Admin jobs in Leeds faced a higher level of competition than any other job in any other region last month, receiving an average of 71 applicants per position, according to new data from CV-Library, the UK’s leading independent job board.
This figure was significantly greater than that seen on a national scale of 57.3, with those applying for admin roles in Leeds having to fend off at least 13 extra candidates than in other parts of the UK.
When looking at nationwide job applications across each sector in May 2015, the following sectors were highlighted as the most competitive in the UK:
1. Administration– 57.3 applicants per job
2. Customer Services– 37 applicants per job
3. Distribution– 36.2 applicants per job
4. Manufacturing – 31.3 applicants per job
5. Retail– 27.4 applicants per job
6. Hospitality– 25.9 applicants per job
7. Public Sector– 22.9 applicants per job
These figures are considerably higher than those seen across the nation, which, on average, saw 15.9 candidates applying per job across all industries.
Despite this though, overall job competition has actually declined in the last year, with applicant numbers reducing from 18.3 per job posting in May 2014, to 15.9 in May 2015; a reduction of 15.4% year-on-year.
In addition, the new data correlates with recent reports of a job surge post-election, showing an overall increase of 29.8% of job roles posted in the UK in May 2015. However, although the number of job hunters also increased year-on-year by 11.6%, the number of actual job applications increased by a lesser amount of 9.6%, signifying that businesses need to be even savvier when attracting new talent.
Lee Biggins, founder and Managing Director of CV-Library, explained: “Reduced competition is obviously great news for candidates. However, the figures imply that job hunters are being much more selective when applying for their next role. With job numbers on the rise, it is more important than ever for UK businesses to go the extra mile to attract top professionals to their business.”
