With the addition of a new office and the potential for even more growth, the Novo Group continues to create recruiting jobs in Pennsylvania and at its other locations as well.

Novo is a national company headquartered in Milwaukee, WI with offices in Chicago and St. Louis and a remote workforce in Arizona, California, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

The Novo Group is a managed recruitment services firm that recruits mid- to executive-level professionals.

The company said it has been growing quickly, having experienced 67% growth last year. In 2011, Novo recruiters filled over 500 professional positions at an average cost per hire of only 11% and 50% were passive candidates.

Then the company said it has opened an office in St. Louis, Missouri.

Steve Williams has joined the company as Business Development Director and will be responsible for growing and cultivating client relationships within St. Louis and surrounding areas.

“Opening up an office in St. Louis was a natural choice given the robust large middle-market companies and need for strong technology talent,” said Cindy Lu, president and CEO of The Novo Group. “The addition of Williams and the opening of the St. Louis office continues to allow Novo to expand its services and provide new opportunities for businesses located in the mid-west.”

“Novo has a unique recruiting model driven by its understanding that in order to attract and retain top talent, clients need proactive strategies and processes along with world class recruiters who work with them every step of the way,” said Williams. “I am excited to work with such a collaborative and innovative company.”

According to recent labor market information, Maryland has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation and has recently added transportation jobs.

Maryland added 1,500 jobs in March. March was the seventh straight month of job growth; additionally, February’s preliminary gain of 8,000 jobs was revised upward to 9,600 jobs.
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With the addition of a new office, Preferred Home Health Care And Nursing Services is adding more healthcare jobs in Pennsylvania.

The company made the announcement this week and said this is the second office it has opened in PA.

This office, located on Street Road in Bensalem, will be able to service all of Bucks County.

Preferred Home Health Care & Nursing Services is accredited by CHAP, the leading accrediting organization for the home health care industry, which has publicly certified Preferred Home Health Care as voluntarily achieving the highest standards of excellence for home- based health care.

PHHC collaborates closely with hospitals and doctors fostering relationships to help ensure patients receive quality home health care.

They have been doing so for over 25 years.

“We are excited to continue our expansion in Pennsylvania,” Jonathan Herman, Chief Operating Officer of PHHC noted. “This new location will complement our Bala Cynwyd office while expanding our geographic coverage to service even more families.”

The company said they expect the office will create hundreds of jobs.

Many household name-employers are planning on attending a job fair in order to hire veterans for Virginia jobs.

These companies will participate in the Corporate Gray Military-to-Civilian Job Fair at the Virginia Beach Convention Center on Friday, April 20th. This military-friendly event, sponsored by Corporate Gray, is especially for separating, retiring, former, or retired military personnel of all ranks and services, including current and former members of the military reserves and National Guard, and their family members seeking employment.

Corporate Gray, a military-to-civilian transition firm, indicates that the companies attending this event are committed to hiring veterans because each employer has paid a registration fee to meet military job seekers who may attend for free. These companies value the military training, experience, and skills that veterans bring to the workplace. After a previous Corporate Gray Job Fair, a Lockheed Martin recruiter indicated “On a scale of 1 (low) to 5 (high), candidate fit was a 5.”

Carl Savino, President of Corporate Gray, said, “The men and women leaving the Armed Forces have skills which are directly transferable to the civilian work world. Employers can find disciplined, motivated team players and leaders who want to learn the mission and work together to accomplish it. They want trained and experienced personnel and they need employees who adapt well to change, as all military members do when they take on new assignments.” Defense contractors and government agencies can also find candidates with active DoD security clearances and people who have experience with specific defense systems.

According to the most recent stats from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, administrative jobs in Pennsylvania, are quite possibly on the rise.

In March, within leisure and hospitality, employment in food services and drinking places rose by 37,000 in March and has risen by 563,000 since a recent low point in February 2010.

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 120,000 in March. In the prior 3 months, payroll employment had risen by an average of 246,000 per month. Private-sector employment grew by 121,000 in March, including gains in manufacturing, food services and drinking places, and health care. Retail trade lost jobs over the month. Government employment was essentially unchanged.

Employment in professional and business services continued to trend up in March (+31,000). Employment in the industry has grown by 1.4 million since a recent low point in September 2009. In March, services to buildings and dwellings added 23,000 jobs. Employment in temporary help services was about unchanged over the month after increasing by 55,000 in February.

Retail trade employment fell by 34,000 in March. A large job loss in general merchandise stores (-32,000) and small losses in other retail industries more than offset gains in health and personal care stores (+6,000) and in building material and garden supply stores (+5,000).

Safeway workers gathered this week to protest about Maryland jobs and one company’s actions.

Safeway workers held protests in front of three pop-up storefront hiring halls set up next to company stores to recruit and train so-called “replacement workers” to staff the supermarkets in the event of a work stoppage.

The workers — members of United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400 — also condemned management intimidation of employees for exercising their free speech rights to express their views on bargaining and what they want in a new contract. The current collective bargaining agreement expires March 31.

“Safeway is earning record profits and sitting on a pile of $180.5 billion in cash, yet rather than share the fruits of our labor with the workers who made their success possible, the company is trying to drive down our members’ economic standing — in many cases, even below the poverty level,” said Local 400 President Tom McNutt.

“Management might think that setting up scab hiring halls right next to the stores where our members work will intimidate them into accepting a contract that puts the American dream far beyond their reach, but instead it’s had the opposite effect,” McNutt said. “We are more united than ever and more dedicated to doing whatever it takes to ensure that retail jobs in the Washington, DC, area create a ladder to the middle class with health and retirement security.”

Janney has announced an expansion and the hiring of several people for financial jobs in Pennsylvania.

