It's 2015, and a considerable number of business owners believe that hiring more workers this year is the best financial plan they can make, based on the results of a recent survey.
Roughly 1 in 3 employers intends to do more recruitment activity over the next 12 months, according to a recent poll conducted by CareerBuilder. That's the highest rate in nine years.
Additionally, the poll found, many of these same businesses intend to increase what they pay to their workers, raising the minimum wage, as a number of states – 20 so far – have passed legislation that will increase what employees earn.
Matt Ferguson, CareerBuilder CEO, noted that after an extended period of time in which the job situation was bleak, it seems to have finally turned a corner, which is good news both for employment seekers and those companies that are hiring.
"Hiring in 2014 was broad-based, including encouraging activity among small businesses and hard-hit sectors like manufacturing and construction," said Ferguson. "The amount of companies planning to hire in 2015 is up 12 percentage points over last year, setting the stage for a more competitive environment for recruiters that may lend itself to some movement in wages."
Sales, customer service most likely to hire
Some professions are more inclined to increase their recruitment efforts than others, the poll revealed. Of the nearly 2,200 hiring managers and human resource professional surveyed, sales firms represented the highest percentage intending to add full-time, permanent staff at 36 percent. Second to sales was customer service at 33 percent, followed by information technology at 26 percent.
The creative industry may be more careful in deciding which applicants are the best fit for job openings. Executives in this profession meet an average of six candidates before filling a position, according to a separate survey done by The Creative Group.
Diane Domeyer, the recruitment firm's executive director, said that while employers are filling and creating jobs, they're not doing so just for the sake of it. In short, they're looking for people with a specific set of skills that will help both the worker and the company succeed.
Intangible qualities can often be the deciding factor between workers that don't make the cut and those that do. In a situation where there were two equally qualified candidates, a good sense of humor is often the difference maker, based on another poll done by CareerBuilder.