Dotcom Vets Rebound from Bubble Burst

VETERANS BACK FROM the dotcom wars may be turning up at your doors soon. For example, former dotcommers now account for 20 percent of unsolicited rŽsumŽs sent to John J. Davis & Associates, a New York City-based company specializing in senior-level IT management recruiting.

The influx of dotcom talent comes at a good time, says company President John Davis. “We see a wide range of companies developing e-business strategies, and it’s their IT organizations that are playing the central role. E-business has now become an imperative, and it’s being integrated with all technology constituencies.” A recent survey by another recruiter, RHI Consulting, confirms the sense that CIOs are increasingly moving from developing systems to developing strategies. The survey of more than 1,400 CIOs from a random sample of U.S. companies with 100 or more employees, asked respondents to describe the aspect of their job that had changed the most in the past five years. The top three areas were increased interaction with other departments (28 percent), more involvement in strategic planning (27 percent) and a greater role in the organization’s bottom-line results (25 percent). Demand for senior IT talent is still strong, therefore, and e-business experience?even at a failed dotcom?makes for promising candidates.

“Whatever might be said about dotcom refugees in general, the IT people are tops,” Davis says. “The dotcoms didn’t implode due to inadequate technology but unrealistic business plans.”