IT is a ripe job market

By Alan Hawkins for Tarsus Technology Group
Johannesburg, 03 Oct 2007

Five years ago when the bottom fell out of the IT market, it became increasingly challenging to find the investment and the highly-skilled workforce required to continue the amazing growth rate the sector had experienced over the past decade.

As IT ceased to be a hot topic in business circles, so the investment began tailing off, and with that waning interest on the financial front, the workforce began to focus elsewhere.

All of this culminated in the worst skills shortage the IT market had ever seen. The good news, however, is that IT is back in the limelight - one simply needs to look at the number of acquisitions taking place in Silicon Valley as testimony to the returning buoyancy of the IT market.

So surely the skills shortage should be over too?

Unfortunately, the exact opposite is true. Alan Hawkins, sales manager at Tarsus Technologies, says the demand for quality staff in the IT sector has never been stronger.

"Apart from our own personal struggle to find experienced staff, we know of more than a handful of resellers that have found themselves in the same predicament," he says.

"As a result of the skills shortage, IT companies of all sizes and descriptions are well-prepared to invest in new staff members," he adds, "providing them with all of the theoretical and practical 'on the job' training they need to fast-track their careers.

"In my opinion, there's never been a better time for young technology graduates, goal-driven sales people and meticulous administration personnel to seek out jobs in the IT sector.

"The resurgence in the IT market has also meant more maturity," Hawkins adds. "To someone seeking a job in the IT sector, it means that things are less risky - the boom and bust times are over."

Hawkins says that the 'cowboy culture' the IT industry had in the late eighties and early nineties is also long gone.

"Business is serious, customers are serious about the value they expect to derive from the IT solutions they buy and competition is still tough.

"IT has returned as a sought-after market to be involved in," Hawkins says. "I would honestly recommend it to anyone looking for a sound and lengthy career," he concludes.

Tarsus Technologies

With more than 20 years of experience in the ICT industry, Tarsus is the leading value-added distributor in South Africa, specialising in the supply of the world's foremost PC and peripheral hardware brands to the local reseller channel.

Tarsus strives to meet the channel's needs for credit funding, stock availability and efficient logistics, ensuring that resellers are able to deliver the highest quality service to their customers, focus on support and compiling the best overall solutions for their end-user customer base at the lowest possible cost.

The company prides itself on its flexibility, adaptability, knowledge, skills and successful track record, combined with an industry-leading ability to manage large roll-outs. These are the reasons Tarsus has consistently been rated as the top distributor in the country by international vendors, resellers and the IT media alike.

With its strong commitment to the South African channel, Tarsus is able to not only make the reseller channel more efficient, but more importantly, it plays a vital role in dramatically reducing the costs of doing business in the local ICT market.

Brands represented by the Tarsus stable include industry leaders like Acer, Cisco, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Logitech, OKI, Samsung, TallyGenicom, Targus and Wyse Technology.

More information about Tarsus is available at: http://www.tarsus.co.za.

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