According to the latest study from CV-Library, the UK’s leading independent job board, a staggering 59% of Brits have said they’re willing to reskill and retrain in a new line of work following the coronavirus pandemic; as a lack of jobs forces people to consider searching in different sectors.
The job board surveyed 1,700 UK professionals to gain an understanding of how workers feel about their job search. It reveals that the most common reason for people wanting to reskill was because they want to make themselves more employable (51.8%); followed by the fact that they can’t find a job (32.4%) and because they want better job security (32%).
In addition to this, 30.3% say they want to do a more meaningful job, 29.1% want a role with a higher salary and 18.5% say they simply want to change industries.
Lee Biggins, founder and CEO of CV-Library, comments: “We’ve seen lots of stories in the press about professionals who have completely switched up their careers during lockdown; and it’s fascinating to learn how people have adapted. The job market is going to be impacted by the pandemic for a long time, especially as we are now officially in a recession. Going forward, employers will need to be more open to hiring people from different sectors and professionals must be more open to opportunities outside of their traditional remit.”
When looking at the data by industry, the findings reveal that professionals in the charity (92.9%) sector were most likely to want to reskill in a new line of work; followed by professionals in customer service (80.6%), leisure/tourism (75%), hospitality (73.9%) and manufacturing (69.4%).
Further analysis from CV-Library looks into which industries people in different sectors are applying for jobs in. For example, its data shows that professionals who are registered as working in charity have been applying for work in administration, social care and education first; while workers in hospitality have been looking for opportunities in construction and administration.
In addition to this, retail professionals have been applying for jobs in administration, construction and customer service; and catering professionals have been searching for roles in construction, distribution and hospitality.
Biggins continues: “Naturally, certain industries have been hit a lot harder than others and this is reflected in our findings. For this reason, professionals in key sectors have had no choice but to consider finding a job in a completely new line of work. Over the next 12 months, we expect to see this trend continue and will be monitoring it closely to see what else emerges.”
