A big question for company leaders these days: When to start hiring again if they’ve frozen staff levels — or made reductions — since the economic downturn. It seems one group of senior managers has decided the time’s come to add personnel:

Chief Information Officers (CIOs).

CIOs expect an uptick in hiring in the second quarter, according to the latest Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report.

The Robert Half study found that 9% of tech execs plan to add IT staff while only 4% anticipate letting folks go.

That 5% increase is up two points from the first quarter’s forecast and three points higher than the year-ago projection.

The IT Hiring Index and Skills Report is based on telephone interviews with more than 1,400 CIOs from companies across the U. S. with 100 or more employees. It was conducted by an independent research firm and developed by Robert Half Technology, a leading provider of IT professionals on a project and full-time basis.

Even better than those numbers was the overall confidence expressed by many top techs. Their responses included:

• Nearly 80% of technology executives expressed confidence in their companies’ prospects for growth in the second quarter.
• The net 5 percent increase in hiring activity that is forecast marks the second consecutive quarter in which hiring expectations have risen.
• Recruitment and retention are emerging as concerns for IT executives.
• CIOs in the nation’s central regions — West South Central, West North Central and East North Central — forecast the strongest IT hiring activity.

“Executives are showing early signs of optimism in their business and hiring outlook,” said Dave Willmer, executive director of Robert Half Technology. “Recruiting efforts are focused in areas such as networking and desktop support, which help keep hardware and software running effectively, and facilitate the implementation of new technologies.”

With many companies putting IT projects on hold or delaying upgrades because of the poor economy, there’s likely to be a backlog of updates and new technology implementations the IT crowd is itching to get started. Most of these projects will take more resources to get up and running.

Waiting too long to hire IT talent could be a problem if other organizations get started first. The top talent will likely either be picked over or their price will have gone up if your firm waits too long.

It could also mean that your technology lags behind others in your industry. Not a pretty thought.