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Published Wednesday, March 18, 2009 in Local

E-mail important for today's job search

By Jeff Bishop

The Newnan Times-Herald

Jobs are still out there -- but if you're applying for a job in today's market, you'd better have an e-mail address.

Marche Boykin of the Georgia Department of Labor's Newnan Career Center said that those who admit to feeling uncomfortable around a computer are often the first applicants screened out by employers.

"Your process can end right there," said Boykin at the Wednesday meeting of the Newnan-Peachtree City Area Employer Committee.

T-Mobile is in the process of hiring 111 new second shift employees, she said, but the company expects the applicants to have an e-mail address.

"Go to the library to check your e-mail, if you have to," said Judith Carr, employer committee member.

She said there's no excuse not to be computer literate in today's work environment.

"Eight-year-olds can do it, now," she said. "They can teach mom and dad."

Every resume should have an e-mail address on it, employer committee members said.

Applicants should no longer expect to receive a formal "snail mail" letter asking the applicant to come in for an interview, because "that world is gone," they said.

Help is still wanted, even in a down economy. According to the Associated Press, pharmacists, engineers and nurses are in high demand. Believe it or not, even some banks are hiring -- at least for their technology teams.

While the recession has claimed 4.4 million jobs, the economy has created others, many of them for highly trained and specialized professionals. More than 2 million jobs openings now exist across a range of industries, according to government data.

Broadly, jobs are being added in education, health care and the federal government, the Labor Department said, with the government adding 9,000 new jobs last month alone.

According to the Georgia Department of Labor, Georgia industries and sectors with the most expected job openings during the next two years include food services (17,040 openings), educational services (16,410 openings), administrative and support services (10,050 openings), professional and scientific services (7,790 openings), hospitals (5,420 openings), and ambulatory health care services (6,690 openings).

Job seekers beware, though. An average of nearly five people are competing for each opening. That's up sharply from a ratio of less than 2-to-1 in December 2007, when the recession was just starting and nearly 4 million openings existed. That makes it all the more crucial for applicants to be highly prepared and highly qualified.

Human resources executives say companies that are hiring are benefiting from a top-notch talent pool as applications pour in from a larger base of job seekers. The number of unemployed Americans has soared, to 12.5 million last month, from 7 million when the recession began.

Some companies, such as discount retailers, are actually benefiting from the downturn as shoppers turn thriftier.

For example, the economy has lost more than 600,000 retail jobs since the slowdown began, but discount retailer Family Dollar Stores Inc. is hiring.

The company plans to hire new workers for 200 stores it expects to open this year, said spokesman Josh Braverman, and will also add employees at some of its nine distribution centers. Family Dollar saw its sales at stores open at least a year rise by 6.4 percent in the three months ending in February.

Engineers of all kinds are in demand and are facing a rock-bottom jobless rate of about 3 percent, according to Gilliam of the Adecco Group North America. That compares with a nationwide unemployment rate of 8.1 percent last month.

Other bright spots in an otherwise dismal labor market, according to the AP:

* Pharmacists: An aging U.S. population is taking more medicine and pharmacists are taking more time helping patients with chronic diseases manage their dosages, said Douglas Scheckelhoff of the American Society of Health System Pharmacists.

There is a 6 percent shortage of hospital pharmacists, Scheckelhoff said.

* Nurses: Hospitals also need more nurses to care for the aging population and to replace those nearing retirement, said Cheryl Peterson, director of nursing practice and policy at the American Nurses Association. Hospitals added 7,000 jobs of all kinds last month.

* Veterinarians: "There's a tremendous demand" for veterinarians, particularly to serve livestock growers in rural areas, said Dr. Ron DeHaven, chief executive officer of the American Veterinary Medical Association. The government is also short of veterinarians needed to inspect slaughterhouses and undertake other food safety measures, he said. The Labor Department projects that the number of veterinary jobs will grow by 35 percent by 2016, DeHaven said.

(Information from the Associated Press contributed to this article.)

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