Latest reflections
Whilst it was a relatively steady week, there’s always something interesting to report. Health professions in particular have been fairly prominent in recent months and the NHS Jobs website has become an increasingly useful vacancy source. I do have to make judgements on what to include, as some health apprenticeships are aimed at people who already have relevant experience. But I usually give the benefit of the doubt to any vacancies that resourceful upcoming or recent school or college leavers could reasonably apply for, especially if they’ve carried out some responsible voluntary or paid work and/or followed a relevant vocational Level 3 course.
One NHS field I find especially intriguing is Healthcare Science, in which I’ve now recorded 66 Practitioner DAs and 57 Associate HAs. There were 6 more of these this week and I’ve tweaked the way I present this data to capture it in a more consolidated way. Amongst other health occupations there were also 8 new vacancies for Emergency Medical Technicians across East Anglia. A glance through the occupational data below will give readers a sense of how health, care and medical specialisms are increasingly permeating my listings.
I’ve tweaked a couple of other things too, such as separating out Chartered Rural Surveyors as I think it’s quite an interesting specialism that has started to appear now and again. Another new entry this week was Social Change Management with two fascinating new DA vacancies in London.
Meanwhile, London was quite a hotspot again but there were also 10 new vacancies in South Wiltshire, hence the Stonehenge photo that I’ve chosen from my collection as this week’s featured image. The vacancies are all in Tech, but it’s probably fair to say that the construction of Stonehenge was pretty high tech 4,500 years ago.
Background
Since the first ‘lockdown’ started on Monday 23rd March 2020, I’ve kept a record of new higher and degree apprenticeship vacancies posted in England and in doing so have built up an evolving occupational and regional analysis. I largely use data extracted every week from the government’s ‘Find an Apprenticeship’ website, whilst also keeping an eye on other national vacancy sources, especially NHS Jobs, Not Going to Uni, Rate My Apprenticeship and Investment 20/20.
I collated similar data for a period of 70 weeks prior to the March 2020 lockdown and my weekly headline data compares the pre-lockdown and post-lockdown figures, using the two 70-week periods either side of lockdown as a benchmark.
My target audience is Level 3 school and college leavers and those who influence and advise them. Therefore, I only include vacancies at Levels 4 to 7 that ‘work-ready’ 18/19-year-olds seeking their first permanent role could reasonably apply for, whether at the point of leaving school/college or after a few months of temporary experience. If more than a year’s permanent experience is clearly required, I don’t normally include the vacancy in my figures.
I would emphasise the term ‘work-ready’ because academic qualifications alone will never be enough to compete successfully for a higher or degree apprenticeship. Whilst a UCAS points score of around 112 is often needed for DAs (sometimes more, sometimes less), it’s otherwise much more about the skills, qualities and insights you can bring. STEM subjects will also put potential applicants at a significant advantage in terms of opening up a wider range of options.
My data will never be fully reliable because not all vacancies are advertised nationally in a way that also gives an indication of actual numbers and locations. However, the analyses that I’ve built up paint an intriguing picture of what’s out there in a changing post-18 career landscape. The figures also suggest that supply is never likely to match demand and that there may be something of a mismatch between the occupations to which young people often aspire and the reality of what’s available.
One further and slightly confusing factor to take into account is that it’s quite normal for some 18/19-year-old school/college leavers to apply for lower level apprenticeships too, especially at Level 3. In fact I sometimes see Level 3 apprenticeships that ask for A Level or equivalent qualifications and Level 4 to 7 apprenticeships that don’t. It’s also true that a significant proportion of opportunities will be snapped up by older applicants. It’s a competitive market place, so work-readiness really matters.
Headline data
During the latest period from 25th April to 1st May 2022 I recorded:
- 64 new Degree Apprenticeship vacancies and
- 118 new Higher Apprenticeship vacancies
In the 110 weeks since the start of the first COVID-19 lockdown (23rd March 2020 to 1st May 2022) I’ve now recorded:
- 12,488 new Degree Apprenticeships (Levels 6/7) and
- 11,386 new Higher Apprenticeships (Levels 4/5)
- giving a total of 23,874
Using the 70 weeks either side of the initial lockdown (on 23/3/20) as a benchmark, my latest comparative figures are as follows:
- Weekly average in the 70 weeks before lockdown: 82 DAs + 71 HAs = 153 total
- Weekly average in the 70 weeks after lockdown: 84 DAs + 75 HAs = 159 total
- Weekly average in the 110 weeks since lockdown: 114 DAs + 103 HAs = 217 total
This shows that both DAs and HAs have more than fully recovered since the initial reductions in the early days of the pandemic. Whilst it’s fair to say that I’m being more thorough in the way I track down and monitor new vacancies than I was in pre-COVID days, I’m definitely seeing an upward trend in volume compared with how things looked two to three years ago. That said, with talk of possible economic turbulence ahead, I intend to keep my eye on the ball to see if things change.
