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Sales Hiring Starts Strong in 2013

By Ashley Rowe on March 23, 2013 in Sales.

Last month, Business Insider highlighted that Amazon is looking to fill about 95 sales positions. In comparison, AstraZeneca announced plans to lay off 2,300 sales representatives. With mixed news about sales employment, we investigated recent hiring trends to see which direction demand is heading. When we last reported on August's sales job ad volume, demand had reached a 4-year high. After a seasonal decline, ad volume in February 2013 was 8% higher than it was at this time last year.

Hiring Demand for Sales and Related Occupations

Hiring Demand for Sales and Related Occupations

SOURCE: WANTED Analytics

The retail sector experienced the greatest demand for sales occupations in February led by clothing stores and building materials and supplies dealers. Home improvement stores are increasing hiring to meet rising demand and revenue projections. Can growing hiring in clothing stores be an economic indicator that consumers are increasing spending?

Industries with the Most Demand for Sales Professionals

  1. Clothing Stores
  2. Building Materials and Supplies Dealers
  3. Department Stores
  4. Agencies, Brokerages, and Other Insurance Related Activities
  5. Depository Credit Intermediation
  6. Sporting Goods, Hobby, and Musical Instrument Stores
  7. Automotive Parts, Accessories, and Tire Stores
  8. Electronics and Appliances Stores
  9. Health and Personal Care Stores
  10. Grocery Stores

New York (NY), Chicago (IL), and Los Angeles (CA) are currently experiencing the highest demand for sales jobs. Each of these locations score between 32 – 34 on our Hiring Scale (out of a  possible 99, where 99 is the hardest-to-fill.) The best recruiting conditions are likely to be in Kanakakee-Bradley (IL), El Centro (CA), and Ocean City (NJ), all scoring 18 or below. Adversely, the worst conditions are likely to be in Manchester-Nasshua (NH), scoring a 67.

Hiring Scale for Sales and Related Occupations

Hiring Scale for Sales and Related Occupations

SOURCE: WANTED Analytics

Are you filling sales jobs? Try a free trial of WANTED Analytics™ to quickly discover potential candidates that fit your job requirements.

Already an Analytics user? Log in here. We've added sales and related occupations for you. Just add your location and any other requirements. Then, select 'Generate Report' for talent supply and hiring demand data.

Retail Hiring Is in the Holiday Spirit

By Abby Lombardi on December 11, 2012 in Retail, Sales.

As we get further into the holiday season, we tend to watch retail sales and hiring numbers more closely – especially hiring demand for sales jobs. With only a few weeks until the end of the year, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at the number of jobs posted online for retail sales positions over the past few months. Will the 2012 holiday season be more jolly than last year?

Between August 1 and November 30 of this year, more than 548,000 job ads were seen online for retail sales professionals. This marks a new high in demand since the recession began. The number of retail sales ads posted online during this 4-month period rose 32% compared to 2011 and 40% versus 2010.

Hiring Demand for Retail Sales Workers – 4 Year Hiring Trend

Hiring Demand for Retail Sales Workers in the US

Source: WANTED Analytics

Despite rising demand, the current talent pool of retail sales professionals remains high. However, many Recruiters and hiring managers are still likely to see challenges with finding candidates that meet all their skill requirements. For example, inventory management is becoming an increasingly important skill for potential candidates. In the past 4 months, there have been more than 18,000 retail sales positions that require this skill set, a 141% year-over-year increase. Sales professionals need to effectively account for all merchandise, especially during this busy holiday season when the right inventory needs to be in the store. According to the Hiring Scale, inventory management is one of the harder skills to recruit in potential candidates. The most difficult places to currently sourcing this talent are Midland (Texas), Albany (New York), and Washington (DC). These areas are likely to spend a longer time sourcing candidates than the rest of the United States. Online job ads in these areas are posted for as long as 6 weeks.

Hiring Scale for Retail Sales Jobs requiring Inventory Management

Hiring Scale for Retail Sales Jobs requiring Inventory Management

Source: WANTED Analytics

Are you recruiting for retail sales jobs? What skills do you require in candidates that are hard-to-find?

