Internet and Information Technology
Position Descriptions HandiGuide®
Each Job Description a separate
WORD File
HandiGuide - The IT HR Resource - PDF
231 Job Descriptions and Organization Charts
The Internet and IT Position Descriptions HandiGuide® was completed in 2009 and is over 650 pages; which includes sample organization charts, a job progression matrix, and 231 Internet and IT job descriptions. The book also addresses Fair Labor Standards, the ADA, and is in a new easier to read format. To see the what has changed go to our version history.
Also included with the HandiGuide are tools to help you expand, evaluate and define your enterprise's unique additional required. Those tools include:
- Job Evaluation Questionnaire
- Position Description Questionnaire
- Job Progression Matrix (Job Family Classifications)
- Sexual Harassment and other key employment issues
- Best Practices for resume screening
- Best Practices for phone screeing
The 231 positions include all of the functions within the IT group. The Job Descriptions have been updated to be compliant with PCI-DSS, Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, CobiT, and the ITIL standards. The job descriptions are all structured to focus on "Best Practices" as defined by the IT Productivity Center to meet the requirements of World Class Enterprises. They are ready to use and easily modified to meet your enterprise's unique requirements.
- Chief Information Officer(CIO)
- Chief Information Officer (CIO) - Small Enterprise
- Chief Security Officer (CSO)
- Chief Compliance Officer (CCO)
- Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
- Director Electronic Commerce
- Director Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance
- Manager Data Security/Special Project Supervisor
- Disaster Recovery Coordinator
- Internet/Intranet Administrator
- Manager Metrics
- Metrics Measurement Analyst
- Manager Wireless Systems
- Webmaster
- PCI-DSS Coordinator
- Programmer
- Object Programmer
- Unix System Administrator
- Windows System Administrator
The 231 positions include all of the functions within the IT group. Click on the each group below to see a pop up window with the list of jobs included.
- Executive Management 11 Job Descriptions
- Senior Management 81 Job Descriptions
- Middle Management 40 Job Descriptions
- Staff Positions 88 Job Descriptions
You can purchase this book as a PDF Book, Word Book or as individual word files for each Job Description (in both WORD 2003 .doc and WORD 2007 .docx formats) which makes for easier modification. We have also combined the both book formats with the individual word files for each job descriptions to give you the best of both worlds.
Internet and IT Jobs Latest News
Freefall in Job Market -- Is It Over Yet?
Since last November, IT employment has declined by nearly 250,000 jobs, or 6 percent, after peaking that month at 4.058 million jobs. However, only 1,100 jobs were lost in August, or a .03 percent decline, according to the TechServe Alliance, an Alexandria, Va.-based industry group that conducts an ongoing analysis of IT occupation data compiled by U.S.
The U.S. Commerce Department reported Thursday that the U.S. economy grew by a 3.5 percent annual rate in the last quarter.
But IT employment is in a trough and so is the pay, according to Janco Associates a Park City UT based research group that studies IT compensation. (see IT Salary Survey). Janco said in July that said "... in 2009 compensation for IT professionals has been cut by the largest amount in nearly two decades. For example, the government index of real average weekly earnings down 1.9 percent since its high point last December. And the average workweek - now down to 33 hours - is the shortest on modern record."
Jobs board Dice.com reported 53,400 jobs posted Thursday, compared with 75,600 in November. Janco not predicting a fast recovery. In addition, IT jobs continue to move overseas. Janco predicts that recovery will not happen in IT until eary in 2011.
- more infoStimulus Packages Misses Tech Industry
Tech Industry Threatens 120,000 Job Loss if R&D Tax Credit Not Extended
Tax reform organizations have called the R&D tax credit corporate welfare, and want Congress to let the credit lapse and expire. IT salaries would fall dramatically if that were to happen. It is estimated that over 120,000 jobs would be lost it the R&D tax credit is not extended.
Since 1981 when the credit first began, it has consistently been extended at a cost to the United States of about $7 billion a year. The tax credit varies between 14 to 20 percent of R&D spending.
