According to a recent Newsweek article titled “The Big Hiring Freeze”, profits at some of the country’s biggest companies, such as IBM, are up. Industrial Companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index are sitting on $838 billion. So where are all the jobs?
Well, according to the article, it could be a number of things. Many companies are making greater use of stock options for executive compensation, and decreasing payroll is one of the best ways to increase profits and, along with them, stock prices. It’s also possible that companies have developed a “bunker mentality” due to the Obama administration’s less than employer-friendly new policies.
Whatever the reason, this article seems to provide further evidence of what FoxHire has already discussed numerous times on this blog… companies are more reluctant to get back into hiring mode following this most recent recession, even now when it seems many have the means to do so. And as we’ve pointed out previously, those who are hiring are testing the waters by hiring contractors first. So if you want to overcome “The Big Hiring Freeze,” you may want to consider offering contract candidates to your client companies!
