Chief information officers expect to add to their staffs in the next quarter.
Seventeen percent of 1,400 chief information officers across the U.S. polled for Robert Half Technology expect to hire I.T. staff in the third quarter. That’s the largest percentage so positive about hiring in the last six years, the recruiting firm says. (Only 2% of CIOs expect to cut back staff.)
Business growth was the top reason given for growing the I.T. ranks.
Skills most in demand are Microsoft Windows (Server 2000/2003) administration, network (Cisco and Nortel) administration, and database (Oracle, SQL Server, DB2) management. The overall job category seeing the most growth is help-desk/end-user support, followed by networking, applications development and data/database management positions.
Regionally, companies in Pacific states plan the most expansion, with 21% of CIOs surveyed in California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii saying they wanted to add staff. Also exceeding the national average are the mid-Atlantic and New England regions, with 19% of CIOs in each area saying they will hire in July, August and September.
