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Occupational Therapist Jobs Remain Hard-to-Fill, Despite Declining Demand

By Abby Lombardi on June 3, 2013 in Health Care, Health Care - XLV.

Many healthcare jobs remain hard-to-fill in the US, and Occupational Therapists present some of the most difficulties for Recruiters and healthcare employers. Surprisingly, hiring demand for this position is not as high as it has been in the past. After growing quickly in the beginning of 2012, the number of available job ads declined. Over the past 30 days, there were about 54,000 available jobs being advertised online, representing a 17% decline from the same 30-day period last year.

Hiring Demand for Occupational Therapists – 4 Year Hiring Trend

Hiring Demand for Occupational Therapists

Source: WANTED Analytics

Despite decreasing demand, there is still a relatively limited talent pool in the US, causing some of the difficulty in filling these jobs. Recruiters are still experiencing longer recruiting cycles. In fact, the average job ad for an Occupational Therapist remains online for 62 days in the US – that's almost 9 weeks! This doesn't necessarily mean that jobs are even filled in 9 weeks, but that this is the length of time employers spend advertising an opening, collecting resumes, and preparing for interviews.

Below is our Hiring Scale heat map, showing the average difficulty to fill for Occupational Therapists in major metro areas across the US. Most areas appear in red, which indicate hard-to-recruit locations. The average score in the US is an 87 (with 99 being the highest score possible.) Some of these most difficult places include Lynchburg (VA), Fresno (CA), and Lakeland (FL). These locations not only have high scores on the Hiring Scale, but also have longer average posting periods. While the US average is about 9 weeks, these locations are likely to see job ads remain online for 11 weeks.

Hiring Scale for Occupational Therapists across the US

Hiring Scale Map for Occupational Therapists

Source: WANTED Analytics

However, there are a few areas, that are in green, depicting better recruiting conditions. Recruiters that need to fill jobs faster may be able to source candidates from these areas or target their job ads more in these locations.

Are you recruiting for healthcare talent? Find out what demand and recruiting conditions look like in your area with a free trial of WANTED Analytics.

Already an Analytics user? Log in, copy and paste your job ad into the Search Wizard. Don't forget to bring your Talent Souring Report to in-take and strategy meetings to show market conditions to Hiring Managers.

Are IT Jobs Taking Over Healthcare?

By Ashley Rowe on January 26, 2013 in Health Care - XLV, Information Technology - XLK.

Throughout 2012, we wrote about the increasing demand for IT professionals in healthcare. Aside from natural growth, the increase of IT jobs in healthcare is attributed to aging baby boomers and new legislation such as the HITECH Act, Affordable Care Act, and the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. A recent article by the Post Gazette connects each legislation to its impact on healthcare job creation. The Affordable Care Act initiated state based online health insurance which is creating more jobs for software engineers and code writers. The Recovery Act requires hospitals and clinics to adopt electronic health record systems. The HITECH Act, which is part of the Recovery Act, provides funding to medical organizations to convert patient records into electronic files. These changes require candidates with the technical ability to create and implement them. We were wondering which specific jobs in the healthcare sector most commonly require IT talent.

Most Commonly Advertised Healthcare IT Job Titles

  1. Project Manager
  2. Systems Analyst
  3. Programmer Analyst
  4. Database Administrator
  5. Systems Administrator
  6. Network Engineer
  7. Software Engineer
  8. Network Administrator
  9. Senior Programmer Analyst
  10. Director Information Technology

We examined hiring trends for the job titles listed above. Despite a 2% decrease during the last quarter of 2012 (when compared to the same 3-month period during 2011), overall hiring demand that occurred during 2012 was 6% higher than all of 2011.

Hiring Demand Chart for IT Jobs in Healthcare

Hiring Chart for IT Jobs in Healthcare

SOURCE: WANTED Analytics

Employers most commonly require candidates for these jobs to have the following skills:

  1. Project management
  2. Structured Query Language (SQL)
  3. Troubleshooting
  4. Oral and written communication skills
  5. Problem solving

Recruiters are likely to encounter difficulty sourcing this talent, which scores a 76 on our Hiring Scale (99 denotes hardest-to-fill). Lubbock, TX presents the least difficult recruiting conditions, scoring a 33. Boulder, CO is experiencing some of the toughest conditions, with a score of 87.

Hiring Scale for IT Jobs in Healthcare

Hiring Scale for IT Jobs in Healthcare

SOURCE: WANTED Analytics

How does your city rank on the Hiring Scale? Try a free trial of WANTED Analytics to find out.

Already an Analytics user? Log in and enter information technology as your function, healthcare and social assistance as your industry, add your location, and any other requirements.

Surge In Demand for Healthcare IT Professionals

By Ashley Rowe on August 17, 2012 in Health Care - XLV, Information Technology - XLK.

Top Echelon Contracting recently reported that demand for Healthcare IT professionals has surged creating a new niche job for Recruiters to source candidates for. This increase in hiring demand is attributed to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) which provides funding for patient records to be converted into electronic health records. Job candidates with this combination of skills is challenging to find. Recruiters are experiencing difficulty sourcing IT professionals with healthcare understanding.

Our Hiring Scale™ heat map displays the national difficulty level of recruiting for Healthcare IT related positions. Across the US these positions are very hard-to-fill with Portland, OR experiencing the most difficult recruiting conditions. Below is a snapshot of candidate supply, hiring demand, average posting period and salary data in this metro area.

Hiring Scale for Healthcare IT Occupations

Baton Rouge, LA is one of the best locations to recruit this kind of talent with a large qualified candidate pool in relation to the level of hiring demand. New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Sacramento metros have the highest volume of job ads posted online. Below is a heat map of the national volume of online job ads for Healthcare IT related positions.

Job Ad Volume for Healthcare IT Professionals

Recruiters filling these positions can become actively involved in local college training programs to build a talent pipeline or source contractors to fill these positions like some healthcare organizations are already doing to reduce costs. In job ads, Recruiters may need to include some of these most advertised skills required for this position: Project Management, Structured Query Language (SQL), Microsoft Office, Microsoft Structured Query Language (MS SQL), and System Analysis. It is also recommended to consider IT candidates who can communicate well with medical professionals.

Try a free trial of WANTED Analytics™ to find out what candidate supply, hiring demand, average salary, and average posting period look like for positions you are filling.

Hiring for Registered Nurses Starting to Climb Again

By Abby Lombardi on March 5, 2012 in Health Care, Health Care - XLV.

In November, we reported that hiring demand for Registered Nurses was declining and continued to do so through the end of 2011. However, we are happy to say that the number of online job ads for RNs began to grow again in January and February. In the first 2 months of 2012, there have been more than 120,000 online job postings for Registered Nurses. This represents a 8% increase in hiring demand compared to the same time period in 2011. Employers accounted for about 94,000 of the online job postings, representing 76% of hiring at an 18% year-over-year increase. Staffing firms and recruiting agencies accounted for the remaining 24% of online ads and declining their volume of ads by about 15% compared to 2011.

Hiring Demand for Registered Nurses – 4 Year Hiring Trend

Hiring Demand for Nurses

The 10 metro areas with the highest volume of online job ads for Registered Nurses are below. Recruiters posted the most job ads for jobs located in the New York metro area, with more than 5,000 unique listings in the past 2 months. However, of these 10 cities, Miami saw the greatest year-over-year growth at more than 22%. Phoenix and Philadelphia also experienced double-digit growth compared to the same time period last year. Cleveland and Chicago were 2 of the few US locations to still see declining hiring demand.

10 Metropolitan Areas with the Highest Volume of Job Ads for RNs

Metro Areas with higest demand for Nurses

With more than 8,000 employers currently recruiting for RNs, our Hiring Scale™ shows that these jobs are likely to be moderately hard-to-fill. The average duration of a job ad across the US is 42 days – or 6 weeks. Despite seeing a year-over-year decline in demand, Recruiters are still likely to see some of the hardest conditions in the US. Not only are there fewer than average potential candidates, but also the average posting duration in this area is longer at about 6.5 weeks, contributing to these hard-to-fill conditions.

Hiring Scale for Registered Nurses – Cleveland, Ohio vs. Nationally

Hiring Scale for Nurses in Cleveland

Think NY is going to find these jobs hard-to-fill since they have the highest demand? Even though they have the highest demand, they also have one of the largest talent pools of RNs in the US meaning that Recruiters here are likely to find these openings easier than average to fill.

Hiring Scale for Registered Nurses – New York, NY vs. Nationally

Hiring Scale for Nurses in New York
See how conditions compare for Nurses in your area with the free, online Hiring Scale™. Just enter your location and any skill or job you are recruiting for, and we’ll show you how hard-to-fill the job is in your area, average salary information, and who you are competing with for talent!

Where Does your Compensation for Nurses Fall on the Salary Range?

By Abby Lombardi on January 18, 2012 in Health Care, Health Care - XLV.

Healthcare workers – especially Registered Nurses – saw the most online job ads across the United States last year. With high demand, many employers and recruiting agencies have found these jobs difficult to fill. In this post, we decided to look at average salary ranges in some of the cities with the highest and lowest volume of job ads for RNs, and how an advertised salary may impact recruiting conditions for that job.

In December 2011, more than 54,000 new job ads for Registered Nurses were posted online. About 76% of the job ads were posted by healthcare employers, while staffing and recruiting agencies represented about 24% of job postings. In addition, employers saw a greater year-over-year increase, placing 11% more job ads online compared to December 2010. Staffing firms declined, placing 28% fewer ads in December 2011 than in 2010. The 5 cities with the highest number of job ads for Registered Nurses during December 2011 were New York (New York), Dallas (Texas), Los Angeles (California), Tampa (Florida), and Philadelphia (Pennsylvania).

Location Number of Job Ads - December 2011 % Change vs. December 2010
New York, NY 2,401 +16.10%
Dallas, TX 1,851 -21.50%
Los Angeles, CA 1,779 +31.50%
Tampa, FL 1,227 +20.20%
Philadelphia, PA 1,121 +22.20%

According to our Hiring Scale™, New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia are likely to experience the easiest recruiting conditions for Registered Nurses of the above locations. The talent pools in these 3 locations are larger than average, with as many as 17 qualified potential candidates in the workforce for every job advertised. (The nationwide talent pool consists of about 8 potential candidates per job ad.) Also, the average duration of an online ad for a RN job opening in these areas is 40 days (about 5.7 weeks) – which is even with national averages.

Hiring Scales for Registered Nurses in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles (Easier to Fill Locations)

Locations where Registered Nurses are Easy to Fill

Source: WANTED Analytics

In comparison, Recruiters in Dallas and Tampa are likely to find Nurse jobs more difficult to recruit. In these areas, the talent pools are smaller than average, consisting of just 5 potential candidates per job opening. This means that employers are likely to see a higher cost-per-hire and time-to-fill. In fact, in these 2 areas jobs are advertised for 6.5 weeks – almost one week longer than average.

Hiring Scales for Registered Nurses in Dallas and Tampa (Harder to Fill Locations)

Locations where Registered Nurses are Hard to Fill

Source: WANTED Analytics

How does the hiring condition of an area affect average salary range for a job?  Typically, locations with high demand for hard-to-fill positions will offer higher salary ranges to attract potential candidates. In this case, healthcare employers in New York historically place the most job ads for Nurses. The advertised salary range in New York is also one of the highest in the US, ranging from $79,050 to $90,500.  The average salary range in Tampa, however, is much lower and ranges from $65,350 to $75,000. This could be contributing to more difficult recruiting conditions and a longer time-to-fill for open job ads. What would happen if employers in Tampa advertised a higher salary that was closer to national averages? Would nursing jobs become easier and faster to fill?

Where do the salaries for your open job reqs fall on the salary range? Are you advertising more or less than national and local ranges? Determine the average salary range and the difficulty to hire for any job or skill set with the Hiring Scale™.

"Best Careers of 2011" – A Review of Hiring Demand for Healthcare Jobs

By Abby Lombardi on December 19, 2011 in Health Care, Health Care - XLV.

Last week, we looked at the Business and Creative and Service categories on the list of the "Best Careers of 2011" (published by US News.) Today, we'll continue with the Healthcare careers to see what hiring demand looked like in 2011.

OccupationMedian Pay% Projected Growth (2008-18)
Athletic trainer$41,00037
Dental hygienist$67,00036
Lab technician$36,03016
Massage therapist$35,23019
Occupational therapist$69,63026
Optometrist$96,14024
Physician assistant$84,42039
Physical therapist$74,48030
Physical therapist assistant$48,29033
Radiologic technologist$53,24017
Registered nurse$63,75022
School psychologist$66,04011
Veterinarian$80,00033

From January 2011 through November 2011, Recruiters placed more than 1.7 million job ads online for these 13 healthcare careers. This represents a 40% increase compared to 2010. In the past 90 days alone, there have been about 352,000 job ads. Despite a significant decline in hiring demand for November, these careers have still maintained a 27% growth versus the same 90-day period in 2010.

Volume of Job Ads for Projected Best Healthcare Careers of 2011

Hiring Demand for Top Healthcare Careers of 2011

Source: WANTED Analytics

Of these 13 healthcare careers, 11 saw a year-over-year increase in hiring demand over the past 90 days. The most job ads were posted for Registered Nurses. In fact, Registered Nurses were one of the most demanded occupations in the US every month this year. However the highest growth was seen for Optometrists. Massage Therapists where the only occupation to decline, down 59%. The hiring demand for Veterinarians was the same during the past 90 days as it was in 2010.

Occupation Volume of Job Ads – Past 90 Days % Change vs. 2010
Registered Nurses 174,623 +19.0%
Physical Therapists 70,252 +42.7%
Occupational Therapists 63,029 +39.5%
Physical Therapist Assistants 20,505 +42.0%
Physician Assistants 10,269 +22.0%
Radiologic Technologists 6,437 +39.4%
Laboratory Technicians 4,595 +6.7%
Dental Hygienists 716 +13.5%
Massage Therapists 567 -59.7%
School Psychologists 475 +22.7%
Optometrists 470 +133.8%
Athletic Trainers 357 +13.7%
Veterinarians 236 –

Recruiting conditions will vary significantly for each of these careers. Our Hiring Scale™ shows that the easiest to fill of these 13 healthcare related careers is likely to be Dental Hygienists. Nationwide, there are about 65 potential candidates in the workforce for each Dental Hygienist job ad placed online. In comparison, the most occupation likely to be the most difficult to fill is Occupational Therapists. The talent pool for this job is much smaller across the country and, with just 1.1 potential candidates per advertised opening across the US, Recruiters in some areas may face a talent shortage. For example, Occupational Therapists have been growing in demand in Washington, DC. However, the talent pool is smaller than average and there aren't enough candidates in the local workforce to fill all the job openings.

Hiring Scale for Dental Hygienists – Washington, DC vs. Nationally

Hiring Scale for Dental Hygienists

Source: WANTED Analytics

Hiring Scale for Occupational Therapists – Washington, DC vs. Nationally

Hiring Scale for Occupational Therapists

Source: WANTED Analytics

Are you recruiting for healthcare openings? Enter the skills you are sourcing and the location into our Hiring Scale™ and we'll tell you how hard-to-fill that job will be, average salary range for the position, and where you can find potential candidates.

Healthcare Hiring Declines 25% in Six Months

By Abby Lombardi on November 8, 2011 in Health Care, Health Care - XLV.

Healthcare professionals have been among the most in-demand this year. Despite seeing the highest volume of job ads of any occupation in the U.S., hiring demand has declined 25% over the past 6 months. In May, employers placed more than 115,000 job ads. In comparison, there were 87,000 ads placed by employers in the healthcare space over the past 30 days.

Volume of Job Ads for Healthcare Professionals – 4 Years

Hiring Demand for Healthcare Professionals

Source: WANTED Analytics

Despite seeing a declining hiring demand, almost 13,000 companies advertised for healthcare job openings in the past 30 days. Employers that have placed the most ads over this 30-day time period were Kindred Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente, Arzu Therapy, and UnitedHealth Group. Kindred Healthcare placed the most job ads, with more than 2,000 advertised openings in this time period. Kaiser Permanente was close behind with about 1,800 new job listings.

The healthcare job ads fall into 2 different functions: Medical and Educational (or Training). Below are the top 10 most commonly advertised job titles for Medical and Educational healthcare occupations.

Most Common Job Titles for
Medical Healthcare Occupations

  1. Physical Therapist
  2. Occupational Therapist
  3. Registered Nurse
  4. Pharmacist
  5. Speech Language Pathologist
  6. LPN
  7. Speech Pathologist Assistant
  8. Physician Assistant
  9. Intensive Care Unit Nurse
  10. Hospitalist

Most Common Job Titles for
Educational Healthcare Occupations

  1. Certified Athletic Trainer
  2. Assistant Athletic Trainer
  3. Exercise Physiologist
  4. Health Fitness Specialist
  5. Wellness Health Coach
  6. Epic Certified Trainer
  7. Clinical Trainer
  8. DME Coordinator
  9. Certified Athletic Trainer Sports Medicine
  10. Fitness Manager

Despite declining demand, healthcare professionals have still been the most demanded over the past 30 days of any occupation and our Hiring Scale™ shows that these jobs remain hard-to-fill. Across the U.S., there are about 11 potential candidates on average for every online job ad. However, Recruiters are likely to see more difficult conditions for some occupations. For example, Physical Therapists and Occupational Therapists are likely to be the most challenging to source candidates for. Nationwide there are about 3.5 potential candidates in the workforce for every Physical Therapist job opening and about 2.1 candidates for every Occupational Therapist opening. Fort Smith, AR is currently experiencing some of the most difficult recruiting conditions with a severe talent shortage. For every job ad online in the Fort Smith area, there is only 0.32 candidates – meaning there aren't enough healthcare professionals in the local workforce to fill every job opening.

Hiring Scale for Healthcare Professionals – Fort Smith, AR versus Nationwide Average

Hiring Scale for Healthcare Professionals

Source: WANTED Analytics

Are you sourcing for healthcare professionals? Find out how recruiting conditions compare in your local area and find hidden candidate pools for hard-to-fill jobs with a free trial of WANTED Analytics™.

As Healthcare Hiring Continues, Employers Keep Job Ads Online Longer

By Abby Lombardi on September 6, 2011 in Health Care, Health Care - XLV.

Healthcare Practitioners are one of the most demanded occupations today. With many sectors seeing decreased hiring, healthcare is one of the few areas that has seen consistent growth and there aren't any signs that it will slow. The competition for talent is fierce and Recruiters must leave job ads online longer to fill positions. We took a look at the ad age of job listings placed by direct employers to see how long they are staying online.

Over the past 30 days, we saw 165,000 unique healthcare jobs advertised online by direct employers.  Of these, most jobs were first advertised within the month (less than 30 days old) or in July (30-59 days old). However, employers seem to be keeping a large volume of ads online for longer than 4 months.  We saw more than 5,000 ads that have been online for between 120 days and 179 days (4-6 months old). More than 4,800 jobs were still online after 6 months, representing about 1% of all jobs that were placed between 180 and 359 days ago.

Ad Age for Healthcare Jobs during August

Ad age for healthcare jobs

Source: WANTED Analytics

Employers in New York saw the highest volume of ads that were over 180 days old. One year ago, they had just 51. In comparison, this increased to 171 over the past 30 days.

Locations with Highest Volume of Jobs Ads Posted for More than 180 Days

Healthcare ad age by location

Source: WANTED Analytics

According to the Hiring Scale™, the national talent pool consists of 8.7 candidates currently in the workforce per advertised job. With a limited talent pool and a low number of candidates, employers and staffing firms will continue to face recruiting challenges. Of the above locations with the highest volume of aged ads, Recruiters in Washington, DC are likely to face the most difficult conditions.  Their talent pool is the smallest of these 10 cities, with 8.2 candidates per opening.  New York, despite having the highest volume of job ads more than 180 days old, has the largest talent pool of the above list, with 20 potential candidates per online job ad. Recruiters in New York are likely to fill positions quicker than many of their counterparts nationwide.

Hiring Scale Healthcare Jobs in Washington, DC and New York

Hiring Scale for Healthcare jobs in Washington, DC and New York

Source: WANTED Analytics

July Breaks Record with Online Job Ads for Registered Nurses

By Abby Lombardi on August 16, 2011 in Health Care, Health Care - XLV.

Employers and staffing firms posted more than 103,000 new online jobs for Registered Nurses, a new 4-year high for this occupation. As the most in-demand job in the US, hiring demand in July increased by 40% from the previous month and 69% from July 2010.

Hiring Demand for Registered Nurses

Source: WANTED Analytics

The ten metropolitan areas with the highest demand for RNs saw year-over-year growth.  Recruiters in Pittsburgh increased new online job ads by more than 1200% from July 2010 and placed 4,000 new job ads, the most of any location in the US. New York, which historically sees the most hiring demand for RNs, placed 3,058 job ad as the second highest hiring demand.

Top 10 Metro Areas with Hiring Demand for RNs

Source: WANTED Analytics

Generally, there is high demand for healthcare professionals across the US and recruiting is difficult.  On average there are approximately 8 potential candidates in the workforce for each open job ad across the US.  However, many areas that have smaller talent pools will see varying degrees of difficulty. In these areas, recruiters and staffing firms are likely to experience more competition when sourcing for open positions.  For example, Cleveland has about 5 candidates and Dallas  has 6.  In comparison, Los Angeles has about 11 candidates, meaning that recruiting conditions will be slightly better than on average. Despite having the highest demand in July, Pittsburgh will also experience easier recruiting conditions with about 17 potential candidates per opening.

Hiring Scales for Registered Nurses – Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Dallas and Los Angeles

Hiring Scales for Registered Nurses - Pittsburgh, Dallas, Cleveland and Los Angeles
Source: WANTED Analytics

New York Metro Area Seeing a Decline in Hiring Demand for Healthcare Jobs

By Abby Lombardi on July 12, 2011 in Health Care, Health Care - XLV.

Despite Healthcare-related occupations remaining one of the most demanded fields across the US, the New York metropolitan area has seen a decline in hiring demand for Healthcare professionals over the past 3 months. After the 4-year high in March of this year with more than 8,000 online job ads, June saw 30% less ads than March with just 5,600 jobs online.  These latest numbers also represent a 6% decline over June 2010.

Hiring Demand for Healthcare Professionals in the New York Metro Area

Hiring Demand for Healthcare Professionals in New York

Source: WANTED Analytics

Of the 10 occupations with the most job ad volume, only 4 positions saw year-over-year increases: Occupational Therapists, Physician Assistants, Dietitians and Nutritionists, and Family and General Practitioners.  Dietitians and Nutritionists saw the greatest increase from June 2010 at 81%. However, the greatest decline was for Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists, which saw a 33% less jobs this June.

Top 10 Occupations within the Healthcare Field – June 2011

Top 10 Occupations in Healthcare in New York

Source: WANTED Analytics

Since New York has a large talent pool of healthcare professionals and a decrease in overall hiring demand, employers and staffing firms in New are likely to experience an easier time sourcing candidates in comparison to the national average.  However, conditions will vary by specific job.  For example, the talent pool for Registered Nurses in New York is larger than the number of job ads, according to the Hiring ScaleTM.  Recruiters are likely to source RN candidates faster than many of their US counterparts.  In comparison, recruiters looking to fill Dietitian and Nutritionist openings are more likely to experience difficult conditions in comparison to the national average.  In New York, there are more jobs ads than qualified candidates in the NY workforce, meaning that recruiters will need to be more competitive to source from this talent pool and the recruiting process may take longer.

Hiring Scale for Registered Nurses in New York Metro Area vs. National Average

Hiring Scale for Registered Nurses - New York vs. US Average

Source: WANTED Analytics

Hiring Scale for Dietitians and Nutritionists in New York Metro Area vs. National Average

Hiring Scale for Dietitians and Nutritionists - New York vs. US Average

Source: WANTED Analytics

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