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Sherri Cruz

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The Flip Side: Some Companies Are Hiring

Sherri Cruz, Business Journalist 10/4/2011 23 comments
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We hear the bad news, day in, day out. Companies aren't hiring much. There's some debate over why. But one of the reasons is clear. They don't need to. If the current workforce is getting the job done, companies have little to no incentive to hire until demand for goods and services climbs.

That's not likely to happen until more people are working again and start to feel secure enough to start spending. Catch-22. But there is a flip side. Companies are hiring. Scores of them -- and not just temporary help for the holidays. (See: Retailers Already Geared Up for the Holidays.) It makes sense for investors to explore which industries are hiring and, specifically, which companies within those industries are hiring. Why? Stocks are pretty much on sale. Of course, there are plenty of things to consider when investing, but hiring can be an indicator of the overall health of a company or an industry. "Technology is very hot right now," says Brett Good, senior district president for the staffing company Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE: RHI). One of the in-demand tech jobs is "user experience" designer. UX designers, as they're called, make Websites that are interactive and pleasing for users. When it comes to technology hiring, "recruiting" is the better term. Companies appear to be vying vigorously for talent, boasting their workplace cultures and benefits. Companies have more talent to sift through nowadays, because more workers are in the unemployment pool. Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) boasts on its career site that working at Apple is not a job. It's a calling -- a phrase more traditionally applied to military service or religious vocations. Some of the "hot jobs" at the Cupertino, Calif., company include "iOS apps and Frameworks EPM," "developer technical support engineer," and "iPhone camera project manager." But Apple also needs human resources people. That is a good sign, because it indicates the company expects to hire people. It has about 15 human resources positions open. Dolby Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: DLB) is recruiting, too. On its career page, Dolby has posted several videos of employees talking about their roles at the San Francisco company. Mostly, the videos give the impression that Dolby is a creative place to work and a place where ideas are valued and vetted. The audio company has 84 open positions, including spots for senior design engineers and senior software engineers. It's also looking for people to market its products. Activision Blizzard Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), the Irvine, Calif.-based maker of the online role-playing game World of Warcraft and other games, says on its career site that it is "focused on hiring and retaining gaming's best and brightest; we foster an environment of creativity and camaraderie, and we offer highly competitive salaries and benefits." It has 106 positions open. Another Irvine company, the chip maker Broadcom Corp. (Nasdaq: BRCM), has 373 open positions. Granted, some of the positions are in Israel, where Broadcom has made recent acquisitions. But it still has a healthy number of US jobs. Robert Half's Good told IU that two distinct job markets have emerged. One is for the college educated and highly skilled market, which has an overall unemployment rate of about 4.4%. Then there is everyone else. The rest of the job market is struggling with unemployment as high as 20%, depending on the sector.

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A recent report by the Brookings Institution of Washington, DC, defines this as the "education gap," or the degree to which the demand for educated workers outstrips the supply. The report characterizes the education gap as a long-term problem that the recession has made worse, especially in some metropolitan areas. There's generally agreement that it's a problem. But what to do about it is a whole other can of worms for another day. One answer, of course, is retraining. And anyone preparing for a career may want to consider what positions make the hot job list. The options include accountants, controllers, and financial analysts. Number crunchers are in high demand, partly because there is a shortage of accountants. Many would-be accountants have put their math skills to use in nonaccounting jobs in the technology sector, Good said. But companies are also hiring accountants because they've been running on skeleton crews, and business is improving, if ever so slightly, he said. Companies need accountants to identify productivity gains and potential areas of cost savings. Ernst & Young has 1,640 jobs posted. And PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is hiring a slew of people, especially for the healthcare sector. The auto industry, which foretold the recession, is on a roll. General Motors (NYSE: GM) has 222 positions listed, and Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) has 195. It needs engineers of all stripes -- diesel control engineers, product development engineers, powertrain system engineers, etc. It also needs occupational health nurses and business analysts. Automakers reported a 10% September sales rise from a year earlier. Other companies ramping up their workforces include Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN), Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), MasTec Inc. (NYSE: MTZ), Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: VRTX), Aon Corp. (NYSE: AON), Motorola Mobility Inc. (NYSE: MMI), PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE: PNC), EarthLink Inc. (Nasdaq: ELNK), and Brown-Forman Corp. (NYSE: BF-B), the maker of Jack Daniel's. Perhaps Brown-Forman should fall within the category of companies that are thriving and hiring because of the sluggish economy. Those companies include Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and the discount retailer TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX). There are also thousands of jobs available within an organization all of us already invest in on a regular basis: the federal government. The USAJobs.gov Website has positions ranging from $7.25 an hour to $200,000 a year. And consider this. Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry says federal hiring still takes too long and asks too much of applicants, but it's getting better. After a year of trying to address the hiring process problems, it now takes 15% less time, Berry said. Most job descriptions now are easier to read and no more than five pages long. Sometimes they require little more than a resume -- a big improvement over previously mandated time-consuming essays meant to test candidates' knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs). (Disclosure: The author held Dolby stock when this was written.)
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Hiring impactnow 10/10/2011 10:31:11 PM

