Week 236: Degree & Higher Apprenticeships overview – there’s more to jobs than meets the eye

Latest reflections on the situation in England

In terms of volume, Week 236 was very similar to Week 235. There were 103 new vacancies compared with 101 the week before, along with a similar DA/HA breakdown of 33 DAs (29 last week) and 70 HAs (72 last week). In fact, the somewhat modest weekly figures have remained remarkably consistent during much of June and July.

Meanwhile,, the vacancies themselves have continued to throw up some fascinating labour market curiosities. My Week 235 theme had been “you never know what’s just around the corner” and sure enough the second new vacancy to pop up on my radar in Week 236 was one of those “more than meets the eye” kind of jobs that often catch my attention. On the surface it was just another Sales Executive HA, located in the unglamorous if relatively prosperous setting of Watford in Hertfordshire. Then on closer inspection it turned out that the employer, intriguingly named Poetic Brands, is a prominent global name in the apparel and accessory licensing business who design and manufacture ethically sourced coordinated lifestyle ranges and supply them to major ‘big box’ retailers like Matalan, Boohoo and ASOS. The lifestyle ranges can be anything from Ibiza dancefloor merchandise to Harry Potter sweatshirts or Batman pyjamas and it’s a great example of the kind of LMI I love to see because of the way it brings jobs to life.

Indeed, the Watford vacancy set the tone for the rest of the week with more interesting roles trickling in that included:

An Assistant Democratic Services Officer HA in Chichester, for which the apprenticeship standard is the gradually emerging one of Governance Officer (a new career to keep an eye on, in my view)
A Community Engagement Officer HA with the North London Waste Authority, for which the apprenticeship standard is the notably expanding one of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Practitioner
A very unusual Journalist HA with the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority based in the rural setting of Bainbridge in Wensleydale
Two Countryside Ranger HAs with Sustrans located in a village near York
Two Packaging Professional DAs in rural East Cambridgeshire
Two Healthcare Science Associate HAs in Respiratory Physiology based in Halifax and Nuneaton
Two Biomedical Science Healthcare Science Practitioner DAs in Nottingham, one specialising in Microbiology and the other in Clinical Chemistry
An Operating Department Practitioner DA in Kings Lynn
An Environmental Practitioner DA in the inner-city Aston district of Birmingham and an Environmental Health Officer DA in Wembley
A Data Scientist in Welwyn Garden City
And a further nine Quantity Surveyor DAs, an occupation which seemingly continues to thrive, these being based in locations ranging from Plymouth in the South West to Morpeth in the North East.

It was the Yorkshire Dales vacancy that provided the inspiration for my choice of featured image this week, as I stayed in Bainbridge for a delightful holiday in the region way back in 1977. Digital photography had barely been invented in those days, so my grainy old Wensleydale photos aren’t quite up to scratch and sadly I haven’t been back there since. But instead, I’ve picked out a more recent photo I took in in nearby Swaledale, which just about fits the bill.

On a different theme, I’ve been checking out the latest situation at the Dyson Institute in Malmesbury following the announcement of substantial job losses there. My understanding is that their highly acclaimed degree apprenticeship programme is now changing into a 4-year sponsored Masters degree. Presumably this means that school and college leavers will still have a Dyson programme to apply for, but in terms of my apprenticeships data we’ll now be losing around 40 DAs in STEM occupations annually, all of them in Wiltshire.

Finally, whilst collating this week’s data I spotted some small discrepancies in my regional totals and have now adjusted the figures accordingly, although it hasn’t made much difference to the overall picture.

I’m taking a break from publishing regular updates for the next three weeks, so the next one is scheduled to be at the start of Results Week in mid-August. Amongst other things it will include the first showing of Medical Doctors DAs. Watch this space!

Headline data (England)

Since 1^st January 2020 I’ve been continuously tracking new vacancies that would be suitable for Level 3 school/college leavers to apply for during their final year of full-time education or within a year of leaving. During the latest one-week period from 8^th to 14^th July I recorded:

33 new Degree/Professional Apprenticeship vacancies (Levels 6/7) and
70 new Higher Apprenticeship vacancies (Levels 4/5)
giving a total of 103 for the week

In the 236 weeks from 1^st January 2020 to 14^th July 2024 I’ve now recorded:

33,626 new Degree/Professional Apprenticeships (Levels 6/7) and
26,766 new Higher Apprenticeships (Levels 4/5)
giving a total of 60,392

The average weekly totals across all 236 weeks have been:

143 DAs + 113 HAs = 256 average weekly total

Latest update on Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Having also tracked new vacancies in the three other devolved nations since 1^st June 2022, my latest running totals are as follows:

Scotland: 1,126 vacancies at SQF Levels 10/11
Wales: 292 vacancies at Levels 6/7 and 199 at Levels 4/5
Northern Ireland: 173 vacancies at Levels 6/7 and 41 at Levels 4/5

My latest two-year Scotland report was published on my blog last month and just three more GAs were added in Scotland this week.

