The  "great resignation” discussion continues to bring attention to a labor market in flux and changing expectations among workers and employers, according to new research from CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the information technology (IT) industry and workforce.

CompTIA’s latest “Job Seeker Trends” find that approximately 30% of survey respondents reported pursuing a new job or career change in the past three months (Q4 2021). That’s a slight uptick from the CompTIA’s previous survey of job seekers conducted six months ago. The top five occupation categories of interest among Job Seekers:

1. Sales, Marketing, Retail, Real Estate or Related
2. Healthcare or Medical or Related
3. Hospitality, Food, Travel, Tourism or Related
4. Information Technology (IT) or Related
5. Business, Financial, Accounting, Analyst, Operations or Related

“These findings confirm there is also a great resetting of expectations underway as workers and employers seek better models for reskilling, talent matching and career navigation,” said Todd Thibodeaux, CompTIA president and CEO. “We continue to see some of the most interesting experimentation in the tech workforce space with a wide range of efforts to meet the growing demand for tech talent.”

Among current job seekers 61% said they have looked at new opportunities in a different career field and 63% have searched for jobs within their current or most recent career field. The findings are consistent across gender, age and education demographics.

Interest in Tech Jobs Grows, Wanes for Other Occupations

The survey data suggests the IT occupation category experienced the highest rate of positive change in job seekers’ interest (+7 percentage points) vs. the June 2021 research wave. Other notable growth categories include the Business, Financial, Accounting, Analyst or Operations category (+4 points) and the Education, Teaching or Instruction category (+4 points). Conversely, the Hospitality, Food, Travel and Tourism category experienced the highest reversal in interest (-6 percentage points), along with the Transportation, Drivers, or Material Moving category (-5 points).

A majority of job seekers expects to need additional training when transitioning into a new career field, though a relatively small subset reported they have taken a training class or other instruction (19%). Among planned activities reported by job seekers, 60% intend to take an online training course, 50% said they’ll do self-study and 41% reported interest in an in-person training course.

“Offering employees opportunities to develop new skills and identifying pathways to advancement have always been best practices, but in today’s hiring environment they are paramount,” Thibodeaux said. “Supporting the career aspirations of employees is the best way to unlock their future potential. Failing to do so is a sure way to motivate them to look at other employment options.”

CompTIA’s “Job Seeker Trends” is based on a quantitative research study of 1,119 adults in the U.S. labor force encompassing individuals who are currently employed or actively looking for work. Data was weighted to approximate the makeup of the U.S. workforce based on gender, educational attainment, age race and region. The survey was conducted by Morning Consult in mid-January. The full report is available at https://www.comptia.org/content/research/job-seeker-trends/.