79,000 job seekers (86% considered to be actively seeking employment) were asked to assess their personal skill set and attitude toward the current job market. The results:

• 71% were pessimistic about their career search, feeling they possessed the required skill set but were not getting hired
• 37% were extremely frustrated, with no hope for improvement in sight
• 34% unhappy with the environment, but starting to see signs of improvement

Employers were then asked if they had noticed a change in the quality of candidates since the recession’s start. The results: 42% of employers indicated that the recession had not only increased the quantity of candidates, but in fact they are finding more qualified candidates than in years past. These two results seem to contradict one another…

Taking into consideration the possibility that job seekers were not interviewing, it was surprising to see that 73% of those surveyed have had five or more interviews per month since beginning their job search. 75% of these job seekers have not received a single job offer.

Some things for consideration:

• Poor interviewing skills – perhaps candidates need more education on how to properly present their skills on an interview. This is something at which we, as recruitment professionals, and dare I say candidate coaches, should all be proficient.
• Desperate times – often when a candidate needs a job, this can come across in an interview and make them seem desperate. This, again, something that we can, and should, coach them on.
• Specialized vs. Broad skill set - 71 % of employers reported that more than half of their open positions were “specialized”. 61% of respondents consider themselves to be a “professional with a broad skill set” as opposed to specialized in their field.

The odd portrait this paints is one of a happy employer, who is starting to see hiring picking back up, and an unhappy job seeker, who has been on several interviews without receiving any job offers. One could conclude that at this point in time that specialization in a skill is more important than generalization for interviewing for and being offered a job.

The second section of the survey drilled down to see how employers were finding candidates. Were candidates putting themselves in the right places for employers to find them and vice versa? Finally, the two groups were in agreement.

Online sources led the pack for both job seekers and employers:

• 74% of job seekers said the most beneficial job search method was posting a resume on job boards
• 27% believe that utilizing social media is best, surpassing more traditional methods including classified ads, professional recruiters and networking events

27% of employers agree, with the highest response for most effective search method being social networks, followed by resume sourcing technologies.

In summary, the survey found these key take-aways:

• 71% of employers say that more than half of their open positions are “specialized”
• 61% of job seekers surveyed consider themselves to have a “broad skill-set” rather than “specialized in their field”
• 73% of job seekers have had more than 5 interviews per month since starting their job search, with over 75% receiving zero offers
• Most effective hiring tool—Social Media sites according to both job seekers and employers

20,000 Hiring Managers from F1000 Companies and 79,000 Job Seekers received the survey. This survey was conducted online between June 15th, 2010 and July 15th, 2010.

I  find it interesting that job seekers now believe that surfing social networks and other passive job search activities  are better methods than utilizing professional recruiters, career coaches, or attending in-person networking events. If these are the most effective tools as declared by both parties, why is there still such a big disconnect? An ironic observation when looking back through the survey results. Perhaps job seekers have become arrogant in their search efforts, thinking that no external input or coaching is needed. What do you think? Share your thoughts on these findings below.

In the new BLS report, data shows that:

• Temporary help employment increased by 2.5%, seasonally adjusted, from November to December. Despite several sectors of the economy losing more jobs, temporary help services was one of the few industries that continued to add jobs during this period.
• Steady employment gains have occurred in temporary help since a low point in July 2009; staffing has added 166,000 jobs over the past five months.
• More new temporary jobs were created in December than at any comparable period in the past 20 years.
• Seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment fell by 85,000 in December, with most losses in construction, manufacturing, and wholesale trade.
• The overall unemployment rate remained at 10%.

“Businesses are reluctant to hire new employees until they are more confident in the economic recovery, instead preferring the work force flexibility offered by staffing firms,” says Richard Wahlquist, president of the ASA.

As such, he thinks the “consistent trend of temporary help job growth” is a positive sign for overall job growth in the near future.

Indeed, economist Hugh Johnson calls it a closely watched number because “temporary help will become permanent help.”

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which released November’s jobs numbers a few hours ago, also dramatically scaled back the numbers for September and October. Job losses initially reported for those months — 219,000 and 190,000 respectively — were revised to 139,000 and 111,000.