Updated occupational analysis

Every week I update my occupational analysis, breaking the England vacancies down into what I loosely define as ‘occupational areas’. In some cases these differ from the official apprenticeship standards terminology. For each occupational area the total number of vacancies since January 2020 is given below for both degree and higher apprenticeships.

Degree/Professional Apprenticeships (Levels 6/7):

In total there have been 33,626 new vacancies spread across 111 occupational areas and starting salaries have ranged from £5,590 to £36,822pa, with the average being somewhere in the middle at around £19K to £20K. The occupational breakdown is as follows:

5,522 Accountancy/Tax/Audit Professionals

4,696 Police Constables

3,316 Digital Technology Solutions: General *see below for details

1,479 Civil Engineers

1,419 Chartered Managers: General Business

1,330 Software Engineers/Developers

1,088 Project Managers: General

1,067 Chartered Quantity Surveyors

942 Data Scientists/Analysts/Engineers

835 Nurses (625 Adult, 150 Mental Health, 49 Learning Disability, 11 Child)

665 Nuclear Engineers

660 Electrical & Electronic Engineers

630 Design & Development Engineers

580 Manufacturing Engineers

489 Supply Chain Professionals

461 Building Services Design Engineers

453 Chartered Surveyors: Project Management / Real Estate / General Practice

449 Banking/Financial Services/Investment Professionals

429 Solicitors

402 Cyber Security Professionals

400 Aerospace Engineers

347 Professional Economists

345 Digital Marketing Professionals

334 Chartered Managers: Retail Leadership

322 Laboratory Scientists

315 Sales Professionals

271 Healthcare Science Practitioners (65 Biomedical Sciences, 50 Radiotherapy Physics / Radiation Engineering, 32 Cardiac Physiology, 31 Nuclear Medicine, 24 Audiology, 22 Respiratory & Sleep Physiology, 21 Medical Engineering, 16 Neurophysiology, 5 Digital Healthcare Science, 3 Clinical Informatics, 1 Rehabilitation Engineering, 1 Renal Technology)

