As we approach the end of the year, we thought we'd return to the list of the "50 Best Careers of 2011" pubished by US News to see if the actual hiring demand was similar to expectations. Over the next few weeks, we'll revisit each job category and look at hiring demand. Today, we'll review the Business and Finance careers.

As a group, employers and staffing agencies posted more than 609,000 new online job ads for these occupations since the beginning of the year until the end of November. Although this is not as high as was seen during pre-recession times, this is up 15% over the comparable period in 2010.  In the past 90 days alone, there have been 138,000 jobs at a 6% increase versus 2010.

Hiring Demand for the Projected Best Business & Finance Careers of 2011 – 4 Years

Source: WANTED Analytics

Hiring for each occupation over the past 90 days varies. Recruiters placed the most job ads for Accountants and Sales Managers during this 90 day period. However, the demand for Accountants has grown 24% compared to the same time period in 2010, while hiring for Sales Managers declined 9%. Financial Analysts, PR Specialists, Financial Advisers, Logisticians, and Meeting Planners saw year-over-year increases, with Financial Advisers seeing the highest growth at 57%. Training Specialists and Actuaries saw declining hiring demand, along with Sales Managers.

Hiring Demand for Business & Finance Jobs – Past 90 Days vs. 2010

Source: WANTED Analytics

According to the Hiring Scale™, Actuaries are likely to be the hardest of these positions to fill. With just 6 potential candidates in the workforce for each online job ad, Recruiters are likely to see a longer time-to-fill for these openings. In fact, job ads for Actuaries stay online for an average of 50 days (or just over 7 weeks). In cities where demand is the highest and talent remains low, such as Boston (Massachusetts), Recruiters will experience even more difficult conditions. Here, there are just 4.6 potential candidates for each Actuary job opening in Boston. The Hiring Scale also shows, of these projected high growth occupations, Financial Advisers are likely to be the easiest for Recruiters to fill. There are about 13 potential candidates in the workforce for each Financial Adviser job ad online.

Hiring Scale for Actuaries (Hard-to-Fill Job) – Boston, MA vs. Nationally

Source: WANTED Analytics