they crave.

For instance, 52 per cent of organisations in the industries that employ IT staff are vendors - computer and software makers, distributors, those who build networks and so on - with the balance comprised of their customers such as banks, miners and transport companies.

When I say that to (university) deans, they say 'wow', because they are not focusing on vendors at all," Mr Mandla says.

There is a huge difference in the kinds of skills required by each group, and Mr Mandla expects vendors' share of IT employment to grow as fast-moving companies such as Dell and Microsoft increase staff.

IT unemployment generally is decreasing, but Australia is still turning out programmers when unemployment among that group rose to 22 per cent last year from 18 per cent the year before, Mr Mandla says.

Most in demand now are modern technical and soft skills, such as managing people and sales.

On the technical front, security is most in demand, followed by web services and skills in customer relationship management systems that help organisations identify their key accounts to better service them.

Expertise in wide area networking, internet telephony, wireless networks and putting all the pieces together ("integration") are also in demand.

It's a list with which Internet Industry Association boss Peter Coroneos mostly agrees.

"It's not surprising, given that security has emerged as the number one issue in the internet," Mr Coroneos says.

But apart from specific technical skills, Mr Mandla says, Australia needs a huge shift towards developing soft skills such as presentation, project management, people management and building business cases for commercial exploitation.

Mr Coroneos adds sales skills to that list.

Norman Lacy, the executive director of the group representing companies that place IT workers in jobs, the IT Contract and Recruitment Association, says there are underlying shortages in some areas that may be filled from overseas (known as "offshoring") as the global market adjusts quickly to fluctuations.

"Our members are committed to trying to get Australians to fill positions," he says. "But if they can't get someone, they try to get them wherever they can. Shortages change and it's very fluid."

Most talk about skills shortages is anecdotal, and hard data is not readily available, he says.

Mr Mandla, who also runs a recruiting business, says his suspicion is that big businesses neglect to train IT workers, who for the past five years have lived a "Groundhog Day" - workers have been whipped, with each year a repeat of the last.

"They come out of the cycle and their skills are no longer up to date and what does the employer do? They say 'bugger it, we'll offshore them'."

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