Survey: 13 percent of CIOs plan to add staff soon

The job outlook for information technology workers is steady, according to the latest survey from Robert Half Technology, a staffing firm. Even financial services firms, which have been reeling amid credit problems, intend to hire.

According to Robert Half, 13 percent of CIOs say they will hire workers in the first quarter of 2008 with 3 percent cutting staff. The remainder play to stay put with their current staff.

In a survey released Tuesday, Robert Half interviewed more than 1,400 CIOs from companies with more than 100 employees.

Here's the two year hiring history:

Overall, the results show solid hiring for IT workers. By the numbers:

• 23 percent of CIOs in the finance, insurance and real estate industry plan to hire workers. Just 2 percent plan on decreasing staff. That figure will be the key statistic to watch in upcoming quarters.
• 27 percent of CIOs said business growth is why they are expanding IT hiring with 20 percent citing customer support and 19 percent noting upgrades are driving hiring.
• 74 percent of CIOs said Windows administration is the most valued IT skill. Other categories: 70 percent of CIOs said network administration was most valued with 50 percent saying database management.
• If you want to get hired go to the Mid-Atlantic states: 20 percent of CIOs plan to add staff in those states.