But simply growing and tapping new markets isn't enough. Companies want to remain agile so they can adapt quickly and intelligently to volatile changes in customer demands and costs, according to the firm. "Getting the right information to permit quick action can only be accomplished when mechanisms are in place to gather high-quality data, conduct rigorous analysis, and make decisions with confidence. IT and other support functions overwhelmingly recognize this fact and are focusing their technology priorities for 2012 around the themes of improving the foundation of unified data (to create 'one source of truth') and being able to provide analysis and access to those find­ings."

The U.S. issues 85,000 H-1B visas annually. Of that number, 20,000 are reserved for advanced degree graduates of U.S. universities.

In total, the new visa applications from the top 10 users account for 22% of all the visas allowed by the U.S. each year. But offshore providers probably have a much larger percentage of the visas issued under the 65,000 cap, which includes graduates for foreign universities. An exact breakdown isn't available.

H-1B Visa Renewals and Approvals

• Cognizant - 5715
• Infosys- 4042
• Wipro - 2817
• Tata - 1758
• Larsen & Toubro - 1608
• Microsoft - 1586
• Accenture - 1370
• HCL America - 1128
• IBM - 1063
• Google - 615

H-1B New Visa Applications

• Cognizant - 4222
• Infosys - 3962
• Wipro - 2736
• Tata - 1740
• Accenture - 1347
• Larsen & Toubro - 1204
• HCL America - 1033
• Microsoft - 947
• IBM - 853
• Google - 383
• TOTAL - 18427

Social media sites provide distinct clues that help identify top talent. Look at the candidate's presence on Linked In, Facebook, Twitter, or blogs, and look at:

• Writing style: Many top-tier recruits have blogs with at least a small readership. Take the time to read his or her blog posts - and not just the most recent ones, but the early ones as well.  It will give you an idea about his or her professionalism, communication skills, and ability to evolve and progress.
• Followings: A good way to differentiate between two seemingly equal candidates may be to see how many people are commenting on their blog and, more significantly, how many followers they have on Twitter. Followers are a rough vote of interest and confidence in an individual.
• Word of mouth - online: Wall posts, Twitter @replies, blog comments, and LinkedIn recommendations provide insight into what people think of an individual.

Social media has proven to be a valuable resource in bad times, and it may also be a compelling resource for businesses in times-a-plenty. Tracking potential talent across social media venues is smart business because the top players in any industry or profession are likely to be actively engaged in online communities.

Ultimately, companies that invest aggressively in talent management and development programs will reap rewards, the report concludes. "Today's top talent organizations are not sitting back and waiting for a slow recovery to solve their talent challenges," says the talent services leader for Deloitte Consulting. "These executives are more likely to invest ‑ by a two to one margin ‑ across the board on talent priorities." More than 375 senior executives and talent managers at large companies worldwide took part in the research.

This bundle contains the following policies:

• CIO IT Infrastructure Policy Bundle
• Backup and Backup Retention Policy
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• Incident Communication Policy
• Internet, e-Mail, Social Networking, Mobile Device, Electronic Communications, and Record Retention Policy
• Mobile Device Access and Use Policy
• Outsourcing Policy
• Record Management, Retention, and Destruction Policy
• Sensitive Information Policy (HIPAA Compliant)
• Service Level Agreement (SLA) Policy Template with Metrics
• Social Networking Policy
• Telecommuting Policy
• Travel and Off-Site Meeting Policy

   

The CEO of Janco stated, "Our main conclusion from analysis of the data and interviews of CIOs is that for Information Technology the recession has bottomed out for and that hiring of IT professionals will increase in 2012."  He also said, "However there still are a number of companies who are continue to be cautious and are concerned that the recovery will not be strong enough to support increased IT spending." He added, "Cost control is still the rule of the day; however we have seen an increase in the number of part-timers and contractors who are focused on particular critical projects. This is strong indicator that IT hiring and salaries will go up in 2012."

The same survey pointed out that finance chiefs alone authorize 26% of all IT investments, while chief information officers approve only 5%. This makes sense: in tough economic times finance inevitably asserts itself and casts a gimlet eye on spending. In fact, an October 2011 report by CDW, one of the worldÂ’s largest technology resellers, said that only 40% of IT decision-makers expect their budgets to rise this winter, down 8% from last year and the lowest level of IT investment increase since October 2009.

The bill would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA), which mandates that workers be paid time-and-half for work beyond 40 hours in a week -- in some cases, beyond 8 hours in a day. There are already numerous exemptions to that requirement, including salaried executives, professionals, and any IT worker "who is a computer systems analyst, computer programmer, software engineer, or other similarly skilled worker." The current version of the FSLA goes on to specify that exempt-from-overtime jobs include "systems analysis techniques and procedures design, documentation, testing, creation, or modification of computer programs."

