News
April 25, 2018Capital Region Companies are Adding Jobs, Hiring Locally, According to Spring 2018 Linium Hiring Index
Optimism remains high as recruiting challenges show signs of improvement, according to survey of more than 100 human resource and hiring managers
Capital Region employers are finding more qualified candidates locally, and that has them feeling optimistic about professional and technology job growth in both the near and long term, according to the Spring 2018 Linium Hiring Index released today. The survey of 109 human resource and hiring managers was conducted by Linium Recruiting.
At 70 percent, the number of employers who said they are most successfully recruiting employees within the region was the highest since the Linium Hiring Index was launched in October 2015 – rising from 64 percent last fall and 51 percent last spring. Also increasing sharply was the number of employers who expect to add jobs: 68 percent anticipate additional hires over the next 6 months, up from 55 percent in the fall and 46 percent a year ago.
In addition, while recruiting and hiring skilled professionals remains challenging, the situation appears to be improving. The number of employers that expect hiring to be either a significant challenge or challenging over the next six months – 60 percent – was the lowest in the survey’s history, falling from 73 percent last fall and 66 percent last spring.
“The takeaways from the Linium Hiring Index are overwhelmingly positive: employers remain bullish on the Capital Region’s economy, and that optimism is driving strong expectations for job growth,” said Miriam Dushane, Managing Director, Upstate New York for Linium Recruiting. “While it’s encouraging to see recruiting improve, especially in the local area, employers must stay proactive to ensure they hire the best candidates to be productive and profitable.”
Asked about their expectations for job growth over the next year, 77 percent of employers said they were either very optimistic or optimistic, unchanged from last fall and down slightly from 83 percent last spring. The biggest challenges affecting their ability to hire were the skills gap and salary/wage demands, each named by 34 percent as the toughest obstacle.
In terms of the fields showing the fastest-growing number of opportunities, information technology (IT) regained the top spot at 35 percent, split between development (21 percent) and infrastructure (14 percent) positions. Health care was next at 18 percent, followed by science and sales/marketing, each identified by 12 percent of employers.
The Linium Hiring Index was developed to provide companies with unique insight into the trends, challenges and opportunities affecting the Capital Region’s professional and technology job market. Of the human resource and hiring managers who participated in the survey, 55 percent were from companies with 200 or fewer employees, and 45 percent from those with more than 200 employees. The next index will be released in fall 2018.
Earlier this month, Linium Recruiting was selected by Forbes for the second consecutive year as one of America’s Best Recruiting Firms 2018 – the only firm in the Capital Region to make the list. That marked its second national award this year: in February, the firm won the prestigious Inavero’s Best of Staffing Client Award®, also for the second straight year, which recognizes fewer than 2 percent of all staffing agencies in the U.S. and Canada for providing superior customer service, based entirely on client ratings.
