YOUR REGION: United States

Tag: CV-library

Spring Statement dulled spirits    

Concerns over cost of living more worrying than the pandemic   

In his Spring Statement, Rishi Sunak rightfully mentioned that talent is the backbone of the economy, and while it was disappointing to hear that National Insurance Contribution increases will go ahead, the 1% reduction in the lowest rate of income tax was a positive boost for millions of workers. The Chancellor has also set out plans to cut the basic rate of income tax from 20p to 19p from 2024, the first cut to the basic rate in 16 years.    

It is clear that the Government is aware of the strain the population is under with rising cost of living, but is it doing enough?  

According to survey from CV-Library, the Government’s Spring Statement has fallen short for UK professionals with the majority of the 4,000 respondents already in disagreement with Sunak. He stated that the UK labour market is in a strong position to deal with the current global challenges but 60% of respondents do not share his beliefs of optimism.  

The Government’s Spring Statement has fallen short for UK professionals as the latest survey from the UK job board, CV-Library, revealed.   

The vast majority, of the 4,000 respondents were already in disagreement with Sunak, and his statement last week that the UK labour market is in a strong position to deal with the current Global challenges with 69% feeling that the Chancellor is wrong about the job market and do not share his beliefs or optimism.  

On the day inflation hit a 30-year high, 71% of respondents said that concerns over cost of living have superseded worries about the pandemic. The survey revealed which costs UK professionals are most concerned about:  

  1. Energy 60%  
  1. Fuel 20%  
  1. Food 16% 
  1. Travel 4%  

Lee Biggins, Founder and CEO of CV-Library commented: “Our survey proves that rising energy costs are the biggest concern for most people and the Government simply isn’t listening. With UK workers having to wait up to two years for the 1p drop in income tax, the immediacy of the rise in the unemployment allowance is a welcome relief for UK businesses but, overall, there feels like little has been done that will make a significant impact and help drive the change and investment needed for growth.”  

Joanne Frew, Head of employment at DWF, commented on the employment implications of the announcements made by the Chancellor today at the Spring Statement. She said: “Although the Spring Statement will bring much needed relief to many, it is questionable what assistance it gives to those employers who are struggling to recruit and retain the best talent.  With such a competitive market many employers have been struggling with labour supply which inevitably has led to pay increases in certain sectors. Against a backdrop of a relatively robust labour market throughout the pandemic, pay increases are anticipated at 3% for 2022 reflecting a record breaking high according to the CIPD.” 

Ged Mason OBE, Morson Group CEO commented: “The conflict in Ukraine and the cost of living crisis has shone a light on the UK’s need to be more self-sufficient when it comes to energy, and though it wasn’t directly mentioned in the Chancellor’s statement, the government will soon be setting out its energy security plan, which will rubber stamp investment to scale up hydrocarbon, nuclear and renewable energy generation. This is what this country needs today, and we’re well-versed in these core markets to support ongoing skills demands, be it niche and volume labour requirements.  

Ken Brotherston, CEO at TALiNT Partners weighed in: “Whilst, on the face of it, there wasn’t much in the Chancellor’s spring statement for employers or employees, the increasing costs of travel and fuel can potentially be mitigated by optimising flexible working policies. Post-pandemic, more flexible working models are a clear direction of travel anyway, so those employers who are use these effectively can genuinely claim to not just being able to accommodate candidiates’ lifestyle preferences but save them money as well.” 

 

Share this article on social media

Apprentices: the key to building the future?

Apprenticeship applications up by 37% 

According to data from CV-Library, the UK independent job board, apprenticeship roles have increased by 28% when compared to 2021 figures and are up 203% when compared to 2020 figures. These figures have been revealed in the wake of the 15th annual National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) where the theme for the week was ‘build the future’.  

NAW brings together businesses and apprentices across the country to shine a light on the positive impact that apprenticeships make to individuals, businesses and the wider economy.  

During NAW, focus was given to how apprenticeships can help individuals to develop their kids and knowledge required to have a rewarding career and how businesses can develop a talented workforce that is equipped with future-ready skills.  

