Eight-percent of executives expect to add IT staff and three percent plan personnel cutbacks. The net five percent hiring increase compares with a net nine-percent increase forecast last quarter, when results hit their highest level in nearly two years.
The majority of executives, 88%, plan to maintain existing staff levels.
The national poll includes responses from more than 1,400 CIOs from a stratified random sample of U.S. companies with 100 or more employees. It was conducted by an independent research firm and developed by Robert Half Technology, a leading provider of IT professionals on a project and full-time basis.
Key Findings
"Businesses that overstaffed and experienced layoffs during the recession are taking a more strategic and measured approach to hiring today, said Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology.
"Many managers are initiating projects previously on hold due to budget constraints. However, they are carefully analyzing their requirements before adding full-time IT employees and relying on project professionals for short-term demands."
Lee added that candidates who possess a combination of advanced technical expertise, "soft" skills such industry experience and business acumen, are beginning to receive multiple offers, prompting firms to expedite the hiring process in some cases.
Fifty-one percent of CIOs planning to add staff in the third quarter cited business growth as the primary motivator. This compares to 46% of respondents who said business expansion was the leading reason for adding staff in the second quarter and 37% who gave this response in the first-quarter. Systems upgrades and a need for increased customer and end-user support followed, each receiving 13% of the response.
Technology executives at companies with more than 1,000 employees foresee the strongest employment gains during the third quarter. Eighteen percent of CIOs at these firms plan to expand their IT departments and three percent plan reductions, for a net 15% hiring increase.
|
Digg
DZone
Reddit
Slashdot
StumbleUpon
del.icio.us
Facebook
FriendFeed
Furl
One of the ways around the issues of security and control that make some businesses wary of cloud computing is to build a private cloud -- one that remains within the corporate firewall and is wholly controlled internally. Private clouds also increase the agility of IT an organization's IT infrastructure and make it easier to roll out new technology projects. Download this eBook to get the facts behind the private cloud and learn how your organization can get started.
