PITTSBURGH — Despite the pandemic, many small businesses and recruiting agencies in our area are on the hunt for employees. In some cases, employers are struggling to find people.
Just in one small Cranberry Township shopping center alone we saw multiple “Now Hiring” signs at various businesses: Peace Love & Little Donuts, Cookie Cutters Haircuts for Kids, and Mainstream Boutique.
Christine Dunn, owner of Mainstream Boutique, said she is looking to hire one or two part-time “stylists” to assist customers at the store, located off of Route 19.
“We’ve been looking for several months now actually,” Dunn said.
Same case for Toni Shelaske, who owns Healthy Pet Grooming in Franklin Park, and Healthy Pet Products stores in the North and South Hills. She has been looking for workers at each location, and even had to reduce evening hours at the shops in the meantime.
“It has been hard, we’ve been hiring all year,” she said. They’re looking for groomers, bathers, and sales associates.
“I love being able to employ people, so we hope to find some good ones!”
Job recruiters are also seeing a lot of open positions.
Patrick Gilchrist, Branch Manager for Robert Half locations in the Pittsburgh region, said jobs really started becoming available after the holidays.
“The great news is, the uptick that we saw has been sustained,” he said. “Things are much busier, more job opportunities are out there.”
The recruitment agency specializes in accounting, finance, technology, office administration and certain creative fields.
He said nonprofits and manufacturing jobs are frequently looking for specialized talent. Accounting roles, analyst roles, customer service positions and roles in human resources are all “hot.”
While overall employment numbers remain high, Gilchrist told Channel 11 that it remains a competitive market for those specific specialized jobs.
“We definitely have more job opportunities than we do candidates right now,” Gilchrist said.
Like Shelaske, he suspects COVID-19 fears could be another contributing factor. Right now, the vast majority of roles they’re seeing are those that require candidates to work on-site.
“There are many job seekers out there that don’t have the comfort level of working on-site, full-time,” he said.
With that being the case, he advises that employers consider that a flexible work location will help them land talent in competitive fields. He suggests employers be competitive with compensation and other benefits as well, and recommends that employers try to speed up the hiring process if possible.
As for job seekers, Gilchrist advises candidates to network nonstop, and utilize platforms like LinkedIn to do so. He also suggests that job seekers consider contract opportunities if out of work.
Job seekers can search for and apply for jobs free of charge at roberthalf.com.
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