Employees in the environmental market may be among the few groups that are hurting, thanks to a sluggish market and the merger mania among firms in that market. This means a lot of experienced people end up in the job market, he says. In bad times, firms look for people who can get the work. But now, there's a need for managerial-talent people who have run divisional offices or profit centers or who have delivered a project on time and under budget. The need for project executives who can deliver jobs on time and under budget is particularly acute among the big engineer-constructors.
Bonuses continue to grow.
Another growing trend is the signing bonus. More companies are using signing bonuses as a recruitment incentive for a wider group of employees. But signing bonuses no longer are the domain of the top executives. Often, signing bonuses are used to encourage a quick decision from a promising candidate. That's hard to resist.