CLEVELAND-While the employment picture for people in the telecommunications industry has been bright for some time, according to the latest survey conducted by Management Recruiters International Inc., that picture is only expected to improve in the coming months.
The survey showed 80.3 percent of executives responsible for hiring in the telecom industry plan to increase staff in the second half of this year, a 12.6-percent increase from the first half of 2000.
By comparison, 53.2 percent of the 3,615 executives polled across all industries expect to hire new employees during the rest of the year.
“Companies continue to be faced with one of the most competitive job markets we’ve ever seen,” said Allen Salikof, president and chief executive officer of MRI. “The telecom industry is projecting the biggest increase in staff levels of any industry surveyed for the second half of 2000, and as a result, the competition for talented employees in this industry will be fierce in the second half of the year.”
In contrast, the survey showed telecom was the industry hardest hit by the dot-com economy with 58 percent of companies questioned reporting they had lost employees to the Internet sector.
“Those employees coming from telecom and [information technology] companies have the skills that are in greatest demand by the dot-com world and are more likely to be lured away,” said Salikof.
