Professional~Level Hiring Expected To Increase in First Quarter ~ Shortage of Skilled Professionals
MENLO PARK, CA /PRNewswire/ ~ Employers expect to increase hiring for professional-level positions in the first quarter, but they have concerns about finding qualified candidates for these roles, a new Robert Half survey shows. A net 10 percent of executives interviewed for the Robert Half Professional Employment Report plan to add full-time staff in the first three months of the year, up three points from the fourth-quarter forecast. However, the number of respondents who report recruiting challenges also is on the rise: 67 percent of executives said it is at least somewhat challenging to find skilled employees today, up from 59 percent last quarter and 42 percent in the third quarter.
To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please visit: http://www.multivu.com/mnr/53176-robert-half-professional-employment-report-q12012
Eighty-seven percent of respondents said they are at least somewhat confident in their organizations’ ability to grow in the first quarter.
The Robert Half Professional Employment Report is based on telephone interviews with more than 4,000 C-level executives and other leaders from a variety of fields throughout the United States who are asked about their hiring plans and general level of optimism for the upcoming quarter. Survey respondents include more than 1,400 chief financial officers (CFOs); 1,400 chief information officers (CIOs); 500 senior human resources managers; 100 lawyers at law firms and 100 corporate lawyers; and 125 advertising executives and 375 marketing executives, all of whom have hiring authority. The Robert Half Professional Employment Report is the first quarterly executive survey of its size and scope to concentrate exclusively on professional-level hiring.
Key Findings
~ A net 19 percent of respondents in the transportation sector said they expect to make staff additions.
~ Businesses in the West North Central[1] states will be hiring most actively, with a net 15 percent of executives planning to add professional-level staff in the first quarter, research shows.
~ The legal field is expected to see the strongest hiring activity, with a net 27 percent of lawyers planning to increase staff levels. The information technology (IT) and finance fields showed the largest net gains in projected hiring activity from the prior quarter.
~ Sixty-seven percent of survey respondents( )said they are having recruiting challenges, up eight points from the fourth quarter.
~ Sixteen percent of respondents anticipate hiring professional-level staff and 6 percent expect reductions in personnel. The resulting net 10 percent increase is up three points from the fourth-quarter forecast.
Hiring Expectations: By Profession Increase //Decrease//Net Increase ======== ======== ============
Total 16% 6% 10% ~~- ~- ~- ~- Accounting and finance 20% 11% 9% ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~- ~- ~- Advertising and marketing 18% 4% 14% ~~~~~~~~~~~~- ~- ~- ~- Human resources 11% 3% 8% ~~~~~~~- ~- ~- ~- Information technology 20% 10% 10% ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~- ~- ~- Legal 31% 4% 27% ~~- ~- ~- ~- Sales and business development 15% 4% 11% ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~- ~- ~-
Executives Reporting Recruiting Challenges: All Professions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Quarter Executives Citing Recruiting Challenges ~-
1Q12 67% ~~ ~- 4Q11 59% ~~ ~- 3Q11 42% ~~ ~- 2Q11 37% ~~ ~- 1Q11 29% ~~ ~-
“The U.S. unemployment rate for college-educated workers is roughly half the overall rate, and for many professional specialties it is even lower,” said Max Messmer, chairman and CEO of Robert Half International. Messmer pointed out that in the third quarter of 2011, the unemployment rates for financial analysts and computer network architects were less than 1 percent, according to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Brett Good, a senior district president with Robert Half International, added, “The common wisdom is that jobs are simple to fill in this market, but many employers are struggling to find the talent they need. Professionals with highly specialized skills are in short supply ~ particularly in the information technology and finance fields.”
Professional-Level Hiring ~ By Region
Respondents in the West North Central states anticipate the strongest hiring activity in the first quarter, with a net 15 percent of executives planning to add staff. “Healthcare, manufacturing and financial services firms are responsible for much of the hiring activity in the West North Central region,” Messmer noted. “Businesses in these fields seek accounting operations professionals, customer service representatives, web developers and IT systems administrators, among other roles.”
Professional-Level Hiring ~ By Industry
First-quarter professional-level hiring is anticipated to be strongest in the transportation sector, where a net 19 percent of respondents said they expect to make staff additions. A net 14 percent of executives in both the wholesale and construction industries also indicated they will hire during the quarter.
Professional-Level Hiring ~ By Profession
While the legal profession maintained its top spot in the survey with a net 27 percent of lawyers planning to hire, IT and finance showed the largest sequential gains, each yielding net increases in hiring activity that are up four points from the fourth-quarter survey.