In a sensitive political environment with unemployment hovering over 10 percent in many parts of the country, changes to health care, and regulatory reform of the financial and banking systems, the idea of more job loss is something most politicians want to avoid.
Industry wants the tax credit increased to the 20 percent of spending on R&D costs. Hard to know where Congress is going to go with this one, but combine the threat of more job loss and the argument that companies will move R&D overseas to countries that extend competitive credit, and it is not difficult to imagine the Obama administration and Congress extending the credit.
"We're talking about 120,000 jobs -- if anything, this is citizen welfare ... or employee welfare," said the senior director of policy for TechAmerica. "These are not 120,000 sweep-the-floor jobs. These are highly compensated, well-educated U.S. employees."
Could Pay Czar Impact IT Salaries
The Washington pay czar who's ordered steep pay cuts for executives at bailed-out firms could have practically unlimited power to regulate compensation at any company that gets federal funding, lawyers say -- even if his legal authority is sketchy.
The move raises questions about whether the mandate will be limited to the seven firms the pay czar is currently targeting -- and whether it could trickle down to smaller companies.
Under authority granted by Congress through legislation passed in February, the pay czar has decided to order cuts for the top 25 earners at the firms that received the most aid from the $700 billion Wall Street rescue package. He's looking to cut salaries by 90 percent from last year's levels, and to cut total pay by half.
The fact that Washington is again meddling with contracts -- following a stalled attempt by Congress in March to halt AIG bonuses -- has revived charges that the federal government is overstepping its bounds. Lawyers say Feinberg could be trampling on legally binding agreements.
Since these companies owe money to the federal government, that gives the Obama administration political leverage -- to exercise its ownership stake, or to embarrass the executives in the press, or to target the companies in any number of other ways.
The move by the Obama administration is for now limited to the seven top bailed-out companies and will not touch firms like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase, which repaid the government.
But President Obama announced plans to increase lending to small businesses and to give them greater access to the rescue fund, leaving some to question whether the pay czar might have authority to dictate executive pay at those firms as well.
- more infoIT Budgets Will Not Recover in 2010 According to Janco
Janco predicts that IT budgets will not recover in 2010 as predicted by some industry analysts. Rather, Janco sees reduced IT budgets in 2010 and recovery only occurring in 2011 when budgets increases will be back to the 2004 levels.
This is based on data from the 2010 budgeting processes that are underway in most enterprises. CIOs have been directed to continue to reduce IT expenses from the current spending levels. In addition they have been directed to eliminate any new initiatives that have not been approved at the highest levels of management and eliminate any new positions that do not support the approved initiatives.
Janco will release more of it findings when it completes its 2010 IT Salary Survey.
- more infoSick days versus a free day off - a risky career move
Employers are getting serious about sick days - 15 percent say
they fired an employee over a bad or illegitimate excuse, including 17 percent
who drove by a worker's house or apartment. At the same time about 12 percent of
workers say they missed work to avoid project work or a dreaded meeting they did
not want to attend, while 32 percent said they just "did not feel like going to
work that day."
Excuses that workers give for missing work occasionally are outrageous and maybe grounds for termination. Including:
-
I think my cat has a head ache.
-
I got sunburned at a nude beach and can't wear clothes.
-
I got caught selling an alligator.
-
I'm convinced my spouse is having an affair and I'm staying home to catch them.
-
I have a headache from eating hot peppers.
The recession has everyone a little more in need of mental health days than in years past. A new survey says employers and workers are both admitting they understand what is going on, though some of the excuses employers claim they have heard are far-fetched.
Companies understand that you need a day or two off every now and
then - but be careful what you say and how you handle it.
"Longer hours and heavier workloads are common in the current economic climate, and employers are becoming more flexible with their time-off policies," said a vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder, in a news release. "Sixty-three percent of companies we surveyed said they let their team members use sick days for mental health days. If you need time to recharge, your best bet is to be honest with your manager."
One-third of 4,700 workers admit they have called in sick once this year when they were just fine, says the recent CareerBuilder report. In addition, nearly a third of 3,100 companies say they believe fake sick days being taken by employees are due to on-the-job burnout and stress.
