HIRE Intelligence Survey Reveals Encouraging Hiring Intelligence

On the heels of promising data, going into June, from the monthly SHRM Leading Indicators of National Employment report shared on (TalentManagementTech.com blog TMT Talk), yet additional findings, these from the Monster-conducted HIRE Intelligence Survey, reveal encouraging projections regarding the hiring climate for the balance of 2010: More than two-thirds (67 percent) of HR managers or recruiters who have responsibility in recruiting accounting and finance positions are confident the economy will improve in the next six months and are planning to hire in that same time period. Even more of them, 79 percent, believe their own companies' performance will improve within the next six months. Furthermore, the survey, funded by accounting and finance professional placement firm The Mergis Group, indicates that hiring plans include a combination of new openings and replacement positions.

Participants consisted of a U.S. sample of 265 HR managers or recruiters who indicated they have specific responsibility to recruit for financially oriented positions for their company or acting as an agent on behalf of another company. Among them, their plans for hiring are optimistic. Seventy-four percent of survey respondents indicate that they are planning to hire in the next six months, with nearly half (49 percent) of those hires slated for the accounting and finance sector. Of the hiring taking place, 50 percent are a mix of new openings and replacement positions, while nearly one-third (32 percent) are strictly new positions. An overwhelming majority (91 percent) of new hiring will be made on a permanent basis, according to survey respondents.

The HIRE Intelligence Survey also yields interesting information on how recruiters are going about sourcing finance and accounting talent. Nearly three-fourths still turn to job boards. Social media makes a strong showing, with more than one-third (34 percent) turning to this newer tool. At less than one-fifth (18 percent), print classifieds continues to exhibit their inexorable decline into irrelevance.