{"id":2008,"date":"2020-11-18T12:00:45","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T12:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/?p=2008"},"modified":"2025-10-22T15:16:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T14:16:00","slug":"november-graduate-opportunities-how-the-labour-market-is-faring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/2020\/11\/18\/november-graduate-opportunities-how-the-labour-market-is-faring\/","title":{"rendered":"November graduate opportunities: How the labour market is faring"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/span>At the start of\u00a0October\u00a0we gave you a bit of an\u00a0<\/span>update on how the labour market is looking.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It hasn\u2019t been that long, but things are changing all the time.\u00a0 Since October w<\/span>e\u2019ve entered a second lockdown, we\u2019ve seen an extension to the furlough scheme and hopeful vaccine news. We recently attended an excellent webinar hosted by Charlie Ball at Prospects Luminate<\/a>\u00a0giving a rundown on current labour market trends. <\/span>So<\/span>\u00a0we thought it was timely to provide an additional update.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is important to remember that opportunities are available<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>As some sectors are faring better than\u00a0<\/span>others,\u00a0<\/span>the<\/span>\u00a0key to success is being flexible and keeping your options open, especially if your interests lie in areas that have been badly affected by the pandemic.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How are things looking?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Well, things aren\u2019t back to normal<\/span>, but the trend is upwards!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>T<\/span>here is a consensus that the past three months have gone better than expected economically and for the labour market.<\/span>\u00a0The economy is improving but PwC estimates that the end of 2021 is the very earliest that we\u2019ll be back to pre-pandemic (Feb 2020) levels.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Job v<\/span>acancies<\/span>\u00a0are\u00a0<\/span>about 70% of normal rates but this is very sector dependent. The Arts is running at around 30-35% of where it would be normally. Whereas the Health sector is not seeing a huge difference<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With that said<\/span>, generally graduate opportunities have been less impacted than non-graduate roles. Additionally, g<\/span>raduate training schemes seem to have be<\/span>e<\/span>n hit less than the rest of the graduate labour market<\/span>, as these are run by larger companies which have been hit less hard by the pandemic<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Certainly,<\/span>\u00a0we are seeing plenty of graduate schemes being advertised on\u00a0<\/span>MyFuture<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0Make sure to check if there are any graduate schemes you\u2019d like to apply for as deadlines are fast ap<\/span>proaching for many of them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How have different sectors been impacted?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/span>We don\u2019t know for sure how the second lockdown will affect the labour market, h<\/span>owever<\/span>\u00a0the signal from employers\u00a0<\/span>at the moment<\/span>\u00a0is that it<\/span>\u00a0may not have as big an impact as the first one. Employers are more confident this time around<\/span>\u00a0and have adapted quicker<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Health, social care, IT and education have continued to do well<\/span>.<\/span> The Public Sector<\/span>\u00a0is generally faring well and areas of the non-profit sector which\u00a0<\/span>are supporting the<\/span>\u00a0pandemic\u00a0<\/span>relief\u00a0<\/span>effor<\/span>t<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>are also seeing an up<\/span>wards trend.<\/span>\u00a0These sectors all tend to have graduate opportunities. Health has the largest number of vacancies of any UK industry with one in eight of all current vacancies.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are also signs of improvement in marketing, IT, audit, insolvency, employment law, pharma<\/span>\u00a0and<\/span>\u00a0medical. Some of these sectors are indicative of the challenges facing the economy, such as insolvency and employment law.\u00a0<\/span>These are also areas where remote working is effective, which are\u00a0<\/span>recovering more rapidly compared to areas where remote working isn\u2019t possible.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Remember that medical isn\u2019t just doctors and nurses. It encompasses medical testing, medical devices and test and trace efforts<\/span>, and some vacancies are open to\u00a0<\/span>applicants from any degree background<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, as with last update, the SME sector is still struggling<\/span>\u00a0due to lack of reserves, although this is also\u00a0<\/span>sector\u2013dependent<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What will the future look like?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

The pandemic has created huge disruption to the world of work. It has accelerated some existing trends and created new issues too. But there are other issues that will also influence future labour market trends. The change of US president and Brexit will also ultimately have an impact too <\/span>and it will be interesting to see how the next few months will impact the labour mark<\/span>et<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking ahead to the future, predictions are that jobs in health and social care will thrive.\u00a0<\/span>Due to the\u00a0<\/span>mental health effect of the\u00a0<\/span>pandemic<\/span>\u00a0it is predicted that there will be an increase in mental health and wellbeing roles.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There will also be a huge increase in employment related to low carbon industries. That doesn\u2019t just mean engineers, but all the parts needed to sustain the new infrastructure to assure the transition away from fossil fuels.\u00a0<\/span>As before the pandemic, STEM is predic<\/span>ted to have the highest labour market grow<\/span>th in Europe.<\/span>\u00a0Again, it is<\/span>\u00a0important to remember that STEM companies also recruit graduates into operations and administrative roles such as business management, marketing, HR and more.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Digital skills, critical thinking, interpersonal communication and leadership are all skills that will become more important in the coming months and years.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Future of\u00a0<\/span>Home<\/span>-<\/span>working<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

The majority of<\/span>\u00a0workers in key graduate sectors<\/span>, such as professional\u00a0<\/span>services,\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0are<\/span>\u00a0now home-<\/span>based<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>a<\/span>nd<\/span>\u00a0that could be a\u00a0<\/span>long-term<\/span>\u00a0change. A lot of businesses that employ\u00a0<\/span>graduates<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0are reporting that homeworking has<\/span>\u00a0either had no effect on or<\/span>\u00a0improved productivity.<\/span>\u00a0We are seeing employers considering home-working and flexible working as something that increase<\/span>\u00a0employee wellbeing and decre<\/span>ase office running costs.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>It<\/span>\u00a0is likely\u00a0<\/span>there<\/span>\u00a0will be a shift to greater home working<\/span>\u00a0in the future.\u00a0<\/span>Therefore<\/span>\u00a0any skills you acquire from virtual working from your internships or placements will be valuable skills to\u00a0<\/span>emphasize in your job applications<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Final thought<\/h2>\n

While things are still not back to normal - there are graduate opportunities out there. We hope to see a continued upwards trend and will bring you another labour market update when we can.\u00a0<\/span> In the meantime, if you need help with any stage of your career planning, find us on MyFuture.\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Source for labour market data and trends:\u202f<\/span><\/i>Prospects Luminate<\/span><\/i><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0At the start of\u00a0October\u00a0we gave you a bit of an\u00a0update on how the labour market is looking.\u00a0\u00a0 It hasn\u2019t been that long, but things are changing all the time.\u00a0 Since October we\u2019ve entered a second lockdown, we\u2019ve seen an extension...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1174,"featured_media":2009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[748],"tags":[600,552,195],"class_list":["post-2008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive","tag-careerfulfilment","tag-covid-19","tag-labour-market"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/82\/2020\/11\/pexels-carolina-roepers-612406.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}