The CPU Act would broaden that exemption so much it appears that any IT worker who is paid more than $27.63 an hour would lose the right to overtime. Here's what it says:

Any employee working in a computer or information technology occupation (including, but not limited to, work related to computers, information systems, components, networks, software, hardware, databases, security, Internet, intranet, or websites) as an analyst, programmer, engineer, designer, developer, administrator, or other similarly skilled worker, whose primary duty is

•  the application of systems, network, or database analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine or modify hardware, software, network, database, or system functional specifications; or
• the design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing, securing, configuration, integration, debugging, modification of computer or information technology, or enabling continuity of systems and applications.

Salaries for IT security professionals are projected to increase by 4.5 percent in 2012, according to this firm. The increasingly hostile threat landscape and growing demand for cloud computing has made security the hottest IT career in terms of salary growth.

The guide listed projected percentage increases over 2011 salaries as well as estimated base salaries. The IT salaries in general are expected to see a 3 percent increase in 2012; security jobs are expected to outpace the projected average.

Zynga followed that strategy. The creator of CityVille and FarmVille, Zynga apparently wishes it hadn't, according to a the Wall Street Journal.

The Zynga CEO, along with his top executives, decided last year as they were preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) that they had given out too much stock to employees. But rather than accept that reality, the executives reportedly tried a different tactic: demand employees give back not-yet-vested stock or face termination.

In order to determine which employees would be asked to give stock back, Pincus and his executives tried to pinpoint workers whose contributions to Zynga--in the execs' eyes--didn't necessarily justify the potential cash windfall they could receive when the company went public, the Journal claims. One Journal source said that Zynga executives were especially concerned with not creating a "Google chef" scenario.

That reference relates to Google's 2004 IPO when one of the company's chefs, who was hired in the firm's early days, walked away with $20 million worth of stock after the shares went public.

After finding people to target, the Journal's sources say, the CEO offered his ultimatum. However, as one might expect, he faced some anger from employees who didn't believe they should be required to give back the stock. The Journal cited two employees--one who has left Zynga and another that still works with the company--who hired attorneys to reach a settlement that saw them give up some, but not all, of the unvested shares.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last Friday, Apple said it had granted 150,000 restricted stock units to each executive. At the close of trading Friday, the options were worth just over $60 million.

Those awarded the grants included chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer, general counsel Bruce Sewell and senior vice presidents Scott Forstall, Philip Schiller, Bob Mansfield and Jeffrey Williams.

Forstall heads Apple's iPhone software group, Schiller is Apple's chief marketing officer, Mansfield leads the company's hardware engineering efforts, and Williams is the head of operations, responsible for the work once done by now-CEO Tim Cook.

Eddie Cue, another senior vice president who oversees all online work at Apple -- including the App Store and iCloud -- was awarded 100,000 restricted stock units that vest in September 2014 and September 2016.

In September 2011, Cue was given a grant of 100,000 shares when he was promoted to senior vice president.
 

• Hire the right person for the job Sometimes managers are so desperate to fill positions that they bring candidates on board who aren't the best fit for the jobs. That often sets up the individual for failure and leads to termination.
  
  
• Manage all employees' performance Many managers think it's too hard to coach people or to have those difficult, direct conversations with employees about the behavior that needs to change. But failing to train an employee or set clear expectations with the employee about his or her performance can lead the employee to allege wrongful termination. Most people want to know if they're doing something wrong that could possibly get them fired. They need an opportunity to correct it before the employer terminates them
  
  
• Make jokes or disparaging comments about the employee and or their performance  Comments about employees should not "cross the line".  Not only can they hurt the employee but they could be used to define a hostile work environment which in turn can put your company at risk. The same is true for nicknames.
  
  
• Inform  employees of the consequences (they could be terminated) for not improving their performance Managers need to not beat around the bush with employees during conversations about their performance. Managers need to be clear that whatever the employee is doing or not doing could result in termination.
  
  Employers should not leave employees guessing that they're at risk for termination. A termination for a performance or behavioral issue should never be a surprise.  Managers have a hard time saying these words, but they need to be clear about the severity of the situation because most employees operate under the assumption that everything is fine even though they know their boss would like them to work a little bit better or faster.
  
  
• Document performance - both good and bad If there have been problems with an employee, it must be reflected in performance reviews and if not, you must be write up employees' performance deficiencies. Many managers terminate employees for cause after having multiple conversations with employees about their performance, but they never document any of these conversations in employees' personnel files. Without documentation an employee has a stronger case for wrongful termination.
  
  
• Make inappropriate comments about the employee via email or social networks Managers need to be careful about the things they write in emails regarding employees whose performance may warrant termination. Emails are all discoverable in a case. Those are documents that could become public.
  
  
• Give employees appropriate notice Under the WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) Act, employers with 100 or more full-time employees that are closing a facility and laying off at least one-third of their workforce are required to give those employees 60 days' notice of the layoff.

First, even for IT roles, technical skills may be an overblown component of selection criteria. A consulting firm monitored hiring effectiveness and employee engagement at 1,500 companies across many industries and tracked 20,000 new hires over a three-year period. Among the 46% of hirees who failed within their first 18 months, only 11% failed because of technical incompetence. The other 89% failed in attitudinal areas: coachability, emotional intelligence, motivation, and temperament.

