Robert Half Technology last week released its report of CIO's second-quarter hiring expectations, and the forecast is slightly lower than it was for the first-quarter of this year. Twelve percent of the 1,400 CIOs polled said they planned to expand their IT departments in the next three months, while 4% anticipated staff reductions.

The net 8% hiring increase compares with a net 12% increase forecast last quarter and a net 9% projected this time last year. The majority (84%) of the CIOs from U.S. companies with 100 or more employees interviewed anticipated no change in their personnel levels in the second quarter.

That said, Robert Half Technology, an IT staffing company, states that hiring managers at the largest employers are the most optimistic about adding IT staff during the next three months. A quarter of executives interviewed at companies with more than 1,000 employees plan to hire additional people, but 5% see staff reductions. Among CIOs who plan to hire, 40% cited corporate expansion as the reason, while 26% cited increased customer and end-user support needs.

Wireless networking was cited as a skill in demand by 52% of hiring CIOs, compared to 51% in the second quarter of 2005, and 50% in the first quarter of 2006. IT pros with Cisco network administration skills was cited by 44% of respondents, compared to 45% in the second quarter of 2005, and 40% in the first quarter of this year.

While networking was the specialty that the majority (22%) of CIOs predicted would experience the most growth for the first quarter of 2006, in the most recent survey, the majority of respondents (21%) cited help desk/end-user support as the hottest growth area. Just 15% said networking would be experiencing the most growth in the next three months.

Information security fared a little better this quarter, as 9% of employers named that as a hot growth area, compared to 6% in the first quarter of this year.

On the subject of information security, I want to point you to an article in this week's Network World about the IT security job market. Senior Editor, Ellen Messmer writes that computer forensics and wireless security are the hottest jobs at the moment, but the better-paying positions are going to security pros with management responsibilities, rather than simply technical roles.

Jon Brodkin is senior writer at Network World.