Encouragingly, according to the data from CV-Library’s survey, candidates have made 74,574 searches for apprenticeship roles in February so far, and in 2022 to date, applications to these roles have shot up by +37% on the same year period last year.   

The data revealed that the industries proving most popular during National Apprenticeship Week were:   

Top industries for apprenticeship job searches (Feb 2022 to date)  

  1. Accounting/Financial/Insurance  
  1. Administration  
  1. Education  
  1. Sales  
  1. Retail/Purchasing  
  1. IT  
  1. Engineering  
  1. Medical/Pharmaceutical/Scientific  
  1. Construction  
  1. Automotive/Aerospace   

When it came to taking steps to apply, young people who wanted to begin an apprenticeship chose the following sectors:   

Top apprenticeship applications by industry (Feb 2022)  

  1. Administration  
  1. Engineering  
  1. Construction  
  1. Manufacturing/Surveying  
  1. Distribution   

Finally, the research also showed that apprentice salaries varied depending on the industry. CV-Library’s survey revealed that the top five highest paying industries for apprenticeships are:  

Top apprenticeship salaries (Feb 2022)  

  1. IT – average salary of £25,401  
  1. Education – average salary of £22,117  
  1. Manufacturing/Surveying – average salary of £19,006  
  1. Medical/Pharmaceutical/Scientific – average salary of £18,800  
  1. Sales – average salary of £18,237  

Lee Biggins, CEO and founder of CV-Library commented: “This data provides clear evidence of the increasing popularity of apprenticeships. The breadth and diversity of roles on offer is attracting more candidates and the skills shortage in the UK job market is enticing employers to invest more heavily in these schemes. If businesses don’t want to get left behind, they need to embrace apprenticeships. Training future generations of professionals should be high on the agenda for employers.”   

Ken Brotherston, CEO of TALiNT Partners also commented: “It’s great to see this trend which is a reflection of the move from many employers to take a long-term approach to addressing skills shortages. The wide range of different roles and sectors that modern apprenticeships can offer is also great to see (although traditional roles as a plumber or electrician are still in high demand and paying more than ever, too). Let’s hope this is a trend that continues to grow.”  

Share this article on social media

Salaries up by 65% in 2022 

3 in 5 UK professionals are unhappy with their current salary 

CV Library’s latest survey has revealed that a staggering 61% of professionals are unhappy with their salary, with the 1,500 surveyed professionals showing that lawyers, teachers and new graduates were the most unhappy with their current salary packages.

Despite this, the majority (54.6%) of respondents stated they had never tried to negotiate for a higher salary.

Results demonstrated that the reason respondents hadn’t negotiated a higher salary was that 51% feared it would risk losing their job, while 40% replied that they didn’t want to be seen as too pushy and finally 31% saying they didn’t know how to negotiate.

The pandemic appears to have worsened the issue as 29% of respondents said they were even less likely to ask for more money in 2021 than they were before the arrival of COVID-19. However, the landscape has change with record numbers of job postings in the last six months and confidence among the UK workforce has grown as we enter into 2022.

According to CV Library, the salary shift is already reflecting in the 2022 job market with average salaries on the rise in 16 sectors in January 2022 so far, compared to January 2021. The top 5 sectors with salary increases are:

  1. Hospitality/hotel +65.8%
  2. Marketing +12%
  3. IT +11.6%
  4. Administration +10.3%
  5. Management +9.4%

Lee Biggins, CEO and founder of CV-Library comments: “When the pandemic first struck, businesses held all the power and competition for top jobs was tougher than ever. However, in the last few months we have seen this power shift back in favour of candidates and the year-on-year salary increases we are seeing across many industries already in 2022, substantiates this. As such, candidates should feel able to negotiate on salary without fear of losing out on an exciting opportunity.”

Biggins continued: “The key to negotiation is to be prepared. Be sure that you know what you’re worth and what you can bring to the business that will justify a higher salary. To successfully negotiate a salary increase, it’s vital that you take the time to think about what you want, and you check out the latest salaries on offer for your specific role. This will give you the supporting evidence that your expectations are realistic for the 2022 job market.”

