What are the hardest jobs to fill?

A recent report by Indeed highlighted the hardest to fill roles in the UK, during the current 'talent crunch' generally it is the highest skilled sectors that are seeing the longest time advertised and fewest qualified candidates, no surprises there. As digital adoption continues to grow post Covid the Tech sector continues to struggle. However an optometrist has proven to be the most challenging to fill, with 68.79% of vacancies posted on Indeed over the past year remaining open for 60 days or more.

As mentioned the majority of these hard to fill roles are in the digital sector, with the stats being: Software engineers (41.8%), software architects (41.78%), front-end developers (40.31%), system engineers (40.24%), software test engineers (39.86%) and full stack developers (39.76%) all remaining unfilled after 60 days advertising. Also a strange on to see was a flight attendant, perhaps this is due to the redundancies during Covid coupled with the long-training time (for safety and standards).

From a recruiters perspective I believe advertising is a passive way to attract in-demand talent to your organisation. A better strategy is working with a qualified recruiter who will take the time to full qualify your brief, set a strategy, provide regular updates and help you understanding the market with live insights.

Full stats below:

Rank

Job Title

% of vacancies that are ‘hard to fill’

Average Annual Salary

1

Optometrist

68.79

￡50,000

2

Solicitor

51.4

￡45,000

3

Surgeon

46.32

￡41,000

4

Software Engineer

41.8

￡40,000

5

Software Architect

41.78

￡70,000

6

Front End Developer

40.31

￡42,500

7

System Engineer

40.24

￡37,500

8

Flight Attendant

40.06

￡23,000

9

Software Test Engineer

39.86

￡40,000

10

Full Stack Developer

39.76

￡47,500