That may be comforting for many workers, but be sure you understand your company's attendance and sick day policies as well as the culture you work in before you go making up stories. The last thing you need is to be caught up in a lie that could get you axed.
Companies have sick days because they want you to be productive and keep your germs away from affecting too many of your co-workers. They expect a certain amount of absenteeism, especially during flu and cold seasons. However, there are workers who come to work when they are actually sick or have a medical condition. This is known as something called "presenteeism" - an issue that is estimated to cost companies some $150 billion a year.
Some jobs are too small to key in the US
The nonprofit company Samasource, has built a business around the idea that there are some projects too small to make sense for American workers to do, yet perfect in scale and scope for refugees and others in the Third World. For example, one their client's, a solar panels repairman, engaged the company to get workers to scour satellite photos of American cities for houses with solar set-ups in order to generate potential sales leads.
Workers stuck
in the world's largest refugee camp are being given a chance to wield a mouse
and keyboard as tools for digging their way out of poverty, and in the process,
are helping a series of small American companies looking to be more profitable.
The workers, many of whom have been in the refugee camp in Kenya for years, are toiling at new jobs--in which they do short, simple projects over the Internet--provided to them by an innovative San Francisco nonprofit serving as an intermediary between companies needing an efficient way to get small tasks done and groups of educated but displaced people with few other employment prospects.
Summary Results and Changes in Demand for IT Jobs 2009
IT Median Salaries January 2008 vs. June 2009
The compensation study (over 160 pages in PDF or WORD and EXCEL with the data) can be ordered here.
There is a comparative salary survey for the years of 1996 through 2009. That version of the salary survey can be found at COMPARATIVE YEAR.
Breaking the Immigration Stalemate
(Brookings) The Obama administration has committed itself to immigration reform. Yet despite all the shortcomings of current policy - threats to the rule of law, exploitation of vulnerable newcomers, real and perceived competition with Americans for jobs and public resources - reasonable compromise on immigration will be exceedingly difficult. The divide between elite and public opinion on this issue remains deep and wide. It is a critical factor in the lack of trust that pervades today's political culture.
Reorient Immigrant Admissions Criteria
Reorient the nation's immigrant admissions criteria to better serve Americans and our economic goals. Family unification should remain a bedrock principle of U.S. immigration policy, but we believe that "family" must be narrowed to mean nuclear family members. We must also recognize that in today's increasingly competitive and technology-intensive global economy, educated workers with the knowledge and skills to innovate are critical. Therefore, we recommend increasing skilled visas and replacing per-country limits on skilled visas with a single overall limit. At the same time, we recommend holding constant, at least for the present, the overall number of permanent legal residents admitted annually.
Rationalize Temporary Worker Programs
The nation's array of temporary work-based visas is highly adaptive and responsive to employer needs, but it lacks overall coherence and is generally beyond public scrutiny. We recommend increased oversight of temporary worker programs and replacing temporary visas with non-renewable, five-year provisional visas that do not tie workers to a single employer. Provisional visa holders should have the option of achieving permanent status.
Establish an Independent Standing Commission on Immigration
Create of an independent Standing Commission on Immigration to provide the deliberative forum that immigration policy has lacked. Bipartisan commissioners would be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for staggered terms of at least seven years. The Commission would be supported by a permanent professional staff, issue reports and studies on many aspects of immigration policy, and biennially recommend overall visa category ceilings for congressional review and action.
Promote the Assimilation and
Integration of New Americans
Create an Office of New Americans (ONA) within the Executive Office of the President to oversee and coordinate public/private sector efforts to integrate and assimilate immigrants into American society. ONA should encourage effective methods for teaching English, involving parents in their children's education, and incorporating core civic principles and U.S. history in naturalization preparation.
Engage Mexico
Mexico is the largest contributor to current U.S. immigration. The U.S. shares a lengthy border with Mexico as well as many common concerns. The United States should create or invigorate institutions for regional cooperation and investment, bolster interdiction of illegal arms and drugs, support security and judicial reform in Mexico, and cooperate closely on law enforcement and a range of other border issues, including immigration.
