ASA Staffing Success - November

The outlook for the fourth quarter of 2014 is positive among accounting, finance, and information technology professionals, according to a survey by search, staffing, and management resources firm Brilliant. The company’s hiring forecast, based on nearly 250 survey respondents, indicated open positions and robust plans for increased hiring.

The majority of survey respondents (54%) reported that the overall economic situation of their companies had improved during the past year—much higher than the 32% who reported improvement in this survey a year ago. Asked about specific industry positions, 28% of survey respondents reported that they plan to increase The Global Workforce Index from Kelly Services shows that 85% of the U.S. workers surveyed report that salary, benefits, and other financial incentives make an employer attractive or drive their decision to accept one job over another. Other key factors are work–life balance (named by 64% of respondents) and opportunities for advancement (cited by 63% of respondents). Workers say these same three factors are most likely to cause them to leave their current organization or change jobs or careers.

Among other results of the survey, 71% of U.S. workers rated their employers highly on work–life balance, 71% of the U.S. respondents rated their employers highly for their diversity and equal opportunities record, 67% gave their current employers a high rating for environmentally responsible work practices, and 63% rated their employers highly on opportunities to be involved in interesting, meaningful work. The global survey of approximately 230,000 people included some 102,000 respondents in the U.S.

ASA Skills Gap Index Tracks
Hardest-to-Fill Jobs

The American Staffing Association in October introduced the ASA Skills Gap Index, which tracks the number of hardest-to-fill occupations in the U.S each quarter. For the third quarter of 2014, the index identified 207 occupations as hard-to-fill.

“The ASA Skills Gap Index quanti-
fies the severity of the skills shortage in
America,” says Richard Wahlquist, ASA
president and chief executive officer.
“These new U.S. skills gap data will be
used by economists, journalists, govern-
ment officials, and, most important, staff-
ing firms as they work with clients to
develop workforce solutions and devise
effective talent acquisition strategies.”
The Skills Gap Index was developed by
ASA using the hiring indicator developed
by its corporate partner CareerBuilder.
The index measures the level of difficulty
(on a scale of one to 100) to recruit for
a specific occupation based on demand,
supply of active candidates, and total
population working in it.

For more about the ASA Skills Gap Index—and a top 10 list of hard-to-fill jobs—see Research & Data on americanstaffing.net.

What Drives Workers’ Job Decisions?

Surveyed professionals in accounting, finance, and

IT sectors say staffing firms
are the best resource for
finding candidates.

For the third quarter of this year, the ASA Skills Gap Index identified 207 occupations as hard-to-fill.

Strong Demand for Accounting, Finance, and IT Professionals
the hiring of accounting and finance profes-
sionals, and 34% said they plan to increase
the hiring of IT professionals in the coming
quarter.

Hiring companies are looking to staffing firms and personal referrals for assistance. Staffing firms were cited as the best resource for finding candidates. Survey respondents reported plans to increase their hiring of temporary accounting and finance employees by 16%, and of temporary IT professionals by 18%.