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?

there’s a skills gap left behind by years of not investing in younger generations.

This.

Affit

The tech side of my role, people who are shit hot on it are like gold dust, everyone is fighting over them.

The shortage is not helped by over 300,000 people working for test and trace services

An allied health professional. If you want a job, have a bit of experience and can string a sentence together, you can have one. Thank goodness this is finally creating entry level posts again because it is literally the only way to get staff - they stopped bothering to train new graduates so, what a shock, the supply of experienced staff dried up. Also, I live in a stupidly expensive city.

I work in HR and we’ve had quite a few resignations in our department, there are a lot of attractive jobs available for HR professionals with higher salaries than we can offer around at the moment - plus I think people are re-evaluating what they want from work because of covid, and people who would’ve quit a year ago as they wanted to move on decided to hold tight a bit longer as covid made everything unstable etc.

Funnily enough it’s actually the recruitment team who have taken the biggest hit! So many companies are looking for great recruiters to fill their vacancies so they’ve really had their pick of jobs. Some even got headhunted and offered £10-15k above their salary.

We are hiring some great people to fill those gaps but definitely feel the competition. One of our top candidates had two other offers to choose from. Have definitely noticed candidates are more upfront about wanting flexible working too - mostly wanting a mix of office and home working, and not necessarily 9-5 patterns. It’s very interesting.

Insurance- lots of turnover and difficulty recruiting. Seems like a lot of people are either exiting the labour market, or taking other jobs.

Education- support staff. We’ve had 10 TAs resign since September but only hired 2. Used to be a gold dust job for SAHMs looking to go back to work but people just aren’t applying anymore. I guess there are so many more remote, flexible working jobs that pay so much better now

Engineering field. We get the applicants, but the standard is unfortunately not great. Agree that there is a massive skills gap. Even interview skills and standards are generally poor. I've had lateness (even one candidate running late and then stopping to smoke outside and flicked his cigarette onto the ground), people arriving in tracksuits and trainers, people not having even researched the tiniest bit about the company or role. We get a lot of College/University leavers who want the top end salary but haven't been able to build their practical working skills at all and literally can't do the job despite earning the grades. We had a few now that would be only suitable at a trainee level despite a degree which is a massive shock to them obviously and a real shame. We as a company are happy to invest in new talent and trainees but it's very hard to find (despite higher than average wages)

Like @Konstantine8364 I'm in medical communications and we can simply not find enough people to fill roles that would allow us to commit to more business. Our industry is booming and was before the pandemic, but that hasn't let up at all. People who are good at science and can communicate are in higher demand than ever so we get into salary wars very quickly. We don't even need to have a specific vacancy.... if we see someone we like the look of professionally, we'll bring them in.

Thanks everyone for this information!

But I have a question - why would people not be moving up to better paid jobs because of COVID? I know the concerns about job security, but surely they would apply while already having a job then give their notice if they secure a better one (rather than quitting their job during COVID to search for a new one).

@SituationCritical that's really surprising. Do you think their degrees don't prepare them enough for practical skills? It must be tough with engineering graduates because they wouldn't have had as many of those practical labs etc because of COVID so not much they can do? Is it an issue with universities being too general in their teaching?

I’m in IT and it’s mad. The remote work practice has opened up opportunities for people everywhere. I just left my old place, and have Doubled my salary, To go into London one day a week (covid allowing) pre pandemic it’s a job I’d never have even applied to (commute 5 days). When I decided to move on from old place, within 4 weeks i had 3 offers! I was obviously thrilled but also stunned. It’s senior manager level roles. Im now having a real struggle recruiting at the new place. IT is the place to be, it’s like it was back in the early 2000’s.

[quote Lolingokay]@SituationCritical that's really surprising. Do you think their degrees don't prepare them enough for practical skills? It must be tough with engineering graduates because they wouldn't have had as many of those practical labs etc because of COVID so not much they can do? Is it an issue with universities being too general in their teaching?[/quote]
Absolutely we don't think they get enough practical knowledge and Covid hasn't helped this at all. I feel for those finishing their big stages of education during a pandemic. It's certainly not been easy and there are gaps despite very hard working teaching staff. Not being able to go on work experience, not having access to tools/workshops. It's no wonder they are struggling.

If you can and don't have any plans, Christmas Eve evening is a lot quieter in the supermarkets, on previous years I've gone super late and it was so much better

I work in a particular area of accounting and finance. I should have stayed in my previous role. To recruit team members into my own business now at a competent level to delegate to is in the low six figures. This is for a competent higher manager not a principal.

Oh, nothing to do with Covid or Brexit. It has its root in the recession of 2007 to 2012.

[quote Lolingokay]@SituationCritical that's really surprising. Do you think their degrees don't prepare them enough for practical skills? It must be tough with engineering graduates because they wouldn't have had as many of those practical labs etc because of COVID so not much they can do? Is it an issue with universities being too general in their teaching?[/quote]
People don’t have the mental capacity at the minute to apply for jobs. Whether that be they’re exhausted from an increased workload and longer hours, trying to juggle home schooling and helping their kids catch up. People also don’t want the rejection at the minute. If people work in a flexible role and have caring responsibilities, they won’t be changing those at those at the moment. There is also the element of getting a redundancy payment, first in, first out. All sectors have customers that are experiencing debt, that have lost their jobs so there may be a cash flow issue with the business or even just sections of the business. They might need people in that team again eventually but don’t at the moment. If your partner has lost their job or been on furlough then you may be more risk aversive with changing your position than you would normally. You might get a higher paid but could be made redundant within two years and not receive a payment or you can stay on a lower salary but know you’ll have at least x in your redundancy payment and that’ll see you through so many weeks.

I work in management consulting. We're struggling to recruit senior, experienced consultants. All the firms are finding the same. There aren't enough consultants to go round!

Hospitality is desperate....no chefs or waitresses, no-one to do housekeeping jobs.

These are jobs which are low paid and really hard work...on your feet all day, weekend working and late shifts, carrying heavy equipment etc. people don't want to do that anymore, they fancy 9 - 5, working from home, sitting in front of a computer. Or being in an office environment where they can chat with colleagues during breaks and no weekends working. On top of that, COVID hasn't disappeared yet and hospitality is hit every time there are restrictions, so it isn't a secure job.

Sad really, because when someone says "there are no jobs" it isn't quite true....there ARE jobs, hundreds of them, but they're just not the sort of work, nor the sort of pay, that people actually want to do.

Sorry, my comment was for a different thread 🤦

Interesting about promotion. I'm a band 6 and there's going to be a permanent band 7 vacancy coming up and a permanent band 8 as well which are rarer than hen's teeth. But both those jobs are following Covid casualty resignations, both jobs were held by friends of mine and I see the jobs far too close up. I know I would find either of them almost impossible. I'm 52, I've been doing this ten years I've hit a level I'm OK at and can cope with most of the time though it does stretch me and there's more to learn.

Buying/retailer head office, loads of vacancies and struggling to retain people. Lots of entry level people have left over the last 18 months after a restructure left the people who stayed with pretty shit jobs.

I’m in HR and the whole market and the HR market (especially interim) are incredibly buoyant

Recruiting is a nightmare across the board as there are so many jobs and candidates have a lot of choice

On a personal level I’ve had two interviews this week so fingers crossed I will benefit and get a new (ideally home based) role

Customer Success and Professional Services have plenty of vacancies (in tech). It took me six weeks to get a job (after 50 applications giver or take at that point). So I would say that people might still want to work but employers can still be a bit picky..

Plenty of jobs in insurance (a family member has just been promoted into management), and also banking (compliance). It does seem to absolutely be an employees market at present.