Your 2024 Guide For The UK Job Market
Are you considering relocating to the United Kingdom and need tips on which cities and job boards to consider for your job search? Then this blog is for you. Whilst England is often the first choice for candidates, you should also consider other regions such as Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland when doing your research.
The UK job market in 2024
Understanding what the job market is like should be your first step as this will guide your decision-making process. Events such as Brexit and Covid impacted the job market, as did the recent general elections.
The KPMG and REC UK Report on Jobs for July 2024 reported a slowdown in permanent hiring across England (particularly in South England in cities such as London), whereas the Midlands (Birmingham, Coventry, Derby, Dudley, Leicester, Nottingham, Sandwell, Stoke-on-Trent, Solihull, Telford and Wrekin, Walsall and Wolverhampton) only saw a slight decrease.
Some sectors have been more impacted than others. The Secretarial/Clerical categories as well as IT & Computing recorded a decline in demand for permanent workers however Engineering and Accounting/Financial for example noted an increase in demand.
In a nutshell, even though the report outlines a slowdown in hiring for the beginning of 2024, it also states that hiring is back to pre-pandemic levels so this gives a positive outlook.
Have you considered cities in the United Kingdom other than London?
Capital cities are often big magnets for candidates and employers alike, for all that they can offer in terms of opportunities, services and so forth. However, considering relocating to other cities could increase your chances of securing the right opportunity.
HR Software Provider company Ciphr has interesting infographics on all UK cities comparing employment rates, numbers of job postings and salary growth between 2022 and 2023. As an example, Manchester in England had a 11.7% salary growth rate compared to 6% in London for that same period.
If it happens that Manchester was on your target list, then you’ll be pleased to know that the following companies have offices there: Amazon, Deloitte, IBM, Booking.com, Accenture, Barclays, Apple, KPMG, Capgemini, Siemens, Teleperformance.
If you’re willing to consider other locations, then Leeds hosts HSBC, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, IBM, EY.
In Aberdeen, Scotland you’ll find TotalEnergies, Chevron, GE, Hollister Co, Shell, etc and in Bristol: Airbus, Rolls-Royce, Boeing, Oracle, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Quick tip: The Companies tab on Glassdoor will provide you with a list by location.
Which job boards should you use?
When you’re ready to start applying for jobs, you’ll want to look into the following job boards: Indeed, Glassdoor, Totaljobs, Reed, Monster, Jora, DevITjobs, RemoteWokr, CV-Library, GradJobs. *We are not paid to promote these websites
Don’t forget LinkedIn which is very useful for researching and networking. Contact your peers and managers and ask for job referrals and introductions.
If you enjoyed reading this and would like more support with your job search, you can schedule a free coaching session with me. I have lived and worked in the UK and helped clients relocate there.
Learn more about my experience, expertise and book your free coaching session with me here.
The Allora team is here to support you throughout your job search, interview and relocation process with action-forward coaching.
Rachel Meda
Rachel has lived and worked in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Thailand and Paris, France while hiring global talent for Sales, Commercial, Finance, HR and other corporate positions at all levels of seniority.across the markets of Europe, Dubai, APAC, South America and South Africa. She speaks fluent French and English and specializes in expat careers, and relocation job searches.
