According to the American Staffing Association’s (ASA) Skills Gap index, recruiters looking for people to fill Occupational Therapist jobs are having a very tough time – joining 7 other “difficult to fill” jobs that are directly or indirectly related to the healthcare profession.

Based in part on CareerBuilder’s “hiring indicator” index, the ASA index puts the following jobs into its TOP TEN MOST DIFFICULT TO FILL JOBS:

• Occupational therapists
• Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers
• Physical therapists
• Photographic process workers and processing machine operators
• Occupational therapy assistants
• Speech-language pathologists
• Family and general practitioners (physicians)
• Merchandise displayers and window trimmers
• Nurse practitioners
• Physician assistants

Addressing the bigger issue of gaps in worker availability, lASA President and CEO Richard Wahlquist indicated that there are over 5 million job openings going unfilled at any point in time in the current job market with over 180 job categories tagged as “hard to fill.” Recruiters are changing gears quickly to keep up with a very changed candidate marketplace.

If you find yourself looking for an employee who doesn’t seem to exist, you’re not alone. We have recently armed our staff with access to a data portal called “Supply and Demand” that summarizes indexes of candidate availability by skill set, pay requirements, and geographic preferences. We would be happy to provide you with information on the local job market and give you some sense of the size and costs of the candidate pool you are trying to access. You may be surprised to learn just how big (or little) the candidate marketplace actually is and how much you’ll have to pay in order to attract the candidates who are available.

This article was written by Jeanne Knutzen, founder and CEO of the PACE Staffing Network.