Professions That Are Hiring Now

Want to increase your chances of landing a professional job? Move to Dubuque to be a paralegal at a law firm specializing in bankruptcies.

According to a new survey conducted by Robert Half International (RHI), a staffing firm based in Menlo Park, Calif., the legal profession will be hiring more workers than any other in the second quarter. RHI polled 4,000 executives about their hiring plans. It looked at six professions--accounting and finance, advertising and marketing, human resources, information technology, legal, and sales and business development--and at nine regions across the nation. Among the most robust areas for professional hiring is the West North Central U.S., which encompasses Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota.

Professions That Are Hiring Now

Although the overall U.S. employment picture remains grim, a net 4 percent of respondents said they planned to add professional staff in the second quarter (that is, 10 percent said they'd be increasing their staffs and 6 percent said they'd be decreasing them, while 82 percent predicted no change). In the legal profession, an impressive 26 percent said they would add jobs starting April 1, and none said they'd be eliminating them. The positions range from administrative and support staff to high-paid lawyer jobs. Law firms cut way back when the economic crisis hit in late 2008, and they're finding they need to hire again to keep pace with client demand, says Brett Good, a Robert Half district president. Firms that handle bankruptcies and foreclosures are especially busy.

The people polled included chief financial officers, chief information officers, senior human resource managers, lawyers, and executives in advertising and marketing. Along with the West North Central region, the West South Central and the Mountain regions also plan to add the most personnel. West South Central includes