- more infoGovernment to control salaries
It may be only the small toe in the compensation arena, however with many top IT execurivies and CIOs who are paid a percentage of what their bosses get this could impact IT compensation in the long run.
The Obama administration's pay czar is planning to clamp down on compensation at firms receiving large sums of government aid by cutting annual cash salaries for many of the top employees under his authority, according to people familiar with the matter.
Instead of awarding large cash salaries, Kenneth Feinberg is planning to shift a chunk of an employee's annual salary into stock that cannot be accessed for several years, these people said. Such a move, the most intrusive yet into corporate compensation, would mark the government's first effort to curb the take-home pay of everyone from auto executives to financial traders.
Feinberg is expected to issue by mid-October his determination on compensation packages for 175 of the most-highly compensated executives and employees at the seven firms he oversees. The companies are: American International Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., General Motors Co., GMAC Financial Services Inc., Chrysler LLC and Chrysler Financial.
The move will further reshape pay at those firms and could complicate efforts by some of those seven companies to attract top executives and employees.
- more infoDivdersity Tips for CIOs
Are IT workers too busy fixing broken application to participate in diversity programs? CIO cannot dismiss this as a second priority. Diversity is important, regardless of how busy you the IT Staff.
The following tips CIOs on how to make diversity part of their IT organizational culture:
-
Hold quarterly "diversity cafes" -- one-hour sessions with senior managers -- to discuss topics such as supplier diversity or marketing to customer niches.
-
Encourage mentor relationships -- including ones where the mentor and mentee come from different departments or lines of business -- to nurture talented staffers and expose them to new areas.
-
Support affinity groups for people who share the same background, but open the meetings to employees with different backgrounds. For example, have men who attend the Women in Technology group meetings.
Microsoft Executive Salaries Fall
(ComputerWorld) - Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer received a 5.5% decrease in his overall compensation last year as the company suffered its first-ever drop in overall revenue, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday.
IT Job Descriptions
Salary
Data
The documents also reveal that Microsoft paid Stephen Elop, who heads Microsoft's business division, a hefty $4.1 million in relocation expenses. Elop joined the company in January 2008 moving from Silicon Valley to the Seattle area.
Ballmer and three of the other executives named in the report CFO Chris Liddell, COO Kevin Turner and Entertainment and Devices Division head Robbie Bach also saw their 2009 overall compensation decrease.
Elop was the only one of the five executive's listed who saw his compensation rise in fiscal year 2009. Elop's comparable figure for fiscal year 2008, however, only reflects six month's salary as he joined the company half way through the fiscal year.
Overall, compensation for all Microsoft executives was down 29%.
Ballmer's base salary actually rose from $640,833 to $655,833, but his cash incentives payments were down $100,000 to $600,000 in 2009.
Ballmer since becoming CEO in January of 2000 has not taken any stock compensation. He already owns more than 400 million shares, which gives him ownership of 4.5% of the company.
Liddell's salary increased by $20,000 to $561,667, but his overall compensation dropped 26% from $4.7 million to $3.5 million. Turner's base salary rose $21,000 to $641,667, but his overall compensation dropped 37% from $8.6 million to $5.4 million. Bach's base salary also rose $21,000 to $641,667, but his overall compensation dropped 24% from $8.2 million to $6.2 million.
All the executives suffered their losses based on drops in the fair market value of their stock awards at the time they were granted. Turner was the lone exception as he also suffered a loss in his cash incentive payment of $47,981.
The number likely won't brighten in fiscal year 2010, which started July 1 for Microsoft. The company decided in January 2009 to eliminate merit-based salary increases for fiscal year 2010. The decision also includes freezing base salaries for executive officers at their 2009 levels for fiscal year 2010.
