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Best Places to Recruit Customer Service Reps for your Call Center

By Abby Lombardi on January 30, 2012 in Sales.

Customer Service and Sales Representatives are in high demand by employers. And due to high turnover for these jobs, Recruiters often source for multiple openings at once. We took a look at hiring demand for call center staff and the easiest places across the United States to find this talent.

Overall, hiring demand has been strong for customer service and sales personnel. In December 2011, more than 4,500 jobs were advertised online for customer service or sales reps in call centers. This is a 34% increase compared to December 2010. Some industries with the most demand for customer service reps were Commercial Banking, Insurance Agencies/Brokerages, Health Insurance, Cable Service, and Telemarketing Bureaus and Contact Centers. Currently, there are 4,000 companies advertising openings – some with as many as 350 unique job openings nationwide. With this much demand, it's likely that Recruiters will face challenges to fill so many positions and will compete heavily to find skilled call center reps.

The easiest place across the US to recruit call center reps is Sioux City, Iowa. On average, there are about 28 potential candidates currently in the call center workforce across the US. In Sioux City, there are more than 100 candidates in the workforce for every job being advertised. Hiring demand in this area has remained lower than average – only 4 companies are currently recruiting for call center openings. Since Recruiters are not competing with as many other companies as in other markets, they are likely to see easier conditions and a shorter time-to-fill for open positions.

Hiring Scale for Customer Service Staff for Call Centers – Sioux City, Iowa vs. Nationally

Hiring Scale for Call Center Staff in Sioux City, Iowa

Source: WANTED Analytics

Below are additional locations that currently see easier recruiting conditions.  As you can see, many are in fact seeing a short time-to-fill. Job ads in Bellingham, Washington are online for an average of 30 days (just over 4 weeks). These shorter posting periods likely mean that Recruiters are filling jobs quickly. Also, their cost-per-hire is likely to be lower since paid job ads are online for shorter periods. If your company allows customer service reps to work remotely from home, these may be good locations to advertise job openings.

Additional Locations that Customer Service Reps are Easy-to-Recruit

Easiest places to recruit call center staff

Source: WANTED Analytics

Here's another way to use this information: if your company is looking to open a new call center, have them consider opening an office in our near these areas. Being able to fully staff the new call center is likely to be faster and easier in these markets than in other locations!

Are you hiring for customer service or sales representatives for your call centers? Try the online Hiring Scale™ to see how difficult recruiting is likely to be in your area, average salary ranges, and who you are competing for talent with.

Retail Sales and Hiring Both Grow this Holiday Season

By Abby Lombardi on November 29, 2011 in Sales.

As the holiday shopping season kicks into gear, retailers reported 6.6% gains from Black Friday and a 24% increase in online sales. We've been closely following hiring demand in the retail trade sector over the past few months and decided to take an updated look at retail sales online job ads. Between September 1 and November 15, Retailers placed more than 72,000 new online job ads for Salespersons and Sales Managers, a 44% increase compared to the same time period in 2010. This also marks a growth of 38% versus 2009, and 1% in comparison to 2008. Despite growing over the past 3 years, hiring is still 11% below pre-recession demand, when more than 81,000 jobs were advertised online during the same two and a half month period in 2007. With strong sales so far this holiday season, job ads for seasonal and temporary positions are up 17% in comparison to the same time period during 2010.

Volume of Job Ads for Retail Sales Positions

Source: WANTED Analytics

The industries with the highest demand during this time period were:

  1. Clothing and Clothing Accessories Stores
  2. Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers
  3. Electronics and Appliance Stores
  4. Health and Personal Care Stores
  5. Food and Beverage Stores

Combined, these five industries accounted for about 70% of all job ads between September 1 and November 15.

Metropolitan areas with the highest hiring demand for retail Salespersons and Supervisors of Salespersons during this period were New York, Chicago, and Washington, DC. Employers and staffing firms within the retail sector in New York placed more than 3,800 new online job ads within the retail sector, the most of any city at a 25% year-over-year increase. Chicago also experienced a year-over-year increase of 93%, while Washington, DC declined about 2% from the same time in 2010.

Location Volume of Job Ads % Change vs. 2010
New York, NY 3,893 +25.3%
Chicago, IL 2,752 +93.2%
Washington, DC 2,453 -2.2%

Recruiting conditions for sales related professionals in the retail industry are likely to be moderately difficult, with about 12 potential candidates in the workforce for every open job. However, conditions will vary slightly by location, depending on local talent supply. According to the Hiring Scale™, Recruiters representing the retail sector in Washington, DC are likely to experience the most difficult recruiting conditions of the above three cities with the highest volume of job ads. The talent pool in this area is slightly smaller than average, meaning that retailers will need to compete more heavily to recruit talent for open positions.

