HOLLAND ? It’s a trip to the past for IT hiring in West Michigan for the next six months, with tech hiring forecasts back at levels not seen since 2002, Paragon Recruiting contends in its latest hiring forecast.
The latest survey shows 20 percent of West Michigan companies plan to hire IT staff through June 2009, 5 percent plan to decrease IT staff and 75 percent plan to make no change.
“Actually the IT hiring trends look better than we anticipated with very few companies expect to reduce staff. I think this is very encouraging,” said Paragon CEO Beth DeWilde.
Mid-level applications staff, including web developers, are the most likely IT professionals to get hired in West Michigan during the next six months. Hiring will be highest in computer consulting companies (36 percent), but is not expected to be strong among health care providers (zero percent). All the decreases reported will be among manufacturers, particularly larger companies (15 percent). However nearly as many manufacturers say they plan to increase tech staff (13 percent).
Slightly fewer companies will be outsourcing technology projects in the next six months than have in the recent past. Local outsourcing will drop somewhat while national outsourcing will increase; offshore work will remain as a small minority. Many companies will outsource in more than one place, the survey shows.
Every six months, Paragon polls more than 500 Senior IT Managers in West Michigan to determine what the future holds for IT staffing and IT services outsourcing locally. The latest forecast includes responses from approximately 100 companies.
For more details, click on ParagonUSA.Com
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