Share this article on social media

46% of workers uncomfortable with unvaccinated colleagues

Businesses need to do all they can to keep staff amidst skill shortages

A survey by CV-Library has revealed that 46% of workers are feeling uncomfortable around unvaccinated colleagues. According to the survey of 2,000 professionals, a massive 58.5% of UK employees want to know if their colleagues have been vaccinated against COVID-19 and a further 58.8% would speak to their manager about it.

A third (32.4%) of respondents admitted that they would consider changing jobs rather than work with a colleague who hadn’t been vaccinated against the virus.

Lee Biggins, CEO and founder of CV-Library comments: “With the Government warning of a tough winter ahead and many UK professionals returning to the workplace, in some capacity, it’s understandable that staff want to remain as safe as possible. However, this presents a unique challenge for business owners and managers.”

“Whilst staff safety should be the ultimate priority, it’s also important that employees who have chosen to not get the COVID-19 vaccine aren’t discriminated against. It’s a fine balance and, with the current record job postings and staff shortages, businesses need to do all they can to keep hold of their staff and ensure that they’re both happy and comfortable in the workplace.”

Share this article on social media

‘Pingdemic’ preying on professionals’ minds

Last week may have begun with Freedom Day but it’s been anything but for many workers around the country thanks to what has been dubbed the ‘pingdemic’.

A survey by independent job board CV-Library revealed that more than a third (39.9%) of workers knew someone who had been unable to return to work due to being required to isolate.

More than 600,000 people were pinged by the NHS’s Covid-19 app in the week to July 14, meaning they were advised to stay home and quarantine for 10 days. It was the highest weekly figure so far and was up 19% on the previous week.

The CV-Library survey of more than 1,300 UK professionals found that a whopping 69.8% of those isolating were doing so after having been notified via the Covid-19 app.

The huge number of people in quarantine has led to worker shortages across a number of industries, with supermarkets such as Iceland and Lidl reporting significant impacts on their operations. Royal Mail and London Underground services have also been affected, with the latter having shut down the Metropolitan Line for an entire day recently after staff were pinged.

Lee Biggins, CEO and founder of CV-Library, said: “Keeping staff safe should be the highest priority for employers across the country. However, such huge disruptions to staffing will cause countless problems for the recovery of the UK economy. Many businesses will have to reduce operating hours – or in some cases, close – as capacity will be lower, hindering a much-needed recovery over the summer.”

The survey found that the possibility of being told to isolate was weighing heavily on workers’ minds, with 50% of professionals concerned about having to isolate. Nearly 13% were concerned that isolation would affect their work, 8.6% were worried it would interfere with their personal plans and 28.4% thought it could interfere with both.

This had led to one in three (34.4%) changing their behaviour to avoid having to isolate. The changes included cancelling plans with friends and keeping children at home until the end of term.

The motivation for a significant percentage (32.1%) of those taking extra precautions was to make sure they could still go on a planned holiday in the next few weeks.

Biggins added: “It’s no surprise that isolation is so concerning for professionals. All of us are eager to get back to normal and enjoy meeting with friends and family – especially in this lovely weather – but 10 days of isolation could cause financial hardship for many families and ruin summer plans as schools break up. We encourage employers to offer as much support as possible to staff members that are forced to isolate.”

Photo curtosy of Canva.com

Share this article on social media

Employers face worst staff shortages since 1997

UK employers are struggling with the worst labour shortages for almost a quarter of a century as the reopening of the economy continues.

The Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) warned that the availability of workers was deteriorating at a record pace, fuelled by factors such as increased hiring, Brexit, pandemic-related uncertainty and the furlough scheme.

The latest REC/KPMG UK Report on Jobs survey revealed that in June permanent staff appointments expanded at the fastest rate since the survey began in October 1997, while temp billings grew at their highest level for nearly 23 years.