Hiring Scale for Retail Sales Jobs in Washington, DC versus Nationally

Hiring Scale for Retail Sales Jobs in Washington, DC

Source: WANTED Analytics

In addition, it is likely that Recruiters in the retail industry in the DC area will see job ads listed online longer. The duration of a job listing in Washington, DC is 42 days (or 6 weeks), longer than the national average.

For additional information about hiring within the retail industry, take a look at our previous reports:

Are you recruiting for openings in the retail industry? Sign up for a free trial of Analytics™ to find out what recruiting conditions are like in you area and find hidden candidate pools for any open position.

Retail Trade Outlook More Optimistic

By Juli Morris on July 7, 2011 in Sales.

Monthly Chain Store Sales will be reported this morning by ICSC, providing monthly sales volumes from individual department, chain, discount, and apparel stores. Chain store sales correspond with roughly 10 percent of retail sales, and are an indicator of retail sales and consumer spending trends. We took another look at hiring demand for the Retail Trade industry sectors over the past 30 days to lend additional insight on growth in these sectors. Several sectors show strong growth over 2010, while overall hiring demand is up 29% for the past 30 days compared to the same period in 2010. Employers and staffing agencies posted just over 68,800 new online job ads.

Retail Trade Industry by Economic Sectors – Past 30 Days:

Retail Trade Industry by Economic Sectors – Past 30 Days

Source: WANTED Analytics™

Of the top employers in these sectors, a number show very strong growth over the same period in 2010, while many are down significantly. Even within an economic sector, individual growth varies widely: hiring demand at Macy's, Wal-Mart, JC Penny, Kohl's and Bloomingdale's is up more than 100%, while Sear's and Kmart are down at least 35% from the same period 2010.

Top 25 Employers by Hiring Demand — Retail Trade — Past 30 Days vs Same Period 2010:

Top 25 Employers by Hiring Demand — Retail Trade — Past 30 Days vs Same Period 2010

Source: WANTED Analytics™

Most retail sales occupations experienced strong growth in the past 30 days compared to 2010, and the top occupation for hiring demand, retail sales managers, gained 35%. A few specialty occupations continue to show high demand, such as Automotive Specialty Technicians and Tailors, and Industrial Engineers, corresponding to the growth we saw in certain economic sectors such as Men's Clothing Stores, Automotive Parts & Accessories Stores  and Tire Dealers. IT occupations also make a strong showing .

Top 20 Occupations by Hiring Demand — Retail Trade — Past 30 Days vs Same Period 2010:

Top 20 Occupations by Hiring Demand — Retail Trade — Past 30 Days vs Same Period 2010

Source: WANTED Analytics™

The War for Talent Continues for the Web Giants

By Juli Morris on May 13, 2011 in Computer/Math/IT, Sales.

Reports on the ongoing shortage of software engineers and other IT talent have continued to be featured prominently in the business technology press this spring. With that in mind, we took another look at our January review of this shortage of tech talent at three web giants, Google, Facebook and LinkedIn.

After a combined hiring demand spike in January that produced a 4-year high, followed by an equivalent decline, demand bounced back last month to a level 33% higher than April 2010. Over the past 120 days, the three companies have posted just over 5,000 new online job ads.

Hiring Demand for Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn — 4-Years:

Hiring Demand for Google, Facebook and LinkedIn - 4 Years

Source: WANTED Analytics™

About 1,600 of these new jobs are located in Silicon Valley, with another 300 jobs in the San Francisco area. New York City and Chicago are the only other metro areas with more than 100 job postings.

Top 10 Metro Areas  - Google, Facebook, LinkedIn – Past 120 Days vs Same Period 2010:

Top 10 Metro Areas by Hiring Demand - Google, Facebook, LinkedIn - Past 120 Days vs Same Period 2010

Source: WANTED Analytics™

Four of the top five most in-demand occupations for these three companies are marketing, advertising and sales positions. With two exceptions, all of the top occupations experienced double-digit growth over the past 120 days compared to the same period in 2010.