The IT and finance fields also reported the greatest difficulty in finding skilled professionals, at 73 percent and 68 percent, respectively.
About Robert Half International
Founded in 1948, Robert Half International, the world’s first and largest specialized staffing firm, is a recognized leader in professional staffing services. The company’s specialized staffing divisions include Accountemps, Robert Half Finance & Accounting and Robert Half Management Resources, for temporary, full-time and senior-level project professionals, respectively, in the fields of accounting and finance; OfficeTeam, for highly skilled temporary administrative support personnel; Robert Half Technology, for information technology professionals; Robert Half Legal, for legal personnel; and The Creative Group, for interactive, design, marketing, advertising and public relations professionals. Robert Half International has staffing and consulting operations in more than 400 locations worldwide. Find more information at www.roberthalf.com, and follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/roberthalf.
[1] IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD
SOURCE Robert Half International
CONTACT: Michael Weiss, michael.weiss@rhi.com
Web Site: http://www.roberthalf.com
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2012.02.09 Feb 9th Comprehensive Career SEMINAR | Free | Honolulu, Hawaii
You are invited to meet with Bill Golden, CEO of USAJobZoo.com, USADefenseIndustryJobs.com and IntelligenceCareers.com to discuss the job market of 2011 through 2017.
Cost: FREE
Date: Thursday, Feb 9th, 2012
Time: 10:00AM – 3:30PM
Place: Hale Koa Hotel, Fort DeRussy Armed Forces Recreation Center, 2055 Kalia Road, Honolulu HI 96815
Map/Directions: http://g.co/maps/zq2dz
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Preregistration
Preregistration is not required but it would be nice if you told us that you were coming.
Please preregister at http://tinyurl.com/7uxmmt6
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This will be a ‘comprehensive’ seminar covering:
* Economics 101 – the state of our current economy
* Identifying specific opportunities for you
* Employment trends across a wide range of industries
* Understanding opportunities in the defense and intelligence industries
* Discovering new career opportunities
* Determining your marketplace value
* Determining if you should go back to school
* Identifying relevant career opportunities
This seminar is appropriate for all levels of job seekers that are ‘professionals’ with a definable skillset, or that are engaged in studying for a careerfield.
A benefit of attending this seminar is that your resume will be evaluated after the event, your general market value estimated in up to three job markets, and we will work to identify relevant opportunities with specific employers.
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About your presenter
This seminar will be given by Bill Golden, a senior career advisor for more than 100 career information blogs that are sponsored by USAJobZoo.com and USADefenseIndustryJobs.com, aka IntelligenceCareers.com
Bill’s background includes almost 35 years working within defense and intelligence, either in operations (’75-96) or as an industry analyst and consultant (’96-present).
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Why this seminar is free
USAJobZoo.com, USADefenseIndustryJobs.com and IntelligenceCareers.com represent a combined 100,000+ job listings for professionals across the USA and in 28 countries.
We are earn our way in life in getting you to use one of our recruiting websites and applying to employers. The more professionals that apply to companies puts more money in our pockets for a job well done.
We also hope to help you become successful in your job search. A bit of good advice just might get you a great job and your company will probably need someone like us to find more professionals. Your recommendation of us to your employer matters.
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SOURCE IntelligenceCareers.com
Customer Service, 1.800.919.8284 or customerservice@intelligencecareers.com
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MAR, Incorporated seeks cleared IT Professionals, Jan 27th ~ BWI/Linthicum
MAR, Incorporated is a privately held professional services firm with over 40 years experience providing superior technical and management services to government agencies and commercial customers. We specialize in four inter-related core competency areas of Information Technology Services and Cyber Security, Intelligence and Special Programs, Systems Engineering and Integration, and specialized Facilities Management and Marine Operations.
Meet MAR, Incorporated recruiters
Friday, January 27th, 2012
Time: 10AM-3PM
Location: BWI/Linthicum, Maryland – Doubletree by Hilton BWI Airport
Address: 890 Elkridge Landing Road
Linthicum, MD 21090
Get more info: http://www.intelligencecareers.com/cf/20120127
======================
Offered Jobs and Positions
======================
Security Clearance requirement: all jobs need Full Lifestyle Poly!
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More Help Needed to Prepare Workers for Well~Paid, High~Quality Jobs
DALLAS, TX /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ As the United States slowly recovers from the Great Recession, it needs to focus not just on creating more jobs but on more high-quality jobs and providing workers with the skills necessary to perform those jobs, according to an article in the Winter Issues in Science and Technology.
