If you are a legal professional looking for a job, chances are you are going to have a good third quarter.
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n a report releasted today by Robert Half, 50 per cent of executives interviewed plan to add to the number of full-time employees who are legal professionals in the third quarter of 2011. Only one per cent plan to downsize. The data comes from the latest
Robert Half Professional Employment Report.
“Lawyers, law clerks, paralegals, and legal support staff are the positions in the greatest demand for the third quarter,” says the report. “A net 49 per cent of lawyers at law firms and corporations surveyed indicated they are likely to increase hiring in the third quarter of 2011. Most of the hiring is expected at law firms.”
Legal hiring will outpace all other professions examined in the report, like accounting and finance, advertising and marketing, human resources, IT, and sales and business development.
When all professions are grouped together, 15 per cent of executives expect to increase jobs in the third quarter and one per cent expect a decline.
Survey respondents included 150 lawyers (split between law firms and in-house counsel); more than 270 chief financial officers; 270 chief information officers; 150 senior human resources managers, 50 advertising executives, and 200 marketing executives, all of whom have hiring authority.
Overall it’s good news for the Canadian economy, according to the report, as 79 per cent of executives are at least somewhat confident in their organisations’ ability to grow in the third quarter.
“Although some firms remain conservative in their hiring outlook, augmenting staff levels for others is becoming necessary when trying to meet added consumer demand,” says Kathryn Bolt, district president of Robert Half Canada. “Increased business activity and economic factors are stimulating hiring in many industries.”
The Professional Employment Report is the first quarterly executive survey of its size and scope to concentrate exclusively on professional-level hiring.