- more infoEmployment Market Poor For IT Professionals
Janco predicts that IT spending will not begin until end of the first quarter of 2010. Once IT spending begins again, companies in need of tech workers will likely turn first to consultants and outsourcing companies before they take on full-time staff. The downturn in 2001 to 2003 was the first time the U.S. felt the impact of the shift overseas in highly skilled, well-educated workers jobs and that shift is continuing.
It has been the worst year in history for many IT companies. Even when the recovery begins, Janco expects IT managers will be conservative about taking on new staff and will rely on consultants and outsourcers to meet immediate need. They do not believe that hiring will start until late in the second quarter of 2010.
Other forecasters see a strong recovery in IT next year, with a growth rate of 7.5% plus. Most are not predicting the effect on hiring, but the recession has delivered a pool of available workers. An industry group, which analyzes U.S government IT occupation data that includes software engineering, programming, and systems analysts jobs, found in June that IT employment was at 3.8 million, for a year-over-year decline of about 5%.
A management professor at the Ancell School of Business at Western Connecticut State University, who has studied outsourcing's impact on workers, said that when companies start adding jobs again, many of those jobs might be created in other countries.
- more infoOutsource HR Function Option
As the economy begins the long recovery process after the
turbulence of the past couple of years, businesses across the country continue
to look for ways to cut costs and boost their bottom line. Rather than slashing
prices, laying off employees, and scaling back inventory, many companies are
discovering the advantages of outsourcing the HR functions. According to a study
led by a leading technology research company, the HRO market is expected to
expand by nearly 25% by 2010.
Whether you run a small business or a global corporation, there will always be some core HR functions - such as employee training, payroll, and benefits administration - that serve a critical role in your organization. Enterprises have three main options for handling them:
-
Internal HR function with no HR staff - Many CEO and CFOs are tempted to manage all HR functions themselves; mistakenly assuming they will save money by not hiring an HR specialist or outsourcing to another company. The reality is, with U.S. businesses spending up to 25% of their time managing paperwork, compensation, and benefits, keeping HR in-house can quickly become a drain on your productivity.
-
Internal HR Staff - This requires a sizable annual investment in salaries and benefits of your full-time employees. With the myriad of tasks and considerations demanding attention - employee relations, anti-discriminatory laws, workers compensation, benefits administration, salary trends, payroll, and much more enterprises typically will hire more several HR employees.
-
Outsource HR functions. - Significant time and costs can be saved by leveraging the services of a seasoned third-party provider. Most companies can expect to save up to 20% in workers compensation payouts, up to 20% in employee benefits, and up to 10% in basic HR functions, such as payroll and compensation. This can easily result in thousands of dollars in cut costs each year, even after paying the outsourcing fees.
Mainframe a good career choice
A senior
vice president of mainframe engineering at Bank of America describes mainframe
systems, which handle the firm's most critical applications, as very safe arena
to focus one's career. Bank of America has been operating that platform for 40
years. It has changed a lot, and IBM has invested in keeping this platform state
of the art. The mainframe platform can still handle high-volume work better than
non-mainframe systems. Hundreds of its IT workers are assigned to mainframe
tasks.
Most companies do not track the number of available mainframe related jobs, but it is not hard to find advertisements seeking people with mainframe skills. For example, a search with the key word "mainframe" yesterday drew 959 help wanted ads on Monster.com. On Dice.com, a similar search produced well over 2,000 ads seeking mainframe experience.
In the early 2000's, there was a decline in the number of new college graduates with any mainframe training. That prompted IBM's Academic Initiative, which works with colleges and universities to develop mainframe-training programs.
IBM claims that 600 colleges, universities and high schools around the world are participating in the mainframe-training program, which began in 2004. The training initiative provides interns and new hires.
IT Median Salaries January 2008 vs. June 2009
The compensation study (over 160 pages in PDF or WORD and EXCEL with the data) can be ordered here.
IBM says its mainframe revenue has grown in eight of the last 13 quarters. It did note that mainframe revenue plunged by 39% in the second quarter, mirroring server revenue declines for most vendors.
