Hiring Forecast Predicts 2Q Crawl

About 9 percent of chief information officers nationwide plan to expand their information technology departments during the second quarter. A recent study conducted by Robert Half Technology, the IT arm of staffing and professional recruitment giant Robert Half International Inc., surveyed 1,400 CIOs from American companies with at least 100 employees.

Five percent of the same CIOs said they anticipate staff cutbacks.

The net 4 percent hiring increase compares with a net 8 percent forecast last quarter. Overall, 86 percent of the IT executives plan no change in hiring activity.

But there is some good news for techies who want to stay in, or move to, Northwest Arkansas. Joe Marchky, a division director at Robert Half Technology’s Fayetteville branch, said the firm is doing a lot of business locally in the services industry and with retail vendors.

“What we really focus on is building relationships with individuals and businesses in the area and recruiting specific skill sets for our clients’ needs,” Marchky said. “One thing in particular that’s very hot right now for IT personnel in terms of skill sets is a lot of competency in [Microsoft software programs] .Net and Visual Basic .Net. A lot of firms in logistics and retail are going to those.

“We can’t guarantee anyone a position, but if you’re proficient in those you’re probably going to have a few more doors opened than the average lower skill set IT individual.”

Of the surveyed CIOs in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, 13 percent said they forecast hiring activity and 4 percent anticipate reductions. The net 9 percent hiring increase was second only to the Midwest, where states from Kansas and Missouri to North Dakota and Minnesota will lead the nation with a 12 percent net hiring increase.

In Arkansas’ four-state area, insurance and health care companies seeking personnel to deal with regulations concerning the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 are in the greatest demand. The study said demands in the Midwest are for IT mid-level business analysts and project managers for financial services firms or any IT professionals experienced in disaster recovery and storage.

Al McEwen, president of Management Recruiters of Rogers Inc., agreed the local IT job market has shifted dramatically toward specialized sectors such as the medical field.

“Before Y2K, if you were an IT professional of really any kind you could write your own ticket,” McEwen said. “Now it’s just not that way.”

Executives from large companies, those with 1,000 or more employees, were most optimistic about their hiring plans. At those firms, 18 percent of respondents said they expect to add personnel and only 6 percent predict reductions.

Business growth and system upgrades in preparation for an economic uptick are the biggest factors driving hiring, the study said. Twenty eight percent of the CIOs said “help desk/end-user support” is the most important skill set they’re looking for. Another 23 percent said networking abilities are what they need following by 11 percent seeking applications development.

Face Time Fading, Accountemps says

Another survey conducted by an RHI subsidiary, Accountemps, says 92 percent of executives send an e-mail message in lieu of meeting one-on-one. More than 150 executives at 1,000 of the nation’s largest companies were surveyed.

Accountemps is a temporary accounting, finance and bookkeeping staffing agency with a large Fayetteville office. The company has more than 325 offices throughout North America, Europe and Australia.

Another 67 percent of executives said their managers use e-mail messages as a substitute for face-to-face communication. And 43 percent said aside from in-person communication, e-mail is the way to go. Thirty-one percent prefer the telephone and another 20 percent say video conferencing is best.