With job vacancies at record highs, remote-working in full swing and even talk of a four-day week, 2022 is shaping up to be one of the best times ever to switch careers.
Since the start of the pandemic, the jobs market has been turned on its head by lockdowns, an exodus of European workers and more recently, demands for more flexible working policies.
The mismatch between supply and demand has meant workers have more bargaining power to ask for higher salaries or even switch careers entirely.
Victoria McLean, of the careers consultancy firm City CV, said jobseekers were enjoying a rare “seller's market”. “It’s not the ‘Great Resignation’, it’s the 'Great Reshuffle',” she said. “Rather than walking away from work, people are reevaluating what they want. They are recognising their priorities.”
Corporate Recruiter
With an average base salary of £50,000 and a job satisfaction score of 4.59, awarded by Glassdoor users, this is a sweet spot for fulfilment and pay. A corporate recruiter is seeking out new talent to join their company. They look for new candidates by assessing their competencies, interests and ambitions.
A corporate recruiter will also likely be involved in elements of a company’s hiring campaigns, such as its career website and job adverts. Ultimately, a corporate recruiter's goal is to find the perfect match between an individual and an organisation.
The HR manager and business partner
HR managers and business partners followed closely for job satisfaction, with scores of 4.4 and 4.3 and median base salaries of £48,433 and £50,000 respectively.
These roles involve hiring, interviewing and shaping the culture of a company. It can also include conflict resolution, which requires a high level of emotional intelligence and can be draining, but rewarding when done right.
Full-stack engineer
A full-stack engineer ranks highly too, with a satisfaction score of 4.3 and a salary of more than £47,000. Full-stack engineers are experts in web, application and software development. They will typically have a degree in computer science or a related field.
They work with a range of coding languages, such as JavaScript, HTML and SQL to improve digital products' functionality and user experience.
UX designer and front end engineer
A UX designer, or a “user experience” designer and front-end engineers have similar roles. They also rank in the top ten, with satisfaction scores of 4.3 and 4.2 and salaries of £46,382 and £43,803.
A UX designer supervises the interaction between human users and products such as websites and apps. It is an extremely varied role, combining elements of psychology, design and technology.
A front end engineer is similarly responsible for the user interface, but people in this role are often more focused on systems of websites and software programmes. They usually create and optimise systems, and help with testing and troubleshooting.
Front end engineers bridge the gap between the user and the developers and adjust the product to adapt to real-world problems. People who work as UX designers and front end engineers also typically have a degree in computer science or a related subject.
Customer success manager
A focus on the success and happiness of other people appears to be a recurring theme in this year's happiest jobs. Customer success managers ranked highly too, with a satisfaction score of 4.2 on an average salary of £41,133.
Customer success managers support a business' clients. Their goal is to preserve loyalty, by building close relationships, pre-empting any problems and suggesting new ways in which the business can support them.
They work as a bridge between the two companies, developing an in-depth knowledge of how both businesses work.
As the jobs market recovers from the impact of the pandemic and a Brexit-induced exodus of European workers, there are some industries that have bigger gaps than others.
Data from Totaljobs showed people left the farming and agriculture, travel and sports and fitness sectors in the quickest in 2021. However, the education sector saw among the highest number of people leaving, with 6,841 moves.
Teaching assistant ranked among the top 10 roles advertised on the jobs website Adzuna. The strongest demand was for a warehouse operative, who is typically responsible for unloading items, packing them and collecting orders for delivery. On Adzuna, the highest advertised salary for a warehouse operative was £22,769.
Other manual jobs included care assistant, labourer and cleaner. The highest paying job among the top 10 most advertised was project manager, which paid a maximum salary of £60,068.
Is now the time to resign?
While the prospect of stepping into a new career can be exciting, the idea of resigning from a current job can be equally as daunting. Ms McLean advised that you should first make sure that you can keep up with any existing financial commitments and that you are psychologically prepared for a major lifestyle change.
“When resigning, remember never to burn any bridges with your employer and colleagues,” she said. “You never know – you could end up working with them in the future, even as your own clients.”
“When you’re discussing your resignation, always remember to focus on the pull factor of the new job, rather than the push factor that is driving you away from your current job. Try to end your time at your current employer on a positive note.”