Hiring Managers Look To Increase Hiring in Q3

The third quarter is expected to bring a bumper crop of new workers, since 44% of hiring managers anticipate doing the majority of their recruiting during this time. Additionally, 48% plan to add new positions to expand operations, increase sales and productivity and improve customer service, according to CareerBuilder.com’s survey “The Pulse: A Quarterly Forecast on Hiring Trends and Job Changes.”

The hiring will come in a hurry too. Sixty-four percent of hiring managers report they are filling open positions within 30 days, compared to 58% six months ago. Additionally, nearly one out of five say they will increase their recruitment budgets for the remainder of the year to get top performers in place to drive more business.

By region, the greatest hiring plans come from those companies in the South, where 54% of managers hiring in that region said they would be expanding staffs, followed by 48% in the West. The Northeast and Midwest ranked lowest in terms of incremental hiring with 41% planning to add new jobs.

Fortunately, for hiring managers in the high hiring regions, there will be a large pool of applicants to choose from. Twice as many workers in the South and West plan to change jobs in the next three months as compared to workers in the Northeast – 15% in the South and 14% in the West expect to leave their current positions as compared to 7% in the Northeast. Looking further ahead to six months, 21% of workers in the South, West and Midwest plan to look for new work compared to 16% in the Northeast.

The survey was conducted from May 14 to May 24, 2004 and included 1,400 respondents. A copy of the full report is available at http://www.careerbuilder.com/share/AboutUs/PR/surveys.htm.