With more profits comes more growth, and one firm is creating several more sales jobs in Jacksonville.

W&O, a supplier of marine valves, pipe, fittings, engineered products, valve automation and data management systems has created six regional management positions for a more strategic approach to the marketplace. These positions will provide more direct senior-level leadership in working with its customer base and local management teams.

Scott Hendrickson, Northeast Regional Manager
Scott leads the Linden, N.J. and Philadelphia, Pa. branches, which service the entire New England and northern Midwest regions, extending from Nova Scotia to the Great Lakes to Baltimore. Having started his career as an officer on commercial vessels, Scott has been with W&O for more than 15 years, all of which have been spent servicing the northeastern region. Scott is a graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point.

Carl Herman, Southeast Regional Manager
Carl Herman will lead the Norfolk, Va.; Charleston, S.C.; and Jacksonville, Ft. Lauderdale and Tampa, Fla. branches. Carl has been with W&O for more than 20 years, most recently as Director of Materials Management, and has worked in nearly every function within W&O.

Debbie Garner, Gulf of Mexico Regional Manager
Debbie Garner will lead W&O’s Gulf branches, which include Houston, Texas; Mobile, Ala.; and Houma and New Orleans, La. Debbie has been overseeing W&O’s New Orleans and Mobile branches for nearly a decade and recently took over the Houston branch as well. In 2008, Debbie opened the Houma branch to serve W&O’s growing customer base in southern Louisiana and is now overseeing all Gulf of Mexico branch operations for W&O. Debbie started her career on the shipyard side of the business and has been with W&O for 20 years.

Jim Reynolds, Pacific Southwest Regional Manager
Jim Reynolds has been with Valve Automation and Controls (VAC) in San Diego, Calif., since 1993. VAC was acquired by W&O in 2000. Jim now serves as President & CEO of VAC as well as Pacific Southwest Regional Manager, overseeing both VAC and W&O’s Long Beach, Calif. branch. During his tenure with W&O and VAC, Jim has been instrumental in introducing successful valve automation packages to commercial marine, naval and wastewater projects throughout the region.

Bruce McLachlin, Pacific Northwest Regional Manager
Bruce McLachlin oversees W&O’s Pacific Northwest branches, which include Seattle, Wash., and Vancouver, British Columbia, that service from Alaska to Alameda, Calif., and around the Pacific Rim. Having been with W&O for the past five years, Bruce served as Branch Manager of Seattle before opening the Vancouver branch in 2010. Revenues from the Pacific Northwest sales territory have consistently grown year-over-year under Bruce’s leadership. Bruce joined W&O from a hands on family business and has transitioned to the marine business seamlessly.

Kristof Adam, European Regional Manager
Kristof Adam, who joined W&O in March of this year, oversees W&O’s European branches in Antwerp, Belgium and Rotterdam, Netherlands. Kristof came to W&O from Hydrex/Ecospeed, where he spent nine years developing and implementing their global strategy as COO to the founder. Kristof has strong ties to the maritime community in Europe and will take his aggressive approach in expanding W&O’s successes.

With the new labor statistics comes the news that businesses have created many retail jobs in Jacksonville.

Employment increased by 165,000 in April, with job gains in professional and business services, food services and drinking places, retail trade, and health care. Over the prior 12 months, employment growth averaged 169,000 per month.

Professional and business services added 73,000 jobs in April a nd has added 587,000 jobs over the past year. In April, employment rose in temporary help services (+31,000), professional and technical services (+23,000), and management of companies (+7,000).

Within leisure and hospitality, employment in food services and drinking places rose by 38,000 over the month. Job growth in the food services industry averaged 25,000 per month over the prior 12 months.

Retail trade employment increased by 29,000 in April. The industry added an average of 21,000 jobs per month over the prior 12 months. In April, job growth occurred in general merchandise stores (+15,000) and in health and personal care stores (+5,000).

Health care added 19,000 jobs in April. Within the industry, employment rose in ambulatory health care services (+14,000). Over the prior 12 months, job
growth in health care averaged 24,000 per month.

In April, employment also continued its upward trend in social assistance
(+7,000). Employment changed little over the month in
construction, with small offsetting movements in the residential and nonresidential components. Construction gained an average of 27,000 jobs per month over the prior 6 months. Manufacturing employment was unchanged in April.

Employment in other major industries, including mining and logging, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, and
government, showed little change over the month.

Employment increased in professional and business services, food services and drinking places, retail trade, and health care.

Software engineer jobs in Jacksonville are considered highly coveted jobs.

Nationwide, they are all considered wonderful jobs to have.

