REPORT: VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND AMONG TOP 10 STATES FOR JOB SEEKERS

Reston, VA, April 30, 2001

Despite the sluggish economy, Virginia and Maryland remain among the top ten states in the country for job seekers, according to the April edition of the Job Opportunity Index (JOI), a monthly report released by FlipDog.com, with additional analysis on the Washington, D.C., area provided by Reston, Va.-based executive recruiting firm, HireStrategy.

"Not as many jobs are being created in the Washington area these days," says Paul Villella, President and CEO of HireStrategy, a Reston, Virginia-based executive recruiting firm. . "Companies have slowed their hiring and are being much more selective than they were just a few months ago. The second quarter is going to seem tougher than the first quarter in terms of the job market. But things should improve in the third quarter, with the recovery well underway by the end of the year."

Villella says there is a certain amount of "hidden hiring" going on in the Washington area. "Companies are continuing to hire, but quietly, without advertising and without job fairs. Companies are using their referral networks and recruiters to find qualified candidates. Hiring managers don't want to be flooded with resumes."

"Nationally, the job market changes on an almost daily basis," Villella says. "The situation is best for job seekers in New England, the Mid-Atlantic and several Western states, most notably California and Colorado. The situation is bleakest in the South and in several Rocky Mountains states."

While the top ten states in the JOI have remained the same for the past six months, many of them shifted positions this month. Continuing to top the JOI as the state with the best opportunities for job seekers is Massachusetts (no change), followed by California (up from #4), Colorado (up from #8), New Hampshire (down from #2) and Virginia (no change). Connecticut is ranked sixth (no change), followed by Minnesota (down from #3), Vermont (down from #7), Maryland (no change) and Washington State (no change).

At the other end of the scale, West Virginia, a state where unemployment is high and job opportunities are limited, ranked fiftieth in the nation in April, as it did in March.

The monthly JOI analyzes the job opportunity climate across the United States, describing states where job seekers have the advantage versus states where companies have the upper hand.

The JOI ranks all 50 states according to their current job opportunity climates. The JOI is based on statistical methodology that utilizes FlipDog.com's sample of jobs listed on 50,000 employer Web sites in all 50 states, along with unemployment and workforce data from the U.S. Department of Labor. Included are job opportunities from 2,400 geographic locations and 65 major job categories and functions.

"The job market is in a state of flux," said Brett Walker, vice president of marketing at FlipDog.com. "People who are out of work will likely be able to find a job fairly quickly. It may take a little longer than it did last year, and they may need to relocate or even change fields, but jobs are still there."

According to the April JOI, job seekers in the following states have an advantage due to lower unemployment and higher number of available openings:

States with high unemployment and limited job opportunities have a tougher opportunity climate. In these states, companies have an advantage when it comes to whom they hire and what they pay.

About HireStrategy

HireStrategy, Reston, Virginia, is an executive recruiting firm serving technology businesses and professionals. HireStrategy's proprietary technology and its team of experienced, industry-specific recruiters enable it to match quality candidates with exciting opportunities at some of the top companies in the Washington, DC, area. HireStrategy (www.hirestrategy.com) is a leader in recruiting and placing top-level Technology, Sales and Finance & Accounting professionals. The company, founded in January 2000, has been named one of the hottest executive recruiting firms in the area by Washington Business Forward magazine.

FlipDog.com, Provo, Utah, is the Web's largest commercial career site (www.flipdog.com), with nearly 550,000 jobs from more than 50,000 employers, and is ranked by PC Magazine as one of the Top 100 Web Sites in the world (4/23/00 and 12/5/00). FlipDog.com is powered by technology from WhizBang! LabsTM, the leading provider of Web-based information extraction tools and services. Through its "Powered by FlipDog.com" program, the company develops and implements fully customized and branded career search capabilities on partners' Web sites.