Competing vendors have been arguing that distributed systems have become a strong alternative to mainframes. - more infoUS Still the Best Environment for IT Innovation and Development
The Economist Intelligence Unit's third annual study into IT sector competitiveness finds that the US remains the worlds most conducive environment for the development and growth of IT firms, despite a tougher business environment and the emergence of protectionist impulses. Canada and west European countries such as Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands are also prominent in the index top tier, owing to their robust IT infrastructure and strong support for technology R&D. In emerging markets, large pools of skilled IT employees remain a significant advantage for China, India, Russia and other countries, but uneven progress in other areas, such as IT infrastructure, remains a drag on sector competitiveness.
Following are the other major findings of this years study:
-
Protectionism and support for "national champions" will hinder recovery efforts - and longer term sector competitiveness. The buy local provisions attached to some stimulus plans are criticized by some IT industry executives for not recognizing the increasingly global nature of the industry.
-
Broadband networks are essential to IT firms' competitiveness - Broadband's importance will grow as more IT services and applications are delivered over the Internet. Broadband-rich countries in Western Europe, North America and developed Asia have an advantage over countries like India, Brazil and Russia that lack extensive broadband networks.
-
Investment in skills development is critical - The recession has eased the talent shortages but as economies recover and hiring resumes, competition for the best talent will again be fierce.
-
Intellectual Property protections is improving in many emerging markets - As innovation becomes more important than low-cost labor to IT firms in China and India, Intellectual Property Protections enforcement is expected to improve.
CIO Best Practices for Staff Levels
In today's economy, every CIO is faced with pressure to reduce unnecessary expenses and run at peak efficiency. For many CIOs, this means making difficult personnel decisions to eliminate positions that do not add sufficient value to the organization and either eliminating or re-deploying people in those roles. The climate in many IT organizations is tense as these changes take hold, and the stakes are high with little room for error.
One of the greatest expenses in most IT organizations is personnel. Even in today's environment unexpected opening will occur. Janco has identified the best practices that CIOs and IT managers should follow if they are to succeed in successfully manage their staffing.
Understand and be able to justify how each position supports the enterprise's key objectives.
-
Establish quantitative and objective metrics to evaluate job performance
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Validate that compensation is competitive, based on current market rates for the position and metro area the job is in
-
Look at both internal and external candidates for open positions when they need to be filled
-
Apply a consistent selection process to all candidates
-
Include key stakeholders in your employee selection process
-
Train your interviewers in your employee selection process
-
Give your interviewers guidance to help them probe deeper into a candidate's suitability and compatibility with the culture of your enterprise
-
Conduct comprehensive reference and background checks on job candidates and validate the information on resumes of all employees
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Ensure your orientation process helps re-deployed people become productive faster.
Federal Government to Hire 12,000 IT Professionals
Hiring may be slow for business, but government agencies are going to hire over 12,000 IT professionals in the near term. Projections by government agencies show that the military will hire the most. Interesting the watchdog agencies of the government (GSA and the Government Accountability Offices) will be the ones that hire only 140 professionals between them.
The data is clear - government hiring is on an upswing.
|
|
Employees |
Projected Hires |
|
|
9/30/08 |
FY 2010-12 |
|
Department of the Army |
8,234 |
1,874 |
|
Department of the Navy |
7,253 |
1,820 |
|
Department of Defense (Excluding
Services) |
5,746 |
1,408 |
|
Department of Homeland
Security |
2,769 |
1,025 |
|
Department of Treasury |
6,538 |
987 |
|
United States Air Force |
3,943 |
716 |
|
Department of Health and Human Services
|
2,382 |
680 |
|
Department of Transportation |
2,092 |
611 |
|
Social Security
Administration |
3,687 |
600 |
|
Department of Commerce |
3,036 |
540 |
|
Department of Agriculture |
3,423 |
510 |
|
Department of Justice |
2,737 |
428 |
|
Department of Energy |
607 |
217 |
|
Environmental Protection Agency
|
646 |
128 |
|
Department of State |
643 |
107 |
|
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
|
283 |
90 |
|
Government Accountability
Office |
278 |
80 |
|
General Services Administration
|
651 |
66 |
|
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
|
356 |
61 |
|
Department of Labor |
381 |
59 |
|
Small Business Administration
|
81 |
40 |
|
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
|
161 |
30 |
|
Broadcasting Board of Governors
|
122 |
28 |
|
Department of Education |
206 |
20 |
|
Office of Personnel Management
|
162 |
19 |
|
National Science Foundation |
46 |
5 |
|
TOTAL |
56,463 |
12,149 |
E-Verify Mandated to Start
The requirement to use electronic employment verification for federal contractors has cleared a potential legal hurdle, easing the way for enforcement to start Sept. 8.
