IT Staff Could Benefit from Enhanced Tech Skills
<p><strong>Menlo Park, Calif. — May 10</strong><br />As technology changes, so do the job requirements for a company’s information technology staff. </p><p>In a new survey, 25 percent of chief information officers (CIOs) ranked technical skills as the area in which their IT staff could most use improvement. Project management abilities were a close second with 23 percent of the response.<br /><br />The national poll includes responses from more than 1,400 CIOs from a stratified random sample of U.S. companies with 100 or more employees. </p><p>It was conducted by an independent research firm and developed by Robert Half Technology, a provider of information technology professionals on a project and full-time basis.<br /><br />CIOs were asked, “In which of the following areas do you think your IT staff could most use improvement?”<br /></p><ul><li><strong>Technical abilities: </strong>25 percent</li><li><strong>Project management skills: </strong>23 percent<br /></li><li><strong>Verbal and written communication abilities: </strong>15 percent<br /></li><li><strong>Organizational skills: </strong>14 percent <br /></li><li><strong>Interpersonal skills: </strong>12 percent<br /></li><li><strong>None/no improvements needed: </strong>3 percent <br /></li><li><strong>Other/don’t know: </strong>8 percent</li></ul><p> “Technology changes rapidly, making it crucial for IT staff to constantly learn new skills to keep pace with industry advancements,” said Katherine Spencer Lee, Robert Half Technology executive director. “While it’s ultimately up to the individual to keep his or her technical abilities current, the best employers invest in ongoing professional development for employees at all levels.<br /> <br />“Professional development programs also can aid a company’s recruitment and retention efforts. In today’s competitive IT hiring market, employees want to work for firms that encourage them to build new skills and assume more challenging responsibilities.”<br /></p>
