UK job application statistics
Most UK job-application figures come from recycled surveys. These come from primary sources: live job adverts, pulled at scale and counted by hand or by script. Every figure states its sample size and links to the full study. Last updated 23 July 2026.
45 vs 2
Median applications per advert: receptionist against nurse
The median receptionist advert drew about 45 applications. The median nursing advert drew 2. A fifteen to twenty-fold gap in competition between roles people assume are easy to get and roles people assume are hard.
6%
of UK job adverts ask for a degree
Only 6% of adverts mention a degree, and many of those add "or equivalent". What usually gates a UK job is a professional qualification or a background check, not a university degree.
2.6%
of adverts name an applicant tracking system
Only 2.6% named an actual applicant tracking system such as Workday or NHS Jobs. Among adverts that say how to apply, two thirds point to a person rather than a portal. Automated screening is real, but it concentrates in the NHS, the public sector and large corporates.
395 words
is the length of the median UK job advert
Two thirds of adverts run under 500 words. The job description you are tailoring against is usually shorter than the CV you send back.
16%
of care adverts ask for no previous experience
The highest proportion we measured in any sector. Care work is one of the least contested and most open doors in the UK labour market right now.
209 vs 5
new adverts arriving on a Monday against a Sunday
New vacancies cluster hard at the start of the week. Searching on a Monday or Tuesday puts you in front of the freshest adverts, when the queue for each one is shortest.
Cite this page
All figures are free to use in articles and reports with attribution to Sausage Dog. Copy the citation below, or email hello@sausagedog.io for the underlying breakdowns.
Sausage Dog, UK Job Application Statistics 2026, https://sausagedog.io/uk-job-application-statistics
Common questions
How many applications does the average UK job get?
It varies enormously by role. In our read of 1,657 live UK adverts, the median receptionist advert drew about 45 applications while the median nursing advert drew 2. Competition is driven far more by how many people can do the job than by how hard the job is.
What are the most competitive jobs to apply for in the UK?
Entry-level office roles. Receptionist, administrator and warehouse roles consistently draw the most applications per advert. Nursing, teaching and care roles draw the fewest, despite being harder jobs to do.
Do most UK jobs require a degree?
No. Only 6% of the 5,012 UK adverts we analysed asked for a degree, and many of those said "or equivalent". A professional qualification or a background check gates far more UK jobs than a university degree does.
Do UK employers use applicant tracking systems to screen CVs?
Less than most people think. Only 2.6% of adverts named an applicant tracking system. Automated screening is concentrated in the NHS, the wider public sector and large corporate employers. For most frontline and trade jobs, a person reads your CV first.
How the data is collected
Smaller studies (100 to 300 adverts) are read and counted by hand. Larger ones come from live pulls of job board data, counted with phrase matching we publish in each study. We report medians rather than averages where adverts vary widely, we never mix numbers between different job boards, and we never reproduce advert text, only aggregate statistics.
Why we collect it: Sausage Dog tailors CVs against real job adverts, so knowing what UK adverts actually say is the product. See the full research index for every study behind these numbers.