Is the legal job market bouncing back? Bar's career center reports a 76% increase in new job postings.

Introduced in October 2009, the new Florida Bar Career Center is off to a great start.

The Career Center experienced a 76 percent increase in new job postings from December 2009 to January 2010 with 124 employers joining. Career Center staff attributes the drastic increase to the recent jump in employment for Florida's legal industry and the Career Center's benefits offered to Florida's job seekers and employers.

The State of Florida's Agency for Workforce Innovation reported Florida's highest unemployment rate for the year at 11.8 percent in December 2009. Despite this figure, Florida's legal marketplace saw an increase in employment of nearly 800 new jobs from November 2009. If The Florida Bar Career Center's site usage and traffic is any indication of Florida's legal job market, then the results look promising.

Since its launch in October 2009, the Career Center has seen steady monthly increases in new job postings and site traffic, with January 2010 marking its largest increase overall. New job postings increased by 76 percent, job views increased 31 percent (from 6,129 to 8,048) and resume searches increased by 229 percent.

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The Career Center offers easy-to-use job search and recruitment tools to Florida's legal community. Job seekers are able to access inside opportunities available only through the Career Center and take advantage of advanced search tools to find the most relevant legal jobs in Florida, set up customized job alerts to stay up-to-date on new opportunities, and even post resumes anonymously to be discovered by employers.

With resume searches up 229 percent, Career Center staff believes its resume search service will be a major contributor to future site usage increases. The Career Center is free for job seekers and provides lower-cost, flexible job posting options for employers. Employers reach a targeted and qualified audience of Florida legal professionals.

"We used The Florida Bar Career Center for the first time this year and...