Employers plan gradual hiring for rest of 2010

IT, customer service and sales workers most in demand


The majority of employers are planning to hire more employees in the second half of 2010, according to a new survey.

The poll of 239 hiring managers and HR professionals by CareerBuilder found 58 per cent plan to add new employees before the end of the year.

"While companies plan to hire more workers in the second half of the year, they report they will do so gradually. In addition, they will continue to focus on revenue generating positions and maintaining their current staff levels in an effort to facilitate growth and sustain their businesses through the rest of 2010," said Brent Rasmussen, president of CareerBuilder North America.

The 2010 Canadian Mid-Year Job Forecast found employers are recruiting for the following functional areas first:

• IT (30 per cent)

• Customer service (26 per cent)

• Sales (22 per cent)

• Administrative (19 per cent)

• Business development (17 per cent)

• Accounting/finance (16 per cent)

The survey also found 46 per cent of employers are worried top talent will leave their organizations as more jobs become available. This is a valid concern with 29 per cent of  521 workers surveyed saying they're planning to change jobs once the economy improves and 31 per cent of all workers surveyed are likely to leave their organizations in the next 12 months.

One-quarter of workers say factors related to the recession, such as feeling over-worked, feeling the climate changed in their work environment and harboring resentment over other workers being laid off, have influenced their decision to leave.

Nearly one-third of workers (31 per cent) reported they feel overqualified for their current jobs and 43 per cent of workers who are looking for or planning to look for a new job stated that a lack of interesting work was one of the main motivators for changing employers.

When asked what employers could do to retain them, workers first pointed to increased compensation, followed by employee recognition, training and development, setting realistic performance expectations and manageable workloads. Taking the time to evaluate employee potential and discuss career paths, and increased communication were also cited.

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