If you are out of work or don’t enjoy the job you are doing, seeking training for a new career can be a life-changing decision. But just how good the prospects for change are may depend on the number of vacancies when you qualify.
This is an issue well worth considering at times when the number of vacancies in the job market is in decline. The latest official government figures show that this is what is happening now, with the number of vacancies in the three months to the end of May – 736,000 – down by 63,000 on the previous three months.
If that had just been a blip, for example, as a result of the uncertainty caused by Donald Trump’s trade policies, this wouldn’t be such an issue. However, this was the 35th quarter in a row that vacancies fell.
For that reason, it makes sense to consider jobs where vacancies are abundant, and that makes HGV driver training a very smart move.
The Road Haulage Association (RHA) has been campaigning continually for governments across the UK – including devolved administrations such as the Scottish government – to follow up past central government efforts to train more drivers to tackle a major skills shortage.
Driver boot camps in England have seen over 10,000 new HGV drivers gaining their licence since 2022 and they were able to take advantage of loads of vacancies. However, whether or not any extra help is forthcoming from Holyrood now or in years to come, you can take the bull by the horns yourself and seek training.
In doing so, you too can take advantage of there being lots of available jobs in an economy where that is increasingly less true of other sectors. There may be no better time than now to get started and – quite literally – get on the road to a new career.