Best Job-Hunting Grounds

Posted on | March 13, 2009 | No Comments

As the competition gets stiffer and the jobs get fewer, you need to know where the job-hunting is most productive.  Most people think job fairs make the best hunting grounds.  That’s understandable since all of the prey (jobs) and the hunters (you) are penned together in tight quarters.  But, the truth is, job fairs are not the best job-hunting grounds for three reasons: (1) only a few employers are willing to pay to attend any given job fair, (2) each employer is there to fill only a limited type and number of jobs based on the attendee demographics given by the job fair promoter and (3) all of the your competition shows up at the same time with the same game in mind.

So, where are the best job-hunting grounds?  The best job-hunting are the places where the greatest number and variety of jobs are available and the competition is the least.  Unfortunately, these job-hunting grounds are not confined to an arena or conference center ballroom.  They are spread across whole cities and states.

I covered the cities in my Feb post, Cities Where You’re Most Likely to Find a Job.  So, let’s move on to the states that make the best job-hunting grounds.

To figure out which states make the best job-hunting grounds, we’ll need to look at a few different stats–States with the largest month-over-month increase in employment, states with the lowest unemployment rates and states with fewer unemployed people than available jobs.

Based on the stats, the best job-hunting grounds are…

New Hampshire, Wyoming, North Dakota

Here’s why.

Based on the Department of Labor’s most recent Regional and State Employment & Unemployment Summary, New Hampshire posted the third-largest gain in employment (4,100 jobs added), the second-largest percentage increase in employment (0.6%) and the one of the lowest unemployment rates (5.1%).

Wyoming had the largest over-the-year percentage increase in employment (2.4%), the lowest unemployment rate (3.7%) and the lowest supply/demand rate (less than 1 person for every available job).

North Dakota had the fourth-largest over-the-year increase percentage increase in employment (0.8%), the second-lowest unemployment rate (4.2%) and second-lowest supply/demand rate (less than 1 person for every available job).

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