Asked to answer the question, "When do you expect hiring at your company
to pick up?" 36 percent of the human-resource professionals participating
in the latest online poll at sister sites HR.BLR.com.com and BLR.com answered, "It's
already picking up."
It was by far the most frequent answer in the poll, held during the week of
Sept. 8. The two sites drew a total of 497 votes.
Here's how the rest of the voting went:
Hiring will pick up in a year - 20 percent.
In three to six months - 17 percent.
Maybe never - 17 percent.
In one to three months - 10 percent.
Though the poll produced no majority answer on the state of hiring, HR.BLR.com
President John Brady calls it a pleasant surprise that so many HR professionals
reported hiring has returned. "Keep in mind that we recently had some jarring
news from the Department of Labor, when it reported that employers had slashed
93,000 jobs in August," Brady says. "If it turns out that we're indeed
finally coming out of the woods, then perhaps HR managers should be the new
leading indicator."