Because too many U.S. workers lack the education and skills required for high-paying jobs, employers often choose to compete based only on low costs rather than on better worker performance, writes Harry Holzer of Georgetown University. He argues that the federal government should make it easier for employers to create and fill good jobs with highly productive workers.
“To do so,” Holzer writes, “it needs to create and fund more-coherent and more-effective education and workforce-development systems. These systems should place their primary emphasis on providing more assistance to at-risk youth, both in school and out, and also to adult workers who are disadvantaged. Furthermore, these programs should take advantage of the latest evidence on effective training to maximize their impact.”
Also in the Winter Issues in Science and Technology, Stephen Ezell of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation in Washington, DC, outlines a strategy for revitalizing U.S. manufacturing, which suffered a precipitous decline during the past decade. Key to a reversal, he writes, will be greatly expanded government efforts to support the competitiveness of small- and medium-sized (SME) firms.
Other industrialized countries, Ezell writes, have recognized that because SME manufacturers account for more than 98% of manufacturing firms in almost all economies, they form the backbone of a nation’s industrial supply chain. They have also recognized that despite their importance, SME manufacturers lag larger manufacturers in adopting new technologies, increasing productivity, and exporting. Accordingly, an increasing number of countries have introduced and robustly funded a broad array of policies and programs to support their SME manufacturers.
Unfortunately, Ezell says, the United States is lagging badly in these efforts. Indeed, a major reason why U.S. manufacturing has declined so much is the lack of support for SME firms.
The Winter Issues in Science and Technology also includes articles on reducing oil use in transportation, California’s pioneering transportation strategy, the promise of high-performance homes, and improving spent-fuel storage at nuclear reactors.
ISSUES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY is the award-winning journal of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and the University of Texas at Dallas. www.issues.org
SOURCE Issues in Science and Technology
Web Site: http://www.issues.org.com
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URGENT NEED ~ Linux RED HAT System Administrator ~ Merrifield, Virginia
URGENT NEED – Linux RED HAT System Administrator – Merrifield, Virginia
Job Number: – IC JobID: 3964389 Offered by Freedom Consulting Group Location of Position: Merrifield, Virginia
Job Description
Freedom Consulting Group
URGENT NEED – Linux RED HAT System Administrator – Merrifield, Virginia
Freedom Consulting Group is seeking a Linux RED HAT System Administrator and Storage Engineer.
Location: Merrifield VA
Clearance: TS/SCI … CI POLY preferred
Customer Agency: DIA
Division: NMEC (National Media Exploitation Center.)
Status: IMMEDIATE
Apply Now: Linux RED HAT System Administrator
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SAIC seeks Military Professionals to join it
SAIC Military Careers
SAIC is a FORTUNE 500® scientific, engineering and technology applications company that uses its deep domain knowledge to solve problems of vital importance to the nation and the world, in national security, energy & environment, health and cybersecurity. We know your transition from the military to a career in the private sector marks a new chapter in your professional journey.
Learn More About SAIC
With well over 10,000 veterans currently calling SAIC home, we want you to know that SAIC has proven expertise in supporting veterans through this transition. We invite you to search for jobs by military branch below. To learn about some of our OCONUS opportunities in locations such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar, click here.
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The Association of Old Crows Recognizes the Dangers of Persistent GPS Interference
ALEXANDRIA, VA /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ ~ The November 2011 testing of LightSquared’s wireless broadband service proposal found no significant interference to cellular phone text and voice capabilities but did find significant disruption of most all general purpose approved Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers. GPS receivers are used throughout our National infrastructures, in aviation flight safety systems and by private users and emergency services.
Interference created by LightSquared’s use of EMS creates numerous safety and continuity issues across this global user base. The Federal Aviation Administration also confirmed interference to safety-of-flight systems that warn pilots of approaching terrain. GPS interference will delay first responders, increasing police, fire and emergency services response time. Response time is directly related to victim mortality and the extent and costs of structural damage. In a widespread disaster such as a hurricane or earthquake, GPS interference would hamper the response by all state and federal agencies. Clearly, the impact to local, state and national safety would be significant and not an acceptable risk.
LightSquared’s pursuit is proper in the purely commercial sense, yet wholly unsupportable in the broader operational sense. This cuts to the heart of a new and enduring issue for our Nation: Should the apportionment and licensing of frequencies across the increasingly co-occupied EMS be left solely to the “compliance paradigm” mindsets of commercial interests or is it now time to vest operationally aware stakeholders in that process, as peers? Due to global dependence upon the GPS system, reliable access to GPS frequencies must be protected and managed as a National resource and no longer simply as a commercial opportunity.
