(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — While four percent plan staff reductions in the next three months, twelve percent of chief information officers anticipate hiring additional information technology staff members in the second quarter of 2009, according to the latest “IT Hiring Index and Skills Report” from job search services provider Robert Half Technology (www.rht.com).
Polling more than 270 CIO from companies across Canada, RHT’s report released Wednesday found that the majority of respondents, 78 percent, plan to maintain current staffing levels. The job areas experiencing the most growth were in the help desk/technical support and data/database management sectors. Desktop support is the technical skill set most in demand, overtaking network administration, which was the top skill in the first quarter.
The report also found that 22 percent of IT executives who plan to add staff will hire a mix of full-time and contract workers, while 41 percent plan to hire full-time employees and 33 percent plan to add contract workers.
“With the current economic environment, it is not surprising that companies are being more prudent with their hiring,” Robert Half Technology regional vice president Sandra Lavoy said in a statement. “To improve efficiencies and manage expenses, companies are looking for help desk and technical support professionals as well as data/database management specialists”.
One-half of executives cited high or increased IT workloads as the primary factor driving hiring demand, followed by routine hiring for vacant positions at 28 percent. Corporate growth or expansion was the third most cited answer with 15 percent of the response.
IT service providers have largely remained optimistic that the economic downturn will force companies to outsource their technical demands. Canadian CIOs still largely rely on in-house IT to run their operations even in tight financial times, however, there are some signs that this is changing. More than half of CEOs planning to downsize IT staff said they were doing so because of company-wide layoffs, which suggests that the overall health of the company is deteriorating and they see IT staff as something that can be replaced by outside personnel.
A quarter of CIOs planning to reduce their IT workforce said the financial crisis’ impact on their company or industry was to blame. Also, four percent said IT projects being put on hold were the cause of the layoffs.
It seems that their hardship is benefiting CIOs in the professional services and wholesale sectors, who are the most optimistic about hiring in the upcoming quarter. More than a quarter of professional services executives interviewed plan to add IT staff while no one plans on layoffs. The wholesale sector saw 20 percent of CIOs anticipating hiring more staff and only two percent expecting to reduce staff.
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