It's very dependant on the part of the country that you live in. For instance, in KC, the IT market is actually pretty depressed. The job that I got had over 100 applications for the one opening. And the only reason that I got the job was because a VP knew me, and knew the sort of worker I was. The fact that I was less qualified for the job than many applicants would have kept me from getting the job, if not for him.
Mark
It's not what you know.
It's not even who you know.
It's what you know about who you know...
;^P
That's all? The jobs that my company is posting for get hundreds to 1000+ resumes submitted. So much so that we decided to use a headhunter to vet the submissions.
The *problem* is the internet. I looked at a handful (50 or so) of the resumes submitted, and I only wanted to talk to one of the people. When I was job hunting out of college, I needed to submit a specifically directed resume, and well-written cover letter for each job. Therefore, I didn't apply to very many. Now, you can spam yourself out to the entire world with a few mouse clicks. Not *really* qualified? Who cares, the work falls to the employer.
We're on the East Coast, and have college kids on the West Coast spamming us with resumes for entry level Help Desk positions, and wondering why we won't pay to move them here for a low paying job that can be filled easily with local help. If they needed to actually put some work/thought into the application (or bothered to read the job description or the help wanted advertisement), they wouldn't be wasting everyone's time.
IMHO, if you're in IT right now, and unemployed, it's for one of two reasons. Either you're unwilling/unable to relocate or travel (bunch of the jobs that I've seen of late just require a laptop and accessibility to an airport) -or- you're unemployable. Of course, these conditions are subject to change. Maybe as soon as this afternoon. :-)