The Gartner 2010 IT Market Compensation Study paints a tough picture for the job market.

Do you still have your job? Are you considering a new position? The market for ICT jobs is relatively flat, according to a Gartner survey of 358 U.S. companies. The survey, "Gartner's 2010 IT Market Compensation Study Shows A Slow, But Steady Road To Recovery, covered March 2009 to February 2010.

"These survey results continue to show a slow job market with organizations being cautious about increasing staff levels, leading to fewer new hires and more vacancies left unfilled," said Lily Mok, vice president at Gartner in a September 2, 2010 press release. "While we expect hiring activities to slowly pick up over the next 12 to 18 months as market conditions improve, we think it is unlikely that many IT organizations will return to their pre-recession staffing levels."

The survey demonstrated the enterprise ICT headcount only increased about 6% during the survey period. This is due to enterprises attempting to control costs. Therefore hiring new staff is a low priority even though there are increases in the number of projects. The new projects are driven by the goal of increasing enterprise revenue.

The job market has slowed because enterprises are trying to work with the existing staff levels. This does not bode well for prospects for new hiring. The use of contract services may be on the increase to compensate for the lack of new hires.

The impact on the job market because of the economic downturn, continues well after the initial round of employee layoffs. The median ICT voluntary turnover rate (with retirements) during the last 12-month period dropped to a record low of 3.0 percent due to employers not being able to forecast how the economy will perform in the near future.

Employees are focusing on keeping their jobs, not looking for a new position. During the survey period, 28% of the enterprises reported that their hiring levels were completely flat.

"The voluntary turnover rate will not stay at the current low level for the long term. As more organizations resume hiring, employees will re-evaluate their current job situation, and contemplate and entertain external opportunities that may become available. The employee groups at higher risk for turnover are the high performers and individuals with high in-demand or critical skills," said Diane Berry, managing vice president at Gartner, in the same press release. "Retention efforts at this time should be focused on identifying the profile of workforce you can't afford to lose, understanding what will keep them engaged and motivated, and addressing any potential issues and concerns that could lead to turnover." Filling vacant positions has also changed. Filling job vacancies is a good indicator of the strength of the employment market. The survey found a weaker job market than the previous year. Fewer organizations reported significant difficulties in filling the vacancies during the survey period. The average number of months to fill selected jobs dropped from 3.3 months in the 2009 study to 2.8 months in 2010.

The conclusions I drew from the Gartner survey are:

* You will be in your position longer than you may have expected.

* There is considerable job competition reflected by the reduction in time to fill positions.

* Your staff size will remain constant for the near future.

* You will be expected to work longer hours and more efficiently.

* It is more likely that any staff increases will be temporary help/contactors.

* Salary raises will be small or non-existent because of the low staff turnover and competition for jobs.

The Gartner 2010 IT Market Compensation Study provides benchmarking information for IT workforce management. It provides base salary, total cash compensation and short-term incentive/bonus data for 155 benchmark jobs that were grouped into 26 job categories.