Introduced in October 2009, the new Florida Bar Career Center is off to a great start.
The Career Center experienced a 76 percent increase in new job postings from December 2009 to January 2010 with 124 employers joining. Career Center staff attributes the drastic increase to the recent jump in employment for Florida’s legal industry and the Career Center’s benefits offered to Florida’s job seekers and employers.
The State of Florida’s Agency for Workforce Innovation reported Florida’s highest unemployment rate for the year at 11.8 percent in December 2009. Despite this figure, Florida’s legal marketplace saw an increase in employment of nearly 800 new jobs from November 2009. If The Florida Bar Career Center’s site usage and traffic is any indication of Florida’s legal job market, then the results look promising.
Since its launch in October 2009, the Career Center has seen steady monthly increases in new job postings and site traffic, with January 2010 marking its largest increase overall. New job postings increased by 76 percent, job views increased 31 percent (from 6,129 to 8,048) and resume searches increased by 229 percent.
The Career Center offers easy-to-use job search and recruitment tools to Florida’s legal community. Job seekers are able to access inside opportunities available only through the Career Center and take advantage of advanced search tools to find the most relevant legal jobs in Florida, set up customized job alerts to stay up-to-date on new opportunities, and even post resumes anonymously to be discovered by employers.
With resume searches up 229 percent, Career Center staff believes its resume search service will be a major contributor to future site usage increases. The Career Center is free for job seekers and provides lower-cost, flexible job posting options for employers. Employers reach a targeted and qualified audience of Florida legal professionals.
“We used The Florida Bar Career Center for the first time this year and received phenomenal response. We were able to present our client with many qualified applicants within a week,” said Alex Silva of Storm Staff.
Employers can quickly post jobs, increase their job posting’s exposure through several e-mail and online options, and can contact a customer service representative for resume access and custom job posting packages.
Career Center staff is optimistic about the future of Florida’s legal job market.
“I’ve been speaking with employers every day since the Career Center launched, and it seems that a large percentage of the law firms and corporations are starting to rebuild their staff now,” said Darlene Murphy, account manager for the Bar Career Center.
“If the Career Center keeps increasing its new job postings at the rate it is now, I think Florida’s legal community will be in good shape for 2010.”
Bar President Jesse Diner believes the Career Center is improving services to Bar members.
“You are the very reason for the Bar’s existence. Consequently, Bar leadership has an obligation to do everything possible to assist in your well-being,” Diner said. “We are trying to help our Bar members, many of whom are suffering through the worst economic conditions most of us have experienced in our lifetimes. I am pleased to say that in the month of January, we had 6,279 total site visits to the Career Center.”
To learn more about The Florida Bar Career Center, visit www.floridabar.org or contact customer service at 866-376-0949, ext. 7083.
– Courtesy Florida Bar News