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More CIOs to Seek IT Help in Q4
The glory days may be over, but IT hiring is beginning to show some signs of a recovery. RHI Consulting, a division of Robert Half International Inc. in Menlo Park, Calif., found that the CIOs it surveyed are expecting a 15 percent net increase in IT hiring for next quarter, an increase of 3 percentage points from the current quarter.
The survey included about 1,400 U.S. CIOs. Of those, 18 percent said their companies will add IT workers in the last three months of this year, while only 3 percent expect to cut staff, RHI found. The rest had no plans to change their hiring practices. The South Atlantic region reported the highest increase, with 27 percent of CIOs planning to add staff and only 1 percent anticipating cutbacks for a net increase of 26 percent, according to RHI.
CIOs Want Techies to Be Even Techier
When push comes to shove, CIOs crave additional technical skills for their staffers above all else. Indeed, when RHI Consulting recently asked CIOs, “In which one of the following areas do you think your IT staff could most use improvement?” 34 percent of 1,400 respondents answered “technical skills.”
That compares with 23 percent who responded that project management was their highest priority when it comes to increasing skills. Verbal and written communication skills were the priority for 13 percent of respondents; interpersonal abilities for 10 percent; organizational skills for 8 percent; and the remaining 12 percent chose “other/dont know.”