Since ChatGPT was released in November 2022, companies have turbocharged adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within their operations.
With the help of chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini and Jasper, experts across every industry are using generative AI as a copilot to help speed up or improve their output.
Now, AI skills are becoming core skills UK employers are seeking when hiring new staff. And they are increasingly looking for candidates with AI skills and experience for roles outside of the traditional tech fields, and asking for expertise in a growing number of non-technical roles too.
To reveal the scale of the trend, our Adzuna data gurus analysed the demand for AI-related skills across UK job vacancies, and this is what they found.
Nearly 8,000 non-technical jobs look for AI skills
In July 2024, 26,770 advertised positions asked for AI skills, accounting for a significant 3.1% of total jobs in the UK.
While the actual number of job vacancies asking for AI skills has slipped slightly compared to a year ago in line with the overall hiring slowdown (with AI jobs down -9.0% from 29,409 jobs in July ‘23), the proportion of jobs asking for AI acumen has grown +0.32% annually.
Demand for AI skills is here to stay. Not only that, but the call for AI prowess is spreading to non-technical sectors too. About a third of AI job openings were outside IT, Engineering, and Scientific & QA. There were 7,831 advertised AI jobs outside tech-heavy industries in July, the highest level this year.
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The data also uncovered that average advertised salaries of AI-related jobs grew +6.5% year-over-year to £66,658 in July 2024. That’s a whopping £28,000 more than the national average salary of £38,835!
Even non-technical roles that use AI see a wage boost, with roles asking for AI skills outside of the IT, Engineering, and Scientific & QA industries boasting average advertising salaries of £57,250.
Read more: Top 4 free AI tools to use for job searchThe top 5 sectors outside tech asking for AI skills
While the majority of AI openings still sit within IT (52%) and Engineering (16%), a huge 7,831 openings were in non-technical sectors. So who are the early adopters? Let’s take a look.
PR, Advertising & Marketing
Proportion of advertised vacancies requiring AI skills: 8.6%
Topping the non-technical charts, a huge 1,327 jobs in PR, Advertising & Marketing asked for AI acumen in July, making it the second highest sector behind IT.
AI is already being used widely within this industry, from helping generate creative ideas, to crafting basic copy or marketing templates for editing, measuring results, or even for drafting minutes from client meetings. It’s a huge time saver, especially in an agency setting where marketers can be juggling multiple clients at once.
Creative & Design
Proportion of advertised vacancies requiring AI skills: 4.9%
You only have to open a stock image site to notice that many images are now being generated by AI.
Where setting up a photoshoot to find the perfect image used to be timely and costly, now creatives can just ask AI to do the heavy lifting. Similarly, generative AI is helping speed up repetitive (and often boring) design tasks. What a win!
Consultancy
Proportion of advertised vacancies requiring AI skills: 4.0%
Consultants are often brought into organisations to help boost their productivity, manage change, or transform their operations. They take the role of experts, advising companies on the right paths to take.
With many organisations looking at how they can better adopt AI to boost their business outputs, it’s hardly surprising that AI knowledge and skills are in demand among consultants. After all, it’s important to be able to practise what you preach!
Accounting & Finance
Proportion of advertised vacancies requiring AI skills: 3.4%
A total of 1,739 Accounting & Finance openings asked for AI acumen in July. Again, the new technology is an efficient way of speeding up tedious tasks like data entry, invoice processing, or reconciliations. What’s more, using AI for these tasks can help remove human error from the process.
Sales
Proportion of advertised vacancies requiring AI skills: 3.3%
Sales comes in as the fifth non-technical sector requiring AI skills, with 1,989 job vacancies specifying a need for AI in July.
As well as helping sales pros automate mundane tasks, AI can be used to quickly surface insights about prospective sales targets, allowing a tailored (and hopefully more successful) sales patter.
Sectors with the biggest AI openings, July 2024
| Sector | Number of advertised AI jobs, July ‘24 | The proportion of advertised AI jobs in the sector, July ‘24 |
|---|---|---|
| IT | 13,979 | 19.3% |
| PR, Advertising & Marketing | 1,327 | 8.6% |
| Scientific & QA | 612 | 7.8% |
| Engineering | 4,348 | 5.6% |
| Creative & Design | 181 | 4.9% |
| Consultancy | 362 | 4.0% |
| Accounting & Finance | 1,739 | 3.4% |
| Sales | 1,989 | 3.3% |
| Graduate | 243 | 3.0% |
| HR & Recruitment | 268 | 2.9% |
| Legal | 216 | 1.4% |
| Admin | 225 | 1.0% |
| Trade & Construction | 239 | 0.7% |
So there we have it! AI adoption is spreading fast among every industry. And when it comes to getting a new role, jobseekers that can demonstrate their skills are standing out from the competition.
As a business that loves to use AI to create helpful tools for jobseekers like Prepper and ValueMyCV, and our newest addition, ApplyIQ, we would encourage you to experiment with using AI in your day job and see how it can support you. You never know, your AI skills could help you land your next job!
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