With the government closed for business, private-sector firms should consider poaching public-sector IT talent to fill open tech positions. Though the Tech American Foundation reports the tech sector added 103,000 jobs in the first half of 2013, a huge talent gap still exists, says Michael Kirven, CEO of IT resourcing and recruiting firm Mondo.“I was actually surprised that number wasn’t higher; our customers still struggle to find good people to fill their available seats,” Kirven says. “In the tech arena, we’ve seen only a 1 percent to 2 percent unemployment rate among professionals these last three years, almost as though it’s an entirely separate economy,” Kirven says.So Much for Government WorkBut as the U.S. government remains shut down, that unemployment rate among tech professionals could rise, opening up a huge pool of talent suddenly eager to explore new opportunities in the private sector, Kirven says. “If I’m looking for good people, the best place to look for them right now is one of the largest ‘companies’ in the world – the U.S. government,” Kirven says. “If I were a CIO, I would look at this situation and say, ‘These people still have mortgages, car payments, groceries to buy. They need a paycheck.’ There is no way to tell how long this shutdown could last, so I’d be looking to poach talent from the government,” he says.Many government employees felt their positions were, if not the highest-paid in technology, at least stable and unlikely to be affected by the whims of a fragile economy, he says. But that’s clearly no longer the case, so there could be as many as 40,000 to 50,000 available workers looking to make a change, he says. In fact, Kirven says his firm is advising customers to offer signing bonuses and other lucrative incentives to persuade government employees to come to the private sector.Shutdown May Spur IT Pros to Go It AloneIn addition, Kirven says, a shutdown may increase the number of available independent IT contract workers who, burned by the shutdown, decide to strike out on their own instead of tying their fortunes to one particular employer.“Even before this shutdown, we noticed a trend toward companies looking to use an ‘elastic’ workforce; to be able to add and subtract teams of skilled professionals on an as-needed basis to deal with strategic projects,” he says. “Our customers used to be more concerned with how to get and keep permanent employees in the seats, but no longer. And for workers, the stigma of the ‘perma-lancer’ has gone away, and more and more professionals want to work for themselves and not limit their opportunities or their skills to one company,” Kirven says.Sharon Florentine covers IT careers and data center topics for CIO.com. Follow Sharon on Twitter @MyShar0na. Email her at sflorentine@cio.com Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline and on Facebook. Related content Opinion 5 hard questions every IT leader must answer Strong leadership is vital to IT success — and shouldn’t be taken for granted. Continual self-reflection is essential for knowing whether it’s time to restructure your approach to leading IT. By Thornton May Mar 28, 2023 5 mins Business IT Alignment IT Leadership Feature CIOs address the impact of hybrid work Assessing how some of the most progressive CIOs strive to provide both technological and emotional support for a dispersed workforce. By Pat Brans Mar 28, 2023 8 mins CIO Remote Work Employee Experience BrandPost Smart UPS Connectivity: what it is and why you need it By Veronica Lew Mar 27, 2023 4 mins Remote Access BrandPost Huawei’s F5G rollout plan signals new wave of green technology and digital transformation At MWC, Gu Yunbo, President of Huawei’s Enterprise Optical Business Domain, sat down with CIO to discuss a raft of new F5G launches, and what they mean for enterprise computing. By Peter Kirwan Mar 27, 2023 4 mins Digital Transformation Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe