The beginning of a new fiscal year is a lot like the beginning of a new calendar year. You reflect on the previous year and look ahead to the coming year.
For LRS Consulting Services, our fiscal year began August 1, so we’ve been assessing our business.
Like many of our customers, we were having a great fiscal year before the COVID-19 pandemic forced shutdowns and brought the economy to a standstill. We saw so many of our customers close their offices and send employees and consultants home to work remotely.
Of course, we didn’t really “see” these things firsthand, because one of steps we took to fight the pandemic was eliminating face-to-face meetings. But we’ve kept in close contact with all of our customers by using all of the available tools, including phone calls, text messages, email, and video conferencing.
As we look ahead to our new fiscal year, FY21, we’re all hoping for good news. Our friends at TechServe Alliance came through with a nugget of good news in the July jobs report from the Department of Labor.
“After two consecutive months of significant drops in excess of one percent, the rate of decline in IT employment slowed in July. While still notable, the July decline of 0.47% appears to suggest IT employment is stabilizing,” observed Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. “As a sector, IT and engineering continue to fare better than the general workforce.”
There was also news about optimism among small and medium businesses, which arrived in the results of a survey reported by HRDive.com. “While the coronavirus pandemic has challenged many businesses, small- and medium-sized organizations are optimistic about economic recovery, with 54% of surveyed business leaders planning to hire full-time employees in 2020.”
And in a video, Andrew Crapuchettes, CEO of the labor market analytics firm Emsi, pointed out that job postings in July were 3% higher than they were in the pre-COVID period of January and February. He also noted that 33 states saw as many or more job postings in July as they did before the pandemic.
Right now, though, we’re interested in your perspective. What do you see in your business going forward? What plans do you have for hiring and dealing with a post-pandemic world?
After all, our goal never changes: Placing the right IT and engineering talent with the right companies for the right fit. We’re committed to meet every challenge the new year presents.
We’re always interested in finding out what you think, so we’ve sent out email invitations for you to answer a brief survey. It’s easy to fill out and submit, and it will give us a better insight into what you’re facing each day. Especially during such a difficult and unusual year.