Marketing and advertising executives are anticipating a slight increase in full-time staffing levels in the second quarter of 2011.

On Thursday, The Creative Group Hiring Index for Marketing and Advertising Professionals released the results of its quarterly telephone poll of more than 250 industry execs, projecting an 18% jump in hiring over the next three months – up five points from the first quarter.

Overall, 20% of those polled said they would increase staff, 2% would reduce staff and the vast majority, 73%, said they expect no change.

The greatest demand is for web designers and programmers (25%), followed by print/design production personnel (21%), social media experts (18%), account execs (18%), PR (16%) and creative directors/art directors (16%).

‘Many employers are looking to enhance their online presence in response to increasing consumer demand for content,’ Lara Dodo, Canadian regional VP of The Creative Group, said in a release. ‘Firms currently seek experienced professionals, with a combination of front- and back-end development skills, such as HTML, CSS and .NET, and a great eye for design.’

The poll is based on phone interviews with 200 randomly selected marketing executives from companies with 100 or more employees and 50 ad agency execs with 20 or more employees.