Report: Q3 IT Staffing Levels to Remain Flat

Robert Half Technology has released its latest report, the IT Hiring Index and Skills Report, and the news is that there will be a little hiring in the third quarter of 2009. However, the most telling statistic to me is this: 85 percent of CIOs are set to maintain staffing levels.

That’s good news for those presently employed.

The skills in demand for the third quarter are the same ones consistently seen in these quarterly reports: Windows, network administration, desktop support and technology staff positions (at the midlevel).

Here are some other worthy stats worth looking at (from the report):

“Twenty percent of technology executives expect to add a mix of full-time and contract or project workers in the third quarter. When hiring full-time staff, nearly nine in 10 CIOs surveyed (88 percent) plan to recruit IT professionals at the staff level (up to five years of experience). Twenty percent of CIOs said they plan to hire at the manager, senior manager or director level.“

Thirty percent of executives cited the increased need for customer/end-user support as the primary factor driving hiring demand, followed by rising workloads at 27 percent. Technology executives expecting to decrease staff in the third quarter said the top reason is reduced IT budgets, with 41 percent of the response. Thirty-seven percent cited companywide layoffs, and 14 percent said new IT projects are being put on hold.

Six percent of those polled plan on having cutbacks in the third quarter, while 8 percent are planning on hiring. But look at this two-year intent chart You’ll notice the two-year rise in the intention to decrease staff:

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Compare this third quarter to last, and you notice that hiring—and the perception of where things were economically—to be in a much higher state of confidence.