Updated regional analysis
The 23,874 higher and degree apprenticeships advertised in England since the start of lockdown have been distributed as follows:
- Greater London (6,802)
- Yorkshire (2,137)
- West Midlands (1,325)
- Greater Manchester (1,207)
- Bristol & Gloucestershire (911)
- Hampshire (804)
- Berkshire (703)
- Hertfordshire (619)
- Surrey (545)
- Tyne & Wear (459)
- Nottinghamshire (457)
- Cheshire (445)
- Sussex (435)
- Essex (401)
- Cambridgeshire (399)
- Warwickshire (382)
- Lancashire (380)
- Suffolk (376)
- Merseyside (340)
- County Durham (304)
- Staffordshire (304)
- Wiltshire (304)
- Somerset & South Bristol (300)
- Devon (292)
- Leicestershire (278)
- Bedfordshire (268)
- Kent (266)
- Derbyshire (256)
- Cumbria (247)
- Oxfordshire (246)
- Buckinghamshire (245)
- Norfolk (244)
- Northamptonshire (241)
- Dorset (234)
- Worcestershire (167)
- Lincolnshire (156)
- Shropshire (98)
- Cornwall (86)
- Isle of Wight (41)
- Northumberland (32)
- Herefordshire (31)
- Rutland (4)
- Home working (23)
- Not specified (80)
The following list shows how those stats add up regionally. In brackets I’ve included the total population of each region using the latest ONS data rounded to the nearest 1,000, which gives a sense of proportion to the apprenticeship figures. For example, in population terms the North East is by far the smallest region, so the differences in apprenticeship numbers are not quite as disproportionate as they might appear. (In my data Yorkshire & Humber includes North Humberside and East Midlands includes South Humberside.)
As a way of quantifying this a little further, I’ve added an extra stat in bold which indexes the apprenticeship figures against the total population of each region. In effect, the index equals the number of DAs and HAs post-lockdown per 10,000 of total population. This currently shows that the West Midlands and Yorkshire & Humber are the ‘best-performing’ regions outside London, but clearly London does outperform the rest of England by quite a wide margin.
- 6,802 London (8,962,000: 7.59)
- 3,285 South East (9,180,000: 3.58)
- 2,619 North West (7,341,000: 3.57)
- 2,307 West Midlands (5,934,000: 3.89)
- 2,307 East of England (6,236,000: 3.70)
- 2,137 Yorkshire & Humber (5,503,000: 3.88)
- 2,127 South West (5,625,000: 3.78)
- 1,392 East Midlands (4,836,000: 2.88)
- 795 North East (2,670,000: 2.98)
- 103 Not specified / home working
Updated occupational analysis
Each week I update my occupational analysis by breaking down the new vacancies into what I loosely term ‘occupational areas’, which in some cases differ from the official apprenticeship standards terminology. Since the start of lockdown in March 2020, the complete lists of occupational areas represented in each category are given below. In my view, this provides a fascinating insight into what the emerging occupations are in a changing landscape.
