400,000 tech jobs available

CompTIA, trade association for IT professionals, is currently launching a hiring campaign to fill an estimated 400,000 tech job openings.

The reason: a scarcity of skills, experience, or combination of these that employers want. Tech professionals who are employed may find they need to upgrade their certifications to remain competitive and venture into new territory in order to retool their careers for today’s job market.

Tech support positions are found in a wide range of industries, from hospitals, to hotels, to factories. Employers are seeking individuals who can perform hardware and software integration and data security.

One category in big demand is basic computer skills, which open the door at the entry level. Then employees add certifications to move to higher positions.

Tech jobs are appearing in Des Moines, Boise, Louisville, and all over the U.S. In Detroit tech jobs in hospitals are plentiful for jobs that require continual collaboration with other departments. In the medical industry, tech jobs are available for medical providers.

The fastest demand in the U.S. is for help desk and desktop support. A recent survey of Robert Half International shows 51% of employers plan to add IT staff over the coming year.

Unemployment among tech professionals is a low 4.9%, compared to the national rate of 9.6% overall.

Dice.com compiled a list of the top five most in-demand skills:

* Security. Employers want to hire people with the CISSP designation (Certified Information Systems Security Professional), who have 5 years of hands-on experience.

* Virtualization. The practice of running multiple servers on a single piece of hardware.

* Java EE. Sun Microsystems’ Java and it’s enterprise edition, J2EE are industry standards for developing online applications.

* SAP. Most employers prefer candidates who have direct, on-the-job experience with SAP.

* .NET. Microsoft has a variety of certifications, but Dice.com says the top designation is Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD), which includes MS Visual Studio and Microsoft .NET framework.

Source: CNN Money, http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/21/technology/tech.jobs.fortune/index.htm