With the job market stalling, it’s harder and harder to find work. Job-hunters are competing for fewer roles, with postings in some sectors attracting hundreds of applicants.
Candidates, meanwhile, are spending hours completing applications and going through rounds of interviews with little to show for it. As a result, some switch careers.
Last month, there were 661,639 new job postings in the UK, according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), falling 3.8 per cent from July.
Between June and July, there was an alarming 9.2 per cent slump.
With economic uncertainty, AI threatening many skills, rising employer NI contributions and higher company overheads thanks to extra red tape brought in by Labour, many firms aren’t hiring.
REC chief executive Neil Carberry said: ‘The last Budget’s blows to business clearly landed, especially on hospitality firms, which is a key gateway into work for many.’
It said the job market has been sliding since a peak in June 2023, when there were more than three million active job listings. That has since fallen below 1.5million.
However, Money Mail analysis shows there are still roles for which there is a chronic shortage of applicants.
You just need to know where to look and figure out which ones could suit you.
30 hard-to-fill roles
Some 65 per cent of firms have had a role open for more than two months, with hard-to-fill ones sometimes advertised for six months with no success, the jobs website Indeed reveals.
However, more than half of employers say their hiring ‘urgency’ has increased over the past year.
Indeed has launched a new premium sponsored jobs feature for employers which allows employers to label their roles as ‘urgently hiring’, which Indeed says drives 84 per cent more candidates to job postings.
Conor McCarthy, vice president at Indeed, said: ‘What’s striking is that these vacancies persist even in a cooling jobs market.
‘While more people are looking for work, many positions are being overlooked, or candidates walk away during lengthy hiring processes.’
Today, Money Mail can reveal the 30 roles employers are struggling to fill – most often because they are overlooked.
These range from low-skilled roles that require little or no prior experience to highly advanced jobs offering hefty salaries.
Mr McCarthy said: ‘Some of the hardest to fill are not necessarily ones you’d expect. Translators and transcriptionists lead the list, with demand driven by the need for specialist language skills.’
As many as 89 per cent of translator positions remain open after two months, while 86 per cent of transcriptionist roles aren’t filled.
Both require specific skills – language expertise and fast, accurate copy typing, respectively, so will only be suitable for a select group of candidates. On average, they pay around £25,000 per year.
Meanwhile, other jobs on the list don’t require any previous experience or set skills, but are also ‘seeing persistent recruitment challenges’.
Mail-carrier jobs, such as at Royal Mail, typically pay almost £27,000 per year, and 81 per cent of these roles remain unfilled for more than 60 days.
Mr McCarthy said: ‘Retail supervisors and children’s activity group helpers typically don’t require formal qualifications, yet they, too, are seeing persistent recruitment challenges.
Firefighters also feature in the top ten, showing that even essential public-service roles face hiring challenges.’
Some 74 per cent of retail-store supervisor roles remain unfilled for more than two months, as do 71 per cent of children’s activity group helper jobs. Both pay around £25,000.
There is a lack of candidates applying for engineering roles, which account for 11 positions out of the top 30.
These range from civil and structural engineering to work on overhead lines, energy and nuclear engineering.
For entry-level field engineers – jobs that may require a degree or training in a relevant engineering sector – 73 per cent of roles are still unfilled after two months.
Stanley Carter, a 25-year-old engineer surveyor at Zurich Engineering, did an apprenticeship on the scheme offered by the Safety Assessment Federation, making the switch from his previous role as an aircraft fitter.
He travels into the field, examining specialist equipment to prevent faults or accidents.
He said: ‘My job could be described as engineering’s best-kept secret – it’s not immediately in public view and unless you know a surveyor many wouldn’t know much about it.’
While he needed a level 4 qualification, many engineering jobs require level 3, equivalent to A-levels.
He said: ‘Engineering has different career paths – skills are often transferable. If you are interested in a practical engineering role, apprenticeships are the way to go.’
Veterinary surgeons and general veterinarian roles are also hard to fill, Indeed said, with 58 per cent and 50 per cent of jobs unfilled after 60 days, respectively.
With a boom in pet ownership stemming from the Covid pandemic, these roles face increased demand. But with significant training required, supply of new vets has not kept pace.
Dr David Massey, who owns Leeds Colton Vets For Pets, said: ‘The problem with recruitment in the veterinary profession is retention of talent.
‘Over the past decade or two there are more part-time vets, which means you have to recruit two vets for the hours historically covered by one.’
He recommended work experience as a graduate to get a foot in the door, adding: ‘Speak to local farmers and riding schools. Throw yourself into every opportunity. I have the best job in the world.’
High-profile hassle
While entry-level roles might be hard to fill, many firms are also struggling to hire for high-profile jobs, despite attractive salaries.
Tax directors in accountancy and law firms, who are paid on average £90,775, and mergers and acquisitions directors in healthcare, technology, financial services and retail, who earn £83,505, both made it on to the list, with 57 per cent and 53 per cent of jobs unfilled after two months.
Willem van Rooy, mergers and acquisitions director at the wealth manager Quilter, said: ‘The role requires an in-depth understanding of an entire organisation, from top to bottom, and in reality there are few people within an organisation that can fulfil that role.’
Candidates who have significant experience at a company could be more suitable for such a position internally due to their knowledge of the business.
