Though today’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report showed the unemployment rate rising .1% to 5.5%, 280,000 new jobs were created last month! This was the 14th out of the last 15 months that the economy added 200,000 or more net new jobs!
Jobs creation was broad-based including: a) the Professional and Business Services sector adding 63,000 jobs b) the Leisure and Hospitality sector growing by 57,000 jobs and c) the Health-care, Retail Trade and Construction sectors all adding positions. The only negative was the Mining sector, covering energy industries, which fell by 17,000 jobs.
This information parallels a Commerce Department report last week saying that business investment is increasing. Especially orders for non-defense capital goods, which increased 1% in their latest reporting month! This is a key measure because it suggests that companies are slowly starting to boost investment. It is also a strong indicator of an increase in technical recruiting.
The BLS and Commerce Department findings confirm what I have noticed anecdotally from many of our technical recruiting firm’s clients who have significantly ramped up technical recruiting in the last few months (especially engineers, scientists, R&D, IT and other technical employees). Unfortunately, few are prepared for this momentous technical recruiting surge.
As a result, we recommend a 360-degree audit of a company’s technical recruiting needs including:
- Full assessments of all scientific, engineering, R&D, IT and technical departments’ requirements for the next 18 months.
- Thorough evaluations of technical recruiting talent needs and comparisons to the current technical recruiting marketplace landscape including manpower availabilities versus their competitors’ needs and current efforts.
- Researching new methods for securing technical talent within the organization.
- Increasing the technical recruiting prowess of hiring managers.
- Brainstorming sessions to discuss actual and projected regulations and how they will affect abilities to secure key scientific, engineering, R&D, IT and technical talent in the future.
To assist hiring companies, we have prepared a list of 12 key tips we recommend for recruiting. Please go to http://www.strategicsearch.com/technical-recruiting-tips/technical-recruiting-tips.php to learn more.
What are your findings on the state of technical recruiting?