264 Environmental Practitioners

235 Food Technologists

218 Chartered Building Surveyors

218 Electromechanical Engineers

197 Railway & Rail Systems Engineers

186 Construction Site Managers

167 Food/Drink Manufacturing & Production Managers

165 Control Technical Support & Control Systems Engineers

164 Operating Department Practitioners (NHS)

162 Project Controls Professionals

130 Occupational Therapists

120 Radiographers (64 Diagnostic, 56 Therapeutic)

111 Materials Science Technologists/Engineers

104 Digital User Experience (UX) Designers

94 Social Workers

92 Podiatrists

88 Design & Construction Managers / Architectural Technologists

83 Creative Digital Designers

82 Chemical/Plant Engineers

80 Non-Destructive Testing Engineers

77 Chartered Managers: Hotels & Hospitality

75 Town Planners

72 Chartered Managers: Recruitment Specialists

70 Building Control Surveyors

61 Clinical Trials Specialists

61 Environmental Health Officers

61 Packaging Technologists

54 Chartered Rural Surveyors (Land Agents)

53 Broadcast/Communication/Media Systems Engineers

48 Marine/Submarine Engineers

46 Social Researchers

44 Human Resources & People Professionals

42 Chartered Managers: Manufacturing & Production (non-food)

40 Marketing/Brand Managers

40 Transport Planners

39 Geospatial Mapping Specialists & Land Surveyors

39 Physiotherapists

36 Ordnance Munitions & Explosives Engineers

36 Public Health Practitioners

35 Chartered Managers: Social Change, Charities & Voluntary Sector

33 Architectural Assistants

33 Fire Safety Engineers

31 Journalists

25 Aerospace Software Engineers

24 Chartered Managers: Sports Business & Development

22 Insurance Professionals

22 Midwives

20 Speech & Language Therapists

15 Forestry Professionals

13 Chartered Surveyors: Land Buyers

13 Environmental Engineers

12 Dietitians

12 Theme Park Engineers

9 Agricultural/Horticultural Advisers

9 Propulsion Engineers

9 Trading Standards Officers

9 Youth Workers

8 Gas Transmission Engineers

7 Chartered Managers: Buying & Procurement

6 Actuarial Professionals

6 Chartered Legal Executives

5 Chartered Managers: Fitness & Leisure Centres

5 Operations Analysts

4 Assistant Teachers / Learning Coaches

4 Chartered Managers: Theme Parks

3 Assistant Archivists

3 Digital Transformation Engineers

3 Education Technology Specialists

3 Orthotists/Prosthetists

3 Risk & Safety Management Practitioners

3 TV Production Managers

2 Licensed Conveyancers

2 Lighting Designers

2 Pensions Professionals

2 Sonographers

1 Community Centre Manager

1 Events Manager

1 Facilities Manager

1 Games Programmer

1 Human Performance Engineer

1 Resilience & Emergencies Professional

1 Robotics Engineer

1 Service Designer

1 Space Systems Engineer

*DAs in Digital Technology Solutions (DTS) open up a wide range of roles. Some vacancies specify the role, while others are flexible. The three most frequently specified roles have been Software Engineer/Developer, Data Analyst and Cyber Security Specialist and I’ve recorded these as three separate occupations in my DA listings above (Data Analysts being merged in with Data Scientists and Data Engineers for the purposes of my reports). Meanwhile, those DAs listed as Digital Technology Solutions: General are either flexible or they lead to other specific roles. The following is a list of all the DTS roles I’ve recorded since 2020 and it now encompasses 120 different job titles, which I’ve subdivided into themed groups to make it a bit more digestible:

Software Engineer, Software Developer, Software Tester
Data Scientist, Data Analyst, Global Data Analyst, Data Product Specialist, Sales Data Analyst, Data Engineer, Data Architect
Network Architect, Enterprise Architect, Digital Solutions Architect, Technology Architect
IT Consultant, Solutions Consultant, Software Consultant, Software Implementation Consultant, Technical Consultant, Technology Consultant, Functional Consultant, Business Consultant, Dynamics Consultant, Security Consultant, Client Consultant, Application Management Consultant, Microsoft Dynamics & Power Applications Consultant, AI Technical Sales Adviser
Network Engineer, DevOps Engineer, Solutions Engineer, Digital Solutions Engineer, Digital Engineer, Digital & Technology Engineer, Digital Manufacturing Engineer, Hardware Engineer, Systems Engineer, Business Systems Engineer, Controls Engineer, Control Systems Engineer, Automation Engineer, IT Engineer, IT Support Engineer, Technical Support Engineer, Service Desk Engineer, Cloud Engineer, Quality Assurance Engineer, Infrastructure Engineer, Telecommunications Engineer, Sales Engineer, Electronic Systems Design & Development Engineer
Digital Developer, Application Developer, Business Systems Developer, Business Intelligence (BI) Developer, Automation Developer, Automation Test Developer, Full Stack Developer, Prototype Developer, WordPress Developer
Innovation Technologist, Legal Technologist, Credit Trading Technologist, Global Equities Technologist, People (HR) Solutions Technologist
Business Analyst, Business Technology Analyst, Cyber Security Analyst, Innovation Design Analyst, Agile Analyst, Applications Analyst, Applications Support Analyst, Technical Support Analyst, Operations Support Analyst, Support Desk Analyst, IT Support Analyst, IT Service Desk Analyst, Network Strategy Analyst, Global Mobility Analyst, Content Analyst, Security Operations Analyst, Process Mining Analyst, SAP Analyst
Technology Manager, Junior Product Manager, Sales Account Manager, Sales Operations Manager, Platform Manager, Service Manager, Engineering Information Manager, Associate Digital Delivery Manager, Project Manager, Project Co-ordinator, IT Support & Helpdesk Administrator
Infrastructure Specialist, FinTech Specialist, DevOps/NetOps Specialist, Client Success Specialist, Digital Project Delivery Support Specialist, Information Management & Technology Specialist, Control Systems Specialist, Rail Signal Control Systems Specialist, Amazon Web Services Specialist, Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition Specialist, Fixed Telecoms Specialist, Scientific Computing Specialist, Technology Operations & Service Delivery Specialist, Solution Engineering & Development Specialist, Client Delivery Specialist, Microsoft 365 Product Specialist, IT Governance & Applications Support Specialist, Operations Resilience & Change Specialist, Innovation Foundry Specialist, Continuous Improvement & Automation Specialist
Digital Development Officer, Public Health Intelligence Officer
IT/Computing Technician, Second Line Support Technician
User Experience Researcher, Content Strategist, Digital Social Media Executive

