by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
“Are you experienced?”
That question used to send shivers through young job applicants when they entered the workforce. But those clammy-handed youngsters now have reason to feel confident according to state labor statistics and area workforce analysts.
In 2005, more than half the jobs available in Duval County didn’t require previous work experience, according to a study by the state’s Agency for Workforce Innovation. About one in five jobs required 1 to 2 years of experience.
Jobs available at the extreme ends of the workforce pay scale are the least likely to require experience in their hires. Candace Moody, vice president of communications for regional workforce development organization WorkSource, said high-paying jobs like pharmacist are often filled by candidates coming straight out of college. Jobs at the low-wage end of the spectrum are also willing to let their hires learn on the job, she said. It’s the jobs in the middle, many of them involving computers, that won’t budge from the experience requirement.
“There’s a sort of fuzzy in-between. Nobody wants to hire a network administrator for their first day on the job,” said Moody.
But in a tight labor market, even employers with experience on their wish list might have to settle for less. Duval County’s unemployment bottomed out at 3.7 percent in November. That’s a 1 percent drop from the same time last year and 1.3 percent below the 5 percent threshold that economists usually refer to as “full employment.”
Employers have complained to Moody about the shrinking supply of labor locally. Some have run classified ads without receiving a single response, she said. As the demand for labor grows, employers are willing to relax some of their hiring requirements, she said.
“The market for labor and talent is very tight in the region. Sometimes employers have to bite the bullet and invest in someone’s early work experience,” she said. “It’s much to the advantage of new college grads and military members transitioning to civilian life.”
Without years of work experience to list on a resume, college students can bolster their chances for landing a job by taking advantage of the internship and vocational programs that have flourished on campus, said Moody.
In 2002, Florida Community College of Jacksonville responded to employer requests for more experienced students by requiring internships for all of its degree programs.
The school now has 21,000 students enrolled in internships or similar co-op programs with area employers. The emphasis on blending real world experience with classroom training has kept FCCJ graduates’ paychecks rising, said Jim Simpson, the school’s vice president of workforce development.
FCCJ graduates earn an average of $32,865 annually compared to $24,000 in 2001.
And the training pays off in other ways, said Simpson. The programs give students a sneak peek at the job and work environment they’re headed toward. By relieving some of the shock that new workers feel when they jump from college to the workforce, the training programs create more professional employees from day one, he said.
“They find out that people have to work in teams, that you need to work with people,” said Simpson. “Basically you’re taking some of the skill sets they learn out of the classroom and showing them how those skills relate to the actual workplace.”