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One-Third of IT Employers Plan to Increase Hiring in 2010, Reveals Annual CareerBuilder Forecast

CHICAGO, January 20, 2010 - While most industries experienced challenges over the last year, IT organizations are optimistic about their future and plan to begin to invest in the growth of their business in 2010. CareerBuilder’s annual hiring forecast reveals that nearly one-third (32 percent) of IT employers plan to increase the number of full-time, permanent employees; the highest among all industries surveyed. CareerBuilder’s annual IT hiring forecast was conducted among more than 160 Information Technology employers between November 5 and November 23, 2009. One-in-ten (12 percent) plan to make a decrease in the amount of full-time employees.


"The hiring outlook for IT is encouraging for 2010 as companies are hopeful technology will drive innovation and cut costs," said Eric Presley, Chief Technology Officer for CareerBuilder. "Even though the industry has taken some hits in the past year, organizations are confident that technology can help their businesses grow in 2010. In addition to innovation and cost savings, technology can spur the development of new products and revenue opportunities, both crucial to a successful recovery."

HOW IT EMPLOYERS WILL MOVE FORWARD THIS YEAR
IT employers are looking to the future and making up for lost ground caused by the recession. The following are five trends for 2010:

Replacing Low-Performing Employees - IT employers are taking advantage of the large number of top talent in the current labor pool to strengthen their work force. Forty-two percent of IT employers say they plan to replace lower-performing employees with higher-performers in 2010. When asked to grade their current work force, 33 percent rated them an "A", 56 percent a "B", 9 percent a "C", and 2 percent a "D."

More Flexibility - Companies plan to continue providing IT employees with greater flexibility in hopes of maintaining a better work-life balance. Fifty percent of IT employers, the highest among all industries surveyed, said they plan to provide more flexible work arrangements in 2010, compared to 44 percent last year. These arrangements include:

  • Alternative schedules - come in early and leave early or come in later and leave later - 73 percent

  • Telecommuting - 67 percent

  • Compressed work weeks - work the same hours, but in fewer days - 36 percent

  • Summer hours - 12 percent

  • Job sharing - 10 percent

Recruitment Tools - As demand for qualified workers will increase this year, IT employers will leverage a variety of recruitment tools in 2009 to fill open positions. IT employers plan to spend more money on the following recruitment tools in 2009:

  • Online recruitment sites - 27 percent

  • Career fairs - 18 percent

  • Social and professional networking sites - 14 percent

  • Staffing firms and recruiters - 9 percent

  • Newspaper classifieds - 8 percent

Green Jobs - IT employers will continue to turn some of their focus to the environment in 2010. Fourteen percent of employers say they plan to add "green jobs" this year, the same amount who said they added them in 2009. "Green jobs" are positions that implement environmentally conscious design, policy and technology to improve conservation and sustainability.

Freelance or Contract Hiring - While some IT employers still plan to be cautious regarding the number of full-time employees they add in this year, many will turn to freelance or contract employees to help keep their businesses moving forward.

  • Forty-seven percent of IT employers are hiring freelance or contract workers in 2010.

  • Nine percent of companies plan to hire more freelance or contract IT workers than they did in 2009.

Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive© on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 169 IT hiring managers and human resource professionals (employed full-time; not self-employed; non-government; with at least significant involvement in hiring decisions); ages 18 and over between November 5 and November 23, 2009, respectively (percentages for some questions are based on a subset of U.S. employers or employees, based on their responses to certain questions). With a pure probability sample of 169, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 7.54 percentage points, respectively. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.

About CareerBuilder®
CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract their most important asset - their people. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com®, is the largest in the United States with more than 23 million unique visitors, 1 million jobs and 32 million resumes. CareerBuilder works with the world’s top employers, providing resources for everything from recruitment to employment branding and data analysis. More than 9,000 websites, including 140 newspapers and broadband portals such as MSN and AOL, feature CareerBuilder’s proprietary job search technology on their career sites. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company, The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI) and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.

CareerBuilder Media Contact
For all media inquiries and interview requests, contact:

Jennifer Grasz
(P) 773-527-1164
(E) jennifer.grasz@careerbuilder.com