Higher Apprenticeships (Levels 4/5):

In total there have been 26,766 new vacancies spread across 155 occupational areas and starting salaries have ranged from £5,002 to £40,300pa. The average is around £17K to £18K, except for Sports Coaches which are usually between £8 and £13K. The occupational breakdown is as follows:

2,221 Sales Executives

1,717 Accounting Technicians

1,655 Data Analysts

1,627 Software Developers

1,599 Project Management Associates

1,355 Sports Coaches (Children & Young People)

1,010 Nursing Associates

803 Construction Site Supervisors

754 Manufacturing Engineering Technicians

702 Quantity Surveying Technicians

636 Network Engineers

620 Business Analysts

608 Taxation Technicians

491 Commercial Procurement & Supply Practitioners

481 Cyber Security Technologists

455 Social Care Practitioners (Adults/Children/Families/Young People)

446 Civil/Site Engineering Technicians

443 Software Testers

433 Electrical & Electronic Technician Engineers

433 Public Relations & Communications Assistants

377 Building Services Engineering Technicians

364 Investment Operations Specialists

342 Insurance Practitioners

329 Buying & Merchandising Assistants

312 Junior Management Consultants

277 Technician Scientists

275 Retail Managers

274 Marketing Executives

271 DevOps Engineers

267 Healthcare Associate Practitioners (150 Reablement, 69 Multidisciplinary, 14 Radiography, 9 Mammography, 6 Podiatry, 5 Speech Therapy, 3 Continuing Healthcare, 3 Intensive Care, 2 Dietetic Speech & Language, 2 Rehabilitation, 1 Critical Care, 1 Maternity, 1 Occupational Therapy, 1 Pre-Treatment Radiotherapy)

262 Construction Design & Build / Architectural Technicians

240 Associate Ambulance Practitioners

219 Early Years Lead Practitioners

209 Regulatory Compliance Officers

202 Policy Practitioners

195 Police Community Support Officers

187 Healthcare Science Associates/Technicians (64 Audiology & Hearing Aid Dispensing, 44 Medical Engineering, 38 Respiratory Physiology, 23 Genetics Technology, 4 Clinical Chemistry, 4 Tissue Retrieval, 2 Medical Physics, 2 Phlebotomy, 2 Rehabilitation Engineering, 1 Biomedicine, 1 Neurophysiology, 1 Nuclear Medicine, 1 Orthoptics)