Find out how difficult to fill your open positions will be with a free trial of the Hiring Scale!

Already an Analytics user? Log in and copy/paste your retail job reqs into the Search Wizard to get hiring demand and talent supply data in moments! Don't forget to generate a Talent Sourcing Report to share with hiring managers about the conditions in your local area and around the US.

Doorbuster: Demand for Sales Jobs Hit New High

By Ashley Rowe on October 5, 2012 in Sales.

Sales occupations continue to be among the most in-demand jobs in the US. As sales professionals often drive revenue for businesses, it's easy to see why there's increasing hiring demand. More than 710,000 ads were listed online for sales positions in August. Not only is this a 4 year high, it's also a 119% increase from the lowest point in hiring demand, which occurred in December 2008. With consumer confidence recovering, will this trend continue?

Hiring Demand Growth Chart for Sales and Related Occupations

Hiring Demand Growth Chart for Sales and Related Occupations

SOURCE: WANTED Analytics

Most Commonly Advertised Job Titles for Sales Occupations:

  1. Sales Representative
  2. Sales Associate
  3. Store Manager
  4. Assistant Store Manager
  5. Retail Sales Consultant
  6. Sales
  7. Account Executive
  8. Assistant Manager
  9. Outside Sales Representative
  10. Cashier

Sales experience is by far the most required knowledge, with almost twice the demand of the other required skills listed below. The requirement for experience with cash registers matches the hiring trends we're seeing in retail sales positions. The varieties of in-demand sales titles like Store Manager, Cashier, and Retail Sales Consultant also suggest that retail leads industry demand of sales jobs.

Most Commonly Advertised Skills for Sales Occupations

  1. Sales Experience
  2. Cash Registers
  3. Business Development
  4. Work Ethic
  5. Microsoft Office

The retail industry showed the most job ads for sales positions, up 50% in August over the same time last year. In addition to the economic recovery contributing to improved hiring conditions, retailers may be experiencing more demand for sales jobs due to seasonal hiring. Finance and insurance, wholesale trade, information (telecommunications), and real estate industries follow retail with the highest volume of sales job ads.

It is most likely to be somewhat difficult to recruit sales talent throughout the US. The cities with the best conditions for hiring qualified sales candidates are Kanakee (IL), Dalton (GA), Sherman (TX), Cumberland (MD), and Monroe (MI).

Hiring Scale Heat Map of Sales and Related Occupations

Heat Map Hiring Scale for Sales and Related Occupations

SOURCE: WANTED Analytics

The New York metropolitan area had the highest number of job ads listed online. However, Dallas, TX experienced the largest year-over-year increase in online job ads.

In a few weeks, we will provide an update on retail seasonal hiring, be sure to check back in at Jobs. Trends. Insight. Subscribe to receive daily updates on hiring trends here.

Analytics users; To view this information for your area, log in, select Sales and Related Occupations under the Occupation section, and add your location.

The Search for SEO Skills

By Ashley Rowe on September 30, 2012 in Advertising/Marketing, Sales, Web Development.

It's been a while since we last reported on hiring demand for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) skills. At that time, hiring for SEO skills hit an all new high. Is hiring demand still on the upswing? Or has it calmed down?

In August, there were more than 18,000 job ads posted online that required SEO skills, a 32% increase over the same time last year. As you can see in the chart below, hiring demand continues to increase. The highest point in volume of job ads occurred in July with just under 18,400 ads.

Hiring Demand Growth Chart for SEO Skills

Hiring Growth Chart for SEO Skills

SOURCE: WANTED Analytics

The most advertised positions for SEO Skills are:

  1. Web Developer
  2. Media Sales Consultant Outside Sales
  3. Marketing Manager
  4. Web Designer
  5. Marketing Director
  6. Online Marketing Manager
  7. Sales Representative
  8. SEO Specialist
  9. Marketing Specialist
  10. Senior Web Developer

Most of the advertised positions remain the same with some just switching spots. SEO skills are mostly required in technical, sales or marketing positions. Sales related occupations saw the largest increase in demand, up 124% since last year.

