LinkedIn Reveals Insights into U.S. Talent Pools

What if you could look out at the talent market and get a clear view of the places where talent is scarce, and those where opportunity abounds? Imagine you could also determine which skills are in demand, then understand which messages will resonate most with your target candidates.

New insights from LinkedIn’s 175-million member network can help you do exactly that. Based on an analysis of popular and trending search terms among users of LinkedIn Recruiter, we picked seven of the hottest, most in-demand talent pools to provide analysis and insights using LinkedIn data. They are:

Technical Salespeople
Software Engineers
Financial Services Professionals (specifically, those with skills in Accounting, Audit, or Analysis)
Consumer Goods Marketing Professionals
Drilling and Petroleum Professionals
Procurement and Supply Chain Professionals
Physicians and Nurses

Our analysis, along with an online survey conducted between July and September, revealed some interesting points:

1. Where to look for talent.

Smaller markets can be hidden gems. The San Francisco Bay Area has the biggest population of software engineering talent, but also has 2x greater-than-average demand, making competition tight. Medium-sized, lower-demand markets like Washington D.C., Dallas, Atlanta, Austin, and Denver are likely to offer untapped sources of talent.

But, industry concentration plays an important role: a procurement/supply chain professional living in Chicago is over 2x more likely to be contacted by a recruiter than one living in Los Angeles, though both markets offer roughly the same sized pool of talent.

Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus have some of the most sought-after talent pools for consumer goods marketing talent, making it hard to recruit marketing professionals in those areas.

Similarly, demand for medical professionals is highest in Texas and Southwestern cities like Las Vegas and Tucson, though the supply of talent in these areas is relatively low.

2. Which skills are in demand.

Recruiters in search of technical salespeople who can sell cloud-based (SaaS) and analytical software have some tough competition. These skills are in high demand among this group.

Among the 19,000 US petroleum and drilling professionals on LinkedIn, skills for drilling optimization and sub-sea drilling are in high demand relative to supply.

3. What matters most to candidates.

Financial services professionals (audit, accounting, and analysis) differ from other groups in that they value an employer who offers a strong career path and employee development opportunities more so than the average professional.

Meanwhile, 63 percent of software engineers consider work-life balance important when evaluating a job, vs. 51 percent U.S. overall.

To gain more insights into the candidates and talent pools you’re targeting, you can download the complete set of reports from Slideshare.