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Hiring Will Pick Up in Fourth Quarter
CHICAGO -- After a temporary cooling in hiring activity attributed to seasonality and the impact of high energy costs, job creation levels are picking up again, said Matt Ferguson, chief executive officer of CareerBuilder.com. "Our latest survey shows hiring managers are optimistic about recruitment in the months to come. While 12% of hiring managers say they will be decreasing employment at their locations from third to fourth quarter, 49% say they will be increasing their staffs with a balanced mix of incremental and replacement employees."Fully 38% of 700 hiring managers primarily operating in services industries who were surveyed in August said they plan to do the majority of their hiring for the year in the fourth quarter, and 25% said they would do the majority of their hiring in the third quarter, the survey found. When hiring managers were first asked this question in May, 44% initially reported they would hire the most workers in the third quarter with a lesser 22% expecting to recruit the most in the fourth quarter.The August survey indicates that some recruitment activities originally intended for the third quarter will be spilling over to the October through December time frame, Ferguson said.Some 52% of hiring managers plan to add incremental employees in the fourth quarter while 48% expect to replace employees who left voluntarily or involuntarily. In May, 48% of hiring managers planned to add new employees in the third quarter and 52% expected to replace workers for existing positions.Of those hiring in the fourth quarter, 18% plan to do so to expand operations and launch new products and services. Roughly 12% are focused on increasing efficiencies and productivity while 10% are ramping up sales and customer service efforts. Of those not recruiting, more than one- third attribute the inactivity to a lack of business growth, the survey found.The number of hiring managers who are filling open positions within one month and two weeks dropped slightly in August; 62% of hiring managers said they are filling open positions within 30 days compared to 64% in May. And, 35% are filling open positions within two weeks compared to 38% in May, the survey found.Consistent with findings in May for the third quarter, one in four hiring managers say they will be recruiting for professional and technical services positions in the fourth quarter. The amount of those looking to hire administrative and clerical positions jumped significantly from 17% in the third quarter to 26% in the fourth quarter. Hiring for management positions is expected to decline from 13% in the third quarter to 11% in the fourth quarter, the survey found.The coasts continue to experience a quicker job recovery over the Midwest. Similar to May results, the West is leading the regions in the amount of hiring managers planning to increase staffs quarter over quarter. Fully 51% of hiring managers in the West expect to recruit in the upcoming quarter, compared to 50% in May. The Northeast and South saw the greatest improvement to 50% in August from 45% and 46%, respectively, in May. The Midwest saw a slight change from 46% in May to 47% in August, the survey found."Job satisfaction has improved, with 5% of workers surveyed in August stating they are content with their positions compared to 52% in May," said Ferguson. "However, better employment prospects have more workers planning to change jobs than reported last quarter. Nineteen percent of workers plan to leave their current positions in the next three months, compared to 13% who said they would do so back in May. Thirty-one percent of workers plan to change jobs in the next six months, compared to 20% in May."One in five workers say they are dissatisfied with their jobs overall with various job factors influencing this perception, the survey found; 47% of workers desire better compensation, 45% report their workloads are too heavy and 40% say their current organizations are lacking in career advancement opportunities. In addition, 39% of workers say they are disappointed with the performance of their corporate leaders, 36% say their employers have ineffective career development and learning programs and 32% say they are dissatisfied with their work/life balance.Despite improvements in job satisfaction for all regions, 20% of workers in the South and West and 17% of workers in the Northeast and Midwest expect to change jobs by the end of the year, the survey found.Comparing select industries and job functions, Information Technology workers reported the highest percentage of those planning to change jobs in the next three months at 23%, the survey found. Retail and Hospitality workers tied for second at 21% with Government workers following closely behind at 19%. Some 16% of workers in Accounting/Finance and 15% in Healthcare and Sales say they will leave their jobs by year end.Visit CareerBuilder.com"