Recruiters are most likely to have a difficult time finding potential candidates with this specific skill set. According to our Hiring Scale™ heat map, Lansing, MI has the least difficult hiring conditions, yet in this location recruiting is still moderately challenging. New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco have the largest candidate pools; however, these metropolitan areas also have the highest demand for SEO skills making them difficult recruiting areas. Youngstown, OH currently has the shortest average posting periods. In this area, job ads are posted online for an average of about 3 weeks, which is 2 1/2 weeks shorter than the national average duration of an online job.

Hiring Scale Heat Map for SEO Skills

SOURCE: WANTED Analytics™

As more companies are realizing that SEO impacts business results by driving more customers and prospects to their websites, competition will be fierce for this talent.

See what hiring demand and difficulty levels for SEO skills look like in your area with a free trial of WANTED Analytics™.

Customers First: CRM Hiring Demand Increasing

By Abby Lombardi on August 8, 2012 in Advertising/Marketing, Computer/Math/IT, Occupations, Sales.

Customer relationship management (or CRM) continues to be one of the most in-demand skills in job ads in the US. During July, more than 58,000 job ads were available online that required CRM skills, growing 22% since July 2011 and about 56% over the past two years. Does this indicate that organizations are building and using more robust CRM systems to track communications both offline and online, in addition to providing excellent customer service?

Hiring Demand for CRM Skills – 4 Year US Hiring Trend

Hiring Demand for CRM Skills

Source: WANTED Analytics

Technical, sales, and marketing occupations leading demand. It isn't too surprising that these 3 fields most commonly need CRM skills – technical jobs are likely building, programming, and customizing CRM software, where as sales and marketing positions are likely using the program to track and monitor customer service. Positions with the highest demand for CRM in July were Computer Systems Analysts, Computer and Information Systems Managers, Marketing Managers, and Sales Managers.

In addition to customer service skills, the other 5 most commonly required skills in these jobs include:

  1. Microsoft Office
  2. Microsoft PowerPoint
  3. Adobe LifeCycle ES
  4. Business development
  5. Project management

As hiring demand continues, the limited talent supply of potential candidates that have CRM knowledge or experience will create challenges for employers. According to our Hiring Scale™, Recruiters across the United States spend an average of 6 weeks advertising jobs and sourcing candidates for these positions. The heat map below shows Hiring Scale difficulties across the US. You can see that most locations are yellow, orange, and red, meaning that they will be more difficult to recruit.

Heat Map of Hiring Scales for CRM Skilled Professionals

Heat Map of Hiring Scales for CRM Skilled Professionals

Source: WANTED Analytics

Recruiters in Washington, DC are currently experiencing some of the most challenging overall recruiting conditions – as pointed out in the above heat map. Fierce competition has emerged as more employers are looking to fill jobs in this area than the local talent supply can support. Employers in the DC metro area are likely to experience a longer time-to-fill than other areas across the United States. In comparison, the Hiring Scale also shows that the best markets for recruiting these skills are Dalton (Georgia), Olympia (Washington), and Scranton (Pennsylvania). Lower hiring demand in these areas, coupled with larger talent supply, means that Recruiters are likely to fill job openings in as few as 4 weeks.

Determine candidate supply, hiring demand, average salary ranges, average posting period, and Hiring Scales by states and metro areas for any job you are recruiting for with our new heat map feature. You can try heat maps and all that Analytics offers with a free trial.

Already an Analytics user? Log in and search for "Customer relationship management" in the skills filter. Add your location and check out hiring demand and talent supply data for your local area!

Are Skills Gaps the Real Issue?

By Ashley Rowe on July 28, 2012 in Office/Admin Support, Sales.

There have been many articles talking about skills gaps and their causes. New Yorker’s recent article, Mind the Gap* highlights a different perspective suggesting that skilled workers are out there, companies just aren’t hiring them.  While it’s difficult to recruit for some industries like engineering because skilled workers are hard to find, this article says businesses consider less technical positions hard-to-fill such as Sales Reps and Office Support due to unqualified talent. Let’s see what the actual candidate supply looks like for these occupations.

Online Job Ad & Candidate Summary for Sales and Related Occupations in the US

Sales Chart

WANTED Analytics™ shows there are approximately 11,971,000 potential candidates currently in the Sales workforce. Also, there are 409,795 current job openings. It seems that there are enough candidates in the workforce with about 29 potential candidates for every job ad. Nationally, it’s slightly on the easier side to recruit for Sales occupations. The Hiring Scale™ highlights Dalton, GA as having the best conditions for recruiting job candidates and it should take an average time-to-fill of 36 days (just over 5 weeks), which is less than the national average time to fill any position.

Hiring Scale for Sales Occupations

Online Job Ad & Candidate Summary for Office and Administrative Support Occupations in the US

Office Support Chart

Analytics estimate there are 19,570,000 potential candidates in the workforce for Office and Administrative Support Occupations nationwide and 218,635 current job openings. Nationally, it is easy to fill this position and it should take about 34 days (just under 5 weeks) to fill, which is also less than the average time to fill any position. The Hiring Scale indicates that Dalton, GA also has the best conditions for sourcing Office and Administrative Support talent.


Hiring Scale for Office Support

Both Office Support and Sales and Related Occupation shouldn't be difficult to fill positions. The New Yorker article suggests that difficulties in hiring for these positions are actually due to company processes and procedures. Businesses may experience difficulties either because of an overwhelming candidate supply, less flexible hiring processes, and/or having a large talent pool enables employers to be more scrupulous about selecting a candidate with the most relevant skills and experience.

What do you think? Why are sales related occupations and office support positions hard to fill? Is it because of candidate supply?

With a free trial of WANTED Analytics™ you can enter your search criteria to identify where to look for job candidates with specific requirements making your recruiting faster and easier.

*Please note that you have to be a New Yorker subscriber to view this article. If you would like to see a copy email Ashley.Rowe@wantedanalytics.com.

Gamification: Buzzword or Requirement?

By Ashley Rowe on July 14, 2012 in Advertising/Marketing, Sales, Web Development.

Is “gamification” just a buzzword or should we expect to see this in online job ads? Gamification is a growing business strategy since it is used for both customer and employee engagement encouraging game-like behavior in ordinary activities. NBC Universal’s USA Network is one example of this growing trend. They presented a game-like reward program for the Psych TV show that resulted in a 130% increase in page views and 40% increase in return visits to the show’s site.

According to Brian Burke, Research Vice President at Gartner Group, "Gamification could become as important as Facebook, eBay or Amazon… By 2014, more than 70% of Global 2000 organizations will have at least one "gamified" application.” Burke goes on to say that gamification is positioned to continue trending in popularity over the next 5 years.

Based on this, we took a look at the recent online job ads for gamification.

Gamification is starting to appear in online job listings. Over the past 3 months there have been 219 job ads posted online for this and a 313% increase year-over-year. Currently our candidate supply data shows there are about 600 job candidates in the workforce with gamification credentials, about 100 employers hiring for this specification, and about 90 employers that have recently hired.

Online Job Ad Growth for Gamification

Gamification Online Job Ad Growth

Top 5 Job Titles for Gamification:

  1. Account Executive
  2. Social Marketing Manager
  3. Community Marketing Manager
  4. Web Developer
  5. Director Loyalty Programs Customer Engagement

Cities with the Most Job Ads for Gamification Skills:

  1. Redmond, WA
  2. San Francisco, CA
  3. New York, NY
  4. Los Angeles, CA
  5. Chicago, IL

WANTED Analytics™ Hiring Scale shows that it will be difficult to hire someone with this skill nationally. However, the New York Metro is the best location to find people in this ability. If you are looking to fill a position, expect it to take 44 days, which is the national average for gamification.

Hiring Scale for Gamification

Monitor the growth with WANTED Analytics™ of this emerging area. Even if you’re not hiring for this specification, you can watch what your competitors are doing with gamification by details available in their job listings.

Is your company considering a gamification strategy? A free trial of WANTED Analytics™ can show you who you will be competing with to attract talent, insight on where to find candidates, and what skills you need to recruit. Sign up for your trial today!

