I tend to err on the side of optimism, but even the most Grinchy of industry observers could find promise in the recent SHRM article, “U.S. Could See Hiring ‘Heat Wave’ in May.”
The piece, written by Theresa Minton-Eversole, opens with this palpitation-inducing prediction:
“‘May 2010 hiring activity in the manufacturing and service sectors could reach levels not seen in three years,’ according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey report released May 7, 2010.”
There are words like “surge,” “highest,” “increase,” “improved,” and a lovely smattering of Up arrows throughout the article.
Surely some of these jobs are of the grease-covered summer job variety, but others seem to be more long-term offerings. In terms of the difficulty recruiters are having recruiting top-level talent, the article reports that, “More employers [are] reporting difficulty filling their ‘A positions’ compared to this time one year ago.” Openings in manufacturing and service sectors are good news for unemployed workers as well as for the fresh-from-commencement crowd. More important is what that could mean for people whose jobs are directly impacted by a drop in hiring — people like ME! For many years, my life revolved around “late Thursdays” — Thursdays being the nights that a good part of our agency worked ‘til midnight to handle the volume associated with the newspapers’ classified advertising/help wanted section deadlines. It was no party, but they were busy, stimulating days. I once complained to my husband about having to attend ANOTHER client lunch at Le Bec Fin when I had so much work back at the office.
Fast-forward to the past three years and my newfound fondness for Lean Cuisine. They say the housing market is a reliable indicator of the health of the economy, but I really believe that if the powers to be in the DOL wanted some clues as to what was coming, they should have polled the recruitment advertising agencies. We tend to hear about slashed budgets, hiring freezes, and downturns in typically active industries before you can say 500-pink-slips-delivered-via-email.
Recently, I’m happy to report that my “thinking about how we can market our offerings to our clients” assignments have taken a back seat to “the client needs this today” requests. And though painfully unrealistic turnaround is never a fun thing, it’s much, much better than worrying about which client will be the next to tell you they’re “pulling back for a year or so.” I’ve seen quite the uptick in social networking, e-card, and even job fair (!) projects coming across my desk in recent months. That news is like a much needed dose of sunshine. Possibly just the right amount of life-sustaining light to cure my J.S.A.D. (Job Slump Affective Disorder) and get me pumped for hire expectations.
But how about you???
Have you seen an increase in your hiring requests?
Can you sense an uptick at your organization?
