Majority of engineers want to move jobs, but won’t because salaries on offer are ‘too low’

A new study from the UK’s leading independent job board, CV-Library, shows that despite the fact that 81.5% of engineering professionals are considering moving jobs right now, 65.4% aren’t doing so jobs because they believe the salaries on offer aren’t high enough.

In reality, further analysis* from CV-Library reveals that salaries for new engineering jobs are 4.8% higher than the UK average.

The study of 2,000 UK professionals and 200 UK employers also found that while 90% of engineering firms feel confident about their hiring efforts, 28.2% of engineers won’t apply for a new job because they’re worried about the economy.

Alongside this, 43.6% of the the industry’s professionals worry that they don’t have the right experience for the jobs they want to apply to, while 32.1% say they don’t have enough time to go through the interview process.

Lee Biggins, founder and CEO of CV-Library, comments: “Searching for a new role definitely requires commitment; after all, you need to tailor your CV and cover letter to every role you apply to and spend time practising common interview questions. While it may seem like an arduous task, putting in the hard work now will definitely lead to rewards later down the line.  

“Plus, despite a challenging economy, there’s an abundance of engineering jobs right now and employers are confident about their hiring efforts. This means that now is a great time to search and apply for jobs. 

“Plus, remember that there’s always room for negotiation when it comes to pay – so don’t let lower salaries put you off.”

Alongside the above, only 18.5% of workers in the engineering sector are worried about losing their current job, with a further 94.9% of employers in the industry stating that they’re confident about retaining employees over the next six months.

Biggins concludes: “Workers within the engineering sector appear much more confident about their job prospects in their current company than professionals in other industries, which is a sign that employers are doing something right! Indeed, employees are a company’s greatest asset and it’s nice to see that professionals recognise their worth.”

* Data taken from 175,000 jobs posted on CV-Library in May 2019. Average salary for new engineering roles currently sits at £36,129, compared with £34,486 in the UK as a whole.