11% of Cleveland CIOs Plan IT Team Expansion
CLEVELAND -- Just 11% of Cleveland-area technology executives expect to expand their information-technology teams in the second half of this year, finds a Robert Half survey released Wednesday. That's down from 12% from the January-June survey.
In addition, 75% plan to hire only for open IT slots, 12% plan to put hiring plans on hold, and 1% expect to reduce IT staff between July 1 and Dec, 31, according to the Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Forecase and Local Trend Report.
In the same survey, 91% of Cleveland-area chief information officers described themselves as optimistic about their companies' prospects for growth in the second half, and 70% feel confident in their firms' plans to invest in IT projects.
"We continue to see a steady increase in all types of IT projects in Cleveland -- from mobile development to tech refreshes," said Terry Phillips, Cleveland metro market manager of Robert Half Technology, in a prepared statement. "Demand for IT professionals is strongest within the health-care, retail and manufacturing sectors, especially for those with solid C#, .NET, SQL, SharePoint and SCCM (system center configuration manager) skills."
In terms of recruiting, 68% of Cleveland CIOs said it's “somewhat” or “very challenging” to find skilled IT professionals. It is most challenging to find skilled talent in the functional areas of networking (18%), applications development (17%) and software development (12%).
Survey results suggest that Cleveland CIOs are optimistic about their companies' growth and IT investments, as reflected by 91% of CIOs reporting being somewhat or very confident in their companies' prospects for growth. This compares to 88% in the first half of the year. Fully 70% said they are confident that their firms will invest in IT projects in the second half compared with 69% in the first six months of 2014.
Some 54% said network administration remains among the skill sets in greatest demand within their IT departments. Desktop support and database management followed, with 48% and 45% of the response, respectively.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
CLICK HERE to subscribe to our twice-monthly print edition and to our free daily email headlines.