The first day back after a summer holiday has a habit of exposing how people really feel about their jobs. The inbox is full again and the routine returns almost immediately, but for some that familiar dread points to something deeper.
Hays' research found that 45% of UK working professionals expect to change jobs within the next six months, suggesting that many people are not simply struggling with the return to work but are questioning whether they want to return to the same working life at all.
Rethinking the career ladder
Fix Radio’s Corporate to Carpentry research found that over one in 10 (16%) of UK workers would consider moving into a trade, suggesting that for some, dissatisfaction with their current role is prompting a more fundamental rethink of what they want from work.
For years, office-based careers were often presented as the safest and most desirable route, but that assumption is starting to lose some of its hold. Our research found that 39% of UK workers would have preferred to do an apprenticeship if they could choose their academic pathway again, rising to 40% among 18 to 24-year-olds.
The fact that this sentiment is just as strong among younger people suggests the appeal of apprenticeships is not simply about older workers looking back with regret, but rather a broader shift in how people think about the value of practical, skills-based careers.
Apprenticeships have too often been treated as a second choice to university, or as the route you take when academic options do not work out. That perception has had consequences, with well-paid and highly skilled professions overlooked for years because of how they have been positioned rather than the opportunities they offer.
A changing market
People weighing up a career change are doing so in one of the toughest hiring markets in years, as economic uncertainty has led many employers to scale back recruitment. That is making it particularly difficult for younger workers trying to get their first foothold.
ONS figures show UK vacancies have fallen to 707,000, their lowest level in more than five years, while government analysis using LinkedIn data found that hiring was 14% lower year-on-year in April. At the same time, the rapid adoption of AI is changing the kinds of roles employers expect to need, adding further uncertainty for people at the start of their careers.
Even senior figures within the AI industry are beginning to recognise this shift, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently highlighting the growing value of skilled trades.
That uncertainty is already influencing the careers people are considering, with a quarter of 18- to 24-year-olds saying they are thinking about moving into construction or the trades because they believe those roles are less exposed to AI.
Within the same age group, 29% say they have lost or are about to lose a job because of technology. After years of apprenticeships being presented as the lesser route, the changing shape of the labour market is giving younger people a very different reason to take them seriously.
Moving into the trades should not be presented as an easy escape from the pressures of working life, as the hands-on, often physical nature of the job can make it highly demanding, while retraining after years in another profession requires real commitment.
But whether someone is returning from holiday and realising they have had enough of the office, or trying to start their career in a difficult jobs market, people need to be shown a much broader range of routes than the ones traditionally held up as the default.
For some, the post-holiday slump will pass within a few days, but for others it may crystallise a feeling that has been building for much longer. When that happens, more workers are beginning to see the trades not as a fallback but as a credible path to build a different kind of career.
Clive Holland is lead presenter at Fix Radio, the UK’s fastest-growing national radio station for tradespeople.
