US News released their best jobs of 2015. To determine their findings they referred to the jobs that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicted to have the most growth between 2012 and 2022. They then ranked these jobs according to number of openings, growth rate, job prospects, unemployment rates, salary, and job satisfaction. This year, 7 out of 10 jobs are in the healthcare field and the remaining top jobs are in IT. Since these jobs are likely to be growing over the next 7 years, we thought we'd use WANTED Analytics data to look at where Recruiters can find candidates for their 5 "best jobs."

Dentist

Dentists have a low unemployment rate, good work-life balance, and high salary. This position is expected to grow 16% between 2012 and 2022. Currently, there are 2,719 job openings for Dentists throughout the US. On average, Dentists aren't likely to be hard-to-fill. This job scores a 29 on our Hiring Scale. Our Hiring Scale considers a range of factors to score jobs and skills on a scale of 1 to 99, with 99 meaning hardest-to-fill. However, these job ads appear online for a longer number of days than average. Job ads for Dentists are posted for about 54 days. Recruiters are likely to encounter the least difficulty sourcing Dentists in the Minneapolis, MN metro area. This location has the lowest Hiring Scale score, a 5. 

Nurse Practitioner

Nurse Practitioners are expected to grow at an even faster pace, 33% during the same 10 year span. This is partly due to the Affordable Care Act and an aging population. Currently, there are 6,433 Nurse Practitioner job openings. BLS predicts there to be 37,000 Nurse Practitioner positions added between 2012 and 2022. These jobs will be harder for Recruiters to fill, partially because demand outweighs the current available candidate supply. Nurse Practitioners score a 67 on our Hiring Scale. San Francisco currently has the least challenging recruiting conditions, scoring a 16. If you're recruiting Nurse Practitioners and experiencing difficulty, consider relocating talent from locations with less challenging recruiting conditions or examine Hiring Scale scores in nearby markets. For example, Springfield (IL) scores an 86 on our Hiring Scale. Meanwhile, the nearby metro area of St. Louis has one of the lowest scores, a 24. These cities may be located 1.5 hours or more apart from each other, but you may be able to find a candidate that lives in between the metro areas or someone willing to make the move.

Software Developer

Software Developer was last year's number one job on US News Careers Best Jobs list, but it has been replaced by the above healthcare jobs. However, there are reasons this occupation is still among the top 3. The employment rate and salary is favorable to job seekers. The BLS projects Software Developer jobs to grow by 139,000 by 2022. Of the US News Career Best Jobs, Software Developer is the most in-demand in the US, with about 72,710 openings and the hardest-to-fill, scoring a 79 on our Hiring Scale. The Software Developer labor market is about as strained as the Nurse Practitioner talent supply. For both occupations there is a similar number of candidates per job ad, 7 qualified candidates in the current workforce per unique job ad. With recruiting difficulty likely, employers should invest in new talent entering the workforce. In 2013, University of Phoenix (Online Campus) and Ivy Tech Community College had the most students with coursework completed in this field. A similar number of students is likely to have entered the workforce in 2014. If you haven't done so already, set up recruitment programs with these schools to attract students to your company.

Physician

The BLS expects job prospects to grow 18% for Physicians between 2012 and 2022. On US News' careers list, this job rose 4 spots due to its current low unemployment rate and the attractive salary. Currently, there are 24,559 job openings for Physicians, Internists, and Pediatricians. These jobs score a 53 on our Hiring Scale, indicating moderately difficult recruiting conditions. Physician job ads appear online for the longest period of time, 77 days (11 weeks.) Recruiting conditions are likely to be the least challenging in Philadelphia, scoring an 8. Here, the average posting period is also shorter, just 45 days (a little over 6 weeks.) Honolulu (HI) and San Jose (CA) also have low scores on our Hiring Scale, scoring 9 and 13 respectively. To see which colleges and universities have the largest graduating classes of Physicians, read our recent article, Is the Physician Shortage Becoming More Widespread.

Dental Hygienist

Dental Hygienist new openings are expected to rise at a faster rate than Dentists, 33%. There are 942 openings posted online at the moment. Of the US News Careers Best Jobs, Dental Hygienist is likely to be the least difficult-to-fill, scoring a 12 on the Hiring Scale. There seems to be more than enough candidates in the workforce to meet current demand, 199 candidates per unique job ad. Just a couple of locations are likely to experience challenges finding talent, Cape Coral and North Port (FL), scoring a 74 and 58 respectively. Since there aren't locations near Cape Coral with advantageous hiring conditions, employers may want to set up recruitment programs with Dental Hygienist schools in the state of Florida. St. Petersburg College had the highest number of students that completed coursework required for Dental Hygienist positions. Below are other colleges and universities in Florida that had the largest classes of Dental Hygienist graduates.

Are you recruiting for these jobs? What strategies are you using to find talent?