Do I need qualifications to gain work?

The top 10 in demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 1994, in the next 10 years there will be very few UK none skilled jobs, and an increase in highly skilled UK jobs. The world we live in changes at a rapid pace, it wasn’t too long ago when mobile phones didn’t exist! Job hunters need to be moving with these changes.

Employment King has been researching the jobs of the future for the UK; job hunters need to know which careers will be in demand in the next 5 – 10 years and the qualifications and experiences employers will be requiring you to have.

· The pace in some industries is moving so fast, that students can be studying a subject only to find by the graduation date the industry has already moved on.

The UK job market is set to change; our research has shown that there will be a demand for highly skilled jobs while low skilled jobs will be in decline. We can already see signs of this happening now, with Petrol Stations and Supermarket already started to use self-service check outs and a large amount of low skilled manufacturing jobs has been moved abroad.

Do you need careers advice?

Skills and Training

Lord Leitch, released a skills review in 2006 stating that the vision for the UK is to be a world leader in skills by 2020.

Employers of the future will be looking for highly skilled employees; to help with this the government are funding a wide range of courses and training opportunities.

Employers, working alongside the government to increase the UKs skills shortage, will be looking for employees with a minimum of level 2 and 3 qualifications.

· If you like many others have not yet achieved these qualifications you would benefit by accessing the funded training below:

Learn direct offer funded Numeracy, Literacy and ITC courses

You can gain funding to gain NVQ qualifications while working through an apprenticeship and Train to gain

Qualifications and What they mean.

Having recognised qualifications and industry skills help make you more attractive to employers, helping you gain employment and succeeding in your career.

There is a mixture of qualifications you can gain through education establishments and in the workplace, below you will find a breakdown of UK qualifications and what they are equivalent to.

NQF level Examples of qualifications

Entry Level Entry level certificates

English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)

Skills for Life

Functional Skills at entry level (English, maths and ICT)

Level 1 GCSEs grades D-G

BTEC Introductory Diplomas and Certificates

OCR Nationals

Key Skills level 1

NVQs at level 1

Skills for Life

Level 2 GCSEs grades A*-C

BTEC First Diplomas and Certificates

OCR Nationals

Key Skills level 2

NVQs at level 2

Skills for Life

Level 3 A levels

Advanced Extension Awards

GCE in applied subjects

International Baccalaureate

Key Skills level 3

NVQs at level 3

BTEC Diplomas, Certificates and Awards

BTEC Nationals

OCR Nationals

Level 4 NVQs at level 4

BTEC Professional Diplomas, Certificates and Awards

Level 5 HNCs and HNDs

NVQs at level 5

BTEC Professional Diplomas, Certificates and Awards

Level 6 National Diploma in Professional Production Skills

BTEC Advanced Professional Diplomas, Certificates and Awards

Level 7 Diploma in Translation

BTEC Advanced Professional Diplomas, Certificates and Awards

Jobs in the Future

Having a highly skilled workforce is effective for a healthy economy, ensuring that the UK has a sufficient supply of labour, with the skills needed for employers to increase the supply of outward services and the receiving incoming business from abroad. The job market is global; the UK competes for work against the world’s leading countries.

We will be seeing an increase in jobs over a wide number of high skilled sectors and a decline in low skilled job roles:

· Areas such as care for the elderly and nursery nursing will be both looking for an increase in staff throughout the UK, with level 2 and 3 qualifications.

· With several new power stations being built in the UK we will soon be looking for skilled engineers.

· Low Carbon industry will create 1 million jobs with a wide mixture and skilled roles.

· A new wave of jobs will be created with the 2012 Olympics, creating a wide range of apprenticeships and trained jobs – leaving a skilled workforce in the UK.

· The Digital sector is a fast growing industry; the government has already spoken of the need to invest in new opportunities to support the UK to compete against other countries. “This will mean new jobs in environmental technologies, digital industries, the creative sector, in advanced manufacturing, in pharmaceuticals and healthcare industries and in education itself," said Brown 2009.

Click for More future jobs information.

It time to look towards the future, where do you want to be? Will your career be here in the future? Do you know which industry you can transfer your skills to? Don’t get stuck, this is time to be proactive. Employment King can help you choose a future career that will suit you.

This is the time to look at your skills and qualifications, how employable will you be in the future? With the large amount of funding available to re-skill, this is time to think about the future and your future career.