The effects of a candidate shortage in the IT industry are being amplified by a gap between the skills expected of graduates and those they actually have, say specialist recruiters.

In particular, new graduates seeking IT jobs lack business understanding, and the ground-level jobs they're most qualified for have typically been outsourced.

This classic Catch-22 situation is complicating the IT recruitment landscape, recruiters say, along with increasingly demanding clients who list highly specific and diverse job specifications to the IT recruiter - but balk at hiring candidates who will need training.

“We are in the age of the never-satisfied client,” said Aidan Anglin, managing director of MSB Technology. Anglin was among the IT recruiters who attended a Recruitment and Employment Confederation IT Sector Group roundtable in London last month.

Although many employers claim that they are looking for a “recruitment partner” to help them bring in new talent, the recruiters in attendance agreed that the phrase itself can be deceptive.

“Often, it's code for 'we want you to sell it to us cheap, and make you feel good about it',” said Jeff Brooks, resourcing services director for Parity Resourcing Solutions.

Clients seem unwilling, despite increasing demands on all levels of IT employees, to pay a reasonable price to recruit workers on helpdesks and lower-level roles - while still opting for what one recruiter called “reassuringly expensive” search services for high-level executives.