Degree Apprenticeships (Levels 6/7):
In total there have been 12,488 new vacancies spread across 98 occupational areas and minimum starting salaries have ranged from £5,590 to £30,629pa. The occupational breakdown is as follows:
2,720 Police Constables
1,122 Digital Technology Solutions (General) *see below for details
1,002 Accountancy/Tax/Audit Professionals
660 Software Engineers
582 Chartered Managers (General)
555 Nurses (459 Adult, 75 Mental Health, 16 Learning Disability, 5 Child)
459 Civil Engineers
411 Chartered Quantity Surveyors
398 Project Managers
379 Data Scientists/Analysts
293 Chartered Building/Property/Land Surveyors
259 Electrical/Electronic Engineers
257 Design & Development Engineers
248 Supply Chain Leaders
209 Food Technology/Production/Manufacturing Professionals
185 Digital Marketing Professionals
184 Cyber Security Professionals
157 Manufacturing Engineers
145 Financial Services Professionals
132 Sales Professionals
122 Professional Economists
119 Retail Leaders
113 Aerospace Engineers
113 Laboratory Scientists
113 Solicitors
112 Building Services Design Engineers
95 Construction Managers
95 Network Engineers
80 Environmental Practitioners
72 Railway/Rail Systems Engineers
68 Digital User Experience (UX) Design Professionals
66 Healthcare Science Practitioners (10 Biomedical Science, 9 Neurophysiology, 8 Cardiovascular, 7 Biomedical Engineering, 6 Nuclear Medicine, 5 Digital Healthcare Science, 5 Radiation/Radiotherapy Engineering, 5 Radiation Physics, 5 Respiratory / Sleep Science, 3 Bioinformatics, 1 Audiology, 1 Rehabilitation Engineering, 1 Renal Specialist)
65 Nuclear Engineers
60 Control Engineers
45 Operating Department Practitioners
40 Internal Audit Professionals
39 Radiographers (28 Diagnostic, 11 Therapeutic)
38 Electromechanical/Mechatronics Engineers
38 Manufacturing & Production Managers (non-food)
33 Hospitality Managers
32 Broadcast/Media Systems Engineers
31 Materials Science Technologists/Engineers
30 Creative Digital Design Professionals
28 Town Planners
27 Clinical Trials Specialists
23 Packaging Professionals
22 Business Analysts
22 Chemical Engineers
21 Podiatrists
20 Recruitment Professionals
19 Human Resources / People Professionals
19 Occupational Therapists
19 Transport Planners
19 Weapons Munitions & Explosives Engineers
17 Environmental Health Officers
17 Journalists
16 Design & Construction Managers
16 Social Workers
15 Professional Foresters
14 Junior Traders (Financial Markets)
13 Building Control Surveyors
13 Marketing Managers
12 Architectural Assistants
12 Public Health Practitioners
11 Non-Destructive Testing Engineers
10 Geospatial Mapping/Surveying Professionals
10 Physiotherapists
8 Agricultural/Horticultural Advisers
8 Chartered Rural Surveyors
8 Gas Transmission Engineers
8 Propulsion Engineers
6 Actuarial Professionals
5 Operations Analysts
4 Assistant Teachers / Learning Coaches
4 Chartered Legal Executives
4 Compliance & Risk Specialists
4 Fire Safety Engineers
4 Geotechnical/Geospatial Engineers
3 Building Information Modelling (BIM) Specialists
3 Digital Transformation Engineers
3 Fitness/Leisure Centre Managers
3 TV Production Managers
2 Buying & Procurement Professionals
2 Education Technology Specialists
2 Midwives
2 Social Change Managers
2 Pensions Professionals
2 Tax Technologists
1 Brewer
1 Charity Manager
1 Events Manager
1 Facilities Manager
1 Human Performance Engineer
1 Marine Engineer
1 Population Health Intelligence Analyst
1 Prosthetist & Orthotist
1 Speech Therapist
1 Visual Merchandiser
*Digital Technology Solutions (General) has encompassed or led to the following range of specialisms:
Software Engineer, Software Developer, Software Tester, Network Engineer, Data Scientist, Data Analyst, Global Data Analyst, Data Architect, Network Architect, Enterprise Architect, Cyber Security Specialist, IT Consultant, Solutions Consultant, Software Implementation Consultant, Software Consultant, Project Manager, Project Co-ordinator, Business Intelligence Specialist, Business Systems Engineer/Developer, Automation Developer, Full Stack Developer, Digital Developer, Technology Architect, Technology Manager, Innovation Technologist, Innovation Design Analyst, Agile Analyst, Application Support Analyst, Business Analyst, Global Mobility Analyst, Content Analyst, Security Operations Analyst, Process Mining Analyst, User Experience Researcher, Junior Product Manager, Infrastructure Specialist, FinTech Expert, DevOps Engineer, Solutions Engineer, Systems Engineer, Automation Engineer, Support Engineer, Cloud Engineer, Sales Engineer, Sales Account Manager, Sales Operations Manager, Scientific Computing Specialist, Platform Manager, Service Manager, Engineering Information Manager, Amazon Web Services Specialist, Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition Specialist, Fixed Telecoms Specialist, IT Support Analyst, IT Service Desk Analyst, Support Desk Analyst, WordPress Developer, Technology Operations & Service Delivery Specialist, Functional Consultant, Technical Consultant, Digital Manufacturing Engineer, Electronic Systems Design & Development Engineer, Solution Engineering & Development Specialist, Client Delivery Specialist, Client Success Specialist, Client Consultant, Operations Resilience & Change Specialist, Innovation Foundry Specialist, Continuous Improvement & Automation Specialist and Railway Signalling Control Systems Specialist.
That’s some list and it keeps on growing.