Top 20 Most In-Demand Occupations – Past 120 Days vs Same Period 2010:

Top 20 Most In-Demand Occupations - Google, Facebook, LinkedIn - Past 120 Days vs Same Period 2010

Source: WANTED Analytics™

The growth in hiring demand for software applications engineers was rather moderate at these three companies – a combined 15% – compared to 38% growth nationwide over the same period, and growth in Silicon Valley of 33%. A look at the Hiring Scale for these positions in Silicon Valley indicates that it would be somewhat more difficult to hire software applications engineers in this location than the US average, due to the size of the talent pool, over 23,000 potential candidates. By contrast, despite a talent pool of over 22,000 potential candidates, employers in the Seattle metro area have an even more challenging time due to increased demand.

Hiring Scale Metric for Software Applications Engineers – Silicon Valley and Seattle:

Hiring Scale Metric for Software Applications Engineers - Silicon Valley and Seattle

Source: WANTED Analytics™

Over 78,000 Sales Managers Jobs Posted During the Past 90 Days

By Juli Morris on April 29, 2011 in Sales.

Employers continue to ramp up business development efforts by adding to their sales forces. Over the past 90 days, employers posted more than 78,000 new job ads for Sales Managers, a 15% increase over the same period in 2010. Overall demand is now up 74% from its 4-year low in February 2009.

Hiring Demand for Sales Managers – 4 Years:

Hiring Demand for Sales Managers - 4 Year

Source: WANTED Analytics

Demand for sales managers increased in all but 2 of the top 25 metro areas over the comparable period in 2010: metro NYC has the highest demand for sales managers, by a wide margin, but the hottest growth spots were the Kansas City, Detroit, Denver, Atlanta, and Columbus metro areas.

Top 25 Metro Areas by Hiring Demand — Sales Managers — Past 90 Days vs. Same Period 2010:

Top 25 Metro Areas by Hiring Demand - Sales Managers - Past 90 Days vs Same Period 2010

Source: WANTED Analytics

Hiring demand can't tell the whole story, however. Despite having nearly equal numbers of job postings and a similar growth trajectory, employers in Denver will have a more difficult time sourcing talent for their sales managers positions than employers in Detroit, according to our Hiring Scale measurements, below. This is because the talent pool in Detroit for this position is more than twice as large—5,280 potential candidates in Detroit vs. 2,310 in Denver.

Hiring Scale Metrics — Denver and Detroit Metro Areas:

Hiring Scale Metrics - Denver and Detroit Metro Areas

Source: WANTED Analytics

The top 5 corporate employers looking to hire sales managers are ADP, AT&T, Microsoft, IBM, and AT&T Business Solutions.

The Top 20 In-Demand Occupations in San Francisco

By Juli Morris on March 28, 2011 in Computer/Math/IT, Management/Executive, Sales.

Hiring demand is on the rise in the San Francisco metro area, with direct employers posting nearly 180,000 new job ads over the past 90 days. That's nearly a 30% increase over the same period last year; in fact, over the past two years, hiring demand in San Francisco has gained 134% over it's recessionary low point in February 2009.

San Francisco Metro Area Hiring Demand – 4 years:

San Francisco Metro Area Hiring Demand - 4 years

Source: WANTED Analytics

The Top 20  in demand occupations for the San Francisco metro area are listed below, along with the percentage change from last year.

Top 20 Occupations, by Hiring Demand – San Francisco – Past 90 Days:

San Francisco - Top 20 Occupations by Hiring Demand, past 90 days

Source: WANTED Analytics

Computer Software Engineers (Applications) are most in demand, and Management Analyst positions show the strongest growth over the same period last year, up 110%. By category, Computer and Mathematical Occupations, Management Occupations, and Sales and Related Occupations have the greatest hiring demand overall in the San Francisco market.

The top employers in this market by ad volume include Kaiser Permanente, Deloitte, IBM, Wells Fargo, Sutter Health, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, PG&E, Safeway, and AT&T.

Top 25 Hiring Employers for February

By Juli Morris on March 16, 2011 in Computer/Math/IT, Employer Watch, Labor Market Dynamics, Management/Executive, Sales.

The Top 25 direct employers by ad volume for February are listed below, along with the percentage change from the same period last year:

Top 25 Hiring Employers by Ad Volume – February 2011

Hiring Demand from Top 25 Employers - February 2011

Source: WANTED Analytics

The areas of greatest Hiring Demand by these employers are Sales and Related Occupations, Computer and Mathematical Occupations, and Management Occupations.

Note: Dell and AT&T Retail posted job ads under different employer labels in prior years, making prior year percentage comparisons unavailable.

Top 10 Occupations by Hiring Demand – February 2011

By Juli Morris on March 15, 2011 in Health Care, Labor Market Dynamics, Office/Admin Support, Sales.