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USER RANK IRON

Broadway we couldnt measure it because its technically illegal, not too many companies would admit that this is happening! Though we all know it happens every day. I once read a stat that indicated that only 30% of jobs advertised were actual positions.
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Re: Hiring Broadway 10/9/2011 11:36:27 PM

Legal

USER RANK PLATINUM

Look. Everyone knows that the best jobs are the ones that aren't even listed. Those are the ones created specifically for certain candidates. Or the ones that you need to know someone to at least find out they exist. Can we measure how many ofthese jobs around?
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Hiring impactnow 10/9/2011 12:21:59 AM

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USER RANK IRON

While companies may be hiring I agree they are hiring for less. I just read an article about consulting companies wanting to hire more recent grads because they are cheap and malleable, they are passing on their previous preference MBAs because they are just too expensive. I would also agree with the readers here that a posting does not equate to a real job so many postings are resume fishing expeditions or satisfaction postings.
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25 market-moving companies we're tracking

Investor Uprising 25 Agrium, Inc. 1045.17 +10.88 (+1.05%) 83.79 24.73 585.78 38.18 34.66 65.93 48.81 59.93 42.50 13.16 14.47 50.21 4.84 28.04 24.21 29.84 50.85 14.24 673.50 56.77 36.83 27.93 28.58 33.26 31.62 +1.62 (+1.97%) +0.62 (+2.57%) +11.65 (+2.03%) -0.76 (-1.95%) +0.38 (+1.11%) -0.23 (-0.35%) -0.17 (-0.35%) -0.57 (-0.94%) +0.23 (+0.54%) +0.30 (+2.33%) +0.52 (+3.73%) -0.08 (-0.16%) +0.01 (+0.21%) -0.17 (-0.60%) -0.66 (-2.65%) -0.18 (-0.60%) +0.57 (+1.13%) +0.13 (+0.92%) +14.09 (+2.14%) +0.27 (+0.48%) -0.02 (-0.05%) +0.55 (+2.01%) +0.18 (+0.63%) -0.02 (-0.06%) +0.61 (+1.97%)

Re: Misleading erierunner 10/6/2011 9:58:01 AM

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America Movil S.A.B. de C.V. ADS Apple, Inc. Atwood Oceanics, Inc. Broadcom Corp

I have seen it countless times in my own company. It is definitely just satisfying requirements.
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Re: Misleading cat tail 10/6/2011 9:48:33 AM

Celgene Corp
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Cliffs Natural Resources Cognizant Technology Solutions Dolby Laboratories Inc. Cl A Eldorado Gold Corp.

I think you're right: the job postings satisfy EEO requirements. It is very frustrating to look for work!
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Re: Misleading AskAsa 10/6/2011 8:57:35 AM

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First Solar, Inc. Gilead Sciences, Inc. GT Advanced Tech Johnson Controls, Inc. Marathon Oil Corp.

I've come to wonder if any company fills the positions for which it advertises, or if the whole ad is a way to justify a previously determined hire.
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Re: Misleading tokyogai 10/6/2011 8:50:53 AM

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Microsoft Corp Newmont Mining Corp. Omnivision Technologies, Inc. Priceline.com, Inc.

I agree. I think in many cases, the job doesn't really exist in any way that someone could qualify. many times these tyoes of ads justify hiring a foreign worker.
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Re: RE : The Flip Side: Some Companies Are Hiring Sherri Cruz 10/5/2011 11:49:03 PM

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Qualcomm, Inc. Sandisk Corp Southwestern Energy Co. Suncor Energy, Inc. Veeco Instruments, Inc. VistaPrint NV

USER RANK BLOGGER

The tech sector is recovering faster than some other sectors, while there are fewer workers to fill those positions. But we're still in the hole http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-1005/technology-employment-fell-2-in-2010-with-115-800-jobs-lost.html
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Misleading

Misleading erierunner 10/5/2011 11:20:44 AM

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USER RANK IRON

I think many of the job posting sites for these companies are misleading. Many of these jobs are not simply jobs that the average person can apply for and get. The companies post the job no matter what their plan is to fill it with internal people and pre-selected people. A lot of the time there is already someone slotted for the position but they go through the legal motions of posting. Additionally, there is a common theme with the jobs you are showing which is higher talent level and higher education. This isn't real life in blue collar America. Yes, you can go to Cali and work in the tech field. What about the person in Youngstown, Ohio looking for the $30,000-$40,000 job? They are just not out there.
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Re: Wages PAW 10/5/2011 9:02:58 AM

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USER RANK IRON

Yes, and where I am currently working the company is going through a merger and after Jan 1, all salaries are being cut 10% to 20%. Unfortunately, most of us would be no better off finding a job elsewhere.
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