10 Cool Things from the 2018 Central Florida Employment Survey

Special Note: The first annual Hire Day Orlando is June 8^th at the AMWAY Center. We have over 120 employers, 10 community partners and great career speakers like Sheriff Jerry Demings (who will speak about a career as a public servant). It will be a great day for Central Florida. All information is at www.HireDayOrlando.com.

Wow... companies are hiring in Central Florida. In our latest report, employers told us it is tough to find hard-working, skilled talent. (download the report here - no charge). The Orlando MSA has an all-time record of people working (1.2 million), and most sectors are seeing record hiring. Hospitality and leisure, construction, professional services and retail all have more people working today in these sectors than ever before.

“It is interesting that we really have not seen a decrease in applications this year (2017). The challenge has been the skill set miss from this pool of candidate which is taking so much time to decipher. More applications may not be the answer”. (surveyed employer)

Over 80% of employers are surprised in such low unemployment; they are getting tons of applications. This is a double whammy because they have to go through more resumes and while they are finding good backgrounds job skill mismatches prevent them from hiring.

So, what are employers doing differently in 2018 to find great talent? Here are their suggestions:

1. The need to use multiple hiring resources.
2. Implementation or “training pay”. During training, paying new employees $15.00 hour instead of $10.00. This is helping recruiting by getting candidates to take the job. Once in training, employers spend time onboarding and training.
3. Leveraging resources like Central Florida Career Source and other nonprofits that specialize in getting employees ready for the workforce.
4. Using staffing agencies for the first time.
5. Double referral bonuses for any employee who refers a future employee. Over 35% of the employers said they have made their employee referral programs more lucrative for current employees. At one healthcare facility, they are offering employees $7,000 if the refer a nurse.
6. Hiring from pool of talent from Puerto Rico. Hurricane Maria impact on Puerto Rico is amazing. Over 239,000 have arrived in Florida since October 3rd with many staying in Orlando. While there are no official BLS statistics yet, it is predicted that 100,000 will make their home in Orlando to join the areas growing Hispanic population. Today, one in three Central Floridians are Hispanic. Many employers are really relying on our new residents from Puerto Rico to help fill jobs because they are US citizens with no need for any special visas; interestingly forgotten by many.
7. Bringing in J-1 student visas to fill open positions.
8. Using headhunters.
9. Attending more live career fairs and do onsite interviews with hiring managers.
10. Speed up interview to hire process from two weeks to one week. This time it takes companies to hire varies greatly form company to company. In low unemployment, hiring decisions have to be made quickly to get the best candidates.

Thanks to all the employers that took time out to talk with us so we can deliver this information. 

Download the Report