Navigating the 2024 Job Market: LinkedIn's Guide to Kickstarting Your Career in the UK

You've closed the chapter on your academic life and are about to step into the professional world. This transition, while thrilling, can often feel overwhelming.

In the past year, we’ve seen a seismic shift in the world of work. Traditional career paths have been upended, new industries have emerged, and the skills employers seek are changing faster than ever.

From the fastest-growing jobs to the most in-demand skills for entry-level roles, our fifth annual guide to starting your career draws on LinkedIn data to explore what's ahead for new grads looking to land their first job. We'll also look at the latest trends in remote and hybrid work, which have redefined what 'going to work' means.

What Does the Employment Landscape Look Like for New Grads?

The UK LinkedIn Hiring Rate (LHR), which tracks the speed at which LinkedIn members update their profiles with new jobs each month, shows some improvement on last year for new Bachelor's graduates. In April 2024, hiring was down 3.5% compared to a 23.7% drop in April 2023.

According to Jonathan Boys, senior labour market economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the employment market looks good for new grads entering the workforce this year. "The fate of previous cohorts such as the post-financial crash generation and the lockdown graduates was much worse. The first graduated into high unemployment, while the second graduated into an economy which had been largely switched off."

People graduating this year will be entering a relatively stable jobs market with low rates of unemployment, Boys told LinkedIn News UK. "These conditions are good for job seekers. However, post-pandemic there was a high level of churn with lots of hiring happening. This has calmed down a bit recently and looks more like the pre-pandemic jobs market." One of the big challenges facing new grads is that there are more of them than ever before, which makes it harder to differentiate oneself.

To give your job search the right focus entering this market, conduct thorough research on the industry and the company you are applying to, says Helen Dillon, a career coach for teenagers and young adults. "Many graduates remain within the same industry for many years as that is where they feel their expertise is," she told LinkedIn News UK. Think long-term and have a good understanding of the industry you are targeting as it will also have its own culture. You will want to "ensure that your values align with those of both the industry and company," she says.

What Jobs Do New Graduates Do?

Research by LinkedIn's Economic Graph team shows that "solicitor" was the fastest-growing job title among graduates in the UK in 2023. However, the most striking title in the top 10 is arguably in second place – "founder." This reflects the entrepreneurial spirit of so many young Brits today. Earlier this year, research from Lloyds Bank found that gen Z – those born after 1997 – are more likely than any other generation to make side hustles a full-time gig, with three in five (60%) considering quitting their jobs to start their own business. A recent report by The Times on filings at Companies House also revealed that the number of gen Z company directors has leapt by 42% in a year.

This generation is making waves in the business landscape, says LinkedIn Top Voice Erifili Gounari, founder and CEO at The Z Link – a marketing firm connecting brands with gen Z digital natives. "It's a very entrepreneurial generation that's driven by many factors," Gounari told LinkedIn News UK. "The barrier to entry to entrepreneurship is much lower for gen Z, due to being the first generation of digital natives. We have tools and resources at our disposal that make starting and testing out a business easier than ever before, and more accessible to anyone. Gen Z sees that as a gateway to do more meaningful and fulfilling work, as well as to create freedom and flexibility in their lives as early as possible."

Gounari, who featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2023, has this piece of advice for any new grads thinking of starting their own business: cultivate a "bias for action." This means favouring action over inaction, even if it's imperfect. "You learn to get things done instead of being stuck in a cycle of perfectionism and overthinking. Those who can execute things quickly and use momentum when inspiration strikes are a lot more likely to reach their goals – it's an underrated skill but a very impactful one," says Gounari.

A national recruitment programme to restore 20,000 police officer positions cut due to austerity measures in 2010 is currently in progress. As a result, the military and protective services sector is witnessing the most rapid growth in job opportunities for recent graduates. The occupations in highest demand are police officers, probation officers and security officers.

Ambulance services experienced a mass exodus of staff in recent years, with reports of a large number of vacancies in the sector. It's no great surprise then that "paramedic" is a fast-growing job title for new grads. More generally, healthcare services was one of the fastest-growing functions in 2023, with nurse, physiotherapist and healthcare assistant the most in-demand occupations.

The nursing profession enjoyed a sharp rise in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic, but that has since fallen back and dropped below pre-pandemic levels, reports The Financial Times. While fewer people are applying to undergraduate nursing courses, the Department of Health and Social Care told the paper that there are still more applicants than places available on training courses and it remains an "attractive and important career."

Which Industries Are Hiring?

Topping the fast-growing industries for new graduates is education, with teacher, lecturer and learning support assistant among the sought-after occupations. Like many other countries in Europe, the UK is experiencing a teacher shortage, in part due to the high numbers of newly qualified teachers moving abroad for work. Record numbers also quit the profession last year and experts at the National Foundation for Educational Research have warned that teacher supply is "in a critical state," the Guardian reports.

Construction is one of the largest industries in the UK, but it is struggling to find new talent and skills. The LinkedIn data shows that it is the fifth fastest-growing industry for career starters, with occupations such as quantity surveyor, project manager and civil engineer in demand. According to a Construction Skills Network (CSN) report, around 225,000 new construction workers are required by 2027. One barrier to meeting this need is that workers are ageing out of the industry, but too few young people are joining to replace them. Just 19% of the current UK construction workforce is made up of those aged under 25, while those aged 45-59 account for 25%, according to the Construction Industry Training Board.

The State of Flexible Work

Since the pandemic, concern has been expressed that gen Z workers' career prospects are being negatively impacted by remote work. Some experts claim that new graduates risk missing out on essential workplace experiences, such as mentoring from older colleagues, by not being in the office. When it comes to remote/hybrid availability, the data indicates there is a strong preference among employers to have career starters onsite. Fewer than one in five (16.6%) entry-level job postings at the start of the year had hybrid/remote availability – that compares to 28% for mid-senior level jobs. More than four in five (83.4%) entry-level positions required workers to be onsite, while 72% of mid-senior job posts were for onsite roles.

The LinkedIn data found that of the top 10 fastest-growing jobs for Bachelors grads, research analyst (38.4%) had the most hybrid availability, whilst paramedic (3.4%) had the least. Founder (36.5%) scored highest for remote work and solicitor (1.6%) was the lowest.

Top Skills for Entry-Level Roles

While formal training is key to building a career, the importance of skills that go beyond academic qualifications continues to grow. When applying for jobs, pay close attention to how the role is described in the advertisement, advises Dillon. Take care to match your skills to those listed as required for the role, using the same terms to describe your abilities in your job applications.

"Remember, many companies are looking for transferrable skills and a good attitude rather than direct experience, especially at a graduate level. Convert any previous work or life experiences and how you learned to deal with them into your skill set to convince employers that you are the person to hire," says Dillon.

Analytical skills are sought after in entry-level job postings, according to the LinkedIn data. These skills enable employees to solve complex problems and make decisions – abilities often associated with financial, data and accounting occupations. Diversity is another key skill, reflecting a job candidate's ability to work effectively with people from different backgrounds and cultures.

A more practical skill employers look for in new grads is proficiency in Microsoft Excel, which is widely used in many industries for data analysis, financial tasks and record keeping. This may be linked to fast-growing jobs in the finance sector: finance specialist, auditor and investment banking analyst.

Another top skill associated with entry-level roles is design. This skill can be important for creating visually appealing and effective presentations, websites and marketing materials, for example.

Choose a company where you can develop your skills and shine, says Dillon. Different people will thrive in different scenarios and even the 'best' companies aren't for everyone. "Really understanding who you are and what your values are, matched to good research of your potential employer, will help you get your career off to a good start."