Financial Sector to Add IT Staff in Q4

The financial services, insurance and real estate (FIRE) sector is expected to lead all industries in the hiring of IT professionals during the fourth quarter of this year, according to the Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report. Based on responses from 1,400 CIOs across all industries, the report states that 39 percent of CIOs in the FIRE sector plan to add IT staff, while only 3 percent anticipate personnel cutbacks.

"Firms in the FIRE sector are heavily dependent on data and need IT professionals to help manage, mine and safeguard it, especially in light of recent corporate governance regulations mandating better internal controls," said Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology, in a statement.

When asked which technical skill sets were needed most within their IT departments, 81 percent of CIO respondents cited Microsoft Windows (NT/2000/XP) administration expertise. SQL Server management abilities ranked second (51 percent), followed by wireless network management (49 percent). Networking, with 19 percent, was cited as the specialty most in demand in IT departments, followed by help desk/end user support specialists (15 percent) and applications developers (12 percent).

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Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report
www.roberthalftechnology.com