Despite warnings of a slower-growing economy, a number of highly skilled professionals -- software developers,
nurses, sales representatives, and accountants, for example -- remain in high demand to fill critical roles for U.S. companies,
according to new Jobfox Top 25 Most Wanted U.S. Professions rankings.
Software Design/Development, Nursing, Accounting/Finance Executive, Sales/Business Development Representative,
and Administrative Assistant are the top five most active professions in the March 2008
Jobfox Top 25 Most Wanted U.S. Professions rankings. The report reflects the professions most often targeted by
employers and recruiters using Jobfox to search for and find new or replacement workers during
a 120-day period ending February 21, 2008.
Professions rounding out the top 10 are: Corporate Finance, Networking/System Administration, Intelligence;
General Accounting, and Technical Customer Support.
Find the complete list of rankings here.
Along with the rankings of the top professions, the report includes the median salary ranges sought by Jobfox candidates with matching
profession profiles.
According to a new study by Leadership IQ, workers waste 25 percent of their workday, and that number is up 44 percent over last year.
The study also discovered that the biggest reason for this increase in wasted time can be traced to "Recession Rumination."
Leadership IQ conducts an annual survey of workplace slacking, and 6,447 workers completed both the February 2007 and February
2008 surveys. In February 2007 these workers reported wasting 1.6 hours per average 9.1 hour workday. But in February 2008, these
same workers reported wasting 2.3 hours per average 9.2 hour workday.
The biggest time wasters for respondents? In February 2007, the Top 5 timewasters were the typical culprits:
- Surfing the Internet for Shopping (17 percent of respondents)
- Surfing the Internet for Entertainment (15 percent)
- Surfing the Internet for Personal E-Mail (10 percent)
- Chatting with Co-Workers (9 percent)
- Daydreaming about Positive Topics (9 percent)
But in February 2008, the Top 5 time wasters were quite different and clearly influenced by fears about a potential recession:
- Surfing the Internet for Career Improvement (21 percent of respondents)
- Surfing the Internet for Personal Finance (17 percent)
- Daydreaming about Negative Topics (12 percent)
- Chatting with Co-Workers (9 percent)
- Surfing the Internet for Entertainment (7 percent)
Read the full report and watch a video.
Despite fears of recession, more than half of 7,000 employees surveyed by Salary.com, Inc., in
its third annual Job Satisfaction and Retention Survey are likely to intensify their job search in the next three months.
This percentage is slowly decreasing; in 2006 nearly 65 percent of employees surveyed were actively looking and in 2007
just over 60 percent of employees said they planned to look for a new job in the next three months.
The 2007/2008 Job Satisfaction & Retention Survey revealed many other interesting results, including that inadequate compensation
is the top reason employees gave as to why they would leave their job.
The Top 5 Reasons for Leaving a Job as Reported by Employees:
- Inadequate compensation: 27 percent
- Lack of career advancement: 19 percent
- Insufficient recognition: 17 percent
- Boredom: 11 percent
- No professional development: 11 percent
Fifty percent of employers surveyed feel a job offer with an 8-15
percent salary increase from a competitor would be enough to lure
away current employees. Yet on average, employers are willing to
give an average raise of just 7 percent to entice employees to stay.
View a complete overview of the survey.
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