Economists had been expecting that November’s report would show job losses in the range of 114,000 to 125,000 and an unemployment rate unchanged from October’s 10.2 percent.

The numbers caught them off guard, with many cautioning that a single break in an otherwise unrelenting pattern of triple-digit losses may be a sign of a genuine turnaround. Or it may be just an aberration.

“It is like a patient after having collapsed with a heart attack sitting up and taking a breath—nothing more than that,” Allen L. Sinai, founder of the research firm Decision Economics, told The New York Times. “Things are getting better, but a one-month respite, frankly, means nothing in the context of the worst labor market ever seen since the 1930s.”

Chris Rupkey of Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi was much more optimistic assessing the report for the Wall Street Journal: “We are one step closer today to the stabilization of the labor market. The massive job cuts during the financial crisis last fall were too aggressive and firms will need to rehire staff within the next couple of months.”

Wall Street clearly liked the good news, running up the Dow more than 100 points shortly after the market opened. Most of the early gains were given back as the euphoria subsided, but stocks were still up at midday in New York.

If consumers sensed the improvement last month, they didn’t share their hopes with The Conference Board. The Consumer Confidence Index compiled by the global business research and leadership group and released two weeks ago showed little change from the previous month.

The November index was 49.5, just slightly above October’s 48.7. While consumers generally didn’t think business conditions were worsening, they also didn’t believe jobs would become more plentiful in the months ahead.

The Monster Index, released Thursday, showed little change from October. The Index measures the availability of jobs posted online. The Index declined one point from October to November.

However, another measure of online jobs posting, The Conference Board’s Help-Wanted Online Data Series, showed an increase in the number of new jobs posted online, the first increase since August.

The BLS reported that manufacturing and construction were the biggest losers, shedding a combined 68,000 jobs. Another 17,000 jobs were lost in IT, with telecommunications responsible for 9,000 of the jobs.

The losses were largely offset by gains in the service sector where hiring for temporary help jumped by 52,000. Healthcare, the only sector that has consistently grown jobs during the recession, added another 21,000 jobs.

In a sign that the jobs improvement has legs, the BLS said the average workweek increased by .2 hours. It’s now at 33.2 hours for production and nonsupervisory workers.

Even with the decline in the unemployment rate, the number of Americans not working or working at part-time jobs because they can’t find anything else or so discouraged they have stopped looking for work came to 26.9 million. Of that number, 15.4 million were unemployed in November. The number of long-term unemployed — those unemployed for more than 27 weeks — rose to 5.9 million.

Those workers may have a tough time finding work, even if companies begin to again add jobs. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told a Senate committee considering his appointment to a second term that the unemployment rate won’t change much next year.

The Wall Street Journal, citing minutes of the Fed’s early November meeting, said government economists expect unemployment to hover above 9 percent a year from now and decline to somewhere above 8 percent in 2011.

for production and nonsupervisory workers

That’s even more disappointing news considering that in July, the unemployment rate fell for the first time in 15 months. Perhaps the only bit of good news — if you can call it that — is employers cut fewer jobs in August than they did the month before.

The Labor Department said that August job cuts totaled 216,000. The industries hardest hit were manufacturing and construction, losing 50,000 and 65,000, respectively.

Looking forward, where do we go from here? What does the remainder of 2009 look like?

Will there be more cuts? When will things start to improve?

To get a national perspective into what’s taking place, here are some thoughts from several of the managing directors from global executive search firm Stanton Chase.

From David Love, director in Atlanta:

Although most corporations have reduced employment through RIFs (Reductions in Force), many of our larger clients are aware that as they look at their succession planning, there are some significant areas where the loss of one individual in a key position might have major implications to them. As a result, even with some of our clients who have indicated they have put in place a “hiring freeze,” they have come to us to help them recruit for some key positions where they find themselves vulnerable. Some examples are national sales managers/V.P. of sales, as well as key financial positions.

We also are finding some major clients are realizing they have been too introspective in their hiring only from the industry in which they operate, and have come to the conclusion they need to reach outside their specific industry to bring new thinking to their organization while they try to successfully compete against their major competitors.