175 Mineral Products Technicians

160 People Professionals / HR Specialists

160 Railway Engineering Technicians

147 Food Production Technicians & Process Leaders

145 Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Practitioners

145 Quality Assurance Practitioners/Engineers

129 Nuclear Technicians

127 Air Traffic Controllers

125 Propulsion Technicians (Automotive/Aerospace)

122 Hospitality Managers

111 Intelligence Analysts

100 Vehicle Damage Assessors

98 Internal Audit Practitioners

92 Actuarial Technicians

91 Journalists

88 Audiovisual Technicians

80 Applications Support Leads

78 Financial Advisers/Paraplanners

76 Brewers

76 Recruitment Consultants

74 Automation & Controls Engineering Technicians

66 Business Operations Managers

60 Market Research Executives

60 Revenues & Welfare Benefits Officers

57 Learning & Skills Mentors/Coaches

55 Information Managers

54 Business Improvement Practitioners

54 Dairy Technologists

48 Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) Engineers

47 Engineering Maintenance Technicians

43 TV/Media Production Co-ordinators

41 Housing/Property/Lettings Managers

41 Ordnance Munitions & Explosives Technicians

36 Paralegals

34 Countryside Rangers

33 Aircraft Engineering Technicians

29 Estate Agency Sales Negotiators

25 Engineer Surveyors

22 Land Referencers

20 Acoustics Technicians

20 Digital Accessibility Specialists

18 Data Protection & Information Governance Officers

18 Digital Community Managers

15 Facilities Managers

15 Fibre Cable Engineers

15 Smart Energy Engineers

13 Football Coaches

13 Gymnastics Coaches

12 Broadcast & Media Systems Technicians

12 Governance Officers

12 Hygiene Specialists

12 Passenger Transport Operations Managers

11 Film/TV Post-Production Technical Operators

11 Historic Environment Advice / Archaeological Assistants

10 Aviation Operations Managers

10 Counter Fraud Investigators

10 Employability Practitioners

10 Town Planning Technicians

9 Antisocial Behaviour & Community Safety Officers

9 Marine Engineering Technicians

9 Port Marine Operations Officers

9 Rehabilitation Officers (Visual Impairment)

8 Dental Technicians

8 Early Intervention Practitioners

8 School Business Professionals

7 Asset Managers

7 Computer Games Developers

7 Digital Product Managers

7 Fire Safety Inspectors

6 Digital Learning Designers

6 Music Teachers

6 Outdoor Learning Specialists

5 Broadcasting Technical Operators

5 Unified Communications Troubleshooters

5 Visual Merchandisers

4 Aircraft Certifying Technicians

4 Arboriculturists / Tree Officers

4 Culinary Chefs

4 Music Recording Technicians

4 Padel Coaches

4 Space Engineering Technicians

4 Tax Technology Technicians

3 Fashion & Textiles Technologists

3 Junior Animators

3 Payroll Associates

3 Pensions Administrators

3 Sports Development Officers

3 Utilities Technicians

3 Visual Effects Artists

2 Auctioneers

2 Chaplains

2 Cricket Coaches

2 Data Engineers

2 Energy Specialists

2 Health Play Specialist

2 Horticultural/Landscaping Technicians

2 Lifting Equipment Operations Engineers

2 Marine Pilots

2 Publishing Professionals

2 Trampoline Coaches & Rebound Therapists

2 Travel Executives

2 Water Recycling Engineers

1 Chemical Process Technician

1 Conveyancing Technician

1 Cultural Heritage Conservation Technician

1 Customs & Foreign Exchange Expert

1 Fitness Club Manager

1 Fitness Instructor

1 Goalkeeping Coach

1 Health Informatics Specialist

1 Hotel Reception Manager

1 Lighting Designer

1 Metrology Technician

1 Proposals Co-ordinator

1 Scientific Instrument Maker

1 Small Vessel Chief Engineer

1 Tennis Coach

1 Wedding Accessories Designer

1 Wedding Venue Co-ordinator

1 Youth Justice Practitioner

Updated analysis by county and region

By county (loosely defined) the 60,392 higher and degree apprenticeships advertised in England since January 2020 have been distributed as follows:

Greater London (13,389)
Yorkshire (5,396)
West Midlands (3,867)
Greater Manchester (3,335)
Bristol & Gloucestershire (2,948)
Hampshire (2,160)
Berkshire (1,981)
Surrey (1,394)
Hertfordshire (1,388)
Cheshire (1,298)
Tyne & Wear (1,274)
Cambridgeshire (1,174)
Nottinghamshire (1,141)
Derbyshire (1,126)
Cumbria (1,116)
Sussex (1,100)
Merseyside (1,022)
Lancashire (989)
Essex (973)
Devon (931)
Warwickshire (920)
Suffolk (879)
Buckinghamshire (855)
Somerset & South Bristol (818)
Kent (794)
Dorset (758)
Leicestershire (738)
Oxfordshire (737)
Wiltshire (732)
Bedfordshire (713)
Staffordshire (690)
County Durham (571)
Northamptonshire (489)
Lincolnshire (442)
Norfolk (434)
Cornwall (434)
Worcestershire (421)
Shropshire (380)
Northumberland (88)
Isle of Wight (82)
Herefordshire (66)
Rutland (19)
Remote-working or flexible location (108)
Region specified but not county (87)
Unspecified region (135)

Regional data: The table below shows how those stats add up regionally in the context of the local 15 to 24-year-old population. The population figures have been extracted from the latest ONS census data published in 2022 and my analysis provides the following information:

First number in bold = the latest cumulative number of vacancies for each region
Big number in brackets = the resident population of 15 to 24-year-olds in the region using the latest ONS data rounded to the nearest 100
Third figure in bold indexes my apprenticeship figures against the 15 to 24-year-old population. The ‘index’ shows the combined number of DAs and HAs since January 2020 per 1,000 of that population and the regions are then ‘ranked’ accordingly:

