2015 Job Review: What Were The In-Demand Jobs?

Now that the mince pies and turkey has been fully digested, the last of the sherry quaffed, and the new fitness and healthy eating regime is firmly in place, I took the opportunity to conduct a formal review of the vacancies we worked on in 2015.

The great news is that 2015 proved to be the most successful year in my business since I launched it way back in 2006, both in terms of revenue and profit. Thank you to all the job seekers and employers reading this that have supported the business and me over the years that have passed, clearly we couldn’t do any of this without you.

So what were the top 5 roles we were asked to work on and successfully fill in the last 12 months?

Number 1: Business Development & Sales.

In the top spot it is Business Development and Sales Personnel. We saw a big rise in the number of clients looking to add to their direct sales efforts by bringing in new sales people.

For me this demonstrates great confidence in the growth plans of UK businesses, and judging by the number of similar roles we still have on our books it will be a similar story in 2016.

Number 2: Administration & Business Support.

I suppose it follows that if businesses are growing their sales revenues they will need the right support team to ensure things are processed and serviced correctly. We saw a 37% rise in this type of work, and with a fill rate of 94% in under 6 weeks it is clear that my team are very adept at finding these star candidates quickly and efficiently. Well done team!

Number 3: Accountancy & Finance.

We saw a similar rise in the number of senior finance positions becoming available, in the main down to some of the SME and fast growth clients we are dealing with who are looking to put improved rigor and structure in place to aid with their sustainable business growth plans. This category also saw the largest salary/remuneration that was offered by any of our clients last year with a £170k package being offered and accepted by a hotel group we worked with who have grown aggressively in the last few years both organically and through strategic acquisitions.

The average salary across all roles we looked to fill in 2015 was £28,480, which is a shade over the £26,500 that is reported to be the UK’s average salary for an individual.

Number 4: Marketing & Marketing Support.

I’ve categorised these together as Marketing. The strongest emerging trend in this area in 2015 was that our clients were keen to bring in digital marketing skills, with Paid Search (Google and Facebook) topping the specific skills sought, closely followed by Email Marketing skills, then Social Media skills. Everyone that enquired was keen to find CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system experience, and also database segmentation.

Direct Response Marketing was the theme for 2015 as opposed to Brand Marketing. Largely due to the fact that most of these marketing vacancy requests for support came from our SME and fast growth client and prospect lists. And largely they need marketing skills that can generate quick sales and prospects for the database, rather than simply brand exposure.

Number 5: IT.

The number of IT roles we looked at last year grew significantly, and deserves a report of its own at some point as the broad term IT does not do justice to the variety of skills we were asked to search for. “Coders” and “App Developers” with seriously technical skills remain the most challenging of roles to fill due to the massive skill shortage in the UK currently. Any of you reading this with kids wondering how they might maximise their chances of earning some decent money from a job should consider this as a career option as contract rates and salaries are rising exponentially, with female “coders” seemingly winning the “hens teeth award” in the war for talent.

 

So barring a few rogue taxi and entertaining receipts, that’s 2015 wrapped up.

Thanks again for your support, and if you need any help making 2016 your own best year ever, whether in your career search or hunt for talent, then please do not hesitate to contact one of our team here.

Adam

www.adambutlerltd.co.uk – 01244 752 459