Employers use E-Verify by entering the Social Security numbers of prospective new hires and current employees. If there is a match, the employee is eligible for work. If not, the employee is advised to contact SSA to determine the source of the problem. DHS acknowledges a 3.9 percent rate of nonmatches in the system; however, critics contend the error rate is higher because the system is not designed to catch stolen or borrowed Social Security numbers.
A district judge ruled against organizations that were attempting to stop the electronic employment verification requirement. The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland upheld the Homeland Security Departments E-Verify requirement that ordered federal contractors to register and participate in the Internet-based electronic employment verification system. The lawsuit had been brought by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other parties.
- more infoEnterprise Architecture Job Description Bundle Released by Janco
Janco
Associates has just released a job description bundle for Enterprise
Architecture. The bundle contains 17 job descriptions. Victor Janulaitis the CEO
of Janco said, "As the economy starts it path to recovery many enterprises are
looking towards Enterprise Architecture as an approach that will put them in a
great position to leverage their IT investments."
Janulaitis added,"Enterprise Architecture has become a common practice for large IT organizations. For the first time there is a methodology to encompass all of the various IT aspects and processes into a single practice. However, realizing the full potential of enterprise architecture can be challenging. There are many aspects to enterprise architecture, including architecture planning, governance, taxonomies and system development methodologies, all of which impact its success. Without the right guidance, tools, frameworks, process, policies and procedures enterprise architecture can quickly become unwieldy."
The Enterprise Architecture Job Description Bundle contains 17 multi-page job descriptions in Word (2003 and 2007) and PDF formats. The job descriptions included are:Vice President Strategy and Architecture, Chief Information Officer- CIO, Chief Information Officer Small Enterprise - CIO, Chief Compliance Officer - CCO, Chief Security Officer - CSO, Chief Technology Officer - CTO, Manager Change Control, Manager Competitive Intelligence, Manager Database, Manager Enterprise Architecture, Manager Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance, Project Manager Enterprise Architecture, Capacity Planning Supervisor, Change Control Supervisor, Database Administrator, Enterprise Architect, and PCI-DSS Coordinator.
The full bundle can be ordered for $399 at http://www.ejobdescription.com/session/add_product.aspx?catalog=963.
- more infoH-1B visa enforcement increased
The U.S.
government filed a new, expanded indictment last week against a New Jersey IT
services firm it alleges fraudulently used H-1B visas through a scheme that
delivered it millions of dollars in gains.
If federal prosecutors win their case against Visions System Group Inc., in South Plainfield, NJ -- part of apparent government H-1B enforcement push -- they will ask the court to approve $4.9 million in forfeited assets, an amount "representing the total amount of gross proceeds obtained as a result of offenses," the government said.
But that amount is also a reduction from the $7.4 million the U.S. sought from Visions Systems in its initial indictment, filed earlier this year. The reduction was not explained in court documents.The U.S. government filed a new, expanded indictment last week against a New Jersey IT services firm it alleges fraudulently used H-1B visas through a scheme that delivered it millions of dollars in gains.
The job descriptions contained within the Internet and Information Technology Position Descriptions HandiGuide® are all in a standard format and are available as in PDF, WORD 2003, and WORD 2007 formats. All of the job descriptions were reviewed and updated to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley and the ISO 27000 security standard. The latest version of the HandiGuide was completed in 2009 and is over 600 pages in length. The Internet and IT Position Descriptions HandiGuide includes sample organization charts, a job progression matrix, and the 220 job descriptions.