But during the same time period, the availability of workers fell at an unprecedented rate, leading to a sharp increase in starting rates of pay.

The demand for staff continued to move beyond crisis-hit sectors such as hospitality, with jobs in IT and computing rising the fastest in June, followed by hotel and catering jobs and engineering.

Claire Warnes, Partner and Head of Education, Skills and Productivity at KPMG UK, said the latest figures showed action was needed to address the country’s skills gap: “For the fourth month running we’re seeing a decline in the availability of candidates to fill all these new roles and the most severe deterioration for 24 years. We need action from businesses and government to reskill and upskill furloughed and prospective workers now more than ever, as the increasing skills gap in the workforce has the potential to slow the UK’s economic recovery.”

Neil Carberry, Chief Executive of the REC, added: “Recruiters are working flat out to fill roles across our economy. The jobs market is improving at the fastest pace we have ever seen, but it is still an unpredictable time. We can’t yet tell how much the ending of furlough and greater candidate confidence will help to meet this rising demand for staff. In some key shortage sectors like hospitality, food, driving and IT, more support is likely to be needed to avoid slowing the recovery.

“That means supporting transitions into growing sectors through unemployment support and new skills programmes, as well as making sure the new immigration system reacts to demand, as promised. But it also means that hiring companies need to re-assess their workforce plans. In a tight jobs market, working with professional recruiters to position your firm as an employer of choice is a must.”

Further pain ahead

The situation is likely to get even worse when the travel industry gets back on its feet if the results of a separate survey are to be believed.

Ahead of Grant Schapps’ announcement of the scrapping of home quarantine for fully vaccinated travellers, job board CV-Library ran a survey of travel and tourism workers and found that almost 60% were not planning to return to the industry.

Of those responding to the survey, 68.4% believed the industry would face a shortage of workers, with  58.1% saying they weren’t considering returning even once the industry is fully operational again.

When asked why they were turning their back on the industry, the main reason was that it had shut down and jobs were no longer available. However, almost a third of respondents (30%) said they felt the industry was too unpredictable and almost half (47.2%) felt that the salaries and benefits on offer were now worse than in pre-pandemic times.

Lee Biggins, CEO and founder of CV-library, said: “These results should be alarming for employers, but, sadly, they aren’t surprising. We’ve all witnessed the impact of this pandemic on the hospitality sector and the travel and tourism industry has been the hardest hit sector of all. As such, a shortage of candidates when the restrictions are lifted feels somewhat inevitable.

“It’s crucial that businesses take notice of these results and listen to job seekers. There are plenty of staff out there but, in order to recruit, businesses can’t just pick up where they left off. Competitive pay and benefits must be offered, and with the industry unlikely to be provided with much notice to get back up and running, those with the strongest employer proposition will win the race for talent.”

Graduate solution?

One potential avenue employers grappling with shortages may wish to explore is adapting some of their positions to appeal to the graduate market.

Though vacancy numbers as a whole may be rising, in the graduate market the reverse is true: data from job board network Broadbean showed that graduate and training vacancies were down 66% on pre-pandemic levels in the first half of this year, as well as being down 34% on the first half of last year, when the country was in the thick of the pandemic.

This has led to a situation where the number of applicants per graduate vacancy now stands at 51, up 46% on 2019 numbers.

Alex Fourlis, Managing Director at Broadbean Technology, said: “It is concerning to see that graduate and early careers recruitment is faring considerably worse than other areas of the employment market.

“The fact that vacancy levels today are considerably lower than during the pandemic suggests that while employers are investing in experienced talent at a time when many sectors are contending with skills shortages, there is a real threat that this dearth of talent will be exacerbated in the coming months and years if graduate and early careers recruitment isn’t prioritised by companies.”

Photo courtesy of Canva.com

Share this article on social media
Advertise
Magazines
News

Copyright ©  TALiNT Partners Ltd.
All Rights Reserved.

Contact
Terms & Conditions 
Privacy Policy

Design and Development
by HUB London

Social Links
Linkedin Instagram Youtube