Recruiting. Staffing. Consulting.

The Business Journal (Raleigh/Durham)
April 8, 2002

RALEIGH -- After what may have been one of the shortest recessions in history, there are signs that job growth in the Triangle is bouncing back, albeit slowly.

Employment agencies and executive recruiting firms, which are traditionally reliable leading indicators of economic activity, report they're getting more calls from local companies anticipating the need for workers in the coming months. "There's a huge pent-up demand to fill positions," says Martha Lempicke, a principal in The Hunter Group, an executive recruiting firm headquartered in Raleigh.

Lempicke says she's seeing "small pockets of activity," especially in the fields of accounting, sales and marketing, and human resources. "People are putting functions back into place," she notes.

But she wonders whether some companies that were forced to cut operating expenses last year have even begun to include new hires in their budgets.

Like Lempicke, Amy Walker, the marketing manager for Manpower in Raleigh, is cautiously optimistic. She is seeing signs that companies are starting to add to their payrolls. But there is a caveat. "People are being cautious," she says. "They're adding staff but they're still timid. They're thinking three, four times before hiring someone."

Craig Stone sees the same trend. Stone is the chief executive officer of HireNetworks -- an executive recruiting, staffing and human resources consulting company that was spun out of the Raleigh and Charlotte offices of Edgesource Corp. last April. "People weren't hiring last year. Now they're hiring, but they're being very selective," he says.

And Stone notes that companies can afford to be picky and wait until they find exactly the right person for the job.

Troy Roberts, vice president of corporate development at the Alliance of Profession-als & Consultants Inc., a technical staffing and outsourcing company in Raleigh, says he's been getting more calls from companies asking about specific skills available from APC's group of contractors.

Roy Roberts, APC's president and CEO, is optimistic about the future. "We're seeing some very positive signs," he notes. "And it's more than just talk."

Those positive signs include companies in the tech sector. Roberts says IBM and Cisco Systems, for example, are beginning to bring projects out of mothballs.

Contrast that to the past year or so when many of Roberts' large accounts were stopping projects. Now, Roberts says: "For every one engagement (project) that's ended, we had 11 that started."

When companies start racheting up these kinds of projects, that's a pretty good sign the job market is rebounding, says Arnie Johnson, officer and regional team leader at Belcan TechServices in Raleigh. "Companies tend to focus on contract workers or outsourcing before committing to hiring full-time employees at the end of a downturn," he says.

While employment activity appears to be picking up, there is some debate, though, as to how long the recovery will take.

"The second quarter seems to be what people zeroed in on since last year," says Lempicke.

However, most believe the process will be slower. "Over the next two quarters it will be like now -- just a gradual growth," predicts Johnson. "My guess is it will stay like this for the rest of the year."

Beth Mobley, senior account executive at Staffmark in Durham, also foresees a gradual but steady improvement. Yet she says, "I don't think we'll see numbers like we had until the fourth quarter."

Michael Doyle, the business development manager of Manpower Professional, which specializes in technical staffing, says he's anticipating the local job market to really pick up steam during the fourth quarter and in the beginning of 2003. "I think next year will be a great year," he says.

Although the tech sector took the biggest hit during this recession, there is renewed hope for many of those workers who lost their jobs, says Brooks Savage, CEO of Executive Staffing Group in Raleigh. "We are seeing some growth at this point," he says. "The information technology field is starting to crack right now."

Savage says over the last four months he's seen openings for programmers, Web developers, network managers and help desk personnel. "It's a little (pickup). But it's across the board," he notes.

Lempicke concurs. "There's a lot of people still unemployed in that sector," she says. "But it's not as dead as it was."
And Savage says things are going to get better. "Some hiring freezes will be coming off in May," he states.

But don't look for the telecommunications sector to come back any time soon, says Johnson. "The telecom industry is still as dead as a doorknob," he notes.

Health-care-related industries continued to show the most job growth even in the depths of the recession, says Doyle, who adds that his biotech division has stayed busy placing people in many of the local contract research organizations.

Likewise, pharmaceutical companies, diagnostic labs and medical device firms have continued to grow, observes Michael Carfley, president and owner of MRI/Sales Consultants. "Even the manufacturing side of medical was not hit hard," he says.

Another area Carfley says that didn't lay off during the economic downturn was the banking industry. With interest rates falling all last year, there was an increased need for "loan officers and credit people," he says.

The manufacturing sector also is bouncing back, but at a slower pace because much of the local manufacturing has been tied to the telecom industry, says Johnson.

But Manpower's Doyle and Walker say they are seeing growing demand in other manufacturing sectors and in distribution and warehousing. "Companies are ordering a lot of people at one time," Walker states.


Copyright 2002 American City Business Journal Inc.