Computerworld — Information technology leaders are hungry to recruit .Net programmers, desktop support technicians and voice-over-IP project leaders, according to an online survey conducted in June by the Society for Information Management.

But when asked by SIM to cite the top workplace skills that they're seeking in candidates for both entry-level and midlevel IT jobs, the 300-plus respondents placed the greatest emphasis on ethics and morals.

SIM didn't disclose the number of respondents who cited ethics and morals. But that choice overwhelmingly topped alternatives such as communication skills and business acumen, said the group, which released the full results of the annual survey at its SIMposium 2008 conference in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., last week.

Jerry Luftman, a professor at Stevens Institute of Technology and SIM's vice president of academic affairs, said that many IT executives have voiced concerns about reports of tech workers doing unethical things such as circumventing security systems.

Luftman, who is executive director of the information systems graduate programs at Stevens, also noted that cheating scandals at some U.S. colleges have grabbed people's attention.

"It's hot on everyone's minds," Luftman said. "This whole issue of ethics and morals is becoming paramount to IT executives."

"To me, this is the price of entry into my [IT] department," said Paul Major, CIO at The Aspen Skiing Co. in Colorado. Major noted that he recently had to fire two people from his 20-person IT organization because they didn't "exhibit the type of principles that we try to emulate with our team and in our company."

Major also said that prior to getting into any discussions about technical skills during job interviews, he does a "gut check" of the applicants based on how they're dressed and how they present themselves. "Then I give them the spiel on the company's guiding principles," he said.

Mike Close, chief technology officer at The Dannon Co. in White Plains, N.Y., said that gauging the moral fiber of job applicants has long been part of the vetting process at the yogurt maker, which has done "a significant amount of hiring" over the past couple of years.

This version of the story originally appeared in Computerworld's print edition.