To avoid striking such a broadly harmful agreement in the future, a whole-of-government EMS Strategy must be created in a partnership of DoD operations personnel, industry leaders and responsible legislators. A National policy making adequate use of counsel from operational EMS experts within the DoD will effectively balance and inform future decisions on EMS apportionment and licensing, greatly reducing the potential for costly inefficiencies, litigation and associated delays. With the current stakeholders and policies in place, similar challenges to this National resource – the EMS – are nearly inevitable in our future.
The Association of Old Crows recognizes the serious impact that any source of persistent GPS interference would have on our Nation’s ability to operate its critical infrastructure (e.g. banking, telecommunications, transportation, utilities, and emergency services) or respond to crises or natural disasters at all levels.
The AOC supports the test findings but recommends NTIA request the FCC to withhold authorization of LightSquared’s wireless broadband service.
The AOC recommends that the FCC partially underwrite LightSquared’s efforts to submit for retest a new design that does not interfere with the GPS system, since the originally licensed frequencies were unusable.
AOC is an international Electronic Warfare/Information Operations (EW/IO) association which promotes EMS operations and related activities across military, civilian and commercial applications.
SOURCE Association of Old Crows
CONTACT: Brock Sheets, sheets@crows.org
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FYI Tidbits // Telework in private industry ~ New Study appears to show significant improvement in productivity.
Researchers from Stanford University recently observed the effects of allowing customer service employees at a billion-dollar Chinese company to work from home. The controlled experiment monitored over 12,000 workers. Preliminary results show that productivity went up significantly. So did hours worked. Home-based employees answered more calls, took fewer breaks and sick days, almost never arrived late to their desks, and experienced fewer distractions than their in-office counterparts.
Read more/learn more: http://www.stanford.edu/~nbloom/WFH.pdf
CyberPatriot IV Prepares for Second Round of National High School Cyber Defense Competition, Virginia
ARLINGTON, VA /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ ~~ The Air Force Association’s CyberPatriot is preparing for another round of competition this weekend, with the All Service Division entering its second of three online rounds.
CyberPatriot is the nation’s largest high school cyber security challenge. This unique competition was designed to give students a hands-on learning experience in cybersecurity and inspire students to consider science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields in their studies.
In this two-track competition, teams have registered from public, private, parochial and home schools in the Open Division and JROTC units of all Services and Civil Air Patrol squadrons filled the All Service Division. In all, more than 1,000 teams registered to participate this year.
The All Service Division teams will undergo another round of computer defense, with each team having to compete for six hours during the allotted 36-hour window of competition (starting noon EST on December 2 and closing at midnight EST on December 3). However, the teams will have to fortify and secure two systems this round, versus the one in the first preliminary round. The composite score of the first and second preliminary rounds will determine which teams advance to Round 3 (the Round of 36 teams).
Following that, the top 12 qualifying teams then receive all-expenses-paid trips to the CyberPatriot National Finals Competition held in the Washington, D.C. area, in March 2012.
In the meantime, the CyberPatriot staff has been working even harder to expand the educational reach of the competition, which includes the addition of a forensics element in the national finals competition and the completion of a pre-competition survey.
During the National Finals Competition of CyberPatriot IV, 24 teams of finalists will compete in a new forensics exercise, teaching about and testing high school competitors on the exciting field of cyber forensics through the application of crime scene analysis, evidence gathering and critical thinking. The expansion to the competition has been made possible by the Defense Cyber Crime Center.
And after distribution to 1,000-plus student competitors, CyberPatriot IV’s pre-competition survey was completed earlier this month, gathering information on participants’ general knowledge of all things cyber. The survey asked questions addressing students’ overall understanding of cyber security and their likeliness to pursue a career in STEM. Results will be compared with a similar survey after the completion of this year’s competition.
“This competition is about academic growth and teaching beyond the fundamental curriculum found in schools,” said Bernie Skoch, CyberPatriot Commissioner. “This survey is an analytical effort to measure the effect CyberPatriot is having on the students who participate in the competition. And the addition of cyber forensics adds an exciting element of education to the competition and allows these high school students to get exposure to another fascinating aspect of cyber security.”
The AFA is a 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization promoting public understanding of aerospace power and the pivotal role it plays in the security of the nation. AFA has over 200 chapters nationally and internationally representing 120,000 members. Visit www.afa.org.
