Talent Shortage At The HelmTalent Shortage At The Helm

Information technology leaders will be among the most sought-after executives this year, and nearly one in five recruiters expects a shortage of CIOs, CTOs, and other top tech execs, a new survey says.

"The IT market has come back with a vengeance this year," says Allison Cheston, chief marketing officer at the Association of Executive Search Consultants, which conducted the survey of 221 recruiters. "Two years ago, these jobs were very hard to come by," she says.

Hiring has been fueled by some of the big tech vendors, most notably Google. "There's a lot of competition for top talent, and as this kind of hiring goes up, there's an overall shrinking of available talent," she says.

Nearly 35% of the headhunters polled named IT as a sector in which they expect the biggest growth this year. Financial services and banking professionals were named as the No. 1 area with the most sought-after talent, and IT is No. 2.

The increase in searches for CIOs and CTOs has been building in recent months, says Umesh Ramakrishnan, vice chairman of executive search firm Christian & Timbers. It saw a 32% jump in companies hunting for CIOs in the second half of last year, compared with the first half. "Companies are back in a cycle of IT investment, and they're looking for CIOs to do that," Ramakrishnan says. Many businesses preferred having technologists running IT during the downturn, he says, but now they're looking for "solid individuals who are not only tech wizards, but who are good fiscally and can horizontally manage their peers."