Solve your cost of living crisis by moving jobs? Yes, but …

Everyone is very aware of the cost of living crisis and it is fair to say that we are all feeling the pinch.

Inflation is at 9% (likely to be 11%) and as an inevitable consequence, individuals are looking to earn as much as they can.

At Andrew James Recruitment Specialist Recruitment, we see this in both of the market places that we serve. Money (in the form of basic salary improvement) is high on the agenda, and is invariably a key factor pushing or pulling people towards the market, depending on how you view things.

As I have discussed before, hybrid working and the great Rethink don’t really have too much of an impact on that trend.

Older individuals who have made drastic changes to their working lives after the pandemic, have often been in the fortunate circumstance of being able to make these changes. Money/finances are typically more secure, mortgages may be paid off, dependants have flown the nest – for this population, a period of reflection can often lead to change; this may go some way to explain the large number of people in the 50’s and 60’s who are choosing not to continue to work and /or retire early. However, this is not universal across the age group. There are those in the lowest and middle income bracket who do not have this luxury.

So, the context is, therefore, that those who are looking for new roles are typically still under financial pressure and they are feeling the pinch with little wriggle room. Crucially, the only way they can achieve this is through promotion.

For this population, is the answer to look for a new role, in order to minimise the impact of the cost of living crisis and earn more….?

One obvious consequence of this is that this population enters the market with a clear goal and determination. Their negotiating resolve is hardened and expectations form the outset of their search are focused on money.

Many businesses are taking initiatives to retain their people and pay them more. Only this week, Rolls Royce reported bonuses for their staff, this week Barclays did the same. We at Andrew James Recruitment are very aware of businesses within our client groups implementing Reward increases for their people be that through one off bonuses or across the board pay rises.

Well, as with most things in life the answer is, that it depends…..

You see, on the face of it some stats that I have compiled would suggest “Yes, move on to a new employer to maximise your earning potential”. On average in our trading year we at Andrew James Specialist Recruitment have secured for our placements a whopping 28% increase in their basic salary. That applies as an average and is true across both of our markets – HR and Sales/ Account Management/ Customer Success within in people/ humans capital related services businesses.

A feature this year is that only 2 of our placements have taken a sideways or more junior position. Few applicants in the current market are looking to move sideways or to a more junior position.

We conclude that our placements are earning more but they are also delivering to more senior and challenging roles in their new positions.