Increased IT Hiring on Horizon, Survey Suggests

Although companies such as HP may be slashing their workforce, a survey finds the majority of HR heads are planning on making IT hires in the next six months.

More than three-quarters (78 percent) of human resources managers or recruiters who have responsibility in recruiting technology positions are looking to hire IT workers in the next six months, according to the 2010 IT Hire Intelligence Survey conducted by Monster.com, an online career and recruitment resource on behalf of technology services provider Technisource. In addition, the majority of survey respondents said they are confident that their company's performance will improve across the same time period.

Among the key findings, 76 percent of respondents have confidence that their company's performance will improve in the next six months, while 78 percent of respondents plan to hire IT staff in the next six months. When asked what technology-oriented positions IT hiring managers were looking to fill, applications and infrastructure positions took the lead.  

Of the companies planning to hire, only 26 percent are new openings and only 9 percent are replacement positions. The remaining percentage is a combination of both. When recruiting IT talent, job boards, referrals and social media are top methods for doing so, according to IT HR technology managers and recruiters. According to respondents, salary and stability of position lead in recruiting technology talent to an organization, but a company's reputation came in a close third in order of importance.

"This new report clearly shows that the IT hiring picture is bright and there seems to be a need for large amounts of IT professionals over the next six months," said Michael Winwood, president of Technisource.  "Many companies are not only starting to invest in projects that were previously put on hold, but also new technologies. To ensure these get implemented efficiently, companies need to invest in additional talent. We believe these key learning's could be contributing factors to the overall stabilization of the economy.  It seems that the recessionary train of thought is changing - companies are clearly focusing on growth opportunities instead of basic survival mode."

Adding to a sense of optimism is a report released in May by the U.S. Department of Labor, which found despite continued volatility in many IT employment segments, the largest net monthly job gain in IT-related jobs recorded since the Wall Street financial crisis was realized in April. The study, fielded via an online survey of more than 400 U.S. SMB executives in February 2010, reached businesses in vertical markets including manufacturing, finance and insurance, health care, government, and professional services.

A CompTIA report also found SMBs are considering IT solutions including virtualization (interest is strongest in the area of server virtualization, where 37 percent of SMBs plan to adopt over the next 12 months) and unified communications; 25 percent of SMBs expect to adopt a VOIP (voice-over-IP) solution this year.