Property Professionals score high on Career Prospects League Table

LONDON - June 19, 2013 - PRLog -- •    59% of property professionals happy with their career prospects – well above the national average of 38%
•    Better pay no longer the most important aspect of career progression – doing work that lets me learn new things and meet new people now top priority
•    Contractors working in property experience wide variety of work and have the opportunity for regular salary renegotiations

People working in property are among the happiest in the UK when it comes to their career progression, according to research by property and construction specialist recruiter Randstad.

In a survey of over 2,000 British workers, only 38% of the UK workforce said they were content with their career progression.  But 59% of those working in property said they were happy with the way they were scaling the career ladder, second only to those working in insurance. Those working in financial services, nursing, IT and telecoms, and education were also above average.

At the other end of the spectrum, those working in media and wholesale were the least happy with their career progression (12% and 13% respectively).

Career Progression Doesn’t Always Go Hand In Hand with Headcount Growth

There appears to be little relationship between headcount growth and how satisfied people are with their career progression.  The sectors which reported the best opportunities for career progression were not those which experienced the largest growth. For example, the property sector grew by just 1% between 2012 and 2009, according to the Office of National Statistics – yet the sector had the second highest percentage of employees happy with their career progression. The sector which expanded the most between 2009 and 2012 was IT & Telecommunications, which experienced a 44% growth during this period – yet employees were only marginally happier than the rest of the country’s workforce.

Owen Goodhead, managing director of property and construction specialist recruiter Randstad, said: “We expected to find a relationship at some level between career progression in a sector and job growth.  But the figures don’t bear this out.  The property sector expanded by just 1% between 2009 and 2012, while insurance remained static in size, but these were the two sectors in which people were most happy with their career progression.  We think this points to pride in being part of a high performance culture.”

What Makes the Property Industry Special?

Due to the nature of the property industry, teams are often pulled together for fixed periods of time during specific projects. As a result, construction and property professionals tend to switch jobs more regularly than those working in other sectors, which can provide a wealth of opportunities to move up the career ladder.

Owen Goodhead added: “Contracting work can give the most successful candidates the opportunity to renegotiate their salary and position at the beginning of each major project, and as a result, savvy construction and property professionals can have more control over their career paths than those working in permanent positions in other sectors.”

What Does Career Progression Mean To People Today?

In further research carried out by Randstad, when asked to think back twelve years and remember what they though the most important elements of career progression were, 62% of respondents said better pay, making it the most important factor.  However, when asked what they thought the most important elements of career progression were today, the most popular factor was Doing work that lets me learn new things, meet new people and participate in different projects – an option chosen by 74% of respondents.

Owen Goodhead added: “Employees are redefining the meaning of career progression.  When it comes to career progression, not only are the values people hold changing, the whole concept of a career as an upward progression through a sequence of roles in one firm has changed.  Flexibility in the workforce means that for many a career doesn’t involve progression: it may be a series of moves that go sideways, or even backwards, and cross occupational and organisational boundaries for others its simply increasing their skill sets. This type of flexibility between organisations and projects is typical of the property sector, and goes some way to explaining their position on the career prospects league table.”

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NOTES TO EDITORS

Randstad UK is part of the Randstad group, one of the leading recruitment & HR services providers in the world with a top five position in the UK and a top three position in fifteen countries including the US, France and Germany.

In the UK, Randstad’s business lines serve the public and private sectors across Accounting and Financial services; Business Support; Construction, Property and Engineering; Education; Health and Social Care; Interim Management and Search; Human Resources; IT; Legal; Retail; Sales, Student and Worker Support and In-House and Managed Services.

At the end of 2012, Randstad had 1,750 corporate employees in the UK, working in 203 locations. UK revenue in 2012 was €799 million. Randstad Holding nv was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Diemen, the Netherlands and listed on the NYSE Euronext Amsterdam. For more information see randstad.co.uk  and randstad.com.

MEDIA CONTACT

The Wriglesworth Consultancy, Adam Jones: a.jones@wriglesworth.com / 020 7427 1403

View full league table: http://www.randstad.co.uk/about-randstad/news/where-does-your-industry-sit-on-the-prospects-league-table/