Professional Outlook, Inc. Recruiting Specialists

With signs of economic recovery, U.S. employers plan to adjust their compensation practices for 2011 in response to losing top talent after a year of pay freezes. According to Mercer’s 2010/2011 U.S. Compensation Planning Survey, more than 98% of U.S. companies plan to award base salary pay increases in 2011. Moreover, just 2% of companies are planning across-the-board salary freezes in 2011, compared with 13% in 2010 and 31% in 2009. Of the employers projecting to grant base salary pay increases, the average increase is expected to be 2.9% in 2011, up from an actual 2.7% in 2010. Unlike past years, expected salary increase levels for 2011 are even across most employee groups. However, more employers are taking a segmented approach to salary increase allocations and continuing to focus on high-performing talent.

Society for Human Resource Management – August, 2010

Human resource professionals are showing confidence in the U.S. job market, according to the Labor Market Outlook Report by the Society of Human Resource Management. The report indicates 56% of respondents expect job growth for the third quarter of 2010; 49% are somewhat optimistic about job growth in the United States, and another 7% are very optimistic and anticipate job growth during the quarter. That represents a sharp increase from the third quarter of 2009, when a combined 37% of respondents expressed some level of optimism about job growth in the labor market. In the third quarter of 2010, 31% of companies plan to conduct hiring, up from 21% in the third quarter of 2009. Among employer categories, small companies (those with 1 to 99 employees) are likely to add jobs (36%) in the third quarter.

Society for Human Resource Management – August, 2010

As business around the world is increasing, global employee engagement is waning significantly. In fact, in the most recent study of employee engagement levels by Hewitt Associates, the report found that engagement levels at the end of the June 2010 quarter represented the largest decline Hewitt has seen in 15 years.

Not surprisingly, this dramatic drop is due to the growing strain between employers and their employees. Employers are attempting to stabilize their financial situations and their employees are exhausted after 18 months of stress, insecurity, and bewilderment thanks to the effects of the recession and their employers’ actions. (more…)

Numerous studies have shown that job-related stress is associated with reduced productivity, impaired mental well-being, and physical problems, including increased illness and obesity. Needless to say, The Great Recession has only made the problem worse.

Many people are working harder for less money and with less job security than they had before. Add the fact that new communications technologies allow us to be connected 24-7 and you have the recipe for the highest levels of stress in history. (more…)

In Part 1 we discussed new jobs in Health Information Technology, Geriatric Healthcare, Health Law, and Data Mining and Occupational Health and Safety. In this article, we explore other fast-growing industries and occupations.

Embedded engineers will bridge the gap between software and hardware design and work specifically on microchip processors. Most companies will hire candidates with a bachelor’s degree and experience with computer systems and train them. Common majors preparing students for these jobs are computer science, software engineering, control systems, and other technical disciplines.

As the worldwide Web expands, people will be needed to write the features providing the content. To write for the Web and stay relevant and employable, candidates should also have a general understanding of HTML, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and social media. The mobile Web is also growing rapidly. To meet its huge demand for content design and development for mobile platforms, Web providers are hiring graphic designers, videographers, casual game/application developers, and software engineers. (more…)

A couple of weeks ago, we examined the “Mixed Outlook for College Grads” and saw that the STEM*-degreed graduates were more likely to find employment and be paid more than other grads. (http://www.hermangroup.com/alert/archive_6-16-2010.html) In a related exploration, we offer you insights on the expected growth of occupations and industries, based on data from the United States, Bureau of Labor Statistics and other reliable sources. Not surprisingly, the job growth in technical fields will exceed the increases in the non-technical.

The combination of aging Baby Boomers, the shift to digital medical records, and the sequencing of the human genome will result in the strongest growth being in the field of Health Information Technology. By the year 2018, jobs in this field will grow by 20 percent, or 35,100 new positions. (more…)

Recruiter firm placements are returning to more normal levels in some industries, according to recruiter associations such as the National Personnel Association. A recent report issued by ExecuNet, an executive level job board, echoed the findings of NPA. ExecuNet’s president and chief economist, Mark Anderson, indicated in his post that recruiters are more confident in future employment by clients. The averages of the ExecuNet Recruiter Confidence Index are at the highest level since July 2007.  Mr. Anderson goes on to list the strongest industry areas as:

1. Healthcare
2. Clean/Green Technology
3. Energy
4. Manufacturing
5. Pharmaceuticals/Medical Devices/Biotech (more…)

Some services are priceless. When you have a medical emergency that impacts you or a family member, the price of the service becomes secondary to the results. For less critical health issues you may shop around for the low cost provider, but when it deals with life and death issues, the focus is on results. So wouldn’t it be great to get the best of both — cost-efficient help to perform critical services?

Professional Outlook recruiters operate on contingency fees, meaning we produce results or we don’t get paid. Yet we feel that finding the right fit between our clients and candidates is critical. The health of an organization is dependent on its employees. The ability to attract and retain key personnel is a life and death issue for most businesses. Every false start, bad hire, and premature loss of a key employee has a direct and measurable impact on the bottom line (health) of an organization. (more…)

There is an attitudinal shift happening in today’s labor marketplace, and it is not good news for employers. As we have said in previous Herman Trend Alerts, increases in consumer confidence result in churning in the labor marketplace. More people are able to find jobs; others feel confident enough to quit them without firm offers. They are seeing more hiring and a strengthening economy.

It is interesting to note that in the United States more people quit their jobs in the last three months than those who lost their jobs. After 15 straight months of time in which layoffs exceeded voluntary departures, it appears that the job market is finally shifting. My guess is that the same phenomenon is being seen in some other countries, notably Brazil, India, Malaysia, and Singapore, whose economies are well into recovery already. (more…)

After a year of searching for a Senior Process Engineer for our refinery, we decided to turn to Professional Outlook as another source of candidates. Professional Outlook provided several strong candidates immediately and continued to refine the candidates they were presenting for our review to better match the unique skill sets we felt were important. They ended up providing the right candidate and assisted with closing the deal. We are very pleased with their service and effort to tailor to our needs and will continue to utilize their services.

~ Ronald Colwell
PE, Montana Refining Company, Inc.