Most sought after job in the country pays much less than £20,000 a year

A new comprehensive report from leading UK based jobs search engine Adzuna reveals that the most sought-after job in the UK is an Emergency Ambulance Driver offering only £16,634 a year.

This insight comes from research analysing Adzuna’s 1.2 million open job adverts from June – December 2017 by looking into the job titles that have the highest propensity to be viewed (calculated as clicks/ads).

With recent news that the NHS ambulance service is short of almost 1,000 frontline staff, it’s encouraging to learn job seekers are most interested in joining the NHS’ road fleet. However, this salary is still markedly lower than the UK’s average advertised wage of £32,940, according to Adzuna’s January Job Market Report.

The second most popular job in the UK is a Non-Executive Director with an average pay packet of £32,952 showing the disparity between second and first position – an increase of £16,318. The third most sought after job is a Funeral Services Director averaging a salary of £23,672 with an Air Traffic Controller offering £32,959 coming in fourth and Fashion Model coming in fifth (no salary stated).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Emergency Ambulance Driver’s salary of £16,634 places in 76th place out of the top 100 most sought-after jobs when it comes to salary; with Chief Information Officer topping the list with the highest advertised salary of £100,441 within the top 100 most sought after jobs. Given organisations of all sizes are increasingly turning to data and data services to evolve their offering, and with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) deadline fast approaching on May 25th, it’s an appealing industry and job role to step into as organisations are clamouring to employee CIOs that can lead change management through this regulation, and will pay handsomely for it.

Top 10 Most Sought-after Jobs:

  1. Emergency Ambulance Driver – £16,634
  2. Non-Executive Director – £32,952
  3. Funeral Services Director – £23,672
  4. Air Traffic Controller – £32,959
  5. Fashion Model – No Salary data
  6. Rigger – £36,543
  7. Mail Clerk – £16,575
  8. Airport Baggage Handler – £17,246
  9. Oil Rig Operative – £28,571
  10. Librarian – £24,658

Doug Monro, co-founder of Adzuna, revealed: “Our data shows that the job market in the UK is thriving with a variety of different roles to accommodate the diversity of our population. This is evident from the top 10 most sought after jobs which offer a real breadth of experiences: Librarian to Rigger, Fashion Model to Funeral Services Director. That’s what’s really key here – us Brits are much more interested in the spice of life than salary.

Perhaps though, what’s most telling is an Emergency Ambulance Driver being the most sought-after job. It shows that the UK is looking to give back to the community and be part of something much bigger rather than take home a bigger pay packet, revealing a culture of love over money.”

