IT jobs growing on Long Island, mostly part-time

Positions in the information-technology industry are expected to grow over the next decade, faster, in fact, than any other type of job category, according to economists.

But right now, on Long Island at least, the picture is quite different.

Are there jobs out there for information technology professionals? Yes, if you don't mind working part time.

Barbara Viola, president of Viotech Solutions Inc., a Melville-based IT staffing firm, says hiring patterns have changed dramatically in the past year or so for such professionals.

"Companies need information technology" professionals, Viola said. But many companies on Long Island are only hiring them as [part-time] consultants. They are not hiring them permanently."

A year ago, Viola said, about 100 percent of the hiring she did was for full-time IT professionals. "Now it's 70 percent consulting and maybe 30 percent full time," Viola said.

IT professionals can be costly to a company, and many companies are far from convinced consumers are ready to go back to spending and so are holding off on full-time hiring.

Lou Basso, president at the Alcott Group of Farmingdale, which outsources human resources people, is a case in point. Alcott recently hired an IT professional as a part-time consultant.

"In the old days we would have hired somebody full time," Basso said. "But these days it's not unusual with these types of specialties not to make a commitment until you know there's a return on your investment."

Gary Huth, a regional economist in Hicksville for the state labor department, said that in 2006 there were 20,720 people employed in IT on the Island. That figure is expected to grow to 22,880 by 2016, a 10.4 percent increase. For all other occupations, the increase is expected to be 6.7 percent during the same period.

Right now, Huth says, "There's a tendency [on the part of companies] to use part-time people because they don't want to commit."