What do CAD professionals really want?
To find out what matters most to CAD professionals when it comes to their employment we surveyed over 1,000 CAD staff in the UK.
We asked 15 questions on their situation and job satisfaction to find out which factors are the most important. A bigger salary? More holidays? Or more responsibility?
- Check my salary -
The average salary has increased by 7.5% from £31,668 in 2020 to £34,124 in 2021.
Salary is still the deciding factor for most candidates with 79% of CAD staff saying it is a key motivator when changing to a new job.
- Deciding factors -
Why do candidates change jobs? Salary has remained the key factor since we started our survey 9 years ago. But working from home and flexibility are more important since COVID. Don’t overlook training and better work environments.
Over 60% of candidates say they have not received job related CAD training. This is an easy one to fix.Â
- Job security -
How secure do you feel in your current role? The percentage of candidates feeling either secure or very secure has risen from 33% to 55%. A massive improvement for the CAD industry as a whole.
- COVID 19 -
Possibly the biggest improvement year-on-year we have seen. In 2020 a massive 70% claimed COVID 19 was damaging their prospects, this year that has dropped to just 44%!
- Software -
Software preferences have remained steady this year with a overwhelming reliance on AutoCAD. Regarding 3D software, there has been a small shift away from Autodesk Inventor towards SolidWorks. Revit has grown in popularity by 2% too.
- Location -
Much like in previous years, over 50% of respondents work in the South. We were expecting to see a jump in relocations outside of city centres but this doesn’t seem to have happened. The results are very similar to pre-COVID.
- Age -
This year has seen a drop of 18 to 24 year olds, down 2.3%. Although a small change, it could signal a lack of interest from university or college graduates. The two older age groups have seen small gains supporting this view.
- Job seniority -
Job levels have remained steady over the COVID period with a little over 50% in intermediate positions. We don’t tend to see big jumps here but self employed staff have seen a small drop which has coincided with new IR35 legislation.Â
- Job appreciation -
2020 saw a big drop with candidates not feeling at all appreciated rising by 3%! This year has corrected that bringing it back down to 5% in line with most other years. Candidates feeling very appreciated has remained around 20%. This could have led to a reallocation with unappreciated staff moving companies.
- Stress at work -
Surprisingly, stress levels don’t seem to have risen dramatically over the COVID period. This might be linked to more staff being able to work from home and fit their jobs around family life. In our client survey we discovered this not to be a long term trend with very few companies wanting to offer permanent home based roles.
- Training -
Have you been offered training for the CAD software you use?
- Software -
Would you job be made easier using other CAD software?
- Brexit -
Has Brexit negatively affected your employment options?
- Reward -
How rewarding is your current role?
- Progression-
How likely do you feel progression through managment levels is?
- How can CADagency help -
Whether you are looking for a new role or have a vacancy to fill, we can help.
Call us: 01245 790233
Email: office@cadagency.co.uk