Overall, we’re expecting a significant increase in hiring in 2015.
Hiring is Up 12 Percentage Points
According to the survey, 36% of companies plan to increase headcount for full-time permanent employees, up from just 24% last year, while only 9% plan to decrease headcount, down from 13% last year.
The recession is finally over, and companies are ready to grow again, which is apparent from the job forecast (which CareerBuilder says is the best outlook from the survey since 2006).
As hiring picks up, we’re seeing candidates gain the confidence to start looking for new jobs – and 2015 is said to be the start of the candidate-driven market.
With more jobs open than in past years, candidates – especially top talent – will have more choices about where to work, so it will be more difficult to hire and retain workers.
Wages Are Increasing As a Result
As a result, we’re also seeing wage increases. In fact, CareerBuilder found that 82% of employers plan to increase their existing employee’s compensation, up from 73% last year, and a 64% plan to increase new hire salaries, up from 49% last year.
This is consistent with BountyJobs research, which found that agency fees increased by 6% in 2014, and still appears to still be trending upward. As salaries increase, it is to be expected that direct hire agency fees will also increase, as they are typically a percentage of the new hire’s first year salary.
For this reason, agency fees are usually considered a bellwether for the state of the recruitment industry.
Where You’ll Notice it the Most
So, as we head further into 2015, you’ll want to be prepared for more hiring competition, as well as higher wages.
While this will likely be the case across many positions, here are the ones where CareerBuilder expects to see the biggest changes:
- positions in the IT, financial services, manufacturing and health care industries
- STEM positions
- positions tied to revenue growth and customer loyalty
- positions in emerging fields, such as cloud, mobile, search technology, cyber security, big data, alternative energy, anti-terrorism and robotics
While there are certainly no surprises here, it’s important to point out that many positions are going to get more competitive, and that these are simply the most competitive in terms of hiring.
So, if you step up your hiring game a notch, you need to step up your hiring game for these positions 2 or 3 notches if you want to hire great talent.
See the full 2015 CareerBuilder U.S. Job Forecast.