The wealth management, financial services and investment banking firm headquartered in Philadelphia, Pa., has recruited advisor teams from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MSSB) with combined client assets of $380 million. Both teams, who also service clients together, will work from Janney’s Aiken, South Carolina office, a satellite of the Atlanta, Georgia branch office, and report to Jeffrey Paulsen, Senior Vice President/Branch Manager.

The new employees in the Aiken office include:

– Peter E. Sampson, Senior Vice President/Wealth Management

– Kenneth P. Wiland, Sr., First Vice President/Wealth Management

– R. Morgan Purvis, Financial Advisor

– Kathy Roberts, Registered Private Client Assistant

– Mary Ann Barrett, Registered Private Client Assistant

“The hiring of these team members in Aiken expands our already substantial presence in the Southern region, building upon our tradition of serving investors through experienced Financial Advisors in convenient locations,” said Jerry Lombard, president of the firm’s Private Client Group. “We are excited to bring these experienced and respected professionals serving the Aiken community to Janney, and look forward to the many great relationships that will continue to develop as a result.”

The expansion of Avison Young could potentially create more property management jobs in Maryland.

The company just acquired Realty Management Company, a Bethesda, Maryland-based real estate firm that provides property management, facility management and engineering services.

The commercial real estate services company said the merger expands Avison Young’s market and business line coverage in the Metro Washington area. The change in ownership adds 37 employees to Avison Young’s Washington, DC-area operations. Effective immediately Donna B. Kay, President of Realty Management Company, becomes a Principal of Avison Young.

The newest American office marks Avison Young’s 11th location outside of Canada, the company’s third Metropolitan Washington location, and the next step in the firm’s expansion strategy. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Over the past three years, Avison Young has grown from 11 to, now, 28 offices in 25 markets and from 300 to more than 900 real estate professionals across Canada and the U.S.

The acquisition will add 2 million square feet to Avison Young’s approximately 50 million square feet (msf) of retail, industrial and office properties under management in Canada and the U.S.

“We are pleased to have Donna and her highly regarded team join Avison Young in our rapidly-growing DC Metro Region - a key market for us. Once again, we are adding individuals who are respected for their leadership and who will be tremendous additions to our Principal-led organization,” comments Rose. “We are committed to providing our clients with a full range of real estate services, including best-in-class property management. As well, Bethesda is a core business center in Metropolitan Washington and a location from which we can strategically expand Avison Young into Suburban Maryland.”

Many companies are actively seeking individuals for IT jobs in Washington, according to a new survey.

During January 2012, more than 18,000 job ads were posted online that required data analysis skills, according to WANTED Analytics, a source of business intelligence for the talent marketplace.

With the amount of data generated by businesses growing every year, hiring demand for employees to analyze and utilize this information is increasing across business functions. Overall, the volume of job ads in January 2012 increased 35% compared to January 2011 and about 75% versus the same month in 2010.

Computer Systems Analysts, Management Analysts, and Market Research Analysts were the three occupations that most commonly required this critical skill set. Computer Systems Analysts saw the most job ads with data analysis requirements - more than 3,600 jobs were posted online during January at a 45% year-over-year increase. Other positions with high-demand for analytical skills were Software Engineers, Industrial Engineers, and Operations Research Analysts. All of these occupations experienced an increase in hiring demand when compared to January 2011.

Metropolitan areas with the highest volume of job listings for in-depth analytical skills during January 2012 were New York (New York), Washington (DC), San Francisco (California), Los Angeles (California), and Boston (Massachusetts). Employers in New York not only placed the highest number of online job ads for this skill set, but are also experiencing one of the highest year-over-year increases in demand at more than 50%.

Companies that are sourcing candidates with data analytics abilities are likely to find openings difficult-to-recruit. According to the Hiring Scale, companies in San Francisco are currently experiencing more difficult conditions when recruiting candidates with analytical backgrounds. Hiring demand in San Francisco continues to grow (up about 23% compared to January 2011), while the local talent pool of qualified data-savvy professionals is not growing at the same pace. Employers in this area are likely to compete heavily to attract qualified talent and experience a longer time-to-fill than other areas across the United States. In comparison, the Hiring Scale also shows that the best markets for recruiting analytical skills are St. Joseph (Missouri), El Paso (Texas), and Tucson (Arizona). These areas are likely to fill job openings faster than the rest of the United States, since hiring demand is low compared to the available talent supply.

GE, which specializes in solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance, announced this week a big push to hire veterans for jobs in Pennsylvania, among other locations around the U.S.

The company unveiled a program aimed at strengthening America’s global competitiveness by building a more highly skilled workforce, lowering healthcare costs and supporting the integration of the nation’s veterans into the workforce.

As part of its focus on what works, GE will launch several new programs throughout the year, including:

· New pilot programs with partners to improve healthcare delivery in Louisville, KY, and Erie, PA, to achieve better health at lower costs in each community. This follows a successful program in Cincinnati that has resulted in significantly lower costs for both local employers and providers while improving access and maintaining quality care.

· Hiring 5,000 U.S. veterans over the next five years and sponsoring a “Hire our Heroes” partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to help veterans integrate into the civilian workforce and match them to jobs.

· Opening several manufacturing skill-building centers called “GE Garages” to spark interest in skills for jobs and partnering with GOOD/Corps on the What Works Project, a new interactive platform to highlight what works by inviting the public to submit stories, images or video depictions of what is currently driving American competitiveness. The project will award up to $10,000 each week through November to selected non-profit organizations that support American jobs and skills training.

· Doubling the number of GE engineering interns to more than 5,000 as part of an initiative proposed by the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness to add 10,000 more engineering graduates a year in the U.S.