What is the labour/recruitment market like in your industry?

[Lolingokay]

Obviously COVID caused a severe recession and there was high unemployment. I saw far less vacancies being advertised and many people taking jobs they were overqualified for, and ones where they would have deserved higher pay given their skills level.

Yet I've heard people say it's an employee's market now, there are so many vacancies and not enough people to fill these jobs. Apparently companies are really struggling to recruit people and are willing to hire people that only meet about half or two-thirds of the job description criteria.

I understand this may be the case for jobs like lorry driving, construction etc (which were mainly filled by Europeans who have now left). But is this really the case in professional industries, and if so, which ones? I'm interested in hearing about any industry but particularly thinking about consulting, policy, research etc. And what would the reasons be?

I think it’s an employees market in my industry (HCP in private sector) I’ve been very 🤔🤔 about some of background and experience of our newest recruits but also know that it was slim pickings in terms of applications.

There's plenty of client facing roles in tech... However, many of those roles are being taken my people's who's industries suffered due to COVID. Pay is really competitive though and there's so many vacancies that I think most people with relevant experience will eventually get such roles as long as they keep applying.

@SnarkyBag That makes sense - much more roles in health care due to COVID?

@Terribleluck what type of roles/job titles are you talking about in tech please?

Not in my area of research. There are very few jobs, and a lot of replacement of permanent jobs with temp.

Your second paragraph sums up what it's like in my industry at the moment (financial services).

My industry is always recruiting (medical communications) we don't have actual vacancies, we interview anyone experienced and if they seem ok they get a job. My company has gone from 70 to 160 staff in 2 years and we are still turning down a substantial amount of work. It's agency so it's fairly high pressure, but pretty flexible and really good salaries. It has always been hard to find scientific people who are good communicators/good with people, the pandemic and switch to virtual has just upped our work. I've got every job I've interviewed for in the past 6 years and that's typical in our industry, I'm a steady pair of hands but definitely not the best of the best!

Anything in Sustainability and Net Zero. From tech development to policy.

IT and engineering both have loads of job roles. It's hard to tell what your capabilities are from your post; anything technical, PM, analyst etc seems to have staff shortages. Less so the back office roles like finance or HR, and more generic sounding roles like sales get lots of unsuitable applicants. Research really depends on the field; most positions need high experience.

I teach in social care. Everyone across adult care is struggling to recruit whether a residential home or a domiciliary care service. The sector is dangerously short staffed. It is hard work, antisocial hours, low pay and most companies treat their staff very poorly so I m not surprised people are leaving in droves!!

Teaching, unsurprisingly. There has been a recruitment and retention crisis for years. Covid and the shit that teachers have been given has been the nail in the coffin for many.

Funnily enough it's not as jolly as the Government "Get into Teaching" ads make out. If it were then they wouldn't be advertising so desperately and expensively...

I'm a teacher, we can't recruit long or short term teachers or teaching assistants at all!! We have never struggled like this, always been able to fill vacant posts but this year we were relying on supply agencies from September . The last three weeks of term they were telling us that they just had nobody at all who was willing to come and work in a school - I wouldn't mind, but it is a lovely school to work in! Being short of permanent staff, and not being able to get supply to cover the people who are ill is really disruptive for the children's education

Cyber has a massive skills gap and shortages. Especially up north where they can't match the London pay.

We're recruiting at the moment and had very few applications for our current posts. I work for a university and lots of staff are leaving due to retirement and significant deteriorations in pay and working conditions.

I've never had issues with recruitment but worry we just won't have the usual pick of good quality candidates. I think it does depend on the sector but I think some employers will have to start upping their game to retain good and experienced staff.

Dire shortage of good IT and network engineers with industry experience and are client facing.

Public sector and we have just recruited 60 new Admin staff.

Chefs and general good hospitality supervisors or managers... can't find them for love or money!

I work in law and the job market is very buoyant. Lots of vacancies in my specialism and not enough good candidates. Virtually every large firm I know of is recruiting. It is an employee’s market.

Thank you everyone for your insights! It's really sad about teaching and social care especially.

@SarahAndQuack @LookdeepintotheParka do you mind saying what field within research/uni this in? I've seen roles advertised where a Masters is desirable or essential, then they hire someone who already has a PhD.

@CountessofWilmington that's interesting. I know quite a few people trying to get into law and are struggling - I assume you're not talking about junior/entry level roles?

I work in a specific area within accountancy and there always seem to be jobs and never enough good people.

We hired a guy last year and to be honest... he's been ok. Just ok. Really the experience he has wasnt quite right but the people with it were expensive and that's the trend. The good people can almost name their price at the moment.

@RandomUsernameHere

Your second paragraph sums up what it's like in my industry at the moment (financial services).

Do you know why this is?

What area of FS?

Konstantine the pay in medical comms is SO crap though. I've got mates in it, experienced, PhDs etc, and they get paid a of 40 or 45k. People of similar intelligence get double that in other fields.

Tech has a full on recruiting crisis at the moment.

It took me 4 months to get a half decent business analyst, can’t get python developers, data scientists, project managers, scrum masters for love nor money.

Experienced network engineers and second or third line support people are commanding massive salaries, and experienced DevSecOps engineers can pretty much name a figure.

Roles that would normally go to UK perms are going to EU contractors through other group companies because it’s the only way to fill the teams.

@Lolingokay - law is always massively oversubscribed at entry level as those candidates need years of training. It’s the qualified candidates that are thin on the ground at the moment (and usually)

Utilities and we’ve had a lot vacancies that have been advertised multiple times and taken on staff that aren’t quite right but we needed a body in the role and hoped we can train on the job. My sector is one that is typically older and hasn’t invested in younger staff. Those staff members are retiring now but there’s a skills gap left behind by years of not investing in younger generations. At the minute, I think this has been compounded by the fact that covid has meant people don’t want to lose the security of their existing job, so people aren’t moving up to the next step leaving junior roles open. A few of the older staff have also realised they’ve had enough and taken early retirement to spend more time at home, with family or travelling.

Fintech consulting.

Literally cannot find good talent.