16.10.2026
The UK jobs market has its pulse back. Ask a hiring manager on a grid, rail or defence programme whether that has made their week easier, and I suspect the answer will be short.
Last week’s KPMG and REC Report on Jobs showed permanent placements growing for a second month running. It also showed candidate availability rising, as it has every month for three and a half years. Read quickly, that says employers have more choice than they’ve had in a long time.
For most of the roles our clients bring to Morson Edge, they don’t. There are two jobs markets in the UK right now, and the headline numbers only describe one of them.
Two markets, one headline
The government’s own data points the same way. People Management’s coverage of the Skills England annual report found a quarter of vacancies are hard to fill because of skills shortages. Software developers, IT analysts and engineers are all on its list of priority occupations in high demand.
I’d add one thing to that list. In my view, data engineers are now harder to find than software developers. They’re the people who build and run the pipelines that every AI tool, dashboard and control system relies on, and far fewer of them have done it on live infrastructure.
AI is also changing what we need from software teams. As it takes on more of the routine coding, I expect demand for general software developers to level off. The developers who stay in demand will be the ones who decide what to build and check what the tools produce. That’s a shift in the role, not the end of it.
That matches what we see on live briefs every week. A commissioning engineer with live substation experience rarely trawls job boards. Neither does a data engineer who has built the pipelines behind a rail operator’s or a grid company’s operational data. They’re usually in work, often on a programme they care about, and they move when a conversation makes sense to them. Not when an advert appears.
Software can sort a thousand applications in a minute. It can’t create an engineer who has energised a substation safely. That judgement takes years to build, and it’s the part of the workforce that more applicants don’t change.
There’s a message here for those engineers too. If your skills are on that priority list, your position is stronger than the headlines suggest. The rising salary index says employers are still competing for you.
What I’d change in a 2027 hiring plan
If you’re planning to hire as confidence returns, plan for two markets: a busy general one, and a tight specialist one. They need different approaches, and a plan built on the first will stall in the second.
First, search for specialists rather than advertising for them. Map who holds the skills you need, where they work and what would make a move worth their while. Start that months before the role goes live, not the week it’s signed off.
Second, benchmark pay against the specialist market. Permanent salaries are still rising across the board, so last year’s numbers are already out of date. Benchmark against what the people you want are actually paid now, not the general average, or the offer won’t land.
Third, shorten your decisions. Someone who is already employed and not in a hurry won’t wait out a six-week, four-stage process. Agree the brief, the budget and the interview panel before you approach anyone.
Working the second market
That second market is where Morson Edge works every day. Our consultants know the disciplines they recruit for, from protection and commissioning engineers to data engineers, and they spend their time finding people rather than waiting for them to apply.
In practice that means talent mapping well ahead of a programme’s peak, so the shortlist exists before the requisition does. It means contract-to-perm routes, so work can start while a permanent hire is found. And for clients hiring at volume, it means managed services that run both markets under one plan.
The recovery is real, and I hope it holds. But more applicants won’t fill a substation commissioning role or sign off a safety case. If you’re mapping next year’s hiring, my team and I are happy to talk it through.y and professional value and surface what support is needed where so that they can address the behavioural challenge.
As part of the wider Morson family, we see the full picture of workforce needs. We anticipate talent gaps before they appear and help businesses stay ready for the future. Get in touch with us to discuss your future talent needs
