A recent survey of 1,400 CIOs of businesses with more than 100 employees suggests that IT hiring will increase by as much as 10 percent in early 2008. Thirteen percent of respondents plan to add IT staff during the first quarter of 2008, while only three percent of respondents plan to reduce their current IT staffing levels.

The Robert Half IT Technology Hiring Index and Skills Report also indicated that the IT skills most in demand are Windows administration, network administration, database management and firewall administration were the most highly desired technical skills. Specific experience with Windows Server 2000/2003 administration, Cisco and Nortel were also highly sought after.

CIOs identified business growth, customer support and system upgrades as the primary reasons for adding personnel. The hiring areas which will see the most growth are networking administration, help desk support and application development.