Hiring Expectations for IT Are Positive: Report

More than a third of information technology employers will be hiring full time employees in 2010, according to CareerBuilder. The job board's recent report surveyed 2,720 hiring managers and human resource professionals in November 2009. Full-time employee headcount increases are expected for 20 percent of respondents across all industries. Other industries that will see hiring include manufacturing, financial services, professional services, health care, transportation and retail.
Existing employees, however, continue to be the winners by keeping their jobs and receiving salary increases in 2010. More than 60 percent of all employers polled are keeping headcount levels steady, while only 9 percent plan to make some cuts in the new year. Fifty-seven percent of employers will be increasing salaries in 2010 with 63 percent increasing existing employee salaries by 3 percent, yet only 11 percent will increase by 5 percent or more. 

The signs for positive recovery in 2010 employment are there, says CareerBuilder, but caution remains in the air.

"Although 20 percent of employers plan to add headcount in 2010, up from 14 percent last year, they still remain cautious in regards to their hiring," said CareerBuilder CEO Matt Ferguson in a statement. "We're headed in the right direction but should not expect to see actual job growth until at least Q2 2010."

The most hiring is expected in the Western region of the United States, which leads the pack with 24 percent, followed by the Northeast (21 percent), the South (20 percent) and the Midwest (16 percent).

A third of employers will be using contractors, while a third plans to bring back workers they were forced to lay off in 2009. 

Executives are also expected to see hiring come back their way in 2010. Executive search firms are seeing higher demand for C-level and VP jobs over the next six months, reported ExecuNet in its December "Recruiting Confidence Index" that measures senior management hiring trends. Nineteen percent of 153 executive recruiters polled by ExecuNet will be hiring over the first quarter and a half, reported The Wall Street Journal. 

The U.S. stock market's relative stability in the fourth quarter has now allowed many senior executives to press on into retirement, and allow new blood to enter the leadership fray, said John Wood, vice chairman of Heidrick & Struggles International, a recruiting firm in Chicago in the same WSJ article. 

"There have been many signs over the past few months that point to the healing of the U.S. economy, especially the continued decrease in the number of jobs lost per month, a trend that will hopefully carry over into the new year," said Ferguson in a statement.