In my role a Technical Recruiter (think Headhunter), the most frequently asked question the job seekers continue to ask is "how is the job market?" This is a difficult question to answer because the response depends on the job seeker's work experience and education. Companies are still looking for people (a few like Careerbuilder are looking for monkeys) with very specific job skills and education. A more general answer can be found in The Pinnacle, a publication by The Echelon Network, Inc. The Top Echelon Network is the largest network of independent recruiters in the United States and Discovery Personnel, Inc. (my employer) is a member.
In The Pinnacle, an article written by Mark Demaree to recruiters titled, "Exporters, Start Your Engines!" Mark, states:
"This probably isn't news to you, but for the past several months -- even for as long as the past year, the market has been tipped in candidates' favor. Candidates are not only receiving more offers than they have been in the last few years, they've also been receiving multiple offers at the same time. "
I think those two sentences essentially sum up the overall state of the job market. In other words, the market is good for many job seekers but unfortunately, not for all job seekers. The following information from the The Pinnacle article, although not statistically significant (approximately 10% of all recruiters belong to the Top Echelon Network) provides some additional insight into today's job market.
"The industry that comprises the biggest percentage of our placements is that of Industry and Manufacturing. Despite the fact that only 14.4% of the job orders in the Network are related to that industry, it accounts for a whopping 32.1% of the placements in Top Echelon."
That is the good news. The bad news is ".... Industry and Manufacturing candidates make up 41.8% of all Top Echelon candidates" so obviously, not everyone working in the Industry and Manufacturing sector are finding jobs.
Surprisingly, the IT industry has the second most placements on the Top Echelon Network despite all of the outsourcing we have seen in the last few years. Third place on the Network belongs to the Healthcare Industry with 11.9% of all placements. Healthcare should be a lot higher because 33.3% of all positions listed on the Top Echelon Network are for Healthcare. The reason the percentage of Healthcare placements is so low is because there are too few qualified candidates. Obviously, anyone looking to change careers or begin studying for a career should look hard at the Healthcare Industry. Sales and Marketing, and Engineering are Industries doing well right now also.
For anyone looking for a job, or looking to change jobs, this is the probably the best window of opportunity we have seen in the past several years. Now is the time to be in the job market! Tomorrow may be too late.
9:36:53 PM 
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