Job openings

The job market isn’t looking much better these days, unless you work in a select few industries. If that’s the case, you’re still hiring and trying to find the right people to help you keep up with your burgeoning business.

This week’s Management Strategies story in Network World looks at those lucky industries and examines how they’re handling their job openings.

For example, mortgage investment firm Freddie Mac is trying to expand its IT staff ,and when you think about it, you can understand why. With mortgage rates at record lows, many homeowners are refinancing, which means more work for the company. Any industry associated with the government is also enjoying boom times, given the push for homeland security and the war in Iraq. Government contractors such as shipyards and military IT services are just some of the industries looking for IT professionals.

Not surprisingly, those companies are in the minority. Of the 1,400 CIOs polled by recruiter Robert Half Technology, only 9% planned to increase their IT workforce in the second quarter of 2003 – the lowest percentage since the second quarter of 2001. However, 5% said they would cut their workforce in the second quarter of 2003 – the highest percentage of execs since the second quarter of 2001. A full 86% of executives planned no changes in hiring activity.

As we’ve covered in past newsletters, any hiring company is being deluged with resumes. How are they handling the situation?

* Michael Erana, CTO at Kvaerner Philadelphia Shipyard, received 200-plus resumes when he recently advertised a CAD coordinator position. The quantity was so large he couldn’t comb through them all. Now he relies on word of mouth.

* John Sebra, senior director of HR at BAE Systems Information Systems Sector, which provides IT systems and services to the intelligence and military communities, says his company has openings for software and systems engineers. Yet finding the right fit is a challenge because applicants need to pass security clearance by a government agency and be comfortable working in a structured environment.

Check out this week’s Management Strategies story in its entirety for more information on which industries foresee a rise in hiring this year: https://www.nwfusion.com/careers/2003/0407man.html