by
2015-02-26
Deloitte’s big hiring spree in Orlando has almost hit 500, or about halfway toward its original goal for its new IT center in Heathrow, according to the company.
“Deloitte’s hiring of technology and other professionals is ahead of schedule,” the company said in a statement attributed to Bonnie Barnes, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP.
The world’s largest accounting firm, Deloitte opened its new U.S. Delivery Center in the Orlando region just a few months ago. The rapid hiring of tech professionals has made an impact on the job market, according to local recruiters.
“The big splash is happening now,” said David Sprinkle, managing partner at Veritas Recruiting. “Without a doubt, wages will inch up as demand tightens.”
Deloitte’s hiring comes on the heels of another big job recruiting wave from Verizon, which also said it was ahead of schedule on hiring about 1,000 people last year, mostly accountants and other business services professionals. The incentive package was based Deloitte saying the jobs would have average salary of $60,520 a year, or about $20,000 more than the average wage in Seminole County.
“Every single IT candidate I speak to is also interviewing at Deloitte,” Sprinkle said. “The hard-to-find people are in that three to five-year window of experience.”
He said the companies are finding qualified people locally, but the market is tightening to that they may be forced to relocate or recruit someone out of another company more in the future.
Deloitte and Verizon’s hiring has been so sudden that it may have helped move the needle on the Orlando metro area’s employment stats last year.
For the Orlando metro region, which includes Sanford and Kissimmee, the rate fell to 5 percent in December, also down from 5.3 percent in November. In Seminole County, where the new Deloitte center is, the rate was 4.5 percent. Over the past year, the metro area’s professional and business services sector added 9,800 new jobs
Deloitte was promised $1.7 million in local and state incentives last August, if it hired 1,000 people in four years.
“We are aggressively hiring in the Orlando market and plan to stay ahead of client needs,” said Barnes, who is also leader of the Lake Mary facility.
The company’s careers website currently shows dozens of positions in the Orlando area, including analysts and engineers.
If they average wage is moving upward for professionals, that is reflected only minimally in national data. In January, after years of stagnant wage growth, average hourly earnings rose by a half a percentage point – a small increase, but the biggest gain in six years.