.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Greater Des Moines is growing, attracting and retaining more and more local and national businesses. That means a lot of high-level positions must be filled.

“There is a big demand for skilled candidates,” said Jim Bruno, an executive recruiter for Midwest Search Group LLC. “You just can’t find the people. It is like in your college economics class learning about supply and demand. We have a demand here, right now.”

Midwest Search Group and other executive placement firms are benefiting from that demand, having captured much of the market once dominated by print advertisements.

“Things are changing in the marketplace,” said Bob Gates, president of Executive Resources Ltd. “You used to place an advertisement in the paper, even for management and upper-level positions. With 3.9 percent unemployment (in Iowa as of August 2007) and the labor pool tightening up, applicants may be unemployed, disgruntled and not quite qualified for the listed positions. Companies come to (executive placement services) when they cannot find people in the newspaper or on their own.”

Employers need options, and so do job seekers.

“Looking for a job of that stature is difficult. … You do not find openings for a CEO, or something with six figures and benefits, in the classifieds anymore,” said Jeff Daleske, senior staffing consultant for DES Staffing Services Inc. and director of its new program, HR2GO. “Usually people go through headhunters or staffing agencies.”

Executive placement firms dot the Greater Des Moines map and work to bridge the gap between corporations and the work force. They evaluate the qualifications of the job candidates, determine the culture and expectations of the companies and help fill vacancies at businesses throughout the community.

“The local market is inundated with staffing services,” Daleske said.

Employment needs are satisfied through diverse employment options in Central Iowa. Recruiting, networking, building relationships and referrals are used to fill higher-level openings through executive placement services. The candidate and corporation both have needs, and executive placement services receive demands from both.

Services such as Executive Resources are generally approached by corporations with a need or opening.

After learning about the criteria and the company culture, Executive Resources uses a structured search process and networking to find a match between a potential job applicant and the business, Gates said.

Midwest Search Group works with both job candidates who are working but looking for better opportunities and businesses with openings. Building relationships, rather than regarding each placement as a transaction, is the objective for Midwest Search Group, Bruno said.

Firms such as Palmer Group find the middle ground, fulfilling the broad needs of both the employing companies and job seekers alike. Austin Palmer, president of Palmer Group, believes that the breadth of service, from outplacement to permanent placement, makes his company unique.

DES Staffing Service recently launched a new division called HR2GO to better meet the needs of the community and provide a service to job seekers. HR2GO provides a “one-stop shop” from preparation to placement for people looking for high-level positions.

“There are some that have services that help prepare job seekers with interview tips, updating resumes and confidence building; others do the job searching and place the candidate,” Daleske said. “HR2GO is a combination of both, a complete service.”

Beyond meeting the needs of employees and companies alike, the employment services support the growth of Central Iowa.

“Wells Fargo (& Co.) could choose anywhere for company growth, and they chose (Greater) Des Moines,” Palmer said. “Aviva (plc) could have chosen anywhere to go for company growth, and they chose here. Nationwide (Mutual Insurance Co.) has grown since they bought Allied (Insurance). DuPont (E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.) has grown since buying Pioneer (Hi-Bred International Inc.). These are large, national companies that could have gone anywhere, and they chose here.”

Palmer said Central Iowa residents are a selling point for companies to come to the area.

“There is a high-quality work force with strong interpersonal skills and work habits that helped companies choose to have a presence here,” Palmer said.

The strength of the local economy creates employment opportunities in the Des Moines area, but there must be enough potential employees to fill those jobs.

“The economy in Des Moines is good,” Bruno said. “With financial and insurance companies there is a demand for skilled people. We do not have a lot of manufacturing here; that usually goes early when the economy turns.”

Though Des Moines is a hub for insurance and finance, there are plenty of options in fields such as agribusiness and real estate. “Des Moines is well positioned as a diverse marketplace from an employee standpoint,” Palmer said, and that diversity helps Central Iowa withstand economic downturns.

The housing slump has not yet affected the number of candidates seeking employment through the Palmer Group.

“I have not seen a large influx of candidates because of the slowdown in housing and the residential market, partly because there is a gradual slowdown here in Iowa compared to the other large markets like California and Arizona,” Palmer said. “There could be a slight effect, but nothing significant.”

Age, retirement of the current work force and relocation of younger generations are concerns for Bruno.

“As large amounts of the population begin to retire, there will be voids in key positions,” Bruno said. “We need to do a better job of keeping the younger, educated people around. More and more of them are leaving the state.”

“As a result,” Palmer said, “there will be a lot of employment opportunities for young workers in Iowa and the Greater Des Moines area.”

Though Central Iowa leaders have taken steps to bring more potential employees here and keep younger generations, Bruno believes even more needs to be done.

Companies, schools and organizations, such as the Iowa Department of Economic Development, are working to spread the news about the quality of life and opportunities found in Iowa.

“We have really started to market the Des Moines area better,” Gates said. “It has always been a great place to be, but we never told anybody about it.”