In March, we released the 2011 Central Florida Hiring Outlook. We spoke with 166 employers representing over 180,000 employees to find out who is hiring, where the jobs are and how hiring looks for the rest of 2011. The key findings:
- 74 percent of companies surveyed have current job openings that are available immediately.
- 92 percent of companies surveyed plan on hiring at least one person in 2011.
- 35 percent of companies surveyed plan on hiring at least 50 employees in 2011.
- 17 percent plan on hiring 200 or more employees in 2011.
- 32 percent of all companies feel that their hiring will be better than it was in 2010.
- The top five hiring sectors for Central Florida are Healthcare, Hospitality, Education, Technology and Banking/Finance.
The good news is that we are seeing job growth in Central Florida. Our unemployment, while still 10.4 percent, is at least starting to come down. Central Florida is actually leading the state in job creation over the last 12 months with over 22,000 new jobs added. While many argue that these jobs are low paying, after the last two and a half years, this is something most major metropolitan areas would love to say.
If all this is true, why are some of you still under-employed, unemployed or lost in your job search because of numerous rejections?
While the answer is not an easy one, 166 employers certainly gave us some great clues to what is actually happening in the Central Florida Job Market. This is critical information for your job search so you can increase your odds of getting a great job.
This is what employers told us directly:
1. We have three types of jobs right now in Central Florida.
a. Low Paying Jobs: Abundant, especially in hospitality. Our attractions and hotels are seeing increased attendance and occupancy rates.
b. High Paying Jobs: Many of the jobs we uncovered are fantastic jobs in pay and experience. Siemens, SAIC, Florida Hospital and Full Sail are just a few examples of companies with numerous high-paying job openings.
c. Hidden Jobs: Over 50 percent of the jobs we did uncover in the survey are hidden jobs. These are the jobs that are not advertised anywhere except internally or on a corporate website. Finding hidden jobs requires a very targeted job search approach and a lot of networking. Instead of looking for jobs, you have to discover companies you know nothing about in Central Florida and go directly to these companies to see if they are posting jobs at their corporate website.
2. Employers are getting numerous resumes for every job they post. If you want to get a great job, stop applying to every job and start doing research to find jobs that you can actually get. Spend time identifying direct hits and make sure your resume can communicate your skills to each job you find.
3. Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are utilized by most large companies. If your resume is not properly keyword synced to the job you are applying to, the ATS system may not rank you at the top. In high unemployment, even those with the right skill sets are not even being considered because the resume is not written to the job description.
Employers told us, for the first time in years, that they are hiring. For job seekers this is great news, but you must change your job-search tactics to find the hidden jobs that do pay well.
Download the entire survey referenced above at www.OrlandoJobs.com/whitepaper.
Article by Roger Lear, President of OrlandoJobs.com
