The tightening job market in metro Atlanta will only get tighter in the months ahead, making it more challenging for companies to land the right people for job openings, according to a new survey of company chief financial officers.
As businesses look to expand in a strengthening local and national economy, the vast majority of local companies are looking to either fill existing openings or increase payrolls in the third quarter, according to a survey by the staffing firm Robert Half.
The firm’s latest Atlanta Professional Employment Forecast found 72 percent of local CFOs say their companies will try to fill opened positions in July, August and September. Twelve percent plan to increase their payrolls with new hires. The hiring plans are little changed from the second quarter, when 77 percent said they planned to fill vacancies and 12 percent said they would increase hiring.
“We continue to see a tightening in the marketplace,” said Andy Decker, senior regional vice president for Robert Half. “We don’t feel like this is slowing down.”
Local companies, however, will be competing with companies who recently announced plans to move to the area or plan to expand existing operations here or in other parts of North Georgia. AT&T said last week it is immediately hiring for 600 new full-time and part-time jobs across Georgia.
The boost in new jobs is helping to push metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate down, to 7.6 percent in April from 7.9 percent in March, according to the state Labor Department. The national unemployment rate is also at 7.6 percent.
Positions in accounting and finance, information technology and human resources continue to be in demand, and job candidates who are also tech savvy are especially in demand.
“Top performers are receiving multiple job offers and counteroffers,” Decker said. “There is significantly more job postings for those high-end demand roles.”
Robert Half’s survey involved CFOs at companies with 20 or more employees. Thirteen percent of companies compared with 9 percent in the second quarter, plan to leave vacancies unfilled, and 3 percent of them plan to cut staffing, compared with 1 percent in the second quarter.
CareerCast.com recently reported the best jobs for 2013 based on income potential, employment outlook, work environment and level of stress are actuary, biomedical engineer, software engineer, audiologist, financial planner, dental hygienist, occupational therapist, optometrist, physical therapist and computer systems analyst.
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