By Beth Fitzgerald
Originally posted in NJBIZ - January 26, 2009
New Jersey employers still have jobs to fill, even though thousands of workers are being laid off and the unemployment rate is soaring. Companies are exercising caution as they screen a pool of candidates and pace themselves for a recession that is expected to linger through 2009.
"The economy is brutal, but there's hiring going on - it's just extremely selective," said Harvey Bass, president of Stascom Technologies, a job placement firm in Sparta.
New Jersey lost an alarming 15,200 jobs in December, bringing the full year's job losses to 63,000, according to the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The state's jobless rate jumped a full percentage point, to 7.1 percent, in December. (See story on page 12)
But even though jobs aren't being created, there are always vacancies to fill as the result of "churn" - the normal job turnover when people quit, retire, got promoted or relocate. This means there is still work to be done by the state's staffing companies.
Bass predicted many new green jobs will be created in the months ahead, and that the infrastructure spending proposed by President Barack Obama and Congress will spur hiring. But job creation will unfold at a "torturous" pace, Bass added: "You won't see any noticeable increase until the second half of the year; that's when you'll stop seeing endless layoffs."
But Bass said he's still placing candidates in information technology, sales and finance jobs, although the hiring process takes longer. "A computer company will spend six or eight weeks hiring a sales person, because they want to make sure they get the best person." Bass filed fewer jobs in 2008 than in 2007, and said 2009 will be flat, "but 2010 will be good."
The retail sector was hit hard during the holiday season, as anxious consumer slashed their spending. But Verizon Wireless is continuing to open new stores, and is hiring salespeople to staff them, said Eileen Lambert, assistant director of human resources for the company, based in the Basking Ridge section of Bernards.
"Our business is thriving, and we are looking for management candidates and strong sales people," Lambert said. The cell phone company has 101 New Jersey locations, and expects to open 16 locations in the New Jersey/New York metropolitan area this year.
"With more people out of work, we are seeing more candidates from a variety of different backgrounds, and that is good for us," Lambert said. Historically, Verizon Wireless attracted candidates with sales experience; now the company is seeing mortgage and finance professionals looking to switch careers.
Aeroteck, a global staffing company with five New Jersey offices, expects to see growth in 2009 despite the recession - although the company's results won't approach the double-digit growth of 2005 and 2006, said Dave S. Poling, director of business operations in New Jersey.
"Since the start of the year, we've seen good demand in health care, biotech and engineering," Poling said. Large employers weren't hiring actively in the fourth quarter, "but we have recently seen that some of the large companies we do business with have begun to hire again."
Despite the massive layoffs in the banking and finance services industries, "we still have clients in the Princeton area that need employees," said Michelle Ponist, staffing manager at Ajilon Finance in Princeton. And her office is quite busy, "because we are definitely meeting with more candidates who are looking for jobs."
Frank Wyckoff, president of Snelling Staffing - The Wyckoff Group, based in Eatontown, said, "We are seeing activity in selected companies within each industry that have work that had to get done. Some companies laid off too many people, and now they need help."
Frank Granato, regional vice president for the staffing company Robert Half International in Woodbridge, said there's strong demand for accountants, particularly at the senior level. "And credit collection specialists are in demand, for obvious reasons."
Firms are trying to hold on to staff and protect their people, "and are being more strategic about who they bring on board."
Staffing executive Louis Schuckman said, "Companies are still hiring, and we are still busy." He is filling jobs at pharmaceutical and manufacturing firms, and at small companies that have been less affected by the downturn.
Schuckman, managing partner of Technology Resource Management in Florham Park, a staffing company for information technology professionals, said companies are "looking to hire people who can help them save money and make money at the same time."
Despite recession, his office is busy, "but it's a different kind of busy," he said. "There aren't as many jobs, but there are more people looking, so we are talking to more people. In the long run, it will benefit our business, because we are meeting more candidates."
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