From Nancy Keene, director in Dallas:

When the jobs are added it will be a huge domino effect, as many employees/managers are unhappy but lacking options of where they might go next. Those with success stories of delivering results/turnarounds will have a competitive edge in being considered for new opportunities.

Those who have been successful managing in the white spaces — in matrixed organizations with retinues of outsourced resources will have an edge in creating new initiatives and delivering new results in their current companies, and possibly “inventing” new operations to run.

Watch the oil industry as bellwether, big M&A, big find in Gulf. Watch for leveraging technology to break new barriers. High potentials with strong pedigree plus operational and international experience will be in high demand in recovery, as companies fill voids in talent pipelines and focus on succession planning. Trends of precision hiring will continue as companies requiring hand-in-glove fit with the requirements they specify. Those wanting a slot will have to build their case for consideration. CEOs and entrepreneurs will start to reconfigure their leadership teams seeking fresh market views and “extraordinary warriors” who have delivered victories in a seemingly impossible business environment.

From Danielle Herrerias, vice president in San Francisco:

From what I can tell, there are two sectors that are continuing to experience some hiring: healthcare and education.

Financial services, real estate, construction, and everything related are continuing to experience lay-offs yet at a slower pace than before. Also, despite some positive news in the lower ends of the housing industry, a lot of people are very concerned about the commercial real estate market as that shoe has not entirely dropped yet. It could be a real shake-up yet to come.

From Jim Harvey, director in Atlanta:

While the unemployment rate is high, there are indications that companies may experience unexpected turnover among current employees.

A recent survey that tracks trends in both job satisfaction and job hunting activity indicates that there is a pent-up demand for better jobs and salary increases among fully employed people. At the same time, there is an increase in job hunting activity. The two trends predict an increase in employee turnover within the next month or two that will have a ripple effect on the employment market.

Companies only looking at unemployment numbers may be caught off guard by this trend, particularly if they have downsized their recruiting teams. It will be interesting to follow this phenomenon.

According to BLS data for March, professional and business services lost 133,000 jobs, while financial activities lost 43,000 jobs (finance is actually out 495,00 jobs total since an employment peak in December 2006).

The last time unemployment hit 8.5% was in November 1983, after peaking at 10.8% in 1982.

This video from Fox News calls it a “striking” reality:

In addition, a blog in the Wall Street Journal claims that unemployment may top 10% by early next year, but could even top 18%. “For people in this group, comparisons to the Great Depression (when 25% of Americans were out of work) may not look so wild even if overall economic activity is holding up better.”

There is “soaring demand” in many state agencies that distribute unemployment benefits and try to help laid-off workers.

State employment departments are reporting a doubling of the number of people coming into their offices looking for work.

David Socolow, New Jersey Labor Department commissioner, says his office sees “a lot of pain and a lot of difficulty in the labor market…as wait times are far longer than our customers want or than we want.”

His office has added 44 employees to the 150 who normally review new claims to see if applicants qualify.

And in Pennsylvania, the state Department of Labor and Industry has a total staffing of about 830 from the department’s usual permanent workforce of 600. By the time the department finishes its hiring, the staff will be nearly doubled to 1,100.

In Massachusetts, first-time claims for unemployment jumped more than 30% from a year ago. In many cases, these people held long-term jobs, never had to seek unemployment before, and “don’t have resumes because they have never needed them.”

According to fresh Labor Department data, economists had actually predicted a 6.8% unemployment rate for November — yet they only predicted that 320,000 jobs would be slashed.

Either way, this is bad news across the board: construction employment was down by 82,000 over the month; retail trade employment fell by 91,000 in November, with the largest job loss among automobile dealers (-24,000); and leisure and hospitality employment lost 76,000 jobs in November.

If you’re looking to transition to a niche recruiting business, perhaps healthcare is where you should look. In contrast to most industries, healthcare added 34,000 jobs in November and has increased by 341,000 so far this year. According to BLS data, the November gain reflected jobs added in nursing and residential care facilities, hospitals, and physicians’ offices.

So, what’s your niche? If it’s not healthcare (or going to be healthcare one of these days), what is your speciality and how are you faring in the face of this recession?

This 11% underemployment rate is the highest it’s been in 14 years, the report shows.