Majority of manufacturing professionals 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, reveals that despite the fact that 92% of manufacturing professionals are considering moving jobs right now, four in 10 (41.7%) aren’t doing so jobs because they believe the salaries on offer aren’t high enough. Indeed, according to further analysis from CV-Library, salaries for new manufacturing jobs are currently 13.1% lower than the UK average.

The study of 2,000 UK professionals and 200 UK employers also found that while 91.8% of the industry’s employers feel confident about their hiring efforts, 37.5% of manufacturing professionals state that a lack of confidence puts them off applying for a new job.

Alongside this, 54.2% of the industry’s professionals worry that they don’t have the right experience for the roles they want to apply to, while a further 33.3% are worried that they won’t like the job.

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 manufacturing jobs on offer right now and employers are confident about their hiring efforts. This means that now is a great time to search and apply for jobs. Also, remember that there’s always room for negotiation when it comes to pay – so don’t let lower salaries put you off and do your research so you can use this evidence as leverage.”

Alongside the above, only 24% of workers in the industry are worried about losing their current job, with a further 95.6% of manufacturing firms stating that they’re confident about retaining employees over the next six months.

Biggins concludes: “Workers within the sector appear much more confident about their job prospects, which could be because the industry’s pipeline of talent is lacking. Indeed, employees are a company’s greatest asset and it’s nice to see that professionals recognise their worth.”