Human Resources: Annual Study From Robert Half International and CareerBuilder

Menlo Park, Calif., and Chicago, August 25, 2009 The economy has posed
many challenges for businesses including the need to make sure they are
prepared for the upturn. According to a new survey, managers are planning
to hire a combination of workers to support both long- and short-term
initiatives. Fifty-three percent of employers expect to hire full-time
employees over the next 12 months while 40 percent will hire contract,
temporary or project professionals and 39 percent will add part-time
employees.

Now in its fifth year, the Employment Dynamics and Growth Expectations
(EDGE) Report provides an overview of the current employment situation, as
well as a glimpse of the future hiring landscape. The report offers
information on what types of professionals employers will be looking for
when economic conditions improve and the strategies businesses plan to
implement to recruit and retain talent. The EDGE Report is based on an
annual survey by Robert Half International, the world¹s first and largest
specialized staffing firm, and CareerBuilder, the global leader in human
capital solutions. More than 500 hiring managers and 500 workers
participated in the study, which was conducted by International
Communications Research from April 30 to May 31, 2009.

³Companies already are identifying the key skill sets they will need in new
hires to take advantage of the opportunities presented by improving economic
conditions,² said Max Messmer, chairman and CEO of Robert Half
International. ³Firms that cut staffing levels too deeply may need to do
significant rebuilding once the recovery takes hold.²

Where Jobs Will Be Added First
Customer-facing roles are indispensable in good times and bad. In the
current economy, hiring managers consider customer service the function most
critical to their organization¹s success, followed by sales,
marketing/creative and technology. Public relations/communications,
business development and accounting/finance round out the list.

Looking ahead, respondents cited technology, customer service and sales as
the departments that will add positions first. Marketing/creative, business
development, human resources and accounting/finance also were cited.

When the pace of hiring begins to accelerate, entry- and staff-level workers
can expect to benefit the most in terms of new opportunities. Thirty-two
percent of hiring managers plan to hire staff-level professionals, while 28
percent will hire entry-level workers. Companies may be looking to restore
positions affected by layoffs or hiring freezes while continuing to rely on
existing staff to occupy leadership positions.

Because companies are operating with fewer resources, hiring managers
further appreciate the value of team members who can wear many hats. Asked
to identify the most valuable characteristics in an ideal new hire,
employers cited multitasking, initiative and creative problem-solving.

Continued Challenges in Recruitment and the Impact on Compensation
Despite high unemployment rates across the United States and an expanded
pool of available talent, employers continue to report difficulty locating
skilled professionals for open positions. Employers said that, on average,
44 percent of resumes they receive are from unqualified candidates.
Forty-seven percent of hiring managers cited under-qualified applicants as
their most common hiring challenge, followed by the reluctance of qualified
candidates to leave secure positions (22 percent).

As they lay the ground work for growth in their organizations, employers are
open to paying more for hard-to-find talent. Sixty-one percent of hiring
managers said their companies are willing to negotiate higher compensation
for qualified candidates.

What employers are unwilling to do is accelerate the hiring process. The
average time it takes to recruit a new full-time employee is the same range
as this time last year: 4.5 to 14.4 weeks. In addition to spending time
reviewing and screening out a high volume of resumes from unqualified
applicants, employers also are more carefully evaluating those job
candidates who are invited for interviews in order to avoid costly hiring
mistakes.

Holding on to Talent: Money Talks
³As businesses look to the future, they also have to consider how tough
decisions made during the financial crisis have impacted job satisfaction
and loyalty of their current staff members,² said
Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder. ³Fifty-five percent of workers plan to
make a career change, seek out new employers or go back to school once the
economic recovery is underway. In addition to competitive pay and benefits,
showing a committed investment in the professional development of employees
will play a key part in retaining critical talent.²

Nearly half of workers polled (49 percent) said that after the economy
improves, the most effective way to keep them on board will be pay
increases. In fact, 28 percent plan to ask for a raise. Employers seem
amenable, with 40 percent stating that increasing pay will be their primary
method for retaining top performers.

Another 20 percent of employees said they hope for better benefits and perks
once the economy turns around. The top perks workers expect are technology
upgrades, followed by tuition reimbursement or subsidized training.

Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted by International Communications Research on behalf
of Robert Half International and CareerBuilder among more than 500 employers
(employed full-time; have employees who work for them if self-employed;
involvement in hiring decisions) and more than 500 employees (employed
full-time; not self-employed; no involvement in hiring decisions) ages 18
and over within the United States between April 30 and May 31, 2009.

About Robert Half International
Founded in 1948, Robert Half International (NYSE: RHI) is the world¹s first
and largest specialized staffing firm, with more than 360 offices worldwide.
The company¹s professional staffing divisions include Accountemps®, Robert
Half® Finance & Accounting and Robert Half® Management Resources, for
temporary, full-time and senior-level project professionals, respectively,
in the fields of accounting and finance; OfficeTeam®, for highly skilled
office and administrative support professionals; Robert Half® Technology,
for information technology professionals; Robert Half® Legal, for project
and full-time staffing of attorneys, paralegals and legal support personnel;
and The Creative Group®, for creative, advertising, marketing, web and
public relations professionals. For more information about the specialized
staffing and recruitment divisions of Robert Half International, visit
www.rhi.com.

About CareerBuilder®
CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping
companies target and attract their most important asset their people. Its
online career site, CareerBuilder.com®, is the largest in the United States
with more than 23 million unique visitors, 1 million jobs and 32 million
resumes. CareerBuilder works with the world¹s top employers, providing
resources for everything from employment branding and data analysis to
talent acquisition. More than 9,000 websites, including 140 newspapers and
broadband portals such as MSN and AOL, feature CareerBuilder¹s proprietary
job search technology on their career sites. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc.
(NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company, The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI) and Microsoft
Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the
United States, Europe, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit
www.careerbuilder.com.