Recruiters often find themselves in a feast or famine situation. You have many qualified candidates, and no companies with a need, or many companies looking high and low for the same position, with a very low qualified candidate pool. This is not just bad recruiter karma, but simple supply and demand, and highlights the overall macro labor environment as to what industry’s and profession’s will have strong future growth patterns.

It may be surprising to hear, but since the improvements in the overall economy and labor market, industries are experiencing labor shortages for the first time, in a long time, putting talent management back at the top of executive management priorities.

So, what are those positions out there that are going to be tough to fill this coming year? A new study from CareerCast reveals the 11 toughest jobs to fill in 2017. (CareerCast Study)

Technology and Healthcare, no surprise continue to have strong growth patterns, creating high demand on these positions and candidates with strong evolved skillsets.

An example, is the Data Scientist, in recent history has been a top rated profession due to a median income of 128k, and a projected 16% hiring increase over the next decade. Industries across every sector are dialed into data analytics. Data Scientist are the ones that take Big Data and turn it into actionable initiatives. The supply issue is creating large gaps in this role, compounding the issue, universities and educational institutions lack the degree programs that output candidates with the right skill set, putting a high demand on these professionals.

This is a combination of a growth sector along with a specific skill set in demand.

Cynthia Walsh, Talent Acquisition Manager at McHenry relays that “IT positions are always tough to fill, mainly due to the system specific experience that most clients require (i.e. Prism/HRP). That limits the pool of candidates significantly.”

As PEO recruiters, if we have a strong technology professional with a PEO background, well, they have their pick of companies they want to work for.

Healthcare hit the list with Nurses, Home Health Aides, Physical Therapist, and Medical Services Managers. With demand high in healthcare with strong projected growth patterns, labor shortages in these fields will continue. Home Health Aides have a projected growth rate of 38% over the next decade.

PEO continues to put a high value on strong candidates with health and benefits background. These positions are vital to the overall value proposition of the PEO, and as such critical hires. As the healthcare environment has had continual changes due to the highly legislative environment, the valued candidates are those that have evolved traditional skills to address compliance, legislation and implementation.

It is vital as a PEO to understand the broader environment in talent acquisition in order to remain a trusted business partner with your clients. Understanding which sectors will struggle more in in the race for talent, will allow HR to deploy strategic and practical tools to assist their client base that have a meaningful impact.

Did I mention Truck Drivers were on the list? Not that any PEOs out there have Truck Driving Companies on their books. Right?