10 Hardest To Fill Jobs

Brent Rasmussen of Careerbuilder

More than a third (35 percent) of hiring managers currently have positions that have remained open for 12 weeks or longer, according to new research. Which jobs are the hardest to fill and in need of workers now? Which professions are experiencing strong job growth and present good opportunities for the unemployed, underemployed and workers looking to make a career change?

“Although the recession created an abundant pool of readily-available, unemployed talent that still exists today, employers are struggling to find new employees for technology-related occupations, sales, healthcare and a variety of other areas,” said Brent Rasmussen, President of CareerBuilder North America. “Two in five employers (41 percent) reported that they continuously recruit throughout the year, so that they have candidates in their pipeline in case a position opens up down the road. The skills gap that exists for high-growth, specialized occupations will become even more pronounced in the years to come, prompting the need to place a greater emphasis on reskilling workers through formal education and on-the-job training.”

The study began with a nationwide survey, which was conducted online by Harris Interactive© on behalf of CareerBuilder from May 14 to June 5, 20l3, and included more than 2,000 hiring managers and human resource professionals. In the study, CareerBuilder asked employers to identify the hardest-to-fill positions within their organizations that stay open 12 weeks or longer. CareerBuilder paired the list of occupations with job growth data provided by Economic Modeling Specialists (EMSI) to showcase the number of positions that were added post-recession.

Among the jobs that were cited as most difficult to fill, in order of jobs added from 2010 to 2013, are:

1. Sales Representative. 584,792 new jobs added with 3.8 percent job growth from 2010 to 2013.
2. Machine Operator/Assembler/Production Worker. 135,363 new jobs with 9.9 percent growth.
3. Nurse. 135,325 new jobs with 5 percent growth.
4. Truck Driver. 113,517 new jobs with 6.7 percent growth.
5. Software Developer. 103,708 new jobs with 11.2 percent growth.
6. Engineer. 73,995 new jobs with 4.9 percent growth.
7. Marketing Professional. 57,045 new jobs with 11.3 percent growth.
8. Accountant. 55,670 new jobs with 4.5 percent growth.
9. Mechanic. 53,002 new jobs with 4.1 percent growth.
10. IT Manager/Network Administrator. 48,709 new jobs with 7.5 percent growth.