There’s still some hope for job seekers.
AP
Despite the recession and almost daily layoff announcements from major companies, many employers across the country are actually hiring.
Employers slashed 651,000 jobs in February, according to the Department of Labor. The unemployment rate jumped to 8.1 percent, the highest since late 1983. Although new jobs are becoming available, the amount of jobs being added pale in comparison to the number that are being lost, said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “It’s a lot more of a one way street than before,” he said.
However, some companies that have announced layoffs are hiring again.
“If they already are laying people off, it's likely that they’re going to be hiring in a different area and hire people with a different type of skill set,” said Mickey Matthews, the vice president and managing director of the Baltimore office of Stanton Chase International.
Microsoft , for example, announced in late January that it would layoff 5,000 employees. The company plans to hire between 2,000 and 3,000 people this year in areas like search, online services and cloud computing, according to a spokesperson.
Target announced, also in late January, that it would cut 9 percent of its staff at its headquarters. The retailer is opening 27 stores on March 8, 2009, in 15 states. Each store is expected to employ between 200 and 300 workers.
Other companies, like Lockheed Martin , haven’t announced any layoffs and continue to look for new hires. The security company based in Bethesda, Md. has about 10,000 jobs available right now across the country. The jobs are open to existing employees too, but the company plans to hire about 12,000 new employees this year including recent college graduates and experienced professionals. Most jobs are in the engineering field, including computer engineers, computer scientists and system engineers.
Brokerage firm Edward Jones plans to hire 300 financial advisor positions a month this year, said Dan Timm, a partner responsible for branch development. The company, which has over 12,000 branches globally and is in all 50 states, is also looking to hire office administrators for their branches.
On the retail level, Ikea has a new store opening in May in Tampa, Fla. that is still hiring. Another store in Charlotte, N.C. just opened and is still taking resumes for a couple of positions. Both stores created almost 1,000 jobs, combined.
DeVry University expects to hire 466 people this year, while its parent company, DeVry , which runs a number of colleges around the country expects to hire 775 positions, according to a spokesperson. DeVry receives about 100 to 150 resumes for each position, about triple the number of resumes they typically got for openings last year.
Meanwhile, IBM will open two new centers, creating new jobs. A technology service delivery center in Dubuque, Iowa will add 1,300 new jobs by mid-2010, with about half of them being filled this year. In East Lansing, Mich., IBM will hire up to 100 employees by June for their new global delivery center located on the campus of Michigan State University. According to The New York Times, the company has cut jobs in the U.S. this year.
Here is a list of other companies that are hiring, based on research by CNBC:
- Wal-Mart is hiring about 400 workers for a new store Jacksonville, Fla.
- Verizon Wireless has plans to hire 125 customer service representatives in Dublin, Ohio.
- McLane, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway , is building a distribution center in Republic, Mo. that could add up to 400 new jobs.
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- APAC Customer Services is planning to hire 450 workers at its new Tucson, Ariz., call center
- Hewlett Packard is building a customer support center in Rio Rancho, N.M., that is expected to create 1,300 jobs
- About 41,000 federal jobs now available nationwide, and the administration's budget plan could lead to at least 100,000 additional jobs