What Employment Gains May Be Saying About Admins & Secretaries

America has near record 5.6 million job openings, an ABC news article reported this week.

Delaware had the largest two-year employment gain in state history.The total number of employed residents in DE increased in December to 447,400, up from 444,700 in November and 431,700 last year.

This is good right?

Joseph Fuller, a Harvard Business School professor explained to ABC, “the number of job openings could be a reflection of companies not finding the right candidates. Many Americans don’t have the skills that those available jobs require. It’s called the job skills gap, and it has become a serious problem in the U.S.”

He continues to point out some examples of how the workforce demand does not align with the skills that are available, “About 65% of job postings for secretaries who work for executives. But those require a college degree. Among current executive secretaries, only 19% have college degrees… That gap between reality and expectations has widened.”

In Delaware, there are a lot of Administrative Assistant, Executive Assistant and Legal Secretary jobs available — both direct hire and temporary opportunities. After reviewing postings on Indeed.com, Executive Assistant roles tend to require a Bachelors degree, while Administrative Assistants and Legal Secretary job requirements are more varied including, High School Diploma/GED, Associates, Bachelors or related experience.

Placers Area Lead (and Staffing Specialist), Zach Werde explains the variety in the Delaware temp admin jobs we see at Placers. “Typically for a general Office Admin, a GED or High School Degree plus some professional admin experience would be on point. Most Legal Admins or Legal Secretary jobs we see require an Associates Degree or higher, plus some sort of certification, like a Paralegal Certification for example. Then you have Executive Assistants, which vary in level depending on who the executive is and what type of support is needed, and means that the requirements will greatly differ.  We see some that are more like the general Office Admin jobs all the way up to ones that require Bachelors Degrees and a lot of demonstrated, high-level experience.”

If you’re not finding jobs appropriate for your education and experience, OR if you’re not finding qualified candidates,  drop us a line to discuss. We’ll dig into the why.