Financial adviser, data scientist – and truck driver: These are the 10 jobs recruiters are desperate to hire for
Falling unemployment may be a positive story for the economy, but for people trying to hire, it's becoming an increasingly sticky situation.
Now new research has uncovered the jobs recruiters are desperate to hire for – and many of them come with an appropriately enticing salary.
Recruitment website Careercast, which it's worth pointing out is based in the US, said data scientist was proving the most difficult job to fill at the moment – despite its annual median salary of $128,240 (£102,399).
Read more: The 10 careers with the biggest payrises (spoiler: banking isn't one)
Second on the list was financial adviser, with an average salary of $89,160, followed by general and operations manager, with wages of $97,730.
Some of the jobs on the list, such as data scientist, information security analyst and software engineer, are relatively new, which has led to a dearth of people with the appropriate training, said the company.
“The concept that not having enough candidates might have felt foreign at the height of the recession, when unemployment lingered around 10 per cent,” said Kyle Kensing, its online content editor.
“However, improvements in the job market have resulted in a different issue for some industries: labour shortages.”
Meanwhile, figures by Georgetown University have suggested graduates in sectors such as healthcare and technology have the lowest unemployment rates – while it reckons the finance sector will grow 30 per cent before 2024 (if you're interested, figures also published this morning reveal the best-paid jobs in banking).
Employers are still desperate to hire people with digital skills – to the extent that last week Microsoft said it will offer free digital literacy training to 30,000 public servants in the UK.
"We aim to do our part by investing back into the UK digital economy to ensure people of all ages and backgrounds are equipped with the skills necessary to thrive into the future," said Microsoft UK chief executive Cindy Rose.
Read more: Take that, Frankfurt: The City has the highest earners in European finance
The 10 most sought-after professions
| Profession | Annual Median Salary | Growth Outlook |
| Data scientist | $128,240 | 16% |
| Financial adviser | $89,160 | 30% |
| General & operations manager | $97,730 | 7% |
| Home health aide | $21,920 | 38% |
| Information security analyst | $90,120 | 18% |
| Medical services manager | $94,500 | 17% |
| Physical therapist | $84,020 | 34% |
| Registered nurse | $67,490 | 16% |
| Software engineer | $100,690 | 17% |
| Truck driver | $40,260 | 5% |