13,389 London (1,078,600: 12.41)
6,630 South West (645,800: 10.27)
6,392 West Midlands (720,900: 8.87)
7,760 North West (884,600: 8.77)
9,103 South East (1,040,500: 8.75)
5,561 East of England (685,300: 8.11)
5,423 Yorkshire & The Humber (670,800: 8.08)
3,866 East Midlands (593,700: 6.51)
2,025 North East (313,000: 6.47)
108 Remote or flexible
135 Unspecified region

60,392 Total England (6,633,200: 9.10)

Whilst my data is always going to have flaws in it, I think the above comparisons give a fair reflection of the regional differences that exist. The South West’s prominence is perhaps surprising, with Bristol being a particularly busy hub.

NB The Teesside area of North Yorkshire is in the North East region (not Yorkshire & The Humber) and North East Lincolnshire is in the Yorkshire & The Humber region (not East Midlands).
The 87 vacancies for which the region was specified but not the county were in West Midlands (48), East Midlands (24), South West (9) and Yorkshire & The Humber (6).

Going forward

Although it can’t go on for ever, I hope to keep the project alive for a bit longer. I might take a break from posting updates during some of the summer vacation period, but all being well I’ll resume with the latest data at the start of A Level results week.

Footnote: How the data has been collected plus some general observations

Since 1^st January 2020 I’ve kept a record of degree and higher apprenticeship vacancies posted in England and in doing so have built up an evolving occupational and regional analysis. I largely use data extracted daily from the government’s ‘Find an Apprenticeship’ website, whilst also keeping very close tabs on other national vacancy sources. I only record vacancies that are posted by or on behalf of specific, named employers.

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 in their final year of school/college or after gaining up to twelve months’ temporary experience.

I use the term ‘work-ready’ because academic qualifications alone are never enough to compete successfully for a higher or degree apprenticeship. A UCAS points score of 112 is the most frequently quoted minimum entry requirement for DAs (sometimes more and often less), but it’s otherwise much more about the skills, qualities and insights an applicant can bring.

My data will never be fully reliable because not all vacancies are advertised nationally in a way that also gives an indication of precise numbers and locations. For that reason and others my reports always come with flaws, caveats and some editorial licence. However, I think the analyses I’ve built up paint a unique, intriguing and representative picture of what’s out there in a changing post-18 career landscape, as well as conveying a fairly realistic sense of comparative scale from both an occupational and regional perspective.

As a general observation I think it’s fair to say that there will never be enough degree apprenticeships to meet the potential demand, and where you live is a factor as well. To a certain extent there’s probably a mismatch between students’ aspirations and the actual occupations available too, which occasionally leads to reports of some of the less popular vacancies being hard to fill. In addition, only about 25% of overall apprenticeship vacancies are taken up by under-19s, which partly explains why my cumulative data falls well short of any official data based on apprenticeship starts. Meanwhile, a significant proportion of those Level 3 students who do take up apprenticeships will start on Level 3 programmes rather than progressing directly to Level 4 or above. The prominence of STEM occupations in my listings is also very noticeable.

One further significant observation is that NHS and other healthcare roles have become increasingly prominent in my data over time, thanks especially to the wonderful NHS Jobs website. However, these vacancies often stretch my criteria to the limit in terms of the maturity and experience they look for. Occasionally school/college leavers are actually mentioned in the person spec, but more often NHS vacancies are aimed at people with at least a few months’ experience or more. However, I’ve worked with a lot of young students in the past, especially those on Level 3 courses in the health and social care field and/or those with significant work/voluntary experience or caring responsibilities, who would be capable of making a very competitive application for such roles. Hence, I do include these vacancies if I think a mature 18/19-year-old would be considered, especially within a year of leaving school or college.

Finally, there’s sometimes an element of doubt about whether to include a vacancy under Degree or Higher. My approach to this is to count a vacancy as ‘Degree’ if it starts at Level 4 and moves seamlessly on to Level 6 or 7, but as ‘Higher’ if it starts at Level 4 with an option to progress to Level 6 as opposed to an expectation.

Although not stored electronically, I do have a written record of all 60,392 vacancies with details of the employer, occupation, location(s), minimum starting salary (if known) and, in the case of DAs, minimum entry grades and degree provider. As a guidance practitioner myself it’s been an incredibly illuminating and informative process, transforming my own perceptions about the labour market.

https://alanbullockcareers.com