As seen in the January 2024 Pulse Report, IT staffing temporary revenue in December 2023 was flat year over year, up from a decrease of 4% in October.

A net 2% of IT staffing firms reported positive revenue growth, up from -15% in the last report. Aggregate IT staffing revenue (influenced more by larger firms) was -4% year over year, and the aggregate was lower than the median in every Pulse in 2023.

In the January survey, we also asked about the expected benefits of AI on staffing operations in 2024, and the planned use(s) of ChatGPT/generative AI in the new year.

As for the benefits, 25 IT staffing companies shared open-ended responses. Twelve of the responses (48%) mentioned sourcing/matching, and four responses (16%) referred to candidate engagement.

Two responses showing the wide array of expected benefits are shared below:

• “Better and faster reporting, generating interview questions, automating candidate summaries, transcribing phone calls, automating note taking, researching positions, companies, and locations, generating internal notices and onboarding paperwork.”
• “We have already seen AI impact our business through administrative functions, sourcing, process, etc. We are further moving to AI and automation handling process and people being responsible for relationships and human interaction.”

As for the planned uses of ChatGPT/generative AI, five of the 24 IT responses (21%) mentioned emails/communications, and five responses (21%) mentioned generating job descriptions/job postings.

Two responses are shared below:

• “Helping with outbound reach outs both sales and recruiting. Writing and cleaning up job descriptions. Email campaigns.”
• “We aim to use ChatGPT/generative AI in a secure and ethical manner to generate analysis and tailor messaging that resonates with diverse talent pools.”

AI tools, as well as AI talent, will certainly have an impact on IT staffing in the new year. There is optimism that growth will resume in 2024 after an off year in 2023, and the January Pulse Survey reflects this; a net 57% of IT staffing respondents expected an increasing trend in new orders over the next six months, and a net 19% expect an increasing trend in bill rates in the next six months.

To see how things have started in 2024 in IT staffing, please be sure to participate in the March Pulse. Keep an eye out for the invite at the beginning of the month or visit our surveys page.