UPDATE ON EMPLOYMENT MARKET   UK market HE sector IT market

IT RECRUITMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION OBSERVATIONS AND CHALLENGES Salary Advertising Equality and diversity Fees Report – jobs.ac.uk

Recruiting IT professionals within Higher Education   SearchHigher is an executive search firm developed by and for the Higher Education sector. We seek to combine the ethics and principles of the sector with our commercial edge and expertise to seek and secure the right individual for your organisation. This report has been developed utilising data taken from jobs.ac.uk throughout 2015. jobs.ac.uk is the sector leading job board which along with SearchHigher are part of Warwick Employment Group (WEG).

The IT sector across UK & Ireland Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) Throughout 2015 65% of all IT roles advertised were permanent and 35% contract or temporary assignments. The distribution of positions across the UK and Ireland is dominated in the South East, as displayed in the graph below.

Contract type comparison Russell Group and other HEI’s Throughout 2015 44% of all IT roles advertised on jobs.ac.uk in 2015 were placed through the Russell Group, while 56% were through other HEI institutions. There is a notable difference when comparing the breakdown of contract and permanent roles, where Russell group advertise 54% of roles as permanent and 46% are contract/temporary, compared to 74% of other HEI’s advertised as permanent and 26% contract/temporary roles.   Contract type comparison Russell Group and other HEI’s Throughout 2015 44% of all IT roles advertised on jobs.ac.uk in 2015 were placed through the Russell Group, while 56% were through other HEI institutions. There is a notable difference when comparing the breakdown of contract and permanent roles, where Russell group advertise 54% of roles as permanent and 46% are contract/temporary, compared to 74% of other HEI’s advertised as permanent and 26% contract/temporary roles.  

Russell Group and other HEI’s Throughout 2015 44% of all IT roles advertised on jobs.ac.uk in 2015 were placed through the Russell Group, while 56% were through other HEI institutions. There is a notable difference when comparing the breakdown of contract and permanent roles, where Russell group advertise 54% of roles as permanent and 46% are contract/temporary, compared to 74% of other HEI’s advertised as permanent and 26% contract/temporary roles.   Salary comparison Russell Group and other HEI’s The following chart displays the salaries against the Russell Group and other HEI’s. Salaries are fairly consistent; the notable difference is the Russell Group advertises higher salaries to other HEI’s.

audience demographics IT jobseeker audience demographics Let’s begin by examining the demographics of IT candidates across the globe. Predominantly the IT candidate profile is male across HE and other sectors, but there is a slightly higher audience of females looking for work in other sectors than HE. The majority of IT jobseekers are aged between 25-54, as displayed in the graphs below.

How many years work experience do you have? 71% of IT jobseekers working in HE having over 10 years’ experience, while those working in other sectors 53% have over 10 years’ experience, as displayed in the graph below.

What is the main reason you are looking for a new job/might consider changing jobs? 35% of those working in HE and 18% working in other sectors said their main reason for looking for a new role or might make them want to change roles was career progression and prospects, as displayed in the graph below.

What are the most important features in an advert? When asked what the most important features in an advert were excluding the title, salary and location a clear job description was most important for both HE (82%) and other sectors (83%). For HE a link to a detailed job pack about the employer and position and a link to a person specification were the other most important features in an advertisement for those in HE. Those in other sectors said career development and training information and a link to a detailed job pack about the employer and position were the other important features, as displayed in the graph below.