Demand for accountants, finance, IT professionals rising – survey

MANILA, Philippines - More companies are focusing their hiring activities in the field of accounting and finance over the ever popular sales roles and marketing roles.  In a survey conducted by JobStreet.com, 37 percent of companies indicated their demand for accounting and finance professionals, followed by sales at 35 percent, while IT software and marketing professionals share third place at 21 percent.

While sales, accounting and finance, and marketing have been dominating previous JobStreet.com surveys, it would be the first time that demand for sales professionals has dropped from its top spot. This is also the first time IT professionals has claimed a spot among the top three specializations. 

The trend of new specializations dislodging old ones shows how robust and dynamic the recruitment market has become despite already being in the latter part of the year. Fifty-one percent of employers surveyed said that compared to the same period last year (July to September 2013), employment outlook in their respective industries are better. Only 4 percent of companies forecast worse, while 44 percent expect the employment outlook to remain the same.  

Company expansions are expected to boost hiring activity, with 42 percent of respondent companies looking to grow operations, and thus hire more personnel. Thirty percent claim they would be replacing and filling essential positions, while only 5 percent and even a smaller 3 percent of companies would hire less and would not be hiring at all, respectively.

Despite the optimistic outlook shared by most respondents, there are still challenges in recruitment they have to overcome. Surprisingly, one of the most common obstacles they see is other employers. Respondents claim that with limited talent available, companies looking for people possessing similar skills would need to scramble and compete to get the cream of the crop. Furthermore, companies are further challenged by the availability of qualified talents that they would consider true fits for their vacant positions. As one respondent answered, “The challenge is to look for technically qualified and suitable candidate that fits our environment. We want to see a greater selection and not be limited with applications that we have already seen before.”