Demand for contract IT project managers increases

Hotgigs, a contract talent marketplace that lets companies instantly research contractor rates and locate pre-referenced and ranked contractor profiles, recently issued a snapshot of its March hiring trends. According to Hotgigs, in March more searches took place for temporary IT project managers and IT managers than any other IT job category, which could indicate moderate hiring growth in the technology sector. "When companies begin to scale their IT areas and plan projects, one of the first things they look for are project managers," says Hotgigs founder and CEO Doug Berg. "Once companies feel more confident in the economy, they move these people into permanent or long-term positions."

Each month through its web site, Hotgigs collects data on contract employment trends from more than 1,900 temporary staffing companies, 10,000 freelancers, and nearly 1,000 hiring companies. In March, hiring companies in the U.S. and Canada did 38,000 searches for contract project managers on the Hotgigs web site. Here are the top ten IT contract skills searched: