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Hiring Demand at US Manufacturers Grows

By Abby Lombardi on June 10, 2013 in Manufacturing.

We recently shared hiring trends for manufacturing jobs in Canada since Statistics Canada reported that employment in this area rose by 21,000 jobs in April, marking the first month of job gains in this sector over the past year. We wanted to look at manufacturing demands in the US. In May, there were about 244,000 jobs available online at manufacturers – a 2% year-over-year increase. The metropolitan areas with the most ads last month were New York, Los Angeles, San Jose, Boston, and Chicago.

Hiring Demand in Manufacturing – 4 Year Hiring Trend

Hiring demand in the manufacturing industry

Source: WANTED Analytics

Of the industries within the manufacturing sector, pharmaceutical preparation manufacturing had the most ads in May, with just over 17,000. Despite being the most in-demand, this represents a 5% decline in the number of open positions available online compared to the same month period in 2012. Semiconductor and related device manufacturing appeared with the 2nd highest demand. There were more than 15,000 jobs available last month at a 20% increase, the most of any industry listed below.

Manufacturing Industries with the Most Available Job Ads – May 2013 vs May 2012

Manufacturing industries with the most job ads

Source: WANTED Analytics

Below are the 10 most commonly advertised job titles in the manufacturing sector in the US. There are several engineering, technician, and production roles represented in the list below. However, Sales Representative tops the list as the most commonly advertised job title.

  1. Sales Representative
  2. Manufacturing Engineer
  3. Maintenance Technician
  4. Administrative Assistant
  5. Production Supervisor
  6. Merchandiser
  7. Software Engineer
  8. Mechanical Engineer
  9. Project Manager
  10. Machinist

Are you competing for manufacturing talent? Give us 2 minutes and we'll show you how to fill any job faster and smarter.

Already an Analytics user? Log in here to see sources of potential candidates. We've already added the manufacturing industry for you. Just add your location and specific job requirements.

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.

Increased Hiring for Teachers and Educators

By Abby Lombardi on March 18, 2013 in Teachers.

It's been a while since we looked at hiring demand for educators in the US. Now that we are into Spring, the number of jobs available for teachers usually begins to grow. We thought we would look at updated hiring to see if we are already seeing emerging trends for 2013. In February, there were more than 196,000 jobs available for Teachers and other educator professionals, up 13% from last year. Will demand follow a similar pattern as in the past and continue to grow?

Hiring Demand for Teachers and Education Professionals – 4 Year Hiring Trend

Hiring Demand for Educators

Source: WANTED Analytics

Below are the 10 types of Teachers that were most in-demand during February 2013. Preschool Teachers (except Special Education) saw the highest number of job ads with more than 28,000. Demand was also up 23%. While this was one of the largest year-over-year growth seen in educational hiring, Elementary School Teachers (not Special Education) had the highest growth, with 31% more jobs this February than last. Of the below 10 occupations, only Teachers and Instructors, All Other saw a decline year-over-year.

Educational Occupations with the Most Jobs Available in February 2013

Types of Teachers Most In-Demand

Source: WANTED Analytics

Despite growing demand, our Hiring Scale shows that Teachers and other Educators aren't likely to be too difficult to fill since there is  a large talent pool across the US. These occupations score a 20 on our Hiring Scale and average a 6 week posting period. However, this will also vary by location and the specific role being recruited. For example, one of the longest average posting periods (the amount of time an ad remains online) is in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Here, job ads remain online for an average of 9.5 weeks, which is 3.5 weeks longer than the national average.

Heat Map of Average Posting Periods for Teacher Job Ads

Heat Map of Average Posting Periods for Teacher Job Ads

Source: WANTED Analytics

Are you recruiting education professionals? Sign up for a FREE trial of WANTED Analytics to see how hard-to-recruit jobs are in your city, average salary ranges, and who else is currently hiring!

Already an Analytics user? Log in and search for the specific type of teacher you are recruiting for.

US Leads in Nanotechnology Patents – What is the Hiring Outlook?

By Abby Lombardi on February 19, 2013 in Computer/Math/IT, Engineering.

A recent study by McDermott Will & Emery revealed that the United States leads the world in nanotechnology patents, accounting for 54% of all patent applications and grants. We wondered if hiring would follow this trend, since we thought companies might be hiring specialized skills to work on "nano" projects. Currently, there are about 190 employers looking to hire "nano" experienced professionals.

Hiring demand seems to be focused in specific areas across the US – not necessarily a widely-sought skill set. The largest volume of job ads is currently in the San Jose, CA metro area. Being a part of the Silicon Valley, it's probably not too surprising that demand is highest here. Other metropolitan areas with the highest demand are Albany (NY), Boston (MA), and New York (NY).

Hiring Demand for "Nano" Jobs in the US

Hiring Demand for Nano Jobs in the US

Source: WANTED Analytics

Below are the 10 most commonly advertised job titles that include "nano" in their ads.

  1. Product Manager Solar Grade Polysilicon
  2. Mechanical Engineer
  3. Assistant Professor
  4. Assistant Associate Professor
  5. Research Scientist
  6. Research Associate I NCI
  7. Electrical Engineer
  8. ITO Service Delivery Consultant III
  9. Post Doctoral Fellow NCI
  10. Service Information Developer II

These job ads we looked at included either "nanotechnology" or "nano engineering." Knowing that, you would expect to see engineering and technology job titles listed. In addition, if companies are working on new projects, research associate and research scientists make sense to appear on this list. As demand for "nano" projects grows, it's likely that colleges and universities will continue to hire Professors to teach students the latest developments.

Are you hiring for nano engineering or nanotechnology projects? Find out what demand is like in your city with a free trial of WANTED Analytics.

Already an Analytics user? Log in and copy/paste a job description into the Search Wizard to generate supply and demand data. Don't forget to generate a Talent Sourcing Report and share it with hiring managers!

Do You Have Skills? 50 Most In-Demand Skills in Job Ads

By Abby Lombardi on December 18, 2012 in Hiring Demand Indicators.

As we approach the end of the year, we thought it was appropriate to revisit the list of the most commonly advertised skills to see how these have changed. When we first reported on this in April of 2012, Microsoft Office was the most in-demand skill, but this has dropped to third place now. We also see more "soft skills" on this list, like being detail oriented and problem solving skills. Although there are several listed, we don't see tech skills dominating this list like we have in the past.

What other changes do you notice? What do you predict will be the most in-demand skill in 2013? Will "oral and written communication skills" hang on to the number 1 spot? Let us know your predictions in the comments section below!

  1. Oral and written communication skills
  2. Detail oriented
  3. Microsoft Office
  4. Problem solving
  5. Self-starting/self-motivated
  6. Organizational skills
  7. Project management
  8. Work independently
  9. Microsoft PowerPoint
  10. Sales experience
  11. Troubleshooting
  12. Customer service oriented
  13. Time management
  14. Analytical skills
  15. Business development
  16. Strong interpersonal skills
  17. Structured query language (SQL)
  18. Strong leadership
  19. Work ethics
  20. Product development/management
  21. Quality assurance (QA)
  22. Microsoft Word
  23. Software development
  24. Oracle Java
  25. Technical support
  26. Risk management
  27. Dependability
  28. Ability to travel
  29. Bilingual
  30. Cash registers
  31. Linux
  32. Team-oriented
  33. Process improvement
  34. Business requirements gathering
  35. Quality control
  36. UNIX
  37. Customer relationship management (CRM)
  38. Microsoft Excel
  39. Javascript (JS)
  40. Microsoft SQL Server (MS SQL)
  41. Customer account management
  42. Critical thinking
  43. Hypertext markup language (HTML)
  44. Data analysis
  45. Program management
  46. Inventory management
  47. Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC)
  48. Application development
  49. Customer relations
  50. Extensible markup language (XML)

Are Tablet Computers the Next In-Demand Skill?

By Abby Lombardi on December 3, 2012 in Computer/Math/IT, Occupations.

Tablet computers are a very hot item this year – on both consumer and job requirement "wish lists." We noticed that being able to use or programming specifically for a tablet computer appeared in more than 15,000 available job ads in the past 90 days. That's up 143% from the same time period last year! We weren't surprised to see that experience with tablet computers was growing; however, we were a bit surprised to see how many jobs specifically mention this. We thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at some of the industries, companies, and jobs that include tablet skills. Are you recruiting for candidates that can use or program for tablets?

Hiring Demand for Candidates with Tablet Experience – 4 Year Hiring Trend

Volume of Jobs that Require Tablet Usage

Source: WANTED Analytics

There are a wide variety of industries and companies that are beginning to require tablet skills. Among the employers with the most job ads were Crossmark, SpotOn, Intel, Home Depot, Amazon, Condé Nast, US Army Training and Doctrine Command, Microsoft, and American Express. Just in these few companies, you can see several industries represented: technological, marketing and advertising services, retail, and publishing are just a few. Technology companies would be expected, as they are probably building tablets or developing applications to run on their operating systems. However, we were somewhat surprise to see companies, like Home Depot, leading the US in hiring demand. After further analysis of their job ads, we see that many of their field representatives and technicians are required enter data or log work through a tablet device.

Not surprisingly, many of the jobs that require tablet skills in the past 90 days are computer and IT related. Software Engineers (applications) and Web Developers top the list of in-demand occupations, both with more than 1,000 jobs available and growing significantly. Software Engineer jobs that mention programming for or using a table grew 144% versus the same 90-day period last year, and Web Developers increased 68%. Other occupations that saw high demand for tablet skills were Retail Salespersons, Marketing Managers, Computer Support Specialists, Sales Agents of Financial Services, Graphic Designers, and Advertising Sales Agents.

Hiring Demand Trends for the 5 Occupations Most Commonly Requiring Tablet Skills or Usage

Hiring Trend for top 5 Occupations Requiring Tablet Skills

Source: WANTED Analytics

With demand for tablet skills still somewhat new and growing, recruiting conditions will vary across the US. The best locations for finding this talent currently are Gainesville (Georgia), Napa (California), and Hot Springs (Arkansas). These areas are seeing less demand constraints on their talent pool, meaning that employers are likely to see less competition from other companies and fill jobs faster. In comparison, the locations currently experiencing the most difficult conditions based on our Hiring Scale are San Francisco (California), Seattle (Washington), and Charleston (South Carolina). Here, there is much more hiring taking place, many times for IT and programming jobs, making it more difficult to find potential candidates in a limited talent pool.

What kind of tablet related skills do you require in job ads? Is this talent in your pipeline?

Find out if these jobs will be hard-to-fill in your area, who you are competing with for talent, and where you can find potential candidates that meet your job requirements with a free trial of WANTED Analytics.

Already an Analytics user? Log in and search for "tablet computers" in the skills filter, or just copy/paste one of your job reqs into the Search Wizard. Don't forget to bring a Talent Sourcing Report to your in-take and strategy meetings to show hiring managers real data about the current recruiting conditions!

Most Commonly Recruited Job Titles in Canada

By Abby Lombardi on October 9, 2012 in Labor Market Dynamics.

Since we recently posted the most commonly advertised skills in Canadian jobs, we thought it was time to also revisit the most in-demand job titles in Canada. In the US, the 3 most in-demand jobs are healthcare positions (Physical Therapist, Occupational Therapist, and Registered Nurse). Will the same jobs be most commonly advertised in Canada, also?

  1. Live-in Caregiver
  2. Administrative Assistant
  3. Customer Service Representative
  4. Cook
  5. Sales Representative
  6. Retail Sales Associate
  7. Receptionist
  8. Project manager
  9. Sales Associate
  10. Registered Nurse
  11. Cuisinier/Cuisiniere
  12. Nanny
  13. Adjoint Administratiff/Adjointe Administrative
  14. Truck Driver
  15. Secretaire Receptionniste
  16. Manager
  17. Cashier
  18. Store Manager
  19. Prepose/Preposee Entretien Menager
  20. Food Counter Attendant
  21. Sales Manager
  22. Construction Labourer
  23. Executive Assistant
  24. Shipper Receiver
  25. Food Beverage Server
  26. Account Manager
  27. Retail Assistant Manager
  28. Delivery Driver
  29. Accountant
  30. Driver
  31. Kitchen Helper
  32. Food Service Supervisor
  33. Line Cook
  34. Accounting Clerk
  35. Commis Compable
  36. Receptionniste
  37. Labourer Manufacturing
  38. Retail Store Manager
  39. Aide Cuisinier/Aide Cuisiniere
  40. Merchandiser
  41. Cleaner
  42. Sales
  43. Business Analyst
  44. Office Assistant
  45. Office Administrator
  46. Assistant Manager
  47. Bookkeeper
  48. Branch Manager
  49. Commis Bureau
  50. Carpenter

Interestingly, Registered Nurse, which is always one of the most in-demand jobs in the US, appears on this list at #10. However, similar to jobs in the US though, sales related positions are highly in-demand in Canada. What other interesting trends do you notice?

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Hiring in Construction Getting Built Up

By Abby Lombardi on September 26, 2012 in Construction.

The construction sector has struggled since the recession began, but with a warmer than average winter, hiring in 2012 started strong and continues to hold at higher levels. In August, there were more than 32,000  jobs available in the construction industry.

Hiring Demand in the Construction Industry – 4 Year Hiring Trend

Hiring Demand in the Construction Industry

Source: WANTED Analytics

The cities that currently have the most job ads in the construction industry are Houston, Washington (DC), Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Heat Map of Online Job Ad Volume by Metropolitan Area

heat map - job volume by metro area

Source: WANTED Analytics

Below are the 10 most commonly advertised job titles in the construction industry. Among the most in-demand fields are construction and extraction workers; management occupations; installation, maintenance or repair positions; and architecture and engineering.

  1. Project Manager
  2. Administrative Assistant
  3. Sales Representative
  4. Driver
  5. Electrician
  6. Carpenter
  7. HVAC Service Technician
  8. Laborer
  9. Plumber
  10. Estimator

If hiring is increasing, will it be more difficult to fill open positions? Despite this increasing demand, our Hiring Scale shows that overall recruiting conditions for construction jobs will be favorable on average across the US. The average duration of an online job ad is 37 days – or just over 5 weeks.

Hiring Scale for the Construction Industry

Hiring Scale for the Construction Industry

Source: WANTED Analytics

What construction jobs are in demand in your area? Sign up for a free trial of WANTED Analytics for demand trends, average salary information, see your competition for talent, and find hidden candidates with the skills you require!

Is Houston a Hot Spot for Engineers?

By Abby Lombardi on September 4, 2012 in Engineering.

Engineers have seen inconsistent hiring demand over the past few years, yet as one of the STEM fields, seem to always bounce back with increased volumes of job ads. The past few months we have started to see a decline in the number of available positions – this is often predicted to be "seasonal" since hiring historically has slowed during the last half of the year. While demand may be dropping nationwide, there are a few places that are actually still growing at a very fast pace. We thought we'd take a look at one of these places – Houston, Texas – and how recruiters in this area may be affected by growing demand.

Hiring Demand for Engineers – 4 Year Nationwide Hiring Trend

Hiring Demand for Engineers - Nationwide

Source: WANTED Analytics

While the nationwide hiring demand for engineers has declined by almost 10% since March 2012, demand in the Houston metro area has grown by 11%. It can also be noted that Houston has seen the highest demand for engineers of any US city every month since February, when it overtook Los Angeles as the city with the most online engineering job ads. While demand dropped in the middle of the recession, it has steadily and quickly grown and is now higher than pre-recession demand.

Hiring Demand for Engineers in Houston, TX – 4 Year Hiring Trend

Hiring Demand for Engineers in Houston, Texas

Source: WANTED Analytics

So what kinds of Engineers are companies in Houston looking for? The 10 most in-demand engineering job titles in this area are:

  1. Mechanical Engineer
  2. Project Engineer
  3. Electrical Engineer
  4. Process Engineer
  5. Engineer
  6. Manufacturing Engineer
  7. Reservoir Engineer
  8. Senior Process Engineer
  9. Quality Engineer
  10. Senior Mechanical Engineer

Also, here are the 5 skills that are most commonly included in engineering job ads in the Houston metro area:

  1. Project management
  2. Microsoft Office
  3. Quality Assurance (QA)
  4. Autodesk AutoCAD
  5. Microsoft PowerPoint

Fast growing demand for Engineers in Houston has caused recruiting conditions to become more difficult. Our Hiring Scale shows that jobs will be harder to fill than in most other cities nationwide and are likely to take about 6.5 weeks to fill in Houston. However, there are some areas near Houston that are currently experiencing better recruiting conditions and may be a source of additional candidates. Some of these cities include Houma, Louisiana and both Austin and Dallas, Texas. By targeting job ads in these areas and sourcing potential candidates, employers in Houston will see less competition from other companies to attract talent, larger candidate pools to source from, and are likely to shorten the time it takes to fill an open job. For example, it takes just 5 weeks on average to fill an engineering job in Houma, LA. While an employer in Houston may need to relocate a candidate, this may be a better option since the job will be filled more than 1 week faster.

Hiring Scale for Engineering Jobs in Houston, Texas

Houston Hiring Scale heat map for Engineering Jobs

Source: WANTED Analytics

Are you recruiting for Engineers? Find out average salaries, posting period, candidate supply, and hiring demand in your area and compare them to Houston with a free trial of WANTED Analytics.

E-Commerce Hiring Not in the Express Lane

By Abby Lombardi on August 21, 2012 in Computer/Math/IT, Occupations.

Many companies are building out websites, offering online market places, and creating customized retail platforms accessible by computers, tablets, and mobile phones. This means one thing: e-commerce hiring. During July, more than 25,000 job ads were available that called for professionals with e-commerce skills and experience in the United States. This represents a 31% year-over-year compared to July of 2011 and more than 50% from 2 years ago.

Hiring Demand for E-Commerce Skills – 4 Year Hiring Trend

Hiring Demand for E-Commerce Skills

Source: WANTED Analytics

E-commerce skills are most commonly required in technical, marketing, and analyst occupations. This makes sense since IT professionals are needed to build and implement e-commerce platforms, marketers are responsible for directing web traffic, and analysts are often hired to help consult a company through the process. Some of the most commonly advertised job titles requiring an e-commerce background are:

  • Java Developer
  • Web Developer
  • Project Manager
  • Business Analyst
  • Software Engineer
  • .NET Developer
  • Web Designer
  • Marketing Director

Below are the 10 most commonly required skills in e-commerce jobs. Considering that many of the e-commerce related jobs are technical in nature, it's not surprising that many of the below skills are computer and programming related.

  1. Customer relationship management (CRM)
  2. System Development Lifecycle (SDLC)
  3. Management consulting
  4. Application management
  5. Oracle E-Business Suite
  6. Project management
  7. Adobe LifeCycle ES
  8. Microsoft PowerPoint
  9. Oracle Java
  10. Business development

With increasing demand for these skills and a relatively limited supply of potential qualified candidates, our Hiring Scale™ confirms that Recruiters will find these jobs difficult to fill. Across the United States, Recruiters spend an average of 6 weeks advertising jobs and sourcing candidates for these positions. In comparison, Boulder, CO and Albany, NY are currently experiencing some of the most challenging overall recruiting conditions. Competition among employers to attract talent  has increased, yet the number of professionals entering the workforce with the desired skills hasn't grown at the same rate. In Boulder and Albany, the average posting period is 8 weeks, meaning it is likely to take 2 weeks longer to fill e-commerce positions than the US average.

Heat Map of Hiring Scales for E-Commerce Skills

Heat map of Hiring Scales for E-Commerce Skills

Source: WANTED Analytics

The below heat map of Hiring Scales depicts the best and worst places to recruit this talent. Some of the best places to source this talent, shown in green above, are Charleston (WV), Scranton (PA), and De Moines (IA).

Are you recruiting for e-commerce professionals? See how conditions compare in your location area with the free online Hiring Scale. Just tell us where the job is located and the job title or specific required skills and we'll show you how hard-to-fill the job is, average salary data, your competition for talent, and where to find candidates.

Already an Analytics user? Log in and search for "e-commerce" in the keyword filter. Add any other filters, including skills, location, or occupation.

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