Barry Lawrence

For professionals seeking new career opportunities, it's sometimes a double whammy. While the value of the dollar is shrinking, many job seekers - including in-demand technology specialists - must accept new positions at lower salaries than they did just a month ago, according to findings in the Jobfox Top 25 Most Wanted U.S. Job Candidates: May 2008 rankings.<br /><br />"Overall, workers remain confident, both about current employment and about their abilities to find new jobs," said Rob McGovern, CEO of Jobfox (www.jobfox.com). "However, like businesses, workers realize that the economy is a bit bumpy and they may have to slightly lower their salary expectations to land the jobs they want."<br /><br />Jobfox's May rankings (www.jobfox.com/Site/Employer/pdf/TopJobsMay08.pdf) of the professions in highest demand among employers found that some median salary ranges being asked for by job seekers dipped $10,000, compared to a month ago. Median salary ranges demanded by job seekers fell for workers seeking jobs in:<br /><br />Software Design/Development, with a median salary range of $95,000 to $105,000 in April to $85,000 to $95,000 in May.<br /><br />Product Management, with the median salary range falling to $85,000 to $95,000 in May.<br /><br />Networking/System Administration, dipping to $65,000 to $75,000 in May.<br /><br />Finance, shrinking to $65,000 to $75,000.<br /><br />Government Contracts Administration, settling for $55,000 to $65,000.<br /><br />For the rest of the professions in the Jobfox Top 25 Most Wanted U.S. Job Candidates: May 2008 rankings, the wage expectations of job seekers remained unchanged from April.<br /><br />May's full Jobfox report includes the recent four-month rankings of candidate professions most often targeted by Jobfox's employer customers. This report also includes the top 25 professions that are attracting the greatest number of candidates during the 120-day period.<br /><br />Jobfox's data is consistent with national trends reported in the Labor Department's employment and unemployment statistics for April. While the nation's unemployment rate dipped to 5 percent in April from 5.1 percent in March, the Labor Department also reported that hourly wages are stagnating, rising just one cent in April. Average hourly earnings are up 3.4 percent over the last 12-month period, lagging behind inflation.<br /><br />"While overall median salaries may be slightly lower in a few professions, keep in mind that many new job openings are filled by professionals who are still getting a personal salary increase to go along with greater responsibilities and opportunities to grow," McGovern said. "I advise job seekers to pick the best jobs over the best salaries. Salary rewards will eventually catch up."<br /><br /><br /><font size="1">About the rankings<br />The Jobfox Top 25 Most Wanted U.S. Job Candidates: May 2008 rankings were derived from a stratified random sample of more than 4,000 U.S. job openings from the Jobfox database during a 120-day period ending March 24, 2008. In total, Jobfox identified more than 150 distinct professions for which employers were seeking candidates during the period. Also captured in the rankings are the professions most desired by candidates, based on a stratified random sample of more than 100,000 Jobfox candidate profiles.<br /></font>