Edinburgh & the Edinburgh Jobs Market
Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is recognised as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and offers a diverse range of job opportunities. Edinburgh has a population of around 800,000, making it a busy and vibrant city yet still retaining the feel of a large town. Edinburgh offers a wide range of living accommodation and great travel connections the rest of Scotland, London and the UK as it has good road, rail, and sea links as well as Scotland’s largest international airport.
For more information on current jobs in Edinburgh, by sector, click below:
Key Employers and Job Sectors in Edinburgh
With Edinburgh being ranked as the second largest financial centre in the UK, after London, and the sixth largest financial centre in Europe, Edinburgh has many banking jobs, Finance & insurance jobs which, in turn, results in many IT jobs and related Administration jobs and Clerical jobs to choose from. There is also a relatively large Retail sector with the Advertising & Creative, Construction, Call & Contact Sector and Tourism sectors also offering a range of job opportunities.
Major employers in Edinburgh and the surrounding areas include Standard Life, Lloyds TSB Group, Sun Microsystems, Sky Television, Sykes, RBS, Edinburgh Council, West Lothian Council, Forth Ports Plc, Scottish Widows and AEGON UK. Retail is a growth sector for jobs in Edinburgh, fuelled by the development of new shopping malls around Edinburgh and the growth of premium shopping areas in central Edinburgh.
Edinburgh is the most prosperous UK city outside London with 34 per cent of Edinburgh's population qualified to degree level, making the city's workforce one of the most highly qualified in the UK. Unemployment in Edinburgh has been consistently and significantly below the Scottish average for several years and, although affected by the recent downturn in the financial sector will continue to perform better than the Scottish and UK average.
Why Live & Work in Edinburgh
Edinburgh is home to Scotland's most visited tourist attraction - Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, combining a medieval old town, Georgian terraces and breathtaking modern architecture. Quality of life once you have got your Edinburgh job is great, Edinburgh is consistently ranked as one of best locations to live and work in quality of life surveys. Edinburgh?
From the distinctive cobbled medieval closes (narrow alleys) of the old town around the castle to the wide Georgian streets of the New Town (built in the 18th century) this city of 450,000 people exudes history but is also highly contemporary and fashionable with innovative new housing developments complementing the ancient heritage. Surprisingly for a major capital, Edinburgh is a very walk able and extremely family friendly city. It is also very easy to commute from the city to other work destinations such as Livingston, Fife and Glasgow.
The city itself centres round the twin parallel axes of the Royal Mile, which stretches from the Castle down to Holyrood Palace, and Princes Street, the main shopping thoroughfare. These are separated by the dramatic gorge of Princes Street Gardens. It offers neighbourhoods that range from the very up-market Corstorphine and Morningside, very green and featuring houses built of traditional sandstone, to the idyllic fishing village feel of Cramond, to the port of Leith, whose canals, docks, tall narrow houses and maze of little streets recalls Amsterdam.
Edinburgh, offers the complete retail experience from malls to idiosyncratic small shops and boutiques around the Royal Mile and the Grass Market as well as more traditional high street shopping on Princes Street, the main thoroughfare in the city.
In the last couple of years many vast, modern retail malls have been built in the city including those at Ocean Terminal in Leith, the Gyle, and Cameron Toll. These contrast with Jenners on Princes Street, the oldest independent department store in the world. Harvey Nichols, the famously chic department store in London’s Knightsbridge, has also opened its only Scottish branch in the capital’s St Andrew’s Square so fans of designer names like Donna Karan, Prada, YSL, Dolce & Gabbana, Paul Smith and more can shop until they drop. Harvey Nicks (as the store is known) has recently been joined by another famous neighbour, Louis Vuitton, which has opened its luxury branded goods store in the city.
Food shopping is a joy. Not only are all the major supermarket chains well represented in the city but it boasts an excellent range of specialist butchers, greengrocers, fishmongers and delicatessens in popular local shopping areas such as Stockbridge and Morningside.