Recent college graduates and young professionals can be excused for thinking that their job and career development prospects are less than optimal in the current economic climate and that hiring managers have their pick of qualified candidates. That might be true for some occupations and industries but there is at least one sector of the economy where demand continues to outpace supply – that is the need for highly-skilled engineers, information technologists and similar technical professionals. That in turn, has driven demand up in another, often overlooked, industry sector, when it comes to job prospecting – the staffing industry, and specifically, the technical staffing industry.
Staffing continues to be one of the fastest growing industries in both sales and people. According to the American Staffing Association there are 2.8 million people who are employed by staffing firms in the United States. The technical contract staffing industry generated approximately $104.8 billion in sales in 2012, and $25.88 billion in sales during the first quarter of 2013. The staffing industry has been one of the nation’s leading job creators, since 2009 adding over 750,000 full-time staffers to its payrolls, and that growth is expected to continue at as much as a 14% pace over the next several years.
There are several, major trends at work driving the growth of the Technical Staffing Industry. Among them is the competition for skilled and talented technical workers on a global scale. Rising economies outside the US increasingly need technical talent that used to migrate to the US for work. Now this talent is staying at home or returning home after training in the US. Further, we are in the midst of a technological and information revolution requiring many new skills and expertise that traditional workforces are inadequately equipped to provide. The cost of “captive” direct labor is becoming prohibitive due to increasing government regulations, mandates and taxes, example: employer mandated healthcare – companies are looking for ways to reduce their employee cost burden and one way is to shift that burden to temporary employers – companies get the use of the skills/expertise/manpower they need without incurring any of the employment benefits, insurance and tax headache. Finally, while the economy is slowly improving, predicting where it will end up is still a crapshoot and when companies cannot predict conditions in their market over the long-term, they become hesitant to make full-time hiring commitments and hedge against future downturns by using contractors.
Nobody, or very few people, go to college to become a recruiter or account executive in the staffing industry. There are no majors being offered in it. Yet, as a profession – and yes, it is a profession – and as a career path, it offers the enterprising and multi-talented individual an opportunity for challenge, excitement, problem-solving, and personal growth on a large scale.
If you work in the Technical Staffing Industry there are a few things that you can be sure of.
You Will Never Be Bored
You Have the Opportunity for Endless Earning Potential and Rewards
You Will be Helping Others and Building Relationships
You will be helping to rebuild our economy
And, if you decide to explore that path, please talk to us about what it would be like to take that journey with Black Diamond Networks.
