RJ and Makay

Good news from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL): In February, businesses posted the largest number of job openings in more than two years, suggesting hiring is on the rise.

According to the DOL, employers advertised 3.1 million jobs in February, the most since September 2008 (the height of the financial crisis). Competition for jobs remains intense, though it has eased a bit. There were 4.4 people, on average, competing for each available job in February, down from nearly 7 per job in July 2009. Two applicants per job is considered a sign of a healthy economy.

The jobs market is continuing its gradual recovery in spite of Middle East turmoil, the disaster in Japan, and layoffs by local governments. Indeed, the economy added a net of 216,000 jobs in March and unemployment fell to a two-year low of 8.8%, the Labor Department reports.

Private employers, the backbone of the economy, drove nearly all the gains by adding 230,000 jobs after a gain of 240,000 in February. This marks the first time since 2006 — more than a year before the recession — that private-sector hiring topped 200,000 in two straight months.

With 46% of the 15 million plus unemployed in America being so for 6 months or longer it's easy to have frustration build from the interviewing process. Interviewing is stressful enough in the short term and many months of it can put a jobseeker on edge. In March we did an article about keeping the right attitudes when dealing with the frustrations of a prolonged job search titled, Attitudes. The good, the bad, and the hostile.

This week Alison Green wrote an article in U.S. News & World Report titled, Jobseeker's Top 5 Complaints About Employers. Green's list is consistent with what we hear from candidates sharing their experiences with firms of all sizes, although we might have put them in a different order.