A new TEKsystems survey found IT leaders appeared to have had inflated expectations regarding hiring at the end of 2016 and overestimated increases for both full-time and contingent hiring. TEKsystems’ midyear “reality check” survey, completed in June, compares results to a similar survey conducted in December 2016.

The survey of IT leaders found 32% actually increased contingent IT staff, down from 43% who forecast an increase in the December survey. Additionally, more decreased temporary staff: 22% in the June survey compared to 13% forecasted at the start of the year.

Plans to add full-time IT staff also missed the mark: 34% of IT leaders said their firms actually added full-time staff, down from 45% who expected an increase. And 23% reported a decrease in full-time headcount, up from 8% who predicted a decreased in the survey six months ago.

When asked about the biggest barriers to hiring IT talent, a high percentage of all respondents, 49%, identified an excessive number of candidates not fitting the profile, followed closely by lack of available talent at 48%, and salaries outside of what leaders are prepared to pay at 46%. Only 12% cited a lack of workforce planning as the biggest barrier to hiring.

“The data shows that in most areas, conditions remain steady and IT leaders are becoming better at anticipating budgets and hiring for the upcoming year,” said TEKsystems’ Research Manager Jason Hayman. “Programmers and developers will continue to be the most difficult-to fill skill sets, and with budget increases slightly down, the decentralization of IT in the organization is creating stress on IT departments to maintain traditional functions and still remain on the hook for things like data integration and information security. Overall, IT leaders are being cautious while still moving the needle in the right direction.”

Programmers and developers consistently remained the most difficult to fill position, with architects moving up one spot to become the second most difficult position to fill by midyear 2017. According to TEKsystems, this may correlate to an increasing number of projects focused on specific lines of business and new initiatives versus core IT projects. More surprising, both big data/analytics and help desk/technical support increased to become the third and fourth most difficult to fill positions, previously ranked 11th and 12th respectively.

Other findings in the survey include:

• Almost three-quarters of IT leaders said talent sourcing strategy is affected by the current political climate.
• Fewer organizations reporting actual budget increases for 2017.
• Although IT leaders remain assured in overall ability to meet business demands, confidence diminished for core IT demands

TEKsystems, part of the Allegis Group, is the largest IT staffing firm in the US. The survey was conducted in June, and included more than 200 IT leaders — CIOs, IT VPs, IT directors and IT hiring managers.