The Top 10 occupations posted by direct employers for February are listed below, along with the percentage change from the same period last year:

Top 10 Occupations by Ad Volume – February 2011:

Hiring Demand for Top 10 Occupations posted by Direct Employers

Source: WANTED Analytics

Demand for truck drivers saw the biggest gain over last year—up 138 percent from February 2010. This was unsurprising, given that truck tonnage was up 3.8 percent in January to its highest level since January 2008.

Google’s Stock Price Expected to Rise, Matching Growth in Hiring Demand

By Harold Biswas on October 19, 2010 in Business/Finance, Computer/Math/IT, Management/Executive, Sales.

Last week, Google reported its net income for the quarter ended September 30th: a 32 percent rise in income from the same quarter in 2009, beating the expectations of Wall Street analysts. Following the news, Google’s common stock price rose to $600 (Google Inc NASDAQ: GOOG) in the late Friday afternoon trading session.

Google's impressive revenue performance was not surprising, given that their recent paid online job posting volume was 5x higher than the same period in 2009. According to WANTED Analytics™, 1,507 new Google job postings were seen as of the week of September 19, 2010, reaching the same level of job posting activity seen during the week of December 02, 2007, just as the US was officially entering a recession. These two one-week periods are the highest periods of Hiring Demand for Google over the past four years. During the week of December 02, 2007 Google’s stock price rose to $715, also the highest over the past 4-year period. The increase in current Hiring Demand indicates that the stock price may well hover around $700 in the coming days, closely following its past behavior as seen in the 2007 pre-recession level.

Google Stock Price and Hiring Demand Trend - 4 Yr.

Source: WANTED Analytics

Google also reported hiring 1,526 people in the third-quarter, which included the post-graduation hiring months. The pace of current hiring continues as reflected by Hiring Demand indicators over the past 120 days.  There were 2,960 new job ads from Google on different job listing sites and sources all across the US.

Google advertised positions in the following major occupational groups: Management, Computer & Mathematical, Sales, and Business & Financial Operations. The top high-volume, high-growth occupations over the past 120 days were:

OccupationJob Ad
Volume
Marketing Managers403
Advertising Sales Agents275
Sales managers272
Computer Software Engineers, Applications228
Market Research Analysts216
General and Operations Managers136
Advertising and Promotions Managers103
Network and Computer Systems Administrators103

Google has been saying over the last few months that it will fuel its next phase of growth through new advertising business – including ads with images and video and mobile advertising. Google's Hiring Demand clearly parallels its growth strategy: WANTED Analytics data shows that Google is boosting its Sales & Marketing / Promotions department with additional Ad Sales agents, Sales Managers and Marketing Managers. The Job Titles appearing under “Ad Sales agents” jobs are Display Account Executive, Account Coordinator, Account Executive Mobile Display Advertising, Account Manager, Account Executive Entertainment Vertical, Account Coordinator – Retail Vertical, etc. This correlates well with last weeks' media reports.

The top three markets for Google's growing Hiring Demand are San Jose, New York and San Francisco. Other metro areas with similar high demand are Chicago, Los-Angeles, Seattle, Boston, Atlanta and Washington, DC.

For the inside scoop on what types of jobs Google is posting to support its advertising business initiatives, subscribe to WANTED Analytics.

Sales Jobs Growing 4.3% a Month – 15 Times Faster than before Recession

By Charles Thibault on November 11, 2009 in Sales.

Hiring Demand for Sales & Related Occupations has been growing 4.3% a month since February, according to data from WANTED Analytics. WANTED Analytics tracks the number of online job ads on over 1,000 employment websites.

This positive trend has affected most metropolitan areas and detailed occupations in the Sales category (BLS Standard Occupation Major Group 410000).

The "normal" monthly growth rate experienced during the 2006/2007/2008 pre-recession period was only 0.3%. In other words, Hiring Demand is growing at almost 15 times the rate it did during normal economic times. Most of this can be attributed to "catching up", however – about 950,000 people lost their jobs in the Retail Industry for example, a 6% drop in employment. There are still 30,000 fewer Sales job ads now than there were 2 years ago (136,000 in October compared to 169,000 in November 2007).

The following table and graph detail Hiring Demand trends over the past four years. The natural log of the number of online job ads is used to facilitate trending analysis

Period"Sales Jobs, Monthly Growth Rate"
OCT 2006 – MAY 2008+0.3%
JUNE 2008 – JAN 2009-5.2%
FEB 2009 – Current+4.3%
Source: WANTED Analytics

Source: WANTED Analytics

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