If you're recruiting for a high salaried job, is it likely to be easier or more difficult to fill? A high salary may be considered an attractive incentive for some candidates. However, if there is a smaller talent supply, barriers to entry, or the job is commonly known to be stressful, it may become more challenging to find qualified candidates. CareerCast just released their list of top paying jobs, which they based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a range of government agencies, trade associations, and private survey firms. We looked at the demand, supply, and the likely recruiting difficulty for each high paying position to see if top paying jobs are harder or easier to recruit. 

CareerCast's Top Paying Jobs of 2014

Source: CareerCast and WANTED Analytics  

Most of the jobs listed above are in the healthcare field and require a secondary degree. Psychiatrist (#3) and Petroleum Engineer (#6) are the hardest to fill and score a 65 on our Hiring Scale, which indicates moderate difficulty. The Hiring Scale score ranges from 1 to 99, with 99 denoting hardest-to-recruit. Hiring Scale scores are based on supply, demand, location, local and national unemployment rates, salary, as well as other factors.These same jobs also have more demand pressure. There are between 5 and 7 qualified candidates in the US workforce per unique job listing. A smaller available talent pool contributes to making these jobs harder-to-fill. The least challenging to fill job on the list is Air Traffic Controller. There are about 111 candidates per job opening. Air Traffic Controller jobs face less competition than most of the other jobs listed. Recruiters will encounter the most competition filling Psychiatrist jobs, with 13,163 job openings currently posted online, and the toughest recruiting conditions.

As most of the top paying jobs require secondary education, employers may want to consider picking up tuition costs, which can be quite costly and burdensome for candidates, to reduce hiring difficulty for these jobs. Employers can set up recruitment or internship programs with colleges or universities that have the largest graduating classes in these fields to nurture talent and attract candidates with this incentive. Below are some of the colleges and universities with the most students graduating with the coursework required to be a Physician during 2013. We expect a similar number of people to graduate during the 2014 calendar year.  

Colleges and Universities with the Most Physician Graduates

Source: WANTED Analytics

Class sizes in certain fields may vary depending location. If you'd like to find out which schools have the largest graduating classes in your area, let me know in the comments.