Nearly Half of Industries Hiring, but Majority Need Specialized Skills

More than 48 percent of industries experienced a quarterly percentage gain in online jobs posted, according to Beyond.com, Inc.'s Second Quarter 2010 Career Trend Analysis Report, released earlier this week. This reconciles with findings from Monster Employment Index, which has shown a year-over-year increase in online job postings for the past six months. More than 73 percent of employers were looking for full-time employees, according to Beyond's findings, an increase of 12 percent from the previous quarter. Healthcare and Medical represented the largest percentage gain in overall jobs posted (5.57 percent), followed by 2.24 percent for Sales and Sales Management.

Juxtapose Beyond's data with results from TalentDrive's Job Market Perceptions survey, which uncover a widening gap between current employers’ expectations and job seekers’ actual skill sets. Assessing their personal skill set and attitude toward the current job market, 71 percent of the 79,000 job seekers surveyed (86 percent considered to be actively seeking employment) were pessimistic about their career search, feeling they possessed the required skill set but were not getting hired. Moreover, 37 percent were extremely frustrated, with no hope for improvement in sight. Just over one-third (34 percent) were unhappy with the environment, but starting to see signs of improvement.

As a counterpoint to these findings, 42 percent of employers indicated that the recession had not only increased the quantity of candidates, but in fact they are finding more qualified candidates than in years past. Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of job seekers surveyed have had 5 or more interviews per month since beginning their job search, and 75 percent of these job seekers have not received a single job offer.

The seemingly inexplicable circumstances are attributable to employers' need for candidates with specialized skill sets, whereas the majority of job seekers describe themselves as possessing broad skill sets.