By Charles Thibault on July 24, 2009 in Employer Watch.

Every week, WANTED Technologies Corporation produces a Gazelles Report. The Gazelles Report details the activity of companies who's Hiring Demand has spiked or shown upward trending. In a weekly feature, we look closer at several companies.

Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ), the computer and electronic goods manufacture, has appeared on our Gazelles report for the past 4 weeks running. Its stock price has appreciated 52% since March 9th, 2009. Geographically speaking, Hiring Demand at HP has spiked in the Washington, DC metro area, as well as in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA. The number of job ads in the San Jose area has doubled since April. Hiring Demand has increased for all three of its top occupations. The number of job ads has more than doubled since April for all three main Computer Occupations it is hiring for.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) has triggered a Gazelles alert by showing strong demand for "Management Occupations". Hiring Demand Indicators are well suited for large, sprawling corporations with thousands of employees. Since Hiring Demand is spread out across many many small locations, the aggregate activity of individual locations – without their knowing what other locations are doing – can be reflective of the overall corporate outlook.

According to Google, "HMSHost is a leading foodservice operator focused on travelers, operating restaurants and eateries in airports, travel plazas, and other locations mostly in North America". HMSHost has shown consistent upward progression in Hiring Demand for the previous 5 months. Hiring Demand for "Cashiers", "First-Line Supervisors/Manager of Retail Sales Workers", and "First-Line Supervisors/Manager of Food Preparation and Serving Workers" have been climbing in tandem. This corresponds to our post which mentions that despite the financial crisis, food retailers have been performing well in New York City.

AT&T (NYSE:T) continues to aggressively post for "Retail Salespersons" in all US markets. "First-Line Supervisors/Managers of Retail Sales Workers" are also in demand. AT&T stock has been in a slow downward trend since early 2009. AT&T seems to be more bullish on its business than investors.

Booz Allen Hamilton, "a leading strategy and technology consulting firm" according to its website, has increased its recruitment efforts. Booz Allen Hamilton has its corporate campus in McLean, VA, and Hiring Demand has surged markedly in the Washington, DC market, signaling strong growth in its core business. It has posted more new job ads for Computer Systems Analysts in June 2009 than it has in any month over the past three years – there were 538 such job ads in June, whereas there've  been only 341, 317, or 357 new ads in the previous three months. What's more, Booz Allen Hamilton has more than doubled the number of job ads for Market Research Analysts to 185 new job ads in June. According to our S/D Ratios, Washington, DC is a great market for IT workers, and this employer should be targeted by unemployed computer specialists in other markets who are willing to relocate for new positions.

Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS), the book and music retailer, has once again appeared on our Gazelles report. Not only did "Barnes & Noble Booksellers" trigger a Gazelles alert, but "Barnes & Noble.com" also appeared in our Gazelles report. The corporate website advertised 37 positions last month compared to an average 29 postings a month over the past year, a 28% increase. Hiring Demand for Retail Salespersons and their Managers, as well as Food Managers, lead the pack. Hiring Demand has cooled off slightly in the past couple weeks, as has its stock price. Nonetheless, Hiring Demand is progressing at a constant and consistent upward rate, and Barnes & Noble stock gained 6.77% in yesterday's trading.

We have featured General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) before. This week, two distinct operating units triggered Gazelle alerts: "General Dynamics Information Technology" and "General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems". After posting 900 to 1,100 Computer and Mathematical Occupation jobs a week in May and early June, General Dynamics experienced lowered Hiring Demand the last two weeks of June. However, since then, General Dynamics has posted 1,361 and 1,053 new job ads for IT workers. Movements in stock price have followed Hiring Demand quite closely since March.

 

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) has consistently appeared on our Gazelles report. Hiring Demand for "Services Sales Representatives" has been climbing, and spiked during the week starting Sunday July 5th. Last week, demand dropped a little, but that has not stopped the overall upward trend.

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