Leading Question

Without a doubt. The slight rise in unemployment is bringing in more applicants, and with a higher level of professionalism and experience than employers say they’ve seen in the past few years, when the rate hovered around 3 percent or even lower in Southwest Florida.

Statewide, unemployment rose from 3.2 percent in September 2006 to 4 percent a year later. The rates were higher in Lee County, with 5.2 percent; Collier, with 5.3 percent; and Charlotte, with 5.9 percent. The national figure was 4.7 percent.

"We’ve seen a dramatic change. From our point of view, we were kind of in an unhealthy position as companies because the unemployment rate was way too low," says Peter Seif, president of Synergy Networks in Fort Myers. "We had a very difficult time getting qualified sales professionals and other positions that we were hiring for at the time."

A year ago, Synergy Networks would receive five applicants, at most, for a position. Typically half of the interviews were no-shows. Now, when Seif places an ad on Web sites such as www
­.careerbuilder.com, he receives 20 to 30 resumes from job-seekers in and outside of Southwest Florida. And every applicant shows up for the interview.

Candidates who wouldn’t have been available a year ago are on the job hunt now, says Bank of Naples president Bob Guididas. He snapped up a new senior lending official, for example, because of downsizing elsewhere. "It has certainly made it easier to hire employees," Guididas says. "I was looking to fill the senior lending position for quite some time. It would have involved a headhunter and big fee."

Many job seekers are victims of the slow housing market. Seif says they comprise about 60 percent of Synergy’s job candidates.

At Platinum Total Fabricare in Naples, human resources manager Carolle Dukes is seeing applicants coming from the housing and construction fields. She’s also recently seen more nurses and nurse assistants seeking jobs with a less rigorous pace. "Some of them are new CNAs [certified nurse assistants], with two years’ experience, but just not able to cope with the stress," she says.

That’s a change from the past few years, when she was recruiting candidates in a variety of ways, including using such job Web sites as www.militarycandidates.com.

Platinum, which caters to a high-end clientele, is bulking up its staff. A second location, in Bonita Springs, opened this past spring, leading to a net of five new positions this year. Dukes was happy to have at least 20 applications on her desk in late September.

Employers, remembering the scenario not so long ago, are taking advantage of the good times.

"It was very, very difficult to find any quality employees at that point. We [had] to basically pay above market in order to get good people. That’s all changed now," says Guididas. "It’s making it easier for us to approach the people we want."