CIOs Optimistic on IT Hiring

A new survey by Robert Half Technology suggests that government competition with the private sector for IT talent could show a slight increase in 2010. According to the first quarter of the IT Hiring Index and Skills report, 7 percent of technology executives at U.S. companies anticipate adding IT staff in the first quarter of 2010, while 4 percent plan workforce reductions. Eighty-nine percent of CIOs said they plan to maintain current personnel levels.

Additionally, 42 percent of CIOs are confident that their companies will invest in IT projects in the first quarter of 2010, which likely will translate into increases in IT personnel, Robert Half noted. Among the CIOs at companies who plan to add staff in the first quarter, 41 percent said they expect to hire entry-level employees, while 40 percent said they are focused on staff-level talent (between two and five years of experience). Twenty percent of executives said they will concentrate hiring at the senior-staff level.

Among the most in-demand skills cited by CIOs were networking, security, applications development, network administration, desktop support and Windows administration, the survey found.