During May 2012, more than 153,000 job ads were seen online for retail sales professionals, according to Wanted Analytics, the leading source of real-time business intelligence for the talent marketplace. This hiring trend continues in spite of recent data from the US Census and the Monthly Retail Trade Survey showing slowing overall retail sales numbers in April and May. The number of job ads posted during May rose 54% compared to May of 2011 and 95% versus May of 2010, marking a new high in available job ads for retail sales positions.

Within retail trade, Office Supplies and Stationary Stores saw the highest volume of job ads with more than 25,000 and more than doubling in demand between May 2011 and May 2012. Other industries with the highest volumes of online job ads were Department Stores, Home Centers, and Pharmacies and Drug Stores. All of these retail groups saw year-over-year increases in hiring demand.

The five metropolitan areas with the highest volume of online job ads for retail sales professionals were New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington (DC), and Philadelphia. While retailers in New York placed the greatest volume of online job ads, with more than 7,000 during May and growing 54% versus last year, employers in Chicago experienced the highest year-over-year growth in hiring demand of these five cities at more than 55% during May.

Nationwide, companies are likely to find retail sales professionals moderately easy-to-recruit, despite increasing demand. However, this will vary by location depending on local talent pools and competition by employers. According to the Hiring Scale, retailers in Washington, DC are currently experiencing some of the heaviest competition to attract qualified sales professionals and may experience a longer time-to-fill than many other areas across the United States. In fact, the average posting period of a retail sales job ad in Washington, DC is more than 6 weeks. The Hiring Scale also shows that some of the locations with the best conditions for sourcing retail sales professionals are currently Dalton (Georgia), Decatur (Alabama), and Elkhart (Indiana). These areas are likely to fill job openings faster than the rest of the United States. Online job ads in these areas are posted for as few as 5 weeks, more than one week shorter than in Washington, DC.