Industries Seeing the Biggest Pickup in Hiring

The jobs picture is finally starting to brighten: The number of job listings is on the rise, companies are making hiring announcements and more hiring managers say they plan to hire full-time workers in 2011 than in the past two years.

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"We're seeing encouraging signs that a recovery is underway," said Rony Kahan, the co-founder and chief technology officer of job-listing site Indeed.com.

Twenty-four percent of hiring managers said they plan to hire full-time workers in 2011, up from 20 percent this year and 14 percent in 2009, according to a recent survey by CareerBuilder.com.

One obvious sign that hiring is picking up: The number of job listings for recruiters, the people who do the hiring, is up 20 percent in the past six months, according to Indeed.com.

And, in their latest Industry Employment Trends Survey, all 12 of the major industries they track showed at least 30 percent more job postings in November from January and eight of those industries were 50 percent or more.

So where are the jobs? Click through to see six of the industries with the biggest pickup in hiring, which companies are doing the most hiring in those sectors, and some of the positions they're looking for.

Health Care

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Job listings up 40% in November from January, according to Indeed.com.

Health care was one of the sectors that fared the best during the recession, Kahan said, and the strong job growth is expected to continue — particularly for nurses and patient-care technicians.

Who's doing the most hiring and the positions they're hiring for:

HCR ManorCare: Nurse supervisor, nursing assistant, licensed practical nurse/licensed vocational nurse

Genesis Healthcare: Physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech/language pathologist

Gentiva Health: Registered nurse in home care, physical therapist in home care, occupational therapist

HCA: Registered nurse, physicians of internal medicine, neurology, family practice, hospitalist

Retail

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Job listings up 89% in November from January, according to Indeed.com.

After a tough couple of years during the recession, shoppers are finally starting to let up on the purse strings. In fact, this holiday season, retailers rang up the best sales since 2005, up 5.5 percent in November and December from the same period last year, according to SpendingPulse, a unit of MasterCard. Anticipating this bounceback, retailers nearly doubled their pace of hiring over the course of the year.

Who's doing the most hiring and the positions they're hiring for:

Staples (NasdaqGS: SPLS - News): Copy & print center associate, cashier, inventory associate

Advance Auto Parts (NYSE: AAP - News): General manager, assistant manager, retail parts pro, crew chief

JCPenney (NYSE: JCP - News): Hourly sales team, hourly sales support, salon stylists, decorating consultant, sales associate

Sears (NasdaqGS: SHLD - News): Cashier, sales associate, receiving associate, service technician

AT&T (NYSE: T - News): Retail sales consultant, sales support representative

Information Technology

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Job listings up 75% in November from January, according to Indeed.com.

"There is a growing unmet demand for skilled workers in many information-technology areas," Kahan said. "We are seeing strong demand for network engineers, software engineers, and cloud computing specialists." The reason? Increased computer networking, expanding technologies and the need for more security on those systems.

Who's doing the most hiring and the positions they're hiring for:

Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC - News): Systems administrator, systems engineer, and software engineer

SAIC (NYSE: SAI - News): Software engineer, systems engineer, program manager, network engineer

General Dynamics (NYSE: GD - News): Systems engineer, software engineer, senior principal engineer, systems integrator

IBM (NYSE: IBM - News): Solution representative brand specialist, software developer, call-center specialist, client representative

Amazon (NasdaqGS: AMZN - News): Software development engineer, technical program manager, support development manager

Microsoft (NasdaqGS: MSFT - News): Software development engineer, software text engineer

Financial Services & Banking

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Job listings up 73% in November from January, according to Indeed.com.

"Many financial services jobs disappeared during the recession, but we see evidence that hiring is coming back," Kahan said. Job listings in the sector increased about 6 percent per month this year, with a sharp increase in demand for financial analysts, financial advisors, auditors, and lending specialists.

Who's doing the most hiring and the positions they're hiring for:

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC - News): Mortgage loan officer, client associate, customer service and sales specialist

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM - News): Financial advisor associate, sales assistant (retail investments), operations claims analyst

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC - News): Teller, customer service representative, private mortgage banker

Citigroup (NYSE: C - News): Consumer finance sales, risk analyst

PNC (NYSE: PNC - News): Branch financial advisor, mortgage loan officer, operations specialist

Transportation

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Job listings up 186% in November from January, according to Indeed.com.

"Transportation job postings surged this year," Kahan said. "As manufacturing picks up, drivers and warehouse workers are needed to transport those goods." Transporation jobs have jumped about 11 percent per month on average this year, nearly twice that of any other industry, he noted.

Who's doing the most hiring and the positions they're hiring for:

UPS (NYSE: UPS - News): Package handlers, driver helper, package-delivery driver, freight driver

FedEx (NYSE: FDX - News): Customer-service associate, city driver, program analyst

Heartland Express (NasdaqGS: HTLD - News): Company drivers, over-the-road drivers, owner operator

Schneider National: Truck driver, class A truck driver, tanker truck driver

C.R. England: CDL driver, route truck drivers

Central Refrigerated: Team drivers, lease operator

Accounting

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Job listings up 58% in November from January, according to Indeed.com.

Demand for accounts is expected to grow faster than the average for other occupations, according to the Labor Department, largely due to an increase in the number of businesses, changes in financial laws and corporate governance regulations and the need for increased accountability.

Who's doing the most hiring and the positions they're hiring for:

KPMG: Senior associate-federal tax, audit associate

PricewaterhouseCoopers: Tax associate, audit investment management portfolio manager, assurance associate

Ernst & Young: Assurance manager, tax manager

Bank of America: Investor accounting analyst

Deloitte: Audit manager, strategy & operations finance manager

ADP (NasdaqGS: ADP - News): Client support specialist, payroll service representative