Expectations for retirement have changed in the wake of the Great Recession. Forget moving someplace warm and sipping margaritas between golf and shuffleboard games; the "New Normal" for Americans involves less wealth and more work, says a survey from SunAmerica Financial Group, which focused on people aged 55 and older.

Still, the research shows people as more upbeat and philosophical than pessimistic, with a sense that the new experience of retirement can be fulfilling. "Americans are emerging from the experience with new knowledge, new discipline and have re-set their vision of an ideal retirement," says the president/CEO of SunAmerica Financial Group. "Americans have also proven themselves to be both resilient and resourceful. They are course-correcting: intending to work longer, save more, spend less, be more disciplined and adjust their lifestyle expectations."
 

In the six-county San Francisco Bay Area, it turns out that about 30 percent of businesses started 10 years ago are still around, a survival rate that's nearly double that of high tech, says Amar Mann, chief regional economist in the bureau's San Francisco office. "You would have done better to open a restaurant," he says.

As interesting as the study is from a historical point of view, its real value may be more in the nature of a warning: Technology appears to have its own business cycle, and like all cycles it reaches a peak and then descends, sometimes very rapidly, to the bottom of the curve. Too much money poured into companies that hire too many people without a clear idea of how to make money is what creates a bubble.

Conversely, hiring managers believe high pay plays a greater role in MillennialsÂ’ perception of career success. Forty-eight percent of hiring managers rank high pay as the number one way Millennials measure their career success. Only 11 percent of hiring managers say Millennials consider meaningful work as the number one measure of success.

The continuing uncertainty about the U.S. economy is impacting staffing levels at IT companies. In the quarterly survey, 54 percent of IT firms say they are understaffed by five percent or more. Another 22 percent of firms are fully staffed, but would like to hire more workers to expand their business.

The overall Business Confidence Index for the fourth quarter fell by 1.0 point to 51.9 on a 100-point scale. Although still in net positive territory (greater than 50), the report concluded that economic malaise has clearly set in. This marks the third consecutive quarterly decline in the confidence index this year. The survey found that looking ahead, the IT industry executives predict a 1.9 gain in the Index in the first quarter of 2012.

This modest gain is lower than previous outlooks, which typically exceeded five points. It s yet another sign of dimming confidence in a short-term fix to a shaky world economy. The survey found relative to the rating for the overall economy, executives are more confident in the IT industry and their own firms, but that sentiment provides little solace, given the widening gap of opinions regarding the economy. No industry operates in a vacuum, so even the relatively strong IT industry has felt the pain of global economic weakness, he said.

Data from the survey suggest that staffing shortfalls are most prevalent among larger companies ($100 million or more in annual revenue). Micro firms those with less than $1 million in annual revenue are most likely to report being fully staffed at their desired levels. The report noted, however, that micro firms tend to operate with lean staffs, compared to larger firms that have more organizational layers and therefore may experience more frequent changes in headcount.

The impact of the staffing crunch is felt most directly by workers now on the job, with 55 percent of IT firms are requiring workers to multi-task more and 45 percent are requiring salaried workers to put in more hours, according to the survey. Nearly a third of companies (32 percent) say they ve postponed or canceled projects due to staffing shortages.

Among the types of staff IT firms plan to hire or would like to hire, 56 percent of surveyed firms said programmers and application developers; 43 percent, help desk and support personnel; 41 percent, project managers; and 40 percent, sales staff. "Multiply this behavior across every industry sector and economic pessimism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Firms refrain from spending, which signals to vendors a slowdown, which causes spending restraint in other areas. No one wants to move first. This vicious cycle ripples throughout the economy.

Even when companies decide to act on filling their staffing needs, they struggle to find qualified candidates despite the large pool of unemployed workers. In the survey, 74 percent of IT firms said it s somewhat or very challenging finding quality candidates with the right skills and experience when openings must be filled. According to the report, stalled economic recovery is the biggest threat, identified by 54 percent of surveyed IT firms. Ranking second on the list of business threats is a general lack of confidence, cited by 45 percent of respondents.

The current rate of immigration far surpasses our national traditional average of 250,000 new immigrants a year.

The IT skills Best Buy wants internally are what it calls "top of pyramid," or people with leadership qualities who can translate business strategies to IT needs, have strong technical expertise, take ownership of the technology and interact with business leaders strategically. The company will still use outsourcers to provide more direct technical needs, such as coding.

Best Buy's decision to expand its IT department may be part of a broader trend among retailers, others of which are also hiring. In May, Lowe's Companies Inc. said it planned to create 150 new IT positions to prepare for future platforms. Macy's is expanding its e-commerce technology staff Home Depot hasn't announced any specific IT hiring plans, but the company has more than 100 IT jobs listed on its careers page. The company is working on both internal and external IT capabilities. It recently rolled out, for instance, new handheld devices across its stores that can provide everything from business intelligence capabilities to customer receipts.

At a quarterly meeting with financial analysts this month, Home Depot's Chairman said the company has an "entire focus" around what it calls "interconnected retail" that involves more than selling online and providing research help. "They get project knowledge online, so there's a lot of ways in which our bricks connect with our online presence and we want to make sure we have the best experience in all of retail for that," he said.