Only 14 percent of chief information officers say they plan to hire for information technology positions in the second quarter of 2013, according to the recent Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Forecast and Local Trend Report.

Meanwhile, 61 percent respondents say they do not expect to create new positions but anticipate filling IT positions that are now open in the second quarter. Another 22 percent of respondents say they have no hiring plans even for open positions, and 2 percent of respondents project IT staffing cuts.

"We continue to see strong demand for IT workers as companies increase their investment in technology initiatives, including security, data mining and mobile," says John Reed, senior executive director of Robert Half Technology. "Companies are finding it most challenging to recruit technology professionals in specialties, such as network administration and database management."

When it comes to recruiting, 70 percent of respondents say it is somewhat or very challenging to find skilled talent. Among the most difficult functional areas for recruiting are networking at 16 percent, data and database management at 13 percent and applications development at 12 percent.

Respondents express optimism concerning their companies' growth and IT investments. In fact, 89 percent of respondents say they are somewhat or very confident regarding their companies' prospects for growth in the second quarter. An additional 72 percent of respondents say they are somewhat or very confident that their organizations will invest in IT projects in the second quarter.

According to 51 percent of respondents, network administration and database management are the top-two skill sets in greatest demand. Following is desktop support at 48 percent.

Instant Insights /

Few CIOs expect to hire for new positions

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