Second Quarter 2012 Hiring Outlook Reflective of Pre-Recession Numbers

A CareerBuilder survey has shown that U.S. employers are returning to pre-recession hiring levels with survey participants reporting hiring increases that are the highest since the beginning of the recession. About one-third of employers have added permanent, full-time employees during the first three months of the year and this momentum is predicted to persist through the second quarter, at minimum. The survey included over 2,000 hiring managers and HR professionals from all over the country and representative of multiple industries and company sizes.

“We have moved from an anemic job market to one that is stable and growing,” said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder. “While still cautious, employers are feeling better about the state of the U.S. economy and the debt situation in Europe. Forty-one percent of companies reported their sales have increased over the last six months, which is helping to fuel greater confidence in hiring.”

Employers are also beginning to experience increased levels of competition for available talent with 56 of respondents reporting having had a candidate reject a job offer within the past year. When polled for the perceived reasoning behind the rejection, 41 percent of recruiters ascribed the behavior to their inability to meet an applicant’s requested salary and 22 percent said that they waited too long to extend a job offer and applicants had accepted jobs elsewhere, in the interim.

Predictions for the second-quarter 2012, 30 percent of employers said they anticipate increasing full-time staff; a slight increase from 28 percent over Q2 2011. Nearly 60 percent of employers expect no change to staffing levels while six percent anticipate either staff downsizing or are undecided.