With most of the country still sluggish on job creation, startups face the opposite problem – a glut of open technical jobs. According to a new infographic released today by StartUpHire, the largest online database of jobs at startup companies, with support from the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), while engineering and other technical jobs account for more than 36 percent of all open jobs at startups, less than 15 percent of candidates are applying for these positions. Software engineers had the largest number of open jobs last year with more than 42,000 jobs posted. Sales jobs were the only other position where applicants trailed openings.

“To get our economy moving, we have to both develop and attract qualified talent to these young companies,” said Steve Roberson, CEO of StartUpHire. “The startup economy is our country’s best kept secret. This is the where the job growth is, and the industry needs to raise awareness about the opportunities that exist in order to help young companies capitalize on their tremendous promise.”

Data from StartUpHire’s more than 14,000 open jobs and 100,000 registered job seekers also show an increase in startup job posts by more than 23 percent over the last year with more than one-quarter of applicants having prior startup experience. Executive level postings on the database are rising steadily as companies increasingly use StartUpHire for all levels of recruiting. More than 500 executive level positions were posted in 2011.

“The venture community invests heavily both in time and dollars in the growth of technical talent which helps companies grow and succeed,” said NVCA president Mark Heesen. “However, this data clearly shows that there is a significant amount of untapped potential in our workforce. We need to leverage this talent so that our nation’s entrepreneurial community can reach its full potential with the right teams in place.”

On the opposite end of the spectrum, administration, finance, operations and HR positions make up roughly 9 percent of the job openings but those areas represent 30 percent of the applicants. Marketing is close behind with almost 10 percent of the jobs getting roughly 13 percent of the applicants. The top states with open startup positions are California, Massachusetts, New York and Texas. Eighteen states had job growth increases of more than 100 percent in the last year.

Here are some interesting data points from the infographic:
•       Startups face a glut of open technical jobs that are remarkably lacking applicants
•       Engineering and other technical jobs account for more than 36% of all open jobs at startups, the number of applicants for these positions would fill only half these spots
•       Software engineers had the largest number of open jobs last year
•       Sales jobs were the only other position where applicants trail openings
•       Data from StartUpHire’s more than 14,000 open jobs and 100,000 registered job seekers also shows an increase in startup job posts by more than 23 percent over the last year with more than one-quarter of applicants experienced in the startup ecosystem
•       There were more than 500 executive level postings on StartUpHire.com in 2011.
•       Administration, finance, operations and HR positions make up roughly 9% of the job openings but those areas represent 30% of the applicants. Marketing is close behind with almost 10% of the jobs getting roughly 13% of the applicants.
•       Eighteen states had job growth increases of more than 100 percent in the last year.