Help Wanted: CIOs Need Not Apply?

The recession is turning out to be a career-booster for some folks within IT management ranks, but a dream-buster for a lot of CIOs looking for new jobs.As companies are consolidating and downsizing in this rotten economy, there's a "huge supply of really good people hitting the streets looking for new jobs, including CIOs, CTO, VPs of infrastructure and other senior level IT executives," says Beverly Lieberman, president of Halbrecht Lieberman Associates, an executive recruitment firm specializing in IT careers. And as you might expect these days, not all of those IT managers and executives are hitting the street voluntarily, she says.

Lieberman's company is based just outside of New York City, in Westport, Conn., but her business places talent nationally. She's got a broad view into what's been going on in the senior IT management ranks, and she says it isn't pretty. In her 20 years doing executive searches, Lieberman says this is the softest market she's seen. There are more newly out-of-work CIOs, including business unit CIOs and other senior-level IT executives, these days than employers looking to hire, she says.

"It's happening across all sectors, retail is getting creamed, manufacturing is cutting back, consumer goods, financial services, universities, health care, insurance -- they're tightening their belts," she says.

"Openings are declining, companies are not replacing people or they're not going outside to replace them," she says.

Lieberman isn't the only recruiter who's noticed these trends. Michael Kirven, co-founder and principal of Bluewolf, an IT staffing firm, says CIO vacancies are "more common than you'd think." He says he's aware of about 10 to 12 companies on the East Coast in "the midrange of $200 million to $3 billion" in revenue that are "using this stalling tactic" of not filling a CIO vacancy to save money right now.

"If a CFO can save a company $140,000 by not replacing the CIO right now, that's what they'll do," Kirven say. And if a company can save money by not using an executive search firm to find a replacement right now, that's what they'll do, too.

Companies that have lost CIOs -- through attrition or budget cutting or other business maneuvers -- have been "delaying the hires of new CIOs," Kirven says.

If you're looking for the silver lining in this sobering trend, here it is: This is creating enhanced career advancement opportunities for internal talent.

That's because other tech executives and upper level managers within some companies -- like VPs of infrastructure -- have been absorbing the duties of departed CIOs, at least temporarily while the organizations try to regain their footing in the economy.

Sometimes these other tech executives and managers are taking on the departed CIO's duties without an official promotion or title change, but in other cases, they're being named "interim" or "acting" CIO until the company figures out whether they'll eventually replace that CIO with someone from the outside.

While "acting CIO" posts aren't a new phenomenon, people in those positions nowadays could find themselves in those roles for longer periods.

"There are quite a few companies out there right now without a CIO," says Umesh Ramakrishnan, vice chairman of national executive recruitment firm CT Partners. "The trend is to do more with less, and to look inward for the internal bench to step up."

Mark Esposito, a long-time IT leader in the insurance industry, is an example of a newly named CIO who held the acting CIO title for several months before recently getting promoted. In February, Hartford Financial Services Group named Esposito CIO of its Hartford Life operations, a position Esposito held on in interim basis since last October. Esposito joined Hartford in 2006 and since then held "several" interim positions, including roles related to shared services in the company. Esposito also was previously CIO of the company's individual life business, a segment within Hartford Life. But Esposito's new CIO position now has him responsible for IT for all of Hartford Life, which is one of the company's two major insurance operations.

"Hartford has a long history of developing leaders, grooming executives," says Esposito. "It's always great if you can find someone internally" to fill key positions, he says.

Meanwhile, in the increasingly rare situations these days where an employer is searching for a new CIO from the outside, candidates are more willing to listen to pitches about new jobs, even if they're not actively pursuing a job change, says Ramakrishnan. His firm is currently providing an executive search for a multibillion dollar hotel chain that's looking for a new CIO, he says.

"CIOs who in normal times don't return calls [from headhunters] are returning calls now," he says. "They're intrigued by an employer that's upping their IT game in this marketplace."

Know of any companies that are looking to hire a new CIO? How about companies not filling a CIO vacancy? Tell us about it.

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