CareerCast’s latest survey of best jobs of 2013 revealed that an software engineer is considered one of the top ten best jobs to have.

High pay, low stress, a robust hiring outlook, a healthy work environment and minimal physical exertion combine to define what makes a great job for most people. Professions including actuary, biomedical engineer, software engineer, audiologist and financial planner all fit the bill and help the professionals who hold those jobs attain the ultimate career goal: personal fulfillment.

An actuary assesses risk probabilities, often for insurance purposes, using statistical data, environmental impacts and situational trends.

“I tell people that I can count on one hand the number of days I’ve said, ‘I don’t want to go to work today,’” says Cecil Bykerk, an actuary with nearly four decades of experience and president of the American Academy of Actuaries.

“That’s just the kind of career it is.” Bykerk currently works in the healthcare sector, and he says one of the rewards his career as an actuary has offered him is an opportunity to make a direct impact on his clients’ ability to get coverage for important medical procedures.

Another industry with a bright future is biomedical engineering. In fact, biomedical engineer ranks as the second best job of 2013, its first year in the Jobs Rated report.

The burgeoning profession is a true 21st century career path, its growth coinciding with major leaps in scientific research. The Labor Department estimates that there will be 62% more biomedical engineers in the field by 2020 than the 16,000 who are working today, which creates a huge opportunity for aspiring professionals.

And there are plenty studying for entry into the field, as University of Delaware biomedical engineering professor Dr. Dawn Elliott details. “We’re at maximum cap for student enrollment. The demand is incredible,” she says. “It’s exciting to be a part of it.”

Checking in at #3 on the Best Jobs list is software engineer, which ranked first last year. Because computing at all stages continues to grow in importance throughout all labor sectors, software engineers will have abundant job opportunities for many years to come. The BLS projects the field to grow by 30% over the next few years, with hiring activity spread evenly across the nation. Software engineers also tend to be handsomely compensated, earning an annual median salary of more than $90,000.

Healthcare workers are finding it difficult to fill critical IT jobs in Jacksonville.

According to new research by global professional services company Towers Watson, two-thirds (67%) of healthcare organizations are having problems attracting experienced IT employees, and 38% reporting retention issues.

At a time when many are already struggling to compete with IT consultancies that can afford to pay top dollar for experienced IT professionals, providers are further disadvantaged by their own misconceptions about what IT workers actually want from an employer.

The attraction problem is even greater for Epic-certified professionals, with nearly three-quarters (73%) of the respondents reporting difficulty hiring these individuals, whose specialized skills are essential to meet new electronic medical record requirements under health care reform.

“Hospitals have an urgent need for experienced, highly skilled IT professionals to ensure they can meet new government requirements and qualify for financial incentives,” said Heidi Toppel, a senior rewards consultant in Towers Watson’s hospital industry group. “In addition, the ability to share patient care information and records accurately and seamlessly with a range of other providers will be essential to achieving patient satisfaction and quality-of-care outcomes in a more integrated approach to health care delivery.”

Health care workers ranked job security, competitive base pay, health care benefits, convenient work location and career advancement opportunities as the primary reasons for accepting an offer of employment with a health care provider.

“The stark differences between the factors that employers believe attract IT employees and those that employees themselves say attract them are quite surprising. What’s clear is that employees are focused on the practical, while employers are focused on the developmental. The good news is that the vast majority of employers are taking steps to close the talent gap, and seek more balance in their employee value proposition and rewards program,” said Laurie Bienstock, North American rewards leader at Towers Watson.

“Given the importance of a competitive salary in attracting IT and Epic professionals, health care providers should take whatever steps they can to meet this need. But focusing on money is only part of the solution. Presenting career and growth opportunities remains important as well, and savvy employers will create as comprehensive a program as possible. Our data confirm that IT recruiting in the health care industry is a matter of striking the right balance between the practical needs of workers today and the longer-term goal of helping an industry transform itself for a different future,” said Toppel.

Those holding Jacksonville jobs might get a boost in their wallet, as starting salaries have reportedly climbed 3.4% for new grads.

The average starting salary for new college graduates earning bachelor’s degrees has risen 3.4 percent over last year, according to a new report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

Engineering and health sciences majors—both of which received starting salaries that are, respectively, 3.8 and 3.9 percent more than last year—also saw sizable gains. The average starting salary for engineering graduates was $62,655 this year, while their classmates in health sciences earned $49,196.

Similarly, graduates with computer sciences degrees saw a substantial increase to their average starting salary—a jump of 3.8 percent to $59,221.

