Urgent Daily Mail opportunity - job vacancies

"As furlough dragged out, more and more people left their jobs to become self-employed drivers or start their own businesses as this offered some flexibility and freedom to live around their families whilst making an income. Another group have also left the UK due to the Brexit ruling, as they have been made to no longer feel welcome in this country. Yet UK workers do not want these jobs, such as cleaning, driving and social care. Workplaces have not yet adjusted their company structures, working practices or policies to offer the same freedoms and support that these workers now enjoy being their own boss and wages have not increased, whilst job roles have become more complex. Until the reality hits, it will become harder and harder to fill vacancies and the skills gap will continue to grow."

"Ageism certainly is a factor. Many employers appear unwilling to interview or take the needs of older people into consideration, which puts them out of the running for jobs FOR which they would be suitable. We've had participants on Startups School for Seniors seeking part-time roles especially and find it impossible to get so much as a response."

"There is a complete misalignment of skills available in the market and high demand in certain skill sets and sectors is creating a false economy. We are seeing the effect of the aftermath of the pandemic, as many people head for security in uncertain times, whether that's their home country or 'better the devil you know' with their employer. There are also sectors that have been struggling for many years, drivers that have had many months of no tests taking place and now we have a knock-on effect of a backlog of people being able to take their driving tests and awaiting for licence documentation. Similar issues are effecting many sectors that have had skill shortages for years and is now just exasperating the situation, hence the record number of vacancies reported." Many workers are using this situation to their advantage, simply prospecting job offers to gain salary increases with their current employers or job hopping to follow the money!

"We have found, in our market, that there is a massive skills shortage. So it is all well and good quoting unemployment figures against available vacancies, but what skills have these people actually got? I mean, you could have 10 chefs out of work, but they're no good for me to put forward for Underwriter or Insurance Broking roles."

"There is a disconnect between employers and employees. This is a result of not advertising salaries, not being clear on the afforded flexibility and not showcasing an employer's true culture, values and behaviours in the job description. We recently polled some of our audience, over four thousand, and the results were clear with 84% wanting transparency on salaries. A large number of job seekers also said that this gave them a negative feeling and could also put them off applying to that company in the future." Organisational change is needed if employers want to attract talent, the old 19th and 20th century work modalities are no longer attractive options for people shopping around for a new 'work home'."

“After a period of disruption in trading, businesses are keen to get productivity back to normal levels and fill deficit in cashflow that has been created quickly. Employers need to hit the ground running and are asking for the best of the best and whilst there are incentives to bring less skilled employees through the door with helps of schemes such as kickstart and apprenticeships, there are few schemes in-place that support those employees with a reasonable level of experience. If more businesses looked at the longer term, were incentivised to support all levels of new talent and can give them financial room to breathe, then this would be a much more sustainable way to tackle the gap we’re seeing in skills and experience of the unemployed. Perhaps down to those that were previously unemployed now finding work, I’m surprised to see the figure of people on UK payrolls to have increased. Those that were previously furloughed will likely to have been working secondary jobs, which will now have come to an end and returned to their primary jobs, with others unfortunately facing redundancy. As those on furlough will have already been counted in the numbers (perhaps twice) then I would have expected this number to drop. However, as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS/Furlough) has only just come to an end, then we may see figures dropping considerably as a direct result in the next quarters figures.”

"Our HR clients tell us the stratospheric vacancy figures are as a result of the terrible trio of: A lack of EU applicants, especially in transport, hospitality, manufacturing and care. An increase in vacancies as COVID-19 restrictions ease. And simply that people have revaluated what ‘sparks joy’ in their lives. The pandemic has been a catalyst for career change, retirement or a reduction in working hours for many."