Financial hiring set to hold steady in the first quarter of 2008
According to a report released by Robert Half International yesterday morning, hiring in the financial industry is expected to hold steady through the first quarter of 2008. Robert Half International has been tracking financial hiring in the U.S. since 1992, and the staffing conglomerate’s findings are based on a recent survey of over 1,400 randomly selected CFOs.
Ten percent of the CFOs interviewed said that they expect to bulk up their accounting and finance staffs in the first few months of next year, while four percent reported that they plan to reduce their personnel. That leaves the country with an anticipated six percent increase in financial hiring in the first quarter of 2008, which is unchanged from the forecast for the fourth quarter of 2007.
The majority of the CFOs who plan to hire more employees cited rising company workloads as their reasoning, while 30 percent need more workers to cope with anticipated business expansions. Even though the predicted increase in hiring between this quarter and next is unchanged, competition among employers to attract skilled accounting and finance professionals is fierce. This demand has translated into higher salaries for staff accountants, internal auditors, and financial analysts.
In addition to these national statistics, Robert Half International has also released hiring forecasts for various U.S. regions. The West South Central region (which includes Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas) has the strongest anticipated growth in financial jobs, with 14 percent of CFOs expecting to increase their full-time hires in the first quarter and only two percent predicting cutbacks. Hiring in the Middle Atlantic and the Pacific states (or NJ, NY, PA, CA, AK, OR, HI, and WA) is also expected to surpass the national average of a six percent increase.
The report breaks the projected trends in financial hiring for the first quarter of 2008 down into industries as well. The business services sector has the most anticipated growth, with a net 15 percent of CFOs planning to bulk up their staffs. The manufacturing industry has the potential for a nine percent increase overall in financial hiring.
Here is a graph that separates the hiring projections for next quarter into metropolitan regions. The strongest areas look to be Las Vegas, New York, Phoenix, Washington, D.C., Houston, Dallas, and Atlanta.
The overall consensus from this report is that the financial industry is maintaining consistency in the face of a fragile economy. Some areas will have stronger growth in accounting and finance jobs than others, but taken as a whole, the national projections for hiring over the next few months are solid. These numbers do not illustrate the demand for qualified professionals in these areas either. If you have a reputable degree and a strong background in accounting or finance, you should have no trouble finding a position in your area that satisfies your needs.