Meanwhile, graduates with degrees in math and sciences (2.7 percent, to $42,471) and humanities and social sciences (2 percent, to $36,988) saw smaller increases.

“We’ve seen a steady increase in the average starting salary for bachelor’s degree graduates over the past two years, indicating improvement in the job market for college graduates,” says Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director.

The highest increases came in education (5.4 percent, to $40,668), business (4.2 percent, to $53,900), and communications (4.1 percent, to $43,717).

One company is expanding and looking to hire for sales jobs in Jacksonville.

American Support, which delivers inbound and outbound telesales, is looking to hire 100 part-time telesales reps.

The telemarketers will work from home or in their facilities in Daytona Beach, FL, Jacksonville, FL and Milan, TN. American Support will begin hiring immediately.

While American Support has three traditional U.S. based contact centers, more than 200 of their employees work from home.

American Support looks first for personality followed by critical thinking and computer skills when evaluating candidates. The sales process and product knowledge is taught with paid training provided by American Support University.

Pay starts at $9.50 per hour with the shifts being fixed at 5pm to 9pm, EST, Monday through Friday. Job seekers interested in these part-time positions should visit the American Support job application site.

“Our telesales team success in the first quarter is leading to a tremendous amount of growth for our company,” said Matt Zemon, American Support President & CEO. “We have a proven sales process that we teach our employees who then get the experience of selling on behalf of the largest cable companies in America.”

A new survey indicates a positive outlook for hospitality jobs in Jacksonville.

According to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, the Net Employment Outlook for Quarter 2 2013 is +11%, a 1 percentage point decrease from Quarter 1 2013 and slightly elevated from +10% during the same period last year.

For Quarter 2 2013, employers have a positive Outlook in all 13 industry sectors included in the survey: Leisure & Hospitality (+24%), Professional & Business Services (+18%), Wholesale & Retail Trade (+15%), Mining (+14%), Nondurable Goods Manufacturing (+14%), Transportation & Utilities (+14%), Information (+13%), Durable Goods Manufacturing (+12%), Financial Activities (+11%), Construction (+10%), Other Services (+9%), Education & Health Services (+7%) and Government (+7%). When the industry sector data is compared quarter-over-quarter, employers in the the Construction, Nondurable Goods Manufacturing, Transportation & Utilities and Leisure & Hospitality sectors anticipate a considerable hiring increase, while employers in the Mining, Durable Goods Manufacturing and Professional & Business Services sectors anticipate a moderate hiring increase. Employers in the Other Services industry sector look for the hiring pace to slightly increase.

Staff levels are expected to remain relatively stable among employers in four industry sectors: Information, Financial Activities, Education & Health Services and Government. The Wholesale & Retail Trade sector anticipates a slight decrease in the hiring pace.

Of the more than 18,000 employers surveyed, 18 percent expect to add to their workforces in Quarter 2 2013, while 5 percent expect a decrease in payrolls, resulting in a Net Employment Outlook of +13%. When seasonally adjusted, the Net Employment Outlook becomes +11%. Seventy-three percent of employers expect no change in their hiring plans. The final 4 percent of employers indicate they are undecided about their hiring intentions.

“Quarter over quarter our data reports slow and steady hiring projections, which is good news compared with the hiring downturns we experienced several years ago,” said Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup president. “The main priority for employers today should be to refine management methods to build winning teams so they have the right people in place when the economy takes off again.”

“As the economic tailwinds of the housing, banking and auto industries continue to pick up, we are seeing a gradual acceleration in hiring, accompanied by fewer companies decreasing staff,” said Prising. “The considerable growth of the Construction sector is a reflection of continued progress and employers are responding to this as outside momentum gives them more confidence to push their plans forward.”

Many people say they did not get a response when replying for Jacksonville jobs, among other areas.

In fact, the vast majority (75 percent) of workers who applied to jobs using various resources in the last year said they never heard back from the employer, according to a nationwide CareerBuilder survey.

The study of more than 3,900 U.S. workers was conducted online by Harris Interactive

Lowe’s is ramping up for its annual spring sales rush and will be hiring for Jacksonville sales jobs, among many other locations.

The retail giant will be hiring about 45,000 people nationwide.

Seasonal jobs available are focused on customer support and include cashiers, lawn and garden specialists, loaders, and stockers. The number of hours worked per week will vary based on the needs of individual stores, but, on average, seasonal employees could work an estimated 20-25 hours per week.

With fiscal year 2011 sales of $50.2 billion, Lowe

Dental hygiene jobs in Jacksonville don’t require a four-year degree and often pay much higher than average salaries.

CareerBuilder and Economic Modeling Specialists released a list of the most lucrative professions that don