New data reveals that many employees are beginning to feel optimism towards their career prospects in light of the easing of lockdown restrictions and normality beginning to return.
LinkedIn research has revealed an improvement when it comes to the way employees feel about their career prospects, with almost two-thirds (61 per cent) feeling this way.
This was particularly true for workers aged between 16-35 years old, of which over four in five (83 per cent) expressed an increased amount of optimism towards potential career prospects.
When questioned on why this was, over a third (36 per cent) said this was a direct result of lockdown restrictions easing whilst a similar number (34 per cent) cited a sense of normality returning. Other reasons included the economy re-opening (28 per cent) and high job security (27 per cent).
Analysing this by location, London was found to be the most optimistic city with over two-thirds of the population feeling more hopeful about career prospects (68 per cent). Other cities included Norwich (66 per cent), Birmingham (64 per cent) and Sheffield (64 per cent).
Conversely, Brighton was deemed to be the least optimistic location with almost half (48 per cent) failing to feel optimistic about job recovery.
This is in spite of hiring rates increasing by 22 per cent compared to last April, indicating a substantial recovery in the labour market since the beginning of the pandemic.
Another area which has changed since the beginning of the crisis is what employees actually desire from their job. An additional survey of 1,058 LinkedIn members in the UK found that flexibility (52 per cent), work/life balance (44 per cent) and workplace culture (38 per cent) are now more important to people when considering a job than before the onset of COVID-19.
Janine Chamberlin, UK Country Manager, LinkedIn, said:
The past year has been extremely difficult for so many people, particularly those that have faced redundancy, found themselves out of work or have been forced to switch career. As the economy reopens and people start getting back to doing the things they love, it’s great to see people feeling more optimistic about their job prospects, and companies hiring again.
It’s more important than ever that companies move to assess candidates on their future potential and skills as much as their previous experience and formal qualifications to get people back into jobs quickly.
*To obtain these results, LinkedIn commissioned research agency Censuswide to conduct a pulse survey of 2,000+ adults in the UK to understand how optimistic they feel about their job and career prospects since lockdown restrictions eased. The survey was conducted on 27-28 April 2021.
Monica Sharma is an English Literature graduate from the University of Warwick. As Editor for HRreview, her particular interests in HR include issues concerning diversity, employment law and wellbeing in the workplace. Alongside this, she has written for student publications in both England and Canada. Monica has also presented her academic work concerning the relationship between legal systems, sexual harassment and racism at a university conference at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
