CHICAGO, July 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- 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 by CareerBuilder.  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?  CareerBuilder provides insights on where to look.    

"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, 2013, 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:

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

*Data on the number of new jobs added since 2010 and corresponding growth percentages were provided by EMSI, a CareerBuilder company. EMSI data is collected from more than 90 federal and state sources, such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau, and state labor departments.  EMSI removes suppressions often found in publically available data and includes proprietors, creating a complete picture of the workforce.

Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive^© on behalf of CareerBuilder among 2,046 hiring managers and human resource professionals (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) between May 14 and June 5, 2013 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset, based on their responses to certain questions). With a pure probability sample of 2,046, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 2.17 percentage points.  Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.

About CareerBuilder®
CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract great talent. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com®, is the largest in the United States with more than 24 million unique visitors, 1 million jobs and 50 million resumes. CareerBuilder works with the world's top employers, providing resources for everything from employment branding and talent and compensation intelligence to recruitment solutions. More than 10,000 websites, including 140 newspapers and broadband portals such as MSN and AOL, feature CareerBuilder's proprietary job search technology on their career sites. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company and The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, South America, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com

Media Contact
Michael Erwin
773-527-3637
Michael.erwin@careerbuilder.com
http://www.twitter.com/CareerBuilderPR

SOURCE CareerBuilder