Simply Hired Blog

February Metro Area Job Trends Report

Today Simply Hired is pleased to announce the second edition of our monthly metro area job trends report. This report is a round-up of information from the previous month on the top hiring companies as well as the most and least competitive jobs in each of the largest 15 cities in the United States. With this data, we hope to aid you in your job search by giving a little transparency into the hiring climates of some of America’s bustling cities.

One of the companies hiring most aggressively all over the country is IBM, which made it on the Top 10 list of hiring companies in 13 out of the 15 cities. JPMorgan Chase is also a popular company, making the Top 10 list on seven out of the 15 cities.

If you’re looking for that Graphic Designer position, know that many others are too. Graphic Designer jobs as well as Public Relations Specialists and Lawyers make the most competitive jobs list (meaning few positions available with many job seekers applying to them).

However, Telemarketers, Insurance Sales Agents and Physical Therapists all top the least competitive list in a majority of the cities surveyed.

Take a look at the below report to get the complete list of top hiring companies and most/least competitive jobs in each of these 15 metro areas.

SH_MetroArea Job Trend Report_Feb2010

Best and Worst Metro Areas – January 2010

Today we are announcing our monthly report on the best and worst metro areas in the country. Below you’ll find information on which cities have a good climate for job seekers and which cities are harder on those looking for employment to aid you in your job search.

The top 5 best metro areas did not see any change from December 2009 to January 2010, which is good news for those living and working in these areas. The top 5 best metro areas for job seekers are as follows:

1.  Burlington-Plattsburgh
2.  Paducah-Cape Girardeau-Harrisburg           
3.  El Paso (Las Cruces)                              
4.  Omaha     
5.  Washington D.C. (Hagerstown)

Below are the top 5 worst metro areas for job seekers. Again, we did not see any change from December 2009 to January 2010 in these metro areas.

1.  Fresno-Visalia
2.  Youngstown          
3.  Harlingen-Weslaco-Brownsville-McAllen                        
4.  Detroit     
5.  Flint-Saginaw-Bay City

Check out the full list of best and worst metro areas below.

SHJan10 Best Worst Markets Chart

What's Your Dream Job Contest Update

We've had great participation in our "What's Your Dream Job” contest so far! Currently over 1,000 entries have been submitted and they keep coming in!

Here are a few examples of YOUR dream job titles:

• Professional Beach Walker/Inspector - Lisa
• Manager Of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory - @gerardstone
• Director of Carbon Control - @EricWSchreiber
• Chief Executive Head Watcher of Grass Growing - Scott
• Chair Pusher-Inner (Entry-level) - Joshua
• VP of Inspiration and Motivation for Joy and Happiness Inc. - 2logical
• Chief Bender of the Time/Space Continuum @coulter520
• Apprentice to Donald Trump's Hair Sculptor - Rich
• Chief Imagination Officer - Barrie

Don't forget to submit your dream job title in 140 characters or less as a comment on our contest page or to @SimplyHired on Twitter using #shdreamjob. The contest ends this Friday and the five Apple iPad® winners will be announced on Tuesday, March 30th!

So what are you waiting for? Tell us your dream job!

SimplyHired.com's "What's Your Dream Job?" Contest

Today, SimplyHired.com is celebrating its 5th birthday by kicking off our first ever Dream Job Contest! We’re asking job seekers all over the country what their dream job is – and we want to hear from you! If you could trade in your current gig to be a “Professional Hammock Tester” or a “Professional Chocolate Taster,” would you? We want to know what your dream jobs are, no matter how out-of-this-world or wacky they may be.

To enter our Dream Job Contest and tell us your ultimate career goal, simply let us know by writing a comment on the contest page or by following us on Twitter (@SimplyHired) and tweet your dream job title to @SimplyHired using #shdreamjob. For a complete list of rules and guidelines to our Dream Job Contest, please refer to the contest page.

Remember, only submit your dream job title and not the job description. Submissions over 140 characters will not be eligible to win.

And of course, what would a contest be without any prizes? All submissions will be grouped into 5 categories:

• most creative job
• most bizarre job
• most hilarious job
• most ‘green’ job
• most noble job

In each of these five categories there will be a lucky winner of … drum roll please … an Apple® iPad! That’s right, the latest and greatest can be all yours if your dream job strikes us as one of the best dream jobs we’ve heard of.

So don’t wait – submit your dream job today and be eligible to win an Apple® iPad! You can also check out what other jobs people are dreaming about by searching for #shdreamjob on Twitter or by viewing the contest page comments.

We can’t wait to see what jobs you’ve been dreaming of!

SimplyHired.com Celebrates Five Years of Online Job Search Innovation

This week, SimplyHired.com is celebrating its five year anniversary of helping job seekers find jobs they love. Over the past five years, Simply Hired has been hard at work to make the job search experience simple and more effective. Through our accomplishments we hope we have made finding relevant jobs easier for our users, and we are excited to further improve job search over the next five years.

As we have witnessed since launching in 2005, the job search process is continually evolving. However, there are six key characteristics that we believe will define the future of job search. 

• Comprehensive: Job seekers will access a comprehensive database of online, offline and “hidden” jobs that are not surfaced publicly. Simply Hired indexes five million jobs today, ten times the number available when it started. As more jobs come online, job databases will get larger.

• Transparent: To make the best decision, job seekers will access “perfect information” about every facet of job search. Today, Simply Hired enables better information access with salary tools, local portals, job trends and company information. 

• Social: Job seekers will tap their professional and social affiliations online to search for jobs. Simply Hired’s Who Do I Know?® feature enables referral hiring by surfacing candidate connections on social networks such as LinkedIn.

• Personal: Jobs will be matched to an individual’s specific skills, interests and preferences to surface the most relevant results. Simply Hired offers the deepest job search filters in the industry, including lifestyle filters such as “Eco-Friendly Companies” and “Telecommuter Jobs”. 

• Efficient: Repetitive tasks and wasted effort will be minimized in the job search process. Simply Hired’s 1-Click Apply™ technology can automate filling out job applications with a single click. Job alerts will deliver relevant jobs directly to job seekers on all platforms.

• Mobile: The advent of mobile devices will integrate job search for access everywhere. Simply Hired has a mobile offering for users who would like to search for jobs on the go.

These key elements have played a large role in determining what areas Simply Hired will continue to expand on and advance.

Read the full press release to learn more about SimplyHired.com’s continued momentum and the future of job search.