Higher Apprenticeships (Levels 4/5):
In total there have been 11,386 new vacancies spread across 125 occupational areas and minimum starting salaries have ranged from £5,590 to £35,000pa. The occupational breakdown is as follows:
1,112 Sales Executives
929 Software Developers
870 Data Analysts
823 Trainee Accountants / Accounting Technicians
801 Project Management Associates
345 School/Community Sports Coaches
321 Manufacturing Engineering Technicians
313 Construction Site Supervisors
306 Business Analysts
280 Nursing Associates
275 Taxation Technicians
271 Network Engineers
239 Software Testers
224 Retail Managers
218 Public Relations & Communications Assistants
207 Quantity Surveying Technicians
199 Cyber Security Technologists
196 Civil/Site Engineering Technicians
186 Commercial Procurement & Supply Practitioners
184 Children/Youth/Family Practitioners
176 Buying & Merchandising Specialists
169 Electrical/Electronic Engineering Technicians
168 Building Services Engineering Technicians
168 Government Policy Officers
147 Technician Scientists
133 Investment Operations Specialists
131 Associate Ambulance Practitioners
121 Insurance Professionals
113 Marketing Executives
99 DevOps Engineers
96 Regulatory Compliance Officers
82 Early Years Lead Practitioners
72 Junior Management Consultants
69 Food Technology/Engineering/Production Technicians
69 Human Resources Consultants/Partners
67 Construction Design & Build Technicians
60 Recruitment Resourcers/Consultants
59 Mineral Products Technicians
57 Healthcare Science Associates (16 Audiology / Hearing Aid Dispensers, 14 Cardiorespiratory/Sleep Physiology, 13 Bio/Medical Engineering, 4 Speech Therapy, 2 Mammography, 2 Medical Physics, 2 MRI Radiography, 2 Phlebotomy, 1 Biochemistry, 1 Tissue Retrieval)
57 Quality Practitioners
56 Financial Advisers / Paraplanners
47 Healthcare Associate Practitioners
47 Nuclear Technicians
43 Adult Social Care Lead Practitioners
37 Brewers
34 Automotive Engineering/Propulsion Technicians
34 TV/Media Production Co-ordinators
32 Actuarial Technicians
32 Hospitality Managers
30 Learning/Skills & Development Practitioners
28 Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Practitioners
28 Journalists
27 Internal Audit Practitioners
26 Ordnance Munitions & Explosives Technicians
25 Business Improvement Specialists
25 Dairy Technologists
24 Automation & Control Engineers
23 Vehicle Damage Assessors
22 Railway Engineering Technicians
21 Estate Agency Negotiators
20 Operations Managers
18 Housing/Property/Lettings Officers
17 Revenue & Welfare Benefits Officers
15 Intelligence Analysts
14 Countryside Rangers
14 Fibre Cable Engineers
14 Police Community Support Officers
12 Broadcast & Media Systems Technicians
11 Logistics Specialists
10 Hygiene Specialists
9 Digital Community Managers
9 Land Referencers
9 Naval Architects / Marine Engineering Technicians
9 Railway/Passenger Transport Operations Managers
8 Emergency Medical Technicians
8 Paralegals
8 Post-Production Technical Operators (Film/TV)
7 Computer Games Developers
7 Employability Practitioners
6 Acoustics Technicians
6 Facilities Managers
6 Fire Safety Inspectors
6 Information Managers
6 School Business Professionals
5 Architectural Technicians
5 Football Coaches
5 Rehabilitation Officers (Visual Impairment)
4 Conveyancing Technicians
4 Counter Fraud Investigators
4 Unified Communications Trouble Shooters
3 Pensions Administrators
3 Port Marine Operations Officers
3 Senior Culinary Chefs
3 Sports Development Officers
2 Arboriculturists
2 Auctioneers
2 Building Information Modelling (BIM) Technicians
2 Early Intervention Practitioners
2 Fashion & Textiles Technicians
2 Gymnastics/Trampoline Coaches
2 Historic Site Advisers
2 Music Recording Technicians
2 Space Engineering Technicians
2 Tax Technology Technicians
2 Town Planning Assistants
2 Utilities Technicians
2 VFX Artists
2 Water Recycling Engineers
1 Chaplain
1 Chemical Process Technician
1 Clinical Coder
1 Community Energy Specialist
1 Community Safety Officer (Antisocial Behaviour)
1 Dental Technician
1 Digital Accessibility Specialist
1 Fitness Club Manager
1 Fitness Instructor
1 Horticultural / Landscape Design Practitioner
1 Lighting Designer
1 Market Research Executive
1 Metrology Technician
1 Payroll Assistant Manager
1 Tennis Coach
1 Wedding Accessories Designer
1 Wedding Venue Co-ordinator
Going forward
I hope to continue posting weekly updates as frequently as possible.
© Alan Bullock Careers, 1/5/2022