January 2016 is set to be the busiest job seeking day ever, as reed.co.uk  predicts workers will flock to the site in a bid to make a fresh start to their career in the New Year.

2015 ended on a jobs high, as employers geared up for growthin 2016. The latest Job Index data from reed.co.uk reveals a Q4 2015 year-on-year rise in new jobs of 19 percent, and a whopping 172 percent growth since 2009. Massive Monday 2015 (4th January) saw a record 11,500 new jobs added to reed.co.uk, with jobseekers inundating the site with applications between 11am and 12pm. Job applications soared by almost a third  (31 percent) on the previous year, totalling more than 235,000 applications on one single day. Commenting on the latest figures, James Reed, Chairman of reed.co.uk, said: “2015 was anencouraging year for jobs, and as Britain returns to work on ‘Massive Monday’, we expect to see record breaking numbers of new jobseekers and employment opportunities. “After taking time out over Christmas, many of us start January ready for a fresh start and for lots of us that means finding a new job.

The combination of a buoyant jobs market, which saw a 19 percent annual rise in the number of available new jobs in the final quarter of 2015, and the first working day of the New Year, will see record numbers of jobseekers applying for new vacancies. As the Reed Job Index of new opportunities indicates, prospects are positive for 2016, so whether it’s a new challenge, a step up the career ladder or a higher salary, January will be a great time to enter the market for a new job.” In an increasingly candidate driven jobs market, the reed.co.uk Job Index for Q4 2015 stood at 272 points, 19 percent higher than Q4 2014. The top five sectors to fuel growth in 2015 were: 

1.       Training (+49 percent)
2.       Education (+46 percent)
3.       Engineering (+43 percent)
4.       Construction & Property (+39 percent)
5.       Accountancy (+35 percent)

Other sectors boasting strong growth and expected to remain hot for job prospects for 2016 include health and medicine (+27 percent) and manufacturing (+25 percent).