It takes a special kind of individual who has a desire to build out a career in the charity sector in the UK. It's also a massive sector with no signs of slowing down on the charity efforts, yet problems are arising in filling in the growing demand in the industry itself. There are around 166,000 total charities spread across the UK, and approximately 827,000 people are employed in the charity sector in the UK.
While these are non-profit organisations, they are a big piece of the UK economy and have a large spending rate annually, around £40 billion. Their actual contribution to the UK economy stands at approximately £12 billion per year. It's an industry that cannot be ignored but is struggling to grow due to the lack of people who are willing to work in it.
Pay is an issue
Year over year, there's always a larger growth in wages in the private business sector than for charities, simply due to the nature of how revenues are generated. Realised wage growth is actually up a respectable 5.6% for the private sector and only 3.8% for charities, which has them lagging behind year over year. It doesn't mean the pay is terrible, but there is definitely room to grow and expand the salary ranges. Currently, the salaries themselves in the charity sector are just under £27,000, at £26,900. Yet, since the UK seems to be facing a staffing shortage across many industries, it is pushing those highly qualified people to seek out other types of employment, even with only slightly better compensation packages in total.
An excellent career path
Regardless of the wages falling behind, more in the charity sector are working to improve their pay and benefits to help attract the right type of people in the industry. Once someone enters the charity sector, they can quickly see just how rewarding the experience can be. There's a lot more flexibility to the position, and at one point, the average wage of those in the charity section was actually higher back in 2017 than the national average.
Then there's the generous holiday packages that come along with it and the fact that you're able to meet a wide range of people, especially if your charity is international. This can lead to spending time abroad for the position while at the same time doing something that is for the benefit of those that are most in need and obtaining a high level of personal and professional fulfilment. It’s best for those that have a duty of giving back, as well as having a sense of adventure at the same time. Due to the industry in general, job stability has only been reinforced in this sector due to the huge number of candidate positions needing to be filled.
How we can help
We can bring in the right type of bulk recruiting to fill up your charity staffing ranks as quickly as possible. We're also reasonably priced and have specialised pricing models when it comes to charities (www.recruitpedia.co.uk/subscription). We consistently come in at a lower cost than traditional agencies and direct methods of recruiting Standard recruitment agencies themselves tend to hire one at a time and charge per candidate. This can quickly blow up budgets that the charities weren't fully prepped for and have them spend their critical funding on staffing that hasn't even started working in the charity. We understand charities vacancies requirements and work with many charity based organisations across the country and donate on a regular basis. We can help you achieve you the right levels of staffing for your charity at a competitive rate and hire numerous people into your charity at affordable per credit rates quickly.
