As you will have probably seen in the news, the employment rate in the UK has seen a sharp decrease over the past two months despite unprecedented attempts by the Government to incentivise businesses to retain staff.
As Brits this is something quite unusual for us; during the past decade since the 2008 recession we have experienced record numbers of employment rates in the UK with our biggest problem being able to find suitable staff. However during the Covid-19 pandemic this balance has been rocked and now we are seeing a flood of labour to the market, the question is; will there be enough jobs to employ them?
The latest data shows that job vacancies have dropped by 170,000 from February to April and it would be safe to assume that this trend may continue now “lockdown” has continued for the majority of May. Many commentators are predicting that the unemployment rate will continue to rise throughout the length of this pandemic and with no end in sight these are certainly worrying times for our community. All of this means that competition for jobs will be at a generational high, so what can you do to be in the best position in order to be front of the queue when things start to return to normal?
The best advice I can give is to put yourself in the shoes of an employer; what would you be looking for from someone who has been in enforced unemployment for the past 3 months?
•Have a clear plan about what you want to do and target those jobs. If possible try to target the jobs that you think will be more abundant (social care and healthcare to name just two) •What have you been doing to increase your knowledge of the sector – e.g. reading industry news? Keeping up to date on the long term effects that the pandemic may have on the sector you work in and maybe some original thoughts on ways to combat this. •How have you used this time to gain additional skills – not only could this open up new job opportunities but shows a willingness and ability to self-motivate and show initiative e.g. have you completed that Excel course which you have been meaning to do for a few years and never had the time to do? •How has the pandemic changed your attitude towards work and its place in your life? Be prepared to talk about this. •Your CV should be the sharpest it has ever been, spend some time on writing it, leave it a few days and then come back to it and see how you feel about it - read our top tips here
If you are looking for work or looking for staff, please contact us to have an informal chat.
Let's getsocial...