Top 10 jobs viewed on Prospects.ac.uk

What career paths are students and graduates most interested in exploring and understanding? And how are their preferences changing over time? The popularity of Prospects job profiles can give us an insight…

Prospects is the leading website for student and graduate careers advice and hosts more than 500 job profiles. Analysing data on which of these profiles attract the highest number of users provides some indication of which roles are drawing the attention of this key audience of current and future jobseekers.

Are students and graduates most interested in high paid jobs or those that give them lots of responsibility? Roles in fields with high demand and a shortage of talent, or sectors that give them the opportunity to make a difference in society? Here are the top ten most popular job profiles on Prospects by page views between January and March 2023.

1. Paramedic

This is a new entry that wasn't in the top ten last time the list was compiled in 2020. Frequent strike action taken by ambulance workers in the UK over recent months means paramedics (along with other health service staff) have been high on the news agenda, which may have contributed to students' and graduates' growing interest in finding out more about what the job involves.

A report by The Health Foundation in November 2022 indicated that the number of paramedics in England had risen by 13% since March 2018, but the combination of increased sickness absence and a stretched health service means that greater staff numbers were still required - so it's positive that Prospects users are taking a look at this career.1

2. Detective

Detective was the most popular job profile when we last carried out this exercise three years ago, and remains a strong favourite in second place - yet as with paramedics it is a shortage profession.

The UK government recently announced that it had achieved its target of recruiting 20,000 new police officers, bringing the total number back to slightly above 2010 levels, but that doesn't necessarily address the shortfall of detectives. Last year, for example, individual forces such as Greater Manchester Police were pulling detectives out of retirement to plug gaps.2 Schemes like Police Now's National Detective Programme are in place to attract new recruits into this career path, so again it's welcome that users of Prospects are considering it.

3. Clinical psychologist

This job continues to be a hit with Prospects users, once again achieving the third most page views out of more than 500 profiles. Psychologist, like paramedic, is another field of work on the UK government's shortage occupations list.3 According to the British Psychological Society, the profession in England needs to expand by 60% on 2019 levels by 2024.4

In 2021, the Nuffield Trust reported that, 'the vast majority of psychology undergraduates wanted a career in mental health at the start of their degree. However, the proportion of students not considering a career in psychology or mental health in their final year more than doubled from 9% to 21%. It is likely that they recognised the lack of opportunities to progress a career in clinical psychology, despite there being a shortage of psychologists.'5 The trust argued that careers in mental health needed to be made more accessible and attractive.

4. Data analyst

A new entry to the top ten, perhaps revealing that students and graduates have seen the ever-growing demand for data skills and the potential rewards that may be on offer for choosing this career path.

The UK's data skills gap is one of the reasons the current government announced at the start of this year that it wants all young people to study maths in some form up to the age of 18.6 A report by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in 2021 suggested that data analysis would be the 'fastest growing digital skills cluster, increasing by an estimated 33% in the next five years'.7 That same study found that 12% of all businesses surveyed were looking for data analysts.

5. Chartered accountant

This role is another that has continued to draw in the views, dropping just one place in the rankings of most popular job profiles on Prospects. And there is also a familiar theme when it comes to the labour market: the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) reported earlier this year that 90% of sector employers were experiencing skills shortages and salaries were being pushed up to attract talent, with the biggest wage growth at junior and mid-level.8

Many of these professions, not least in social work and teaching, face significant recruitment and retention challenges, so knowing that Prospects users are taking an interest in these areas is positive. This is clearly not a scientific process - for example, users might view a job profile to rule out that particular career choice, rather than because they want to pursue it. However, it does provide an indication of the roles that are on the minds of students and graduates, those that attract their attention, and the job sectors that they feel are worthy of further exploration.

Notes

1. Why have ambulance waiting times been getting worse?, The Health Foundation, 2022.
2. Manchester police struggling to recruit detectives because of long hours, The Guardian, 2022.
3. Skilled Worker visa: shortage occupations for healthcare and education, GOV.UK, 2021.
4. Widening the psychological workforce, British Psychological Society, 2022.
5. The mental health workforce: challenges facing the NHS, Nuffield Trust, 2021.
6. Prime Minister sets ambition of maths to 18 in speech, GOV.UK, 2023.
7. Quantifying the UK Data Skill Gap - Summary version, GOV.UK, 2021.
8. UK 2023 finance recruitment outlook: skills shortage pushes up salaries, ACCA, 2023.

Written by

Dan Mason

Editorial manager

Prospects