Jones Lang LaSalle
Turnover keeps area stores hiring;other sectors iffy
BY TIM O'REILEY DAILY RECORD
People hunting for retailing jobs should have plenty to choose from by applying to big companies.
But in other professions, the prospects are iffier.
The major chain stores among the Fortune domestic or global 500 companies with at least 100 employees in Morris County report constantly going over applications, although in many instances for part-time or seasonal positions.
Still, the high turnover in the sector opens up full-time work as well.
While a new shopping center in Riverdale, anchored by Wal-Mart, Linens-n-Things and Pier One Imports, will create several hundred fresh jobs, the growth potential of retail work is limited by the constraints on new retail construction in Morris County.
Among the companies that fill office parks, only a few raised the prospect of bulking up their headcounts, mainly in nonexecutive positions. Nevertheless, job market experts report the hiring pace at large companies has picked up in recent months.
EchoStar Communications, owner of the Dish Network satellite TV service, plans to boost the number of people at its multilingual service center in the Pine Brook section of Montville from 450 to as many as 600.
Barclays Capital, the investment division of British banking giant Barclays PLC, predicts that it will add 10 percent to 15 percent to the 500 people it now employs at its operations and technology hub in Hanover.
However, among companies that furnished projections, most expect to remain stable during 2006.
Stability would be a step forward for companies such as BASF, Lucent Technologies and the Kraft Foods subsidiary of Altria, which have shed hundreds of jobs in the past few years in the wake of disappointing sales.
Others have kept a tight lid on expenses even as their prospects improve.
Honeywell International, wich "anticipates a strong 2006 -- both operationally and financially," spokesman Rob Ferris said, nevertheless will stay at about 1,150 people at its headquarters campus in Morris Township.
The company will fill vacancies as they arise, however.
Verizon Communications has started moving 3,000 people to its new operations center in the former AT&T headquarters in the Basking Ridge section of Bernards.
On the other end of the spectrum, large question marks hang over AT&T, which gave its local payroll at slightly more than 3,000 more than a year ago but no longer divulges the number.
AT&T was taken over last year by San Antonio-based SBC Communications, which moved the headquarters from Bedminster to Texas. The company has not commented on what changes could be coming.
Cendant Corp. will have to sort through its plan to break the company into four pieces at midyear, creating three new publicly traded companies based in Parsippany.
The company has not said how this would affect its 3,795 employees there, although many will stay in place, with new company names on their paychecks.
Pfizer, which has about 4,000 employees in Morris and Somerset counties, is going through a companywide downsizing that it has labeled adjusting to scale.
Already, the company has decided to close its 490-employee packaging plant in Parsippany -- a fixture since the 1950s.
In addition, Pfizer has reported budget cuts at its consumer products division head office in Morris Plains. About 1,700 people now work there, down from the 2,500 in mid-2005, but spokesman Tom Sanford said that was due to people temporarily moved during the construction work going on at the campus.
He would not give specifics on recent or potential layoffs, except to say that "some Pfizer employees will lose their jobs" as a result of "adapting to scale," the in-house name for the companywide drive to slash annual operating costs by $4 billion.
Weak spots aside, employment professionals generally like what they see.
"Particularly when you contrast it to the kind of nuclear winter we had a couple of years ago, hiring is fairly robust," said Richard Arons, who heads the Princeton office of the executive recruiting firm Korn/Ferry International. "I would say large-company hiring is just as active or more active than smaller companies'."
However, he acknowledged that large pharmaceutical companies -- a big source of employment in Morris County --"are going through a bit of rethinking right now."
Among the handful of large-company clients of Parsippany-based Carnegie Associates, which specializes in technology-oriented job placement, "there are just as many openings as we see at medium-sized companies," said manager Larry Wagner.
Turnover keeps area stores hiring;other sectors iffy
BY TIM O'REILEY DAILY RECORD
People hunting for retailing jobs should have plenty to choose from by applying to big companies.
But in other professions, the prospects are iffier.
The major chain stores among the Fortune domestic or global 500 companies with at least 100 employees in Morris County report constantly going over applications, although in many instances for part-time or seasonal positions.
Still, the high turnover in the sector opens up full-time work as well.
While a new shopping center in Riverdale, anchored by Wal-Mart, Linens-n-Things and Pier One Imports, will create several hundred fresh jobs, the growth potential of retail work is limited by the constraints on new retail construction in Morris County.
Among the companies that fill office parks, only a few raised the prospect of bulking up their headcounts, mainly in nonexecutive positions. Nevertheless, job market experts report the hiring pace at large companies has picked up in recent months.
EchoStar Communications, owner of the Dish Network satellite TV service, plans to boost the number of people at its multilingual service center in the Pine Brook section of Montville from 450 to as many as 600.
Barclays Capital, the investment division of British banking giant Barclays PLC, predicts that it will add 10 percent to 15 percent to the 500 people it now employs at its operations and technology hub in Hanover.
However, among companies that furnished projections, most expect to remain stable during 2006.
Stability would be a step forward for companies such as BASF, Lucent Technologies and the Kraft Foods subsidiary of Altria, which have shed hundreds of jobs in the past few years in the wake of disappointing sales.
Others have kept a tight lid on expenses even as their prospects improve.
Honeywell International, wich "anticipates a strong 2006 -- both operationally and financially," spokesman Rob Ferris said, nevertheless will stay at about 1,150 people at its headquarters campus in Morris Township.
The company will fill vacancies as they arise, however.
Verizon Communications has started moving 3,000 people to its new operations center in the former AT&T headquarters in the Basking Ridge section of Bernards.
On the other end of the spectrum, large question marks hang over AT&T, which gave its local payroll at slightly more than 3,000 more than a year ago but no longer divulges the number.
AT&T was taken over last year by San Antonio-based SBC Communications, which moved the headquarters from Bedminster to Texas. The company has not commented on what changes could be coming.
Cendant Corp. will have to sort through its plan to break the company into four pieces at midyear, creating three new publicly traded companies based in Parsippany.
The company has not said how this would affect its 3,795 employees there, although many will stay in place, with new company names on their paychecks.
Pfizer, which has about 4,000 employees in Morris and Somerset counties, is going through a companywide downsizing that it has labeled adjusting to scale.
Already, the company has decided to close its 490-employee packaging plant in Parsippany -- a fixture since the 1950s.
In addition, Pfizer has reported budget cuts at its consumer products division head office in Morris Plains. About 1,700 people now work there, down from the 2,500 in mid-2005, but spokesman Tom Sanford said that was due to people temporarily moved during the construction work going on at the campus.
He would not give specifics on recent or potential layoffs, except to say that "some Pfizer employees will lose their jobs" as a result of "adapting to scale," the in-house name for the companywide drive to slash annual operating costs by $4 billion.
Weak spots aside, employment professionals generally like what they see.
"Particularly when you contrast it to the kind of nuclear winter we had a couple of years ago, hiring is fairly robust," said Richard Arons, who heads the Princeton office of the executive recruiting firm Korn/Ferry International. "I would say large-company hiring is just as active or more active than smaller companies'."
However, he acknowledged that large pharmaceutical companies -- a big source of employment in Morris County --"are going through a bit of rethinking right now."
Among the handful of large-company clients of Parsippany-based Carnegie Associates, which specializes in technology-oriented job placement, "there are just as many openings as we see at medium-sized companies," said manager Larry Wagner.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 10:48 AM
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