More flexible labor market leads to career switch boom

Press release

Stepstone analysis: More flexible labor market leads to career switch boom

• Job ads promoting a career switch more than quadrupled on Stepstone.de since 2019
• “Career changer” is a constant top search term
• More than eight out of ten job seekers would be prepared to switch to another industry

DUESSELDORF, 01.10.2024 — The shortage of skilled workers and an increasingly flexible labor market are causing job offers which target career changers to boom, according to a recent analysis by The Stepstone Group.

The number of corresponding job advertisements on the online portal Stepstone.de more than quadrupled (329%) between 2019 and 2023, while the trend is continuing this year: By the middle of 2024, there were already more than twice as many job ads on average (136 percent) targeting job seekers with a non-specialist background than in 2019 as a whole. This meets with a high level of interest from people looking for a new professional challenge: “career changer” continues to be one of the top search terms on Stepstone.de.

“Changing your career is a hot topic. The reasons: The labor market is becoming more flexible, job profiles are changing faster and faster and demographic change will massively intensify the change in the workforce in the near future. For companies that are creative and flexible, career switchers can be a real advantage,” says Dr. Tobias Zimmermann, labor market expert at The Stepstone Group. According to a recent Stepstone survey, almost 60 percent of HR managers find it a “major challenge” to find suitable candidates for vacancies.

“The mindset of employees today is different: they are no longer tied to one profession for 40 years. Today, people can have several careers in their working life. In the future, changing careers will become more and more normal for all of us. And this is exactly what is needed in times when work requirements are changing dynamically. The curiosity and openness to keep learning and trying out new things - that's exactly what we need in times of great labor shortage,” emphasizes Tobias Zimmermann.

According to a Stepstone analysis, almost three quarters (73 percent) of employees think about a new challenge at least once a month. A job in a new industry is the clear goal for over a quarter (29 percent). More than eight out of ten respondents (84 percent) are interested in a change of industry if the job offer is suitable.

One sixth of employers rely on internal mobility 
But there are also opportunities for those who want to reorient themselves within their own company. A recent Stepstone survey of HR managers shows that almost one sixth of companies (16 percent) rely on promoting internal mobility and one fifth (20 percent) on programs for further training and qualification of employees.

“Intelligent companies utilize the great in-house potential that their experienced employees bring to the table. Those who have proven themselves in the company can be trained for the jobs that are currently in demand through targeted continuing education. At the same time, employees who are striving for something new are given the opportunity to develop further within their own company. Nevertheless, there will be more and more gaps in the future that can be effectively filled by career switchers,” says Tobias Zimmermann.
 

About the analysis

The data basis for the analysis by The Stepstone Group is the average number of daily job advertisements on Stepstone.de. The analyses cover the period from January 2019 to July 2024.

The survey data was taken from the “Hiring Trends Index” study series, a quarterly study published by The Stepstone Group, for which German employees and recruiters are surveyed. The results are representative of the German working population by age, gender and education.

About The Stepstone Group 
The Stepstone Group is a leading global digital recruitment platform that connects companies with the right talent and helps people find the right job. AI-driven job marketplaces and programmatic-powered marketing solutions connect more than 130 million job applications with around 140,000 employers every year. In 2023, The Stepstone Group generated revenue of around €1 billion. The Stepstone Group operates in more than 30 countries - including Stepstone in Germany, Appcast in the USA and Totaljobs in the UK. The company is headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany and employs around 4,000 people worldwide. For more information: https://www.thestepstonegroup.com/en/

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