Top 100 Most Sought-after Jobs

1 Emergency Ambulance Driver 533 14 38.07 £16,634
2 Non Executive Director 20035 667 30.04 £32,952
3 Funeral Services Director 7982 275 29.03 £23,672
4 Air Traffic Controller 2872 108 26.59 £32,959
5 Fashion Model 523 22 23.77 No Sal Data
6 Rigger 7288 331 22.02 £36,543
7 Mail Clerk 37928 1736 21.85 £16,575
8 Airport Baggage Handler 9437 455 20.74 £17,246
9 Oil Rig Operative 275 14 19.64 £28,571
10 Librarian 12327 659 18.71 £24,658
11 Animal Handler 916 50 18.32 £18,193
12 Maternity Support Worker 171 10 17.1 £20,288
13 Domestic Housekeeper 7290 440 16.57 £23,282
14 House Sitter 713 45 15.84 £16,250
15 Flight Attendant 6540 446 14.66 £21,189
16 Veterinary Receptionist 2127 146 14.57 £15,104
17 Medical Records Clerk 1837 128 14.35 £16,101
18 School Receptionist Administrator 2710 198 13.69 £17,972
19 Language School Teacher 364 27 13.48 £28,519
20 Chauffeur 6927 530 13.07 £27,191
21 Welding Inspector 1038 83 12.51 £26,294
22 Video And Motion Picture Editor 7279 601 12.11 £27,239
23 Collector 32949 2871 11.48 £17,688
24 Funeral Arranger 5741 502 11.44 £17,171
25 Education Administrator 40365 3656 11.04 £18,624
26 Building Cleaner 10420 1021 10.21 £16,148
27 Crop Production Worker 4568 449 10.17 £18,661
28 Post Room Operative 1121 112 10.01 £17,619
29 Plumber Mate 4841 489 9.9 £24,013
30 Private Chef 1443 146 9.88 £41,822
31 Tower Crane Operator 5127 523 9.8 £36,864
32 Disc Jockey 1252 129 9.71 £26,880
33 Steeplejack 96 10 9.6 £38,417
34 Passenger Service Agent 3517 372 9.45 £18,049
35 Night Cleaner 5192 554 9.37 £16,405
36 School Cleaner 7915 888 8.91 £15,107
37 Funeral Service Operative 2360 267 8.84 £17,486
38 Mobile Parking Attendant 3797 434 8.75 £18,760
39 Private Chauffeur 226 26 8.69 £37,188
40 Courier 21696 2501 8.67 £16,806
41 Victim Support Officer 238 29 8.21 £14,360
42 Assistant Clinical Psychologist 2757 336 8.21 £28,695
43 Cartoonist 176 22 8 No Sal Data
44 Car Delivery Driver 19481 2439 7.99 £16,343
45 File Clerk 2035 257 7.92 £18,560
46 Photographer 18906 2407 7.85 £23,226
47 Physiotherapy Assistant 1186 152 7.8 £19,681
48 Shipping Agent 1314 175 7.51 £20,715
49 Aircraft Dispatcher 157 21 7.48 £15,937
50 Library Assistant 10152 1387 7.32 £17,114
51 Chief Information Officer 2646 365 7.25 £100,441
52 Cleaner Domestic Assistant 1912 264 7.24 £16,261
53 Crane Crew Supervisor 6099 854 7.14 £38,091
54 Ambulance Technician 398 56 7.11 £20,763
55 Aircraft Cleaner 7133 1008 7.08 £16,633
56 Tractor Driver 4311 639 6.75 £22,311
57 Ambulance Care Assistant 1393 207 6.73 £18,740
58 Train Cleaner 1744 262 6.66 £18,044
59 Petroleum Engineer 468 71 6.59 £32,864
60 Educational Counsellor 2136 328 6.51 £27,768
61 Hospital Porter 3033 470 6.45 £16,972
62 Electrician Mate 15082 2345 6.43 £26,069
63 Post Room Assistant 2719 426 6.38 £17,258
64 Scaffolder 19763 3099 6.38 £34,508
65 Rental Service Representative 3264 512 6.38 £18,178
66 Cctv Control Room Operator 2290 365 6.27 £19,446
67 Farm Manager 1856 297 6.25 £32,333
68 Live-In Nanny Housekeeper 1332 214 6.22 £25,827
69 Steel Fixer 11677 1890 6.18 £34,100
70 Sport Official 74 12 6.17 £56,400
71 Domestic Cleaner 26767 4375 6.12 £16,354
72 Taxi Driver 21383 3527 6.06 £16,188
73 Online Retailer 2380 396 6.01 £29,226
74 Drilling Engineer 192 32 6 £38,194
75 Digital Games Tester 329 55 5.98 £15,167
76 Picture Editor 608 103 5.9 £27,500
77 Hairdressing Vocational Teacher 59 10 5.9 £35,143
78 Dental Receptionist 5364 915 5.86 £19,444
79 Driver’s Mate 33326 5694 5.85 No Sal Data
80 Kyc Analyst 2719 470 5.79 £38,065
81 Chief Operating Officer 6924 1202 5.76 £94,443
82 Foreign Exchange Cashier 201 35 5.74 £18,170
83 Pipeline Engineer 1393 243 5.73 £55,630
84 Receptionist 290425 51984 5.59 £18,770
85 Sales Marketing Director 4301 774 5.56 £74,629
86 Dance Teacher 1508 272 5.54 £30,718
87 Chaplain 628 114 5.51 £25,351
88 Morning Cleaner 2714 493 5.51 £15,013
89 Proof Reader 3411 623 5.48 £23,226
90 Aircraft Maintenance Technician 104 19 5.47 £32,122
91 Duct Fitter 3706 689 5.38 £34,774
92 Afternoon Receptionist 1311 245 5.35 £15,347
93 Cleaner Casual 914 172 5.31 £14,906
94 Marine Engineering Technician 84 16 5.25 £27,733
95 Ceiling Installer 3061 584 5.24 £32,571
96 Shelf Filler 549 105 5.23 £15,751
97 Cleaner 363529 69642 5.22 £15,974
98 Medical Receptionist 7527 1446 5.21 £17,589
99 Electrician’S Mate 2445 471 5.19 No Sal Data
100 Stock Broker 762 147 5.18 £38,062