Already a WANTED Analytics user? Sign in now and enter in the following search criteria: WANTED Analytics > Summary Tab > Enter keyword: Gamification > Hit Enter

Retailers See New High in Demand for Sales Professionals

By Abby Lombardi on April 30, 2012 in Retail, Sales.

Retail sales have been booming this year and, with more optimistic sales numbers, hiring demand has been growing as well. In March, more than 42,000 job ads for retail sales representatives were posted online. This is an incredible 93% increase in demand! Department stores posted the most job ads – about 7,400. Office supplies and stationary stores, men's clothing stores, electronics stores, and discount department stores were also among the retail industries with the highest volumes of ads. These retail industries match up with the employers with the most ads: Staples, Macy's, Jos A Bank, JC Penney, and PetCo.

Hiring Demand for Retail Sales Professionals – 4 Year Hiring Trend

Hiring Demand in Retail Trade Industry

Source: WANTED Analytics

Retailers in the New York metro area posted the most job ads during March and saw hiring demand more than double compared to March of 2011. Other high-demand areas included Chicago, Washington (DC), Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. These locations also saw year-over-year growth in demand.

10 Locations with Highest Volume of Retail Sales Job Ads

Locations with most job ads in retail trade industry

Source: WANTED Analytics

On average, job ads for retail sales professionals remain online for 6 weeks. However, employers in El Centro, California are experiencing one of the shortest posting periods in the US. Here, job ads remain online for about 32 days – or about 4.5 weeks. Recruiters in El Centro are able to fill jobs about 1.5 weeks faster than the national average.

Hiring Scale for Retail Sales Professionals in El Centro, California

Hiring Scale for Retail Sales Professionals in El Centro, California

Source: WANTED Analytics

Are retail jobs easy- or hard-to-fill in your city? Find out with the free, online Hiring Scale™! Just tell us what job you are filling and where it's located and we'll show you a Hiring Scale, average salary information, who you are competing with for talent, and where to find hidden pools of candidates.

Retail Hiring Reaches New Highs

By Abby Lombardi on March 14, 2012 in Retail, Sales.

In the last few months of 2011, we closely watched hiring demand in the retail industry and saw that hiring around the holidays was strong. We looked again at the volume of job ads placed for retail sales professionals during February and noticed that this growth hasn't stopped. There were more than 42,000 jobs advertised online for retail sales workers last month, a 92% year-over-year increase (compared to February 2011) and a 7% month-over-month increase (compared to January 2012). Some of the retailers with the highest number of jobs advertised during February were: Staples, Macy's, JoS. A. Bank, Home Depot, and Best Buy.

Hiring Demand for Retail Sales Workers – 4 Year Hiring Trend

Hiring Demand for Retail Sales Workers

Source: WANTED Analytics

Sales Workers and Sales Managers accounted for the majority of the job ads. More than 22,000 postings were for Salespersons at a 145% increase compared to February 2011. Sales managers represented about 19,000 of the jobs, a year-over-year increase of about 48%. Cashiers, Parts Salespersons, and Rental Counter Clerks made up the remaining jobs – all of which also experienced growth compared to last year. The most  required skills in job ads for retail sales workers are a mix of store equipment (like electrical lifts) and common technological skills (like Microsoft Office):

  1. Cash registers
  2. Fax machines
  3. Paging systems
  4. Panel saws
  5. Electric lifts
  6. Pallet jacks
  7. Microsoft Office
  8. Calculators
  9. Personal protective equipment
  10. Quantitative analysis

It should also be noted that hiring for non-sales jobs has been looking strong, too. The volume of job ads posted online by retailers for Marketers, Web Developers, Software Engineers, Operation Managers, and HR Managers all increased last month.

Below is a chart of the 10 metropolitan areas with the highest volumes of online job ads, all of which experienced at least double-digit growth compared to the same time period in 2011. Retailers in New York City by far had the most job listings and almost doubled their hiring demand compared to last year. In fact, growth in Los Angeles, Miami, and Boston also almost doubled over the past year. Chicago and Phoenix places more than 2 times the volume of ads as last year.

