While other companies have been hiring fewer new recruits over recent years, Issa is putting his CIO money where his mouth is. In Issa's first two years in the role, IAG took on 10 or 11 new recruits each year. This year the number rose to 15, and Issa says IAG wants to increase the number of graduates every year.

Other companies have been feeling more of a pinch and their hiring practices are reflecting that. For instance, AXA Australia used to take on six or seven new graduates every year. Now, with a major restructuring program completed that saw some work outsourced to an external company, that figure has dropped to just two or three a year. And CIO Wendy Thorpe says these days AXA is looking for recruits with strong BA skills.

"Our organization is now much more package-driven, so in terms of building things from scratch, which we used to do 10 or 20 years ago, we don't do so much today," Thorpe says. "We buy packages so you're learning how to adapt to those packages and use them efficiently from a business perspective. We're doing more in some of the newer technologies, which the kids today like - things like Java and the like - but some of the older languages, we're not doing so much of the programming of that in-house any more."

It's a sentiment echoed by Ron Sawyer, director of corporate services ITS at Monash University.

"Ten years ago we'd write a lot more software that we do now. We tend to buy packages now and configure the packages. We quite often need to buy interfaces for those packages to get them to integrate with each other and with the systems that we've already got," Sawyer says. "The [IT] role is now more a configuration and add-on role rather than developing products from scratch, so with the new graduate our main focus is on developing their technical depth and breadth and also on their customer service skills.

"Once they've been working in that role for a while, those that show promise, we train them up with staff supervision, give them some support and in some cases have them mentor or supervise a more junior person," Sawyer continues. "After five to 10 years we may get them to manage projects, starting with a fairly small project where they can learn project management techniques - client communication skills, how to do risk assessments focusing on projects. From there they may go into a service management role or take on larger and larger projects, or a line management role supervising a whole team."

Future Unpredictable

In such uncertain times, it is doubtful anyone can say with certainty how entry-level IT jobs are evolving. Will low-rung programming and maintenance positions become a thing of the past, as newly minted graduates pursue more specialized, business-oriented positions? What kind of opportunities will ensure businesses can pursue CIO succession planning with confidence and ensure a steady - if not robust - flow in the IT career pipeline?

When US CIO magazine began asking similar questions recently, its starting point was that most CIOs would be thinking about this, that some would be concerned, and at least a few would have strategies in place. As it happened, they weren't, and they didn't.

The story editor's explanation of why, after weeks of reporting, the magazine had no story: "Whatever concern some CIOs may have over not hiring people for entry-level jobs is, at best, wishy-washy and mostly lip service. They really don't care. There's some vague talk of creating new, entry-level-type positions in order to have a talent supply for the future, but no one's doing it; no one has concrete thoughts about how to do it, and no one is all that concerned about the future in the first place," their editorial ran.

"One CIO that our reporter talked to said she didn't need entry-level people. She'd fill her higher-level analyst positions by hiring talent groomed at other companies. Of course, this pragmatic strategy falls apart if the companies across town have CIOs who also don't need entry-level people.

"So who'll be hiring and breaking in the entry-level people who will eventually migrate to the companies that outsourced all their low-level jobs? Perhaps it will be the small businesses that can't take advantage of offshore economies because of their size, or maybe it will be the big outsourcers themselves - such as IBM Global Services," the editorial continued.

"So be it: The future of the IT profession resides with small companies and IBM. I'm not sure if that's a comforting thought. But you don't care anyway.

"Do you?"

Whatever the situation in the US, it would be unfair to claim the majority of Australian CIOs are indifferent to this future. Most of the CIOs we spoke to did have graduate recruiting programs, albeit at a significantly reduced level from the heady days of old; most had mentoring programs in place, and most were actively involved in grooming their future replacements.