As a result, Johnson is using the LinkedIn social networking site to augment his hiring efforts. He said he is searching the site for a "passive candidate" - someone who may be advertising his IT credentials on LinkedIn and looks like a strong match for CME, but isn't actively looking to leave the security of his current job.
Even some of the large IT vendors that have begun cutbacks are continuing to hire as well. Microsoft's careers site lists more than 700 open jobs in the US, including both technical and administrative positions. And IBM has about 3,200 jobs and internships listed worldwide, more than 550 of them in the US - even as it cuts thousands of workers in a move that it is describing not as a layoff, but an effort to "match skills and resources with our client needs."
Many other vendors, such as Access Systems Americas Inc. in Sunnyvale, Calif., haven't had any layoffs and are in hiring mode. Access, which previously was known as PalmSource Inc. and is the developer of the former Palm operating system (now called Garnet OS), has about a dozen openings, including some for tech jobs.
In a sign of the times, though, Access is getting significantly more applications for the open jobs than when the economy was in better shape. In the past, the company might have received 30 to 40 resumes for a single position, but it's getting between 60 and 70 now, according to Access officials.
Retailers have been hit especially hard by the economic recession.
IT job cuts are coming at Michaels Stores, a US-based arts and crafts retailer that operates more than 1,000 stores. Michaels announced last week that it is turning over its IT operations to India-based outsourcing vendor Tata Consultancy Services, in a move that the retailer said will enable it to make IT improvements "sooner, better and less expensively."
Exactly how many IT jobs at Michaels will be affected isn't clear. But in an e-mail, the company said: "A few Michaels employees will go to work for TCS, but the majority will leave Michaels with severance after a three-to-four-month transition of knowledge and information about our work processes."
HCL America, a subsidiary of outsourcer HCL Technologies in India, is among the vendors that are hiring in the US. HCL America plans to open a new services delivery center in the US, this month, and Shami Khorana, president of the HCL unit, said that 100 people will initially be hired to work at the 40,000 square-foot facility. The head count at the center is expected to increase to 500 within five years, he added.
Khorana said the Cary facility is intended to meet the needs of outsourcing clients in the US for business analysts, help desk workers and software developers, especially when customers want "more control and interaction" than they get working with offshore teams. But not all of the jobs at the center will be new ones. Khorana said some of the employees there will be "rebadged" workers who are shifted from customers to HCL as part of outsourcing agreements.