10 Metro Areas with Highest Volume of Online Job Ads for Retail Sales Workers

Metro Areas with High Retail Demand

Source: WANTED Analytics

On average, our Hiring Scale™ it is likely that Recruiters in the retail space will find sales positions moderately easy-to-fill since there is a large pool or potential candidates. On average jobs are listed online for 40 days – or just under 6 weeks. However, in locations with high and quickly growing demand, Recruiters may find more difficulties. In New York, where demand consistently beats any other metro area in the US, job ads are slightly more difficult-to-fill compared to nationally. Online job listings also stay online for an average of 42 days in New York City – just 2 days longer than the national average. One of the shortest average posting periods is in Kingsport, Tennessee where ads are online for just 33 days – or 4.7 weeks (about 1 week shorter than the national average).

Hiring Scale for Retail Sales Workers in New York, NY

Hiring Scale for Retail Sales Workers in NY

Source: WANTED Analytics

Are you hiring for job openings in the retail industry? Sign up for a free trial of WANTED Analytics™ to see how conditions compare in your area, average salary information, and who you are competing with for talent!

Easiest Places to Source Social Media Skills

By Abby Lombardi on February 17, 2012 in Advertising/Marketing, Recruiters, Sales.

Yesterday, we posted that hiring demand for social media skills reached an all time high in January. With increased demand, many Recruiters struggle to find qualified talent with this skill set. So, we thought we'd provide some of the places with the largest talent pools and are currently the best markets to source social media skills in. We looked at hiring conditions for the 4 of the fields with high demand for social media skills: Marketing, Public Relations, Recruiting, and Sales.

As you can see by the below Hiring Scale™ snapshots, each national average for each occupation will experience varying degrees of difficulty. This depends on the hiring demand for those jobs and the talent supply of qualified potential candidates in the workforce. In these locations, Recruiters are likely to see more candidates per job opening, less competition with other employers, a shorter time-to-fill for open jobs, and a lower cost-per-hire. Recruiters that have hard-to-fill social media job openings (or are sourcing for several jobs) may find it beneficial to post ads and source candidates in these cities to expand their talent pools.

Consequently if you have social media skills and are looking to find work, these are likely to be the hardest places for you to find a job. Since there is lower hiring demand and a higher talent supply, you are likely to compete with more candidates for fewer jobs in these cities.

Best Places to Source Marketers with Social Media Skills:

  1. Santa Cruz, California
  2. Memphis, Tennessee
  3. Kingsport-Bristol, Tennessee
  4. Riverside-San Bernardino, Californa
  5. Knoxville, Tennessee

Hiring Scale for Marketing Managers with Social Media Skills in Santa Cruz, California (Easiest-to-Fill Location)

Hiring Scale for Marketers with Social Media Skills

Source: WANTED Analytics

Best Places to Source Public Relations Managers with Social Media Skills:

  1. Jackson, Mississippi
  2. Lincoln, Nebraska
  3. Sarasota, Florida
  4. Honolulu, Hawaii
  5. Austin, Texas

Hiring Scale for PR Managers with Social Media Skills in Jackson, Mississippi (Easiest-to-Fill Location)

Hiring Scale for Public Relations Managers with Social Media Skills

Source: WANTED Analytics

Best Places to Source Recruiters with Social Media Skills:

  1. Indianapolis, Indiana
  2. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  3. Atlanta, Georgia
  4. Phoenix, Arizona
  5. Portland, Maine

Hiring Scale for Recruiters with Social Media Skills in Indianapolis, Indiana (Easiest-to-Fill Location)

Hiring Scale for Recruiters with Social Media Skills

Source: WANTED Analytics

Best Places to Source Sales Managers with Social Media Skills:

  1. Memphis, Tennessee
  2. Detroit, Michigan
  3. Columbia, South Carolina
  4. Springfield, Missouri
  5. Phoenix, Arizona

Hiring Scale for Sales Managers with Social Media Skills in Memphis, Tennessee (Easiest-to-Fill Location)

Hiring Scale for Sales Managers with Social Media Skills

Source: WANTED Analytics

What other jobs openings do you have in your company that require social media skills and experience? Try the new online Hiring Scale to see how hard-to-fill the job will be in your area, average salary ranges, and who you are competing with for talent.

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