From tech hiccups to hiring?

The technology glitches sparked by the recent equity market sell-off demonstrated the limitations of US systems, but there's been no immediate effect on IT recruitment.

"It is unlikely that there will be any additional hiring in capacity systems or IT. You buy more hardware for these areas, not hire more people," says Octavio Marenzi, CEO of Celent, a research and consultancy firm.

He adds: "Last week's tech glitches will probably not have an impact on recruitment, given it was a single event. However, NYSE is always looking for specialists with electronic and algorithmic trading expertise and they might redouble those efforts given last month's glitch."

What was the glitch exactly? For anyone out of the loop, the Dow Jones industrial average plummeted 200 points in less than a minute on February 27, a rate of decline never seen before. It subsequently emerged that the data arm of Dow Jones, which is responsible for calculating the average, had been unable to calculate fast enough.

Similarly, Euronext suspended trading for 15 minutes on February 28 after a massive increase in trading volumes created technical difficulties.

If anyone is in demand as a result, it will be the people with experience in creating high performance trading applications, Marenzi adds.

Mark Shrem, recruiting manager at NY recruitment agency, Gromwell I.T., agrees there has been no immediate effect on IT recruitment.

"Everyone looks at historical data and patterns so a single event won't dramatically affect recruitment," he said.

Any change, if there is one, will occur in the next few months when IT recruitment may yet subside. However, there's little sign of this so far, according to Shrem. "There is plenty to go around and more jobs than talent."