Job Market Heating Up for Finance Pros

Some good news for a change from the Labor Department’s latest job figures today, which show an unexpectedly strong surge in employment. The economy added 192,000 new jobs in February, tugging the unemployment rate down to 8.9 percent. The numbers indicate “steady, sustained and widespread job growth,” according to Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis.

Jodi Chavez is encouraged by signs of a resurgence of hiring in the manufacturing and construction sectors. She’s senior vice president with Accounting Principals, a national financial and accounting staffing and recruitment firm headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla. A pick-up in those sectors means a surge in job openings for staff accountants and cost accountants, she notes, and her firm is already seeing an increase in requests for those positions.

The demand is showing up first in temporary and part-time work, though. “Over the last 12 months, companies have moved their hiring process from bringing people in on a full-time basis to bringing them in on a temporary basis,” Chavez reports. “Companies that had never used temp workers before are using that as part of their hiring process for the first time.”

The outlook is distinctly rosier for an assortment of finance positions, Chavez adds. “We’ve seen a recent increase in demand from clients across the board, industry-wise, for CFOs, controllers, assistant controllers. Those types of positions are coming back.

“The market was flooded with financial analysts at the end of 2009, and now we’re starting to see more and more companies adding those positions back into their labor pool. Business analysts, too; we’re starting to see an increase in demand there.”

Positive news indeed. Let’s hope the economy can keep it up as we move toward the second quarter.