SOURCE Air Force Association
CONTACT: Merri Shaffer, mshaffer@afa.org
Web Site: http://www.afa.org
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IEEE Experts Predict Smartphone Hacking Will Soar in 2012
PISCATAWAY, NJ /PRNewswire/
“Free Isn’t Necessarily Free,” Warns IEEE Fellow Jeffrey Voas
Experts at IEEE – the world’s largest technical professional association – say smartphone owners are increasingly paying a high price for free mobile applications, with 2012 set to be a disruptive year of widespread mobile hacking. Research by IEEE Fellow Dr. Jeffrey Voas in the US has so far uncovered malware in more than 2,000 free smartphone apps. Voas says free, rogue applications like this will be the most common access-point for hackers over the next year.
“The issue with free apps is that you’re paying a price you don’t know about,” says Voas, who is also a computer scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). “Of free mobile applications, approximately 1 in 100 now visibly contain malware – and that doesn’t even account for the ones where the malware is so hidden it’s impossible to spot. This number is growing by the day and with most of these rogue apps offering good functionality for free, it’s easy to be victimized.”
Adds Voas, “Smartphone users need to remember that free isn’t necessarily free. It can lead to hackers accessing all of the information stored on your phone and transmitting it within two to three seconds.”
Dr. Madjid Merabti, an IEEE Senior Member and Professor of Networked Systems at Liverpool John Moores University, UK, says while the public has been trained to recognize cyber-security threats associated with their PCs and laptops, they do not see their smart phones as computers and subject to the same threats. And in some ways those threats are even worse.
“Unlike on a PC, where web browsers often give plenty of warning about dodgy websites with warning lights and alerts, the screens on smart phones are too small to display this protection,” Merabti says. “These devices contain identifying information, potentially saved passwords, and authentication details, and are much more likely to be misplaced or stolen than other larger portable computing equipment.”
Kevin Curran, a Senior Member of the IEEE and Head of the School of Computing and Intelligence Systems at the University of Ulster, UK, says businesses will be the main victims in 2012. “With more people using the same phone for business and personal reasons, the upsurge in smartphone hacking presents a real issue for businesses as well as consumers,” he says. “A company can have all appropriate firewalls in place, but it takes just one employee to download malware onto their phone. In fact, with more senior employees using phones for work, it is likely to be C-suite executives exposing businesses to vulnerabilities.”
According to Curran, a “trusted app” approach is needed to combat hackers, something he hopes can be in place by 2013. He says he expects an increased number of people hacked via mobile phones in 2012 will motivate the industry and governments to define and implement such a system.
IEEE and its members are responding to the growing cyber-security threats by sharing knowledge and understanding through publications such as IEEE Security & Privacy as well as the Silver Bullet Security Podcast with Gary McGraw. You can subscribe to the security podcast here. IEEE also holds an annual IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, with the next one being held 20-23 May 2012 in San Francisco. The full proceedings of the 2011 conference are available free online . In addition, IEEE’s 2012 International Conference on Information Security and Intelligence Control will be held 14-16 August 2012 in Yunlin, Taiwan.
Other resources from IEEE:
- IEEE Spectrum recently reported that there were approximately one million cyber crime victims each day last year across 24 countries. – Watch an IEEE.tv video interview with McAfee Vice President of Strategy Vimal Solanki on current threats from the 2011 NIKSUN World Wide Security and Mobility Conference. – The IEEE Xplore Digital Library provides subscribers with both conference proceedings and peer-reviewed, research, including a proposal for an “application lockbox” for mobile device security outlined at the 2011 International Conference on Information Technology: New Generations.
Curran said the numbers game is working to attract hacker attention. “We saw 2011 as the year of the social network attack,” he says. “But with the number of smartphone users now representing approximately 20 percent of the mobile market, we will now see an explosion in smartphone attacks, both by technical experts and by novices buying tools from dark websites and conducting low-tech but effective scams. It only takes a couple seconds to steal personal information.”
For more information on IEEE, or to speak with a member about cyber security, please contact: ieeeteam@webershandwick.com.
About IEEE
IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional association, is dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities, IEEE is the trusted voice on a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer electronics. Learn more: http://www.ieee.org.
Source: IEEE
Fiona Bates of Weber Shandwick, +44-207-067-0703, fbates@webershandwick.com, for IEEE; or Gailanne Barth of IEEE, +1-732-562-5315, g.barth@ieee.org
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