Job Applicant Numbers Still Rising At Duke

When Brittany O'Malley learned about a program coordinator opening at Duke's Student Wellness Center, she booted up her computer and uploaded her resume through Duke's job website.

She was among 13,551 people who applied to work at Duke in May 2011 and wasn't alone in her desire for the position either; 427 others applied for the same job.

"I had applied to a dozen or so jobs, but Duke was my top choice because I wanted to stay in the area and work with students in a private, higher education setting," said O'Malley, who graduated from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill with a Master of Public Health in May 2011.

Over the past four years, the number of people applying to work at Duke has steadily increased. In 2008, the average number of people applying per month was 7,714, compared to 12,746 per month so far this year. Duke hit an all-time high of 13,678 applicants in June 2011.

"Duke continues to be a phenomenally attractive place to work at every job level," said Kyle Cavanaugh, vice president for administration. "With unemployment at 10.4 percent in North Carolina, the demand for jobs far outweighs the supply."

Sally Allison, assistant director for Duke Recruitment, said that many job seekers are applying for multiple positions at Duke. 

"We have a sense that people are casting a wide net these days and looking at jobs now that they might not have applied for in the past," she said. "As the number of applicants grows, we continue to see many well-qualified applicants with high levels of experience for most of our positions." 

Competition for jobs at Duke remains intense because the number of open positions has decreased as the economy has slowed. In August of 2008, there were 1,335 open jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System, compared to 1,169 in August of this year. Approximately 61 percent of the open jobs in August were for the Health System, which is expanding its workforce as it prepares to open new facilities such as the Cancer Center Facility and Duke Medicine Pavilion.

O'Malley, the UNC graduate, expected the competition for the position at Duke to be tough. In July 2011, when she received her invitation to interview with the Duke Student Wellness Center, she immediately phoned her mother in Iowa to share the news and calm her nerves. 

"I was the first candidate to interview, and I knew there were plenty of others, so the tension while I waited for the final decision was intense," she said. 

A few weeks later, when the Duke Student Wellness Center called back with a job offer, O'Malley immediately accepted and then called her mother. 

"She was almost as excited as I was," O'Malley said. "Now she continues to call me each week and say, `are you still happy at Duke?' and I always say, `Yes I am, mom. Yes I am.' "