Mixed Signals on Hiring Trends

While America slowly begins to rebound from the worst recession since the 1930s, a jobless recovery will be more challenging nationwide. In fact, a recent Human Resources (HR) and corporate hiring survey conducted by Chicago staffing firms Smart Resources Inc. and Accountable Search LLC, offers a mixed assessment regarding current and future hiring plans in the Chicago market.

Findings of the staffing survey, reveals that 33% of Chicago-based respondents believe they are adequately staffed given the demands of the marketplace. While 23% are reducing headcount, and/or planning to do so in the future, 29% are actually growing staff, according to the staffing firms.

While looking into the market as a whole, 6% of HR and managers foresee a decline in mass layoffs, 35% see continued selective layoffs with a hiring freeze in place, and 39% anticipate more selective layoffs alongside selective hiring to upgrade positions or fill gaps.

And as business conditions improve, 29% of the Chicago companies surveyed will look to current employees for referrals to fill new positions, while 27% will use media such as online, newspaper or trade magazines to find candidates. Almost 13% of respondents state they will use recruitment or temporary staffing and project management firms to help for future hiring.

Posted by RecruitingTrends.com on October 14, 2009. Filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry