If you're looking to hire IT staff next year, what kind of talent are you hunting for? On the flip side, if you're searching for a new tech job, what skills do you offer prospective employers?

A new report out today from staffing firm Robert Half Technology indicates that about 13% of CIOs nationwide plan to hire staff in the first quarter of 2008.

The heaviest hiring will take place in the Mid-Atlantic states, where nearly one in five CIOs say they're planning to add staff, according to the survey of 1,400 CIOs nationwide.

Networking is the hottest job category "for the second straight year," according to the company. And Windows administration skills are in the greatest demand among IT shops, says Robert Half Technology.

But anecdotally, if you talk to CIOs and other employers, they'll also tell you that they're in need of business analysts, project managers, and people who have a mix of business, technology and problem-solving skills. Those are the hardest-to-find skill-sets of all, they say.

The Robert Half Technology survey also found the business services firms have the greatest hiring needs right now, which also seems to mirror a sort of desperation that some of the largest tech vendors seem to be expressing these days.

In fact, several large vendors including IBM and even Xerox (which is expanding its tech services beyond the document management realm) are working with universities to help create curriculums that better prepare students with "services" types of skills, including problem-solving ability, communication skills, and so on.

Got any of these skills? If so, maybe there's a new job opportunity waiting for you out there.

If you're on the hiring end, what sort of talent are you looking for?