RESTON, Va., Feb. 14, 2006 - Nearly half of job candidates believe the
job market will improve in 2006 - and 33 percent of job seekers are
ready to get out of their current job as soon as it does! That's
according to a survey by TrueCareers, the leading online job board for
finding professional, degreed candidates quickly and easily.
Similar surveys conducted previously found that 60 percent of job
candidates in 2005 and nearly half of respondents in 2004 believed the
job market would either stay the same or get worse those years. More
than two thirds of respondents had low expectations for job growth in
2003.
This year's survey finds that an overwhelming 79 percent of the
survey respondents are planning to look for a job in the coming year.
Nearly 28 percent of those individuals are seeking employment because
they are currently unemployed, while another 28 percent are looking for
better pay or benefits, and 30 percent are seeking a better work
environment and opportunities to grow. Of those that are job hunting,
less than half have been looking for more than six months.
Of the respondents who are currently employed, roughly one fifth have
considered leaving their current job before securing another position.
However, nearly half of total job candidates have been forced to take a
"survival job," either a part time or hourly position, to pay their
bills. More than half of those individuals think it will take them more
than three months to find another job.
"It is positive to see that job seekers have more faith in the job
market this year," said Cecelia Dwyer, president of TrueCareers.
"Employees have expectations of what they want in a job and we hope
employers can deliver on those expectations as the market improves."
The survey, conducted on www.TrueCareers.com during January 2006, is
part of a monthly survey series for job candidates and employers on a
variety of timely career-related topics. For more information about
TrueCareers, individuals can visit www.TrueCareers.com.
About TrueCareers
TrueCareers is the leading online job board for finding educated,
diverse candidates quickly and easily. As a division of Sallie Mae, the
nation's No. 1 paying-for-college company, TrueCareers is uniquely
positioned to source the Sallie Mae database of loan borrowers and offer
these highly desirable candidates to leading employers. TrueCareers
received a 2004 and 2005 WEDDLE's User's Choice Award and was named
to CAREERXROADS's most recent 50 Best of the Best List. TrueCareers
follows Sallie Mae's privacy policy and does not disclose personal
information to third parties. For more information, visit
www.TrueCareers.com or call 1-800-441-4062. SLM Corporation and its
subsidiaries are not sponsored by or agencies of the United States.
Erica Eriksdotter
Media Specialist, Corporate Communications
Sallie Mae
12061 Bluemont Way
Reston, VA 20190
T: 703-984-5628
Erica.Eriksdotter[at]SallieMae.com