With companies looking to grow and to hire in Westchester and Fairfield counties, recruiters see 2015 as a job seeker’s market.
“We crossed that line last year unequivocally,” said Adam Samples, regional vice president of professional staffing firm Robert Half in Stamford. “In 2014 it became a trend. In 2015, this is where we are.”
Samples, who oversees the company”™s Westchester and Fairfield County offices, said businesses are hiring employees with all degrees of experience, but particularly for midlevel positions. It is common for candidates to be considering multiple job offers, he said.
- Adam Samples
“The power right now is in the hands of the candidates,” Samples said. “No question about it.”
Within the past year, from December 2013 to December 2014, the unemployment rates in Westchester and Fairfield counties have decreased, mirroring the national trend. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national jobless rate decreased from 6.7 percent to 5.6 percent during that period.
Last year, Westchester County”™s unemployment rate dropped from 5.2 percent to 4.6 percent and Fairfield County”™s moved from 6.1 percent to 3.9 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. On the state level, New York”™s unemployment rate decreased from 7 percent to 5.8 percent and Connecticut”™s jobless rate dropped from 7.4 percent to 6.4 percent.
Both Richard Greenwald, CEO of Concorde Staffing Inc., based in White Plains with an office in Stamford, and Samples said small to midsize companies are looking to hire. Those types of businesses make up most of the companies in Westchester and Fairfield counties, said Greenwald, who has seen the uptick within the last six months to a year.
“Overall you”™re going to see an increase in hiring,” he said. “If companies want to grow, they need to increase their staff.”
Many qualified candidates have already become employed, said Greenwald, which gives job seekers an advantage.
“If you”™re a qualified candidate for a job, you”™re in the driver”™s seat,” he said.
Greenwald also sees an increase in permanent-job openings over availability for temporary jobs. Samples said he has seen an increase in hiring for both types of positions.
Growth industries
Greenwald said there is demand for jobs in accounting, finance, human resources and office support in Westchester and lower Fairfield counties.
- Allison Madison
Allison Madison, CEO of Madison Staffing Solutions in White Plains, said the medical field is a booming market with many medical centers opening and hospitals making acquisitions. A Bureau of Labor Statistics report on short-term industry employment projections for 2013 to 2015 supports this, showing expected growth of 3.6 percent in health care and social assistance jobs. While health companies are hiring those in the medical field, Madison said they are also looking to fill back-office positions in areas like accounting, finance and marketing.
She also sees growth in the digital information sector in cybersecurity and data, especially in the medical fields.  The labor bureau”™s report predicts “other information services” will grow 10.6 percent.
Biotech and health care are growing across the board, but especially in Westchester, said Samples. In Fairfield County, he sees growth in energy as well as commodity and general financial services.
Samples has noticed an increase in starting salaries and bonuses of about 3 to 4 percent each year in both counties.
A Bureau of Labor Statistics report released in February about county wages and employment in New York said Westchester County”™s average weekly wage is among the top 25 highest national wages, at an average of $1,215 per week. The average wage per week in Fairfield County is $1,445, according to an economic summary from the bureau on the Bridgeport area released in February.
Samples said Fairfield County has more private equity and finance companies, which lend themselves to positions with higher wages. Westchester County has more health care jobs, which tend to pay less, he said.
Recruiting advice
Samples said he tells his clients to be more competitive with their benefits packages because of the nature of the job market and changing attitudes of candidates. The younger generation of job seekers cares more about work-life balance, flexibility and opportunity for growth.
“They”™re a completely different working class,” said Samples, who said companies have had to change in the past three to five years to attract these candidates.
Millennials are much more likely than the previous generation to leave a job after a couple of years if they are not satisfied, Samples said.
Madison, who works in White Plains, said among younger job seekers, there is stronger emphasis on the culture and co-workers, rather than the type of job they have.
“It”™s a shift from boomers,” Madison said. “Gen X, Y and millennials are more engaged with their environment opposed to their job title.”
Madison said companies should avoid relying on online job aggregators that use keywords to search resumes and find candidates. Instead, she said, companies could benefit from getting to know their candidates in person.
“There is no algorithm for that chemistry, to find the perfect fit,” said Madison. “Meet, talk to candidates. There”™s nothing that compares to that.”
Samples said job websites can be useful because they drive a large volume of candidates and advertise companies locally. However, he said not to rely on them as the only source to recruit talent.
Overall, Samples and Madison said companies cannot take a long time to make hiring decisions. “If companies drag their feet too long, they”™ll miss the boat on candidates,” Madison said.
Madison teaches the “80-20 rule” that companies should hire candidates that are an 80 percent fit, then make up the 20 percent with training.
“If you wait for the perfect person, that 80 percent perfect person is going to be gone in this job market,” Madison said.
