- Although the market for KIM specialists is stable there is significant change in the type and range of roles and responsibilities emerging. The apparent loss of some traditional roles and responsibilities has been mitigated by creation of other, enriched roles.
- The pattern of growth and decline in KIM role numbers in similar across the public and private sectors.
- Employers are expecting something 'special' from KIM workers. They are expecting a background in some aspect of KIM from their candidates together with other business or IT experience.
- KIM recruitment is an encouragingly open market with a healthy percentage of roles open to competition.
- Personal development plans drive KIM training and development. The availability of KIM related public access courses is falling as organisations increasingly move towards in-house and on-the job training.
And of course, our analysis of the responses raised a number of questions for further discussion:
- Will a KIM profession develop into the multi-disciplinary but cohesive group, or will it become a federation of different disciplines?
- Would employers prefer to identify appropriate disciplines aided by a tool such as the KIM responsibilities framework or have an overarching profession as a focus?
- If KIM roles are increasingly becoming embedded in the organization, will individuals continue to identify with the KIM community as support network? Or, as new people are recruited into these roles, will they identify with their business community?
- How far are we experiencing a step change or continuing to evolve as a profession?
- Have some functions, such as Research, begun to split off from KIM as a career path?
- If knowledge and understanding of the organisation is important for KIM roles, why is it that KIM practitioners think that only about 30% of roles are likely to be filled by internal candidates?
If you'd like to speak to TFPL about the research, please mail us on info@tfpl.com. Connecting information with innovation is available to download at www.tfpl.com/news.
John Davies is Senior Information and Records Management Consultant at TFPL.
Image courtesy of Max Klingelsmith via Flickr.