47% want a career change by Dr Steve Priddy, Dean and Research Director, LSBF on 02-Oct-2015

More than one in five workers (21%) are looking to career hop in the next twelve months, with increased salary prospects, better work-life balance and improved job satisfaction cited as the main reasons for wanting to make a switch. Our new research shows that nearly half of all workers in the UK (47%) would like to change career, says Dr Steve Priddy, Director of Research and Academic Dean at the London School of Business and Finance (LSBF).

In recent years, we have seen profound changes in the UK job market. Alongside a steady recovery of employment figures, different parts of the country have seen a growth in the number of start-ups, more jobs in manufacturing and small and medium businesses, as well as new roles in the alternative energy sector and the rise of new industries such as the FinTech sector. This is good news – as well as creating new opportunities, this diversification certainly puts the UK one step ahead in the race for securing investment and building a strong forward-looking economy.

In such a scenario, with a changing economy and new sectors creating jobs and business models that would not have even existed a decade ago, many professionals may have considered the option of jumping ship and facing the challenges of a new career path. However, how do people feel about making a career change? Are they professionally prepared? Do they know how to go about it? What are people's main fears about a major career move? Money, uncertainty, lack of support, lack of training? These are some of the questions that our Career Change report tries to answer.

Around a quarter (23%) of Brits in employment revealed they would actually go as far to say they regret their current choice of career – this figure rose for younger workers, with 30% of 25-34 year-olds regretting their current career choice.

Despite such disillusionment, many people are still unwilling to change careers owing to a number of factors they feel hold them back. Almost a third (29%) said the lack of financial security around changing careers was a major barrier, while uncertainty about what to switch to (20%) and a fear of failure (15%) were also identified as obstacles to changing career.

From my perspective, what is important before any major career move is to ensure you are appropriately qualified to take on the new role and to understand the sector well enough in order to make the most of potential opportunities and to navigate the system as if an insider.

The statistics also showed differences in attitudes among age groups with two thirds (66%) of workers aged between 18 and 34, those typically considered as being 'Millennials', wanting to change career, compared with just 19% of over 55s.

Our key findings include:

• 47% of the UK work force would like to make a career change;


• 29% cite financial insecurity as main reason for not changing careers. This figure goes up to 41% for 'Millennials' (people aged 18-34);


• 66% of 'Millennials' want to change careers;


• 23% of all UK workers and 30% of people aged 25-34, regret current careers;


• 68% of Cardiff workers are satisfied with their careers, the highest proportion in the survey;


• 55% of workers in London want to change careers, 45% within next two years;


• Only 19% of London workers say they will never want to change careers.

The last few years have seen solid growth in the job market, which means professionals feel more confident about making major career moves. As we have seen, nearly 50% of the people surveyed want to change careers and this desire is particularly prevalent among younger people. From the results of the survey, we can conclude that Millennials tend to be the age group most open to a career change.

In general, the prospect of an increased salary and better work-life balance seem to be the main drivers for people looking for a career change.

Liking their present job isn't the only reason people give for not changing their career. Lack of financial stability, fear of failure, not knowing how, time required and disruption to life are all mentioned as reasons that prevent people from making a major career move.

For more information, please visit the London School of Business and Finance web site at: www.lsbf.org.uk

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