Report: CIOs see increase in IT hiring in third quarter

Chief Information Officers expect to hire more IT staff in the third quarter with optimism at the highest level since the fourth quarter of 2001.

According to the Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report, 17 percent of executives surveyed expect to add IT workers in the next three months with 2 percent predicting cutbacks. That net gain of 15 percent is the highest since 2001 and up three percentage points from the second quarter.

Robert Half surveyed 1,400 CIOs from U.S. companies with 100 or more employees. The bulk of CIOs expect staff to stay put.

As for the reasons behind the hiring plans, 39 percent of CIOs adding staff cite corporate growth as the reason. Twenty-seven percent cite demand for customer or user support. Systems upgrades were cited among 12 percent.

Microsoft Windows Server administrators were in the most demand. Network and database admins were close behind.

By region the job market looked best on the West Coast (21 percent increasing staff), which isn't surprising given the Google hiring binge. But the Mid-Atlantic (20 percent hiring) and New England areas (19 percent hiring) weren't bad either. Wholesalers (24 percent hiring) and retail (18 percent hiring) planned to do the most hiring.