A most unexpected thing happened today at work. (The IT job situation is improving) [View All]

[Statistical]

Part 1 - Anecdotal I know, but the job situation (in IT) seems to be improving.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=68189

Part 2 - The (IT) job market is getting better . . .2011 is going to be a good year.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=122588

So on to part 3. Long story short. I got two job offers. One from Amerigroup the other from EDS/HP. When it rains it pours I guess. Both were significantly more than my current salary. I decided to take the Amerigroup position and gave my boss the 411. He said the company might entertain a counteroffer and that I wait 24 hours before notifying Amerigroup.

Today they offered me 10% more than Amerigroup was offering (which was a significant increase from current salary) in order for me to stay. Honestly I am still finding it kind of hard to believe. I was looking for a reasonable bump in career advancement and salary and what has come back is beyond my wildest expectations. I said I need to sleep on it before giving him an answer but I am fairly certain I will take it.

The company confided they have been having difficulty finding qualified talent in other IT positions. They also have been suffering "poaching" of employees by competitors. He said point blank that the company couldn't afford for me to leave right now as it likely would require a significant and costly search for someone qualified and no guarantee it would be any cheaper.

To my fellow IT workers; anecdotally or not I really do think 2011 will be the year. I haven't been this bullish on IT sector, employment, etc in at least a decade. Companies have put off IT expansion for so long they are now fighting over the same limited talent pool. Both the recruiters I worked with said the same thing. I also noticed the job listings had more realistic requirements and offered more generous compared to a year ago. Dice now shows 72,227 listings compared to about 68,000 in Dec and about 50,000 in 2009 (I know I was looking then).