“What is state of the job market in summer 2024?” Here at Journey Recruitment, we strive to build the best possible relationships with candidates and clients and this seems to be the question on everyone’s lips at the moment. A recent article from Forbes states that UK graduates are facing an incredibly difficult job market with job vacancies down by “30.2%” and the CIPD have found that “55%” of employers are looking to keep their current number of staff, rather than growing and increasing vacancies.
Therefore, we thought we’d put our heads together as a team and put together a list of the key trends that we have witnessed in 2024 regarding the state of the job market this summer. Hopefully, these insights will help you as a job seeker or perhaps help you attract better talent as a hiring manager.
The State of the Job Market in Summer 2024
1.High competition in certain roles – Certain sectors such as Sales, HR, Marketing, Events and Admin continue to be extremely competitive. Candidates have a high level of experience and applications for these roles remain high.
2. Finance, Accounting, Procurement and Engineering roles are lacking candidates – One thing we have noticed is that employers are desperate for fantastic candidates in Finance, Accounting and Engineering roles. Graduates, school leavers or those making a career change should consider gaining qualifications in these areas and look at roles in these fields as there are a lot of available opportunities.
Great qualification options are as follows:
- Finance
- Procurement
- CIPS – Procurement roles have been very popular this year and some senior level roles are now seeking a qualification from CIPS.
3. Reduction in hybrid working but a huge demand for hybrid/remote work from employees– As the market recovers from the effects of the pandemic, employees are increasingly being asked to return to their offices, despite expectations that remote working would become the ‘new normal’.
However, we found 71.2% of candidates are looking for at least a hybrid working model or a fully remote model (15.3%) in our recent poll, so a great way of attracting new talent could be to adopt a hybrid working model.
4. Increase in the use of presentations in interviews – Interviews are increasingly featuring presentations, case studies or scenarios. Expect to be asked to prepare something in anticipation of your meeting. This is especially true for roles in business development and marketing.
However, for more junior level roles these can be a huge deterrent for some candidates so this is something to keep in mind as a Hiring Manager.
5. Job seekers are searching for work/life balance – Work/life balance seems to be the key phrase on everyone’s lips. Most of our candidates prioritise a great work/life balance and will sometimes even take a salary cut for more hybrid working, better working hours, healthcare perks and a great working culture.
For a more detailed overview of the market please see the CIPD labour market overview Labour Market Outlook | CIPD
We really hope this blog on the state of the job market in 2024 helps you. With 10 years’ experience of placing people across the market, we can certainly help you navigate all of these changes and support you in finding your dream role. If you want help finding a new role, please do visit our careers page here and apply now!
