Face to Face
With Fred Coon

I would like to extend thanks to the Career Masters Institute for the following piece of information.

"Accenture, the management consulting and technology services firm, surveyed 217 middle managers and found that 21% were currently looking for another job, while a similar survey last year found that 38% were open to a new position. In addition, two-thirds (67%) of respondents are extremely or very satisfied with working at their current organizations.

The survey also found that, of those who are currently looking for another job, almost three-quarters (71%) said that they plan to intensify their job search when the economy improves and the job market strengthens, compared with 64% last year. In the current survey, almost half (49%) of respondents said they think the economy will strengthen in the next 12 months, versus 38% who said the same in last year's survey.

Read the full article: http://www.accenture.com/xd/xd.asp?it=enweb&xd=_dyn%5Cdynamicpressrelease_774.xml

While this survey sample size is small, what this says to me is that the competition for jobs is going to become fierce in the upcoming months for those who are looking for another job. If 71% intend to intensify their search, this creates a greater pool of candidates for companies to choose from. This will affect the pay rates offered and intensify company screening criteria.

The market is up and looks like it will continue in that direction and will create even more job opportunities, even though the Federal Reserve is incrementally raising interest rates. What is not addressed is the outsourcing offshore for these same positions. This will be something to watch as we move into 2005.

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About the Author: Fred Coon