- more infoH-1B visa changes could impact all employers
While the fate of the legislation that would alter the administration and regulation of the H-1B visa program remains up in the air, one thing is clear: The bill contains an important provision, designed to prevent the displacement of American workers, that could put a serious wrinkle in the typical offshore outsourcing arrangement.
Some of the specific changes proposed to the visa programs include:
- Authorizing the Labor Department to review H-1B applications for fraud and to conduct random audits of sponsoring companies (at least 1 percent of all applications).
- Requiring the
Labor Department to conduct annual audits of companies who employ large
numbers of H-1B workers (those with more than 100 U.S.-based employees, if
more than 15 percent of such employees are H-1B visa holders)
eliminating "H-1B only" job ads - Prohibiting employers from hiring additional H-1B and L-1 guest-workers if they employ more than 50 U.S.- based employees and if more than half of them are H-1B and L-1 visa holders (the so-called "50/50 rule")
The H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2009, currently in committee, limits the ability of employers who sponsor H-1B applicants to place them at another company without a waiver from the Labor Department.
- more infoPersonnel Issues CIOs face
When CIOs want to improve productivity they often try to use tools
like ITIL, COBIT, ISO and Six. In
addition, they may look at IT operations monitoring software, automated quality
assurance suites, or project portfolio management applications.
The areas of improving processes or better leveraging tools often
are clear in scope and in impact. However, it is ultimately people that are
executing these processes and using these tools, and the people and culture part
of the equation is often ignored. The culture of the IT organization is often
viewed as an ambiguous cloud. In strong cultures, individuals are motivated,
collaborate well, go beyond the minimums of their jobs, and take ownership to
produce results.
Personnel issues abound and CIOs need to address these. They are:
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IT is not perceived as a viable career path for college bound students - The number of university students pursuing a computer science or related degree has dropped by a third since the beginning of the decade.
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The number of individuals in and entering the labor pool is declining - The demographics of the labor market are such that experienced IT professionals (baby boomers) are starting to retire as the overall labor pool is declining.
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Expanding business demand with a constrained workforce - There is a supply/demand imbalance that is making it harder to hire and meet this expanding business demand, especially in the more sought-after skill areas.
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Technology and economic issues are increasing and accelerating the rate of change - This requires an adaptable workforce in which the IT staff has business, technology, and communications skills to meet these ever changing needs.
Cost cutting contines but planning for recovery begins
2008 saw a significant amount of turbulence in financial markets.
In the first half of the year, the subprime mortgage crisis expanded as
homeowners in the United States began to default and foreclosures accelerated.
This credit crisis spread throughout the financial services industry and, in
October, several blue-chip financial institutions either failed or had to be
bailed out. Against this backdrop, the National Bureau of Economic Research
declared on December 2, 2008, that the U.S. economy had been in a recession
since December 2007. With the economic times continuing to be challenging, most
organizations are investigating some form of cost control for 2009.
The economic forecasts for 2009 do not look promising. Most
economists are calling for the economic downturn to last well into 2009. As
companies brace for more bumps in the economic downturn, many organizations are
indiscriminately cutting costs. To ensure a seamless transition into the
post-recession market, however, slashing and burning is not recommended. Now is
the time to strategically trim and strengthen for success in 2009 and beyond.
Mixed salary results reported by national recruiter
According to a national recruiter:
Summary Results and Changes in Demand for IT Jobs 2009
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IT salaries are up in New York, Chicago, Silicon Valley, Washington, D.C., and Dallas/Fort Worth.
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Topping the compensation/skill set list are workers in the areas of ABAP - Advanced Business Application Programming, ETL - Extract Transform and Load, and Business Intelligence databases.
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Project managers earned the highest earning title outside of top technology executives.
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Women technology professionals, as a group, earned 12% less on average than men. However, when comparing women IT professionals with their equivalent male counterpart (controlling for years of experience, education levels and job titles), the so-called gender gap disappeared.