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British Employers favour attitude over qualifications

Spring has finally set up camp in the UK after a long, bitter winter, and with it a new optimism that our labour market might start to improve too. Despite a tough economic situation our GDP has grown by 0.3%, which is just enough to avoid a triple-dip recession. What is more encouraging is the recent job hunting news to come out of our Adzuna data factory which reveals 56% of British employers value a positive working attitude over qualifications, skills and experience. Our data analysts sliced and diced the language companies use in their job ads, revealing huge spikes in demand in the last 12 months for “Problem Solvers”, “Self- Starters” and social media experts, while Customer Service and Perl development skills are in decline.

Over 1000 keywords were grouped into 4 categories; Qualifications, Experience, Skills and Attitude. From these categories we could then garner a clear idea of what British employers are looking for in their new recruits. The results revealed some good news for jobseekers lacking previous employment experience or an expensive degree. This April there is a shift in mindset away from qualifications towards attitudinal factors. A positive working attitude is the most sought after attribute of 2013, with 56% of all ads demanding traits such as “Organised”, “Motivated” and “Flexible”. Only 21% of current job ads mention any of the skills analysed, while a mere 19% of ads specify previous experience. Less than 10% of vacancies demand post-school qualifications.

Can work-place skills increase your pay packet?

The study also reveals that bagging yourself a few useful work-place skills and qualifications could increase the size of your pay packet. The UK’s highest paid skills and qualifications are sought after by the Finance, Accounting and Project Management sectors. Candidates with a CIPM qualification can expect to earn £80,000 p.a. while those with a CFA qualification can earn £63,000 on average. Jobseekers after a healthy pay packet should also consider acquiring Project Management credentials such as PMP, Waterfall and Agile. There are over 10,000 Agile vacancies currently advertised, while those with a Prince skillset earn over £48,000. Pinterest-related skills are the biggest riser, followed by LinkedIn, reflecting the increasing importance of social media channels.

Get the Lingo in Tech

Tech skills are hotter than ever this year with over 29% of all vacancies after candidates with Developer Skills. There are over 40,000 ads looking for employees fluent in ‘C++’ language, 21,000 ‘SQL’ ads and 13,000 for ‘Java’. Candidates fluent in ‘Perl’ language are highest paid tech skill in the UK reaping in a healthy salary of £45,259 p.a. The analysis also shows a new wave of language being used to lure top talent. There are currently 515 UK employers looking for “Gurus”, over demands for 49 “Ninjas” and even 5 companies looking for a “Jedi”. Tech giants Google, Apple and Facebook are leading the hunt for superhero staff, with over 100 job ads from these companies including one of the top 10 wackiest buzzwords, while Mini UK will only accept “true sales legends”.

Aduzna Co-founder Andrew Hunter says “Because we list nearly every UK job ad in our search engine, we have a great overview of the language advertisers use in their listings.

In a weak economy, with businesses needing to adapt quickly, employers are looking for commitment and a positive attitude to work and setting less value on degrees or years of experience. Technical and social media skills though remain in hot demand so if you are struggling to find work, try brushing up on some of these employable skills.“

Top 10 Wackiest Buzzwords

Buzzword Number of jobs Average Salary

Guru 523 £34,956

Legend 166 £24,553

Wizard 134 £26,358

Killer 69 £30,379

Ninja 44 £25,332

Rockstar 40 £31,383

Superhero 12 £10,302

Jedi 10 £49,010

Overlord 3 £50,201

Boffin 1 £45,902

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Adzuna .