IT Recruitment Activity on an Even Keel; Some Skills at All-Time Highs

Overall IT recruitment activity is holding its own—not falling off a cliff, but just edging up 1 percent year-over-year as of Oct. 1, an analysis of job listings at online IT employment site Dice shows. Despite this plateau, some tech skills are in record demand, according to Dice, which took a snapshot of job requests it received as of Oct. 1 and listed skills that reached monthly highs. Not surprisingly, Android was on the list of skills in record demand. Google's Android and Apple's iOS continue to be neck-in-neck when it comes to the actual number of job listings, but iOS listings weren't at an all-time high on Oct. 1. Windows 7 made the list, which is interesting, considering that Windows 8's official release is Oct. 26. Reflecting high demand for open-source programming skills was the surge in listings for Python and Ruby on Rails, which reached record levels in six of the first 10 months of 2012. Also in the open-source camp, JBoss made the list as well. It's a good time for IT pros who have skills that are in high demand—but who have been reluctant to change jobs because of concerns about the global economy—to pursue some of these opportunities, said Alice Hill, Dice managing director.  "Also, hiring managers should look at hiring strategies and compensation in these areas to make it attractive to recruit new talent with these skills," she said. Take a look at these sought-after skills that made Dice's list.