NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – There have been three consecutive months of strong jobs growth. But for white-collar, middle-management types in many industries, finding a job is far from shooting fish in a barrel.

Instead, recruiting and compensation experts report seeing only "moderate" increases in hiring.

"There are quantitatively more positions opening up than two years ago or one year ago," said Mark Jaffe, principal of executive search firm Wyatt & Jaffe. But, he added, "it's premature to predict that everything is coming up roses."

Slow and strategic has been the mantra of companies seeking to hire new employees. In many cases, when they hire, they're replacing talent, rather than creating new posts, recruiters said.

Much, however, depends on the industry. At Lynne Palmer Executive Recruitment, which specializes in publishing jobs, the number of listings has doubled since November, said president Susan Gordon, who characterized the number of opportunities as "very healthy."

Some of that growth has come as a result of companies opening up new offices or new departments, she said.

But in other areas, such as telecommunications, it's still a recession in terms of jobs growth, said Bernadette Kenny, executive vice president of outplacement firm Lee Hecht Harrison.

In terms of salary negotiations, the news is improved since last year.

"Some of the leverage has moved from the employer to the employee," said compensaton consultant Alan Johnson, founder of Johnson & Associates, which works with financial and professional services firms.

The reason is simple: "People are anxious to recruit the right person. They're selectively hiring," Johnson said. And the posts they want to fill are often posts they now realize they should have filled six months ago.

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So if you're a desired candidate, chances are fair that you can negotiate a compensation package that's the same or more than your last paid position.

About 50 percent of job seekers who have worked with Lee Hecht Harrison land a position that pays the same as they were making before, while 25 percent are making more, Kenny said.

Johnson and Gordon find that more candidates than not are securing pay that's the same or better than what they used to earn, especially compared with job searches conducted last year.

And a first-quarter survey by job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas found nearly 84 percent of job seekers landed positions that offered them equivalent or better salaries.

Compared with three years ago, "companies are taking a longer time to hire people," Kenny said.

That's good news because it suggests, unlike in the dot-com boom, the offer made – and the job at hand – is a solid one, and companies are making every effort to make sure they get the candidate who is the best fit.

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But it can mean bad news for job seekers interested in landing a new position quickly.

Job seekers working with Lee Hecht Harrison have taken between four to six months to find work, Kenny said.

The Challenger survey, meanwhile, found that in the first quarter of the year, the average job-search time took nearly 4 months. That's longer than the search times in the second and third quarters of last year and about the same as in the fourth quarter.