IT professionals don’t all spend their days de-bug-ging code or rewiring networks; they’re just as likely to be found in the boardroom talking to the chief executive about how a new operating system could change the way the company does business.

There is a strong demand for people who can offer employers a combination of commercial awareness and technological understanding, says Mike McLean, head of the search division at the IT recruitment firm Morgan Levy. “The market in the IT world is growing,” he says. “The need to get good graduates is always increasing.”

Laura Harris, a senior technologist on Capgemini’s graduate scheme, describes herself as a bridge between the technical experts and business people. “I have to understand the viewpoint of each of the different groups and try to make them undersand where the others are coming from,” she says. “At the moment my role is a test manager. We develop a product for a client then test it to make sure that it’s suitable for their needs. I do not test the software — technical guys come in to do that — I work with the client to make sure that what we’re testing ticks all their boxes.”

Ross Macallister, an associate partner at Atos Origin, says: “One of the key roles that we see now is the IT strategist.” This is a position that requires an ability to align business and IT in a way that allows the organisation you’re working for to exploit technological developments.

People in this sort of role often work for consultancies.

“What they value is the ability to apply strategic techniques. You have to understand the technology of the industry but it’s also about being able to understand and apply that IT to business to add value to it,” Macallister says.

He began his career in operational IT roles before moving into strategic management. “IT interested me at the start of my career but as I got more involved in the business side I found out that that was what I really enjoyed.”

The money tends to be higher in strategic roles than in technical positions, too. “It goes up because you are expected to work at a very senior level and you are making decisions that will have a very serious impact on the organisation,” he says. It’s not just the salary that makes the work attractive, either. “Working in a high pressure environment, there’s a tremendous exhilaration when you help someone’s business go through a major change and you can see it creating shareholder value.”

But consultancy isn’t for everyone. It involves “a high degree of change, pressure and complexity”, Macallister says. “Confrontation isn’t unusual.

In any strategic role you are taking people out of comfort zones, often challenging long-held beliefs and practices.”

Macallister advises graduates interested in moving into IT consultancy to start with a good grounding in technology, governance and business analysis. Making it to the top will take even more work, McLean says. “You will get to a certain level but . . . between your fifth and tenth year you would have to be thinking about [an MBA] to get to the next level. It’s about continuing to develop yourself once you plug yourself into the organisation.”

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