ANDOVER is among the best places in Hampshire to land a job, according to a recent study.

Researching the most competitive job markets across the nation, Resume analysed LinkedIn data to see which towns and cities get the most and least applicants per job.

Andover was ranked as the 11th best place in the South East to find a new job and the 49th best in the whole of the UK.

The town has an average of 0.39 daily applicants per job opening, compared to 1.57 daily applicants per job in nearby Basingstoke, making it the fourth highest in the region.

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Farnborough, which was revealed as the hardest place in the South East to get a job, had an average of 2.04 daily applicants per job opening, just ahead of Southampton which had an average of 2.02.

Reading was rated as the fifth hardest place, only slightly behind Basingstoke with 1.54 applicants per job opening, both of which are significantly higher than Andover.

Littlehampton had the lowest average across the South East, with just 0.14 applicants per opening.

London is the most competitive job market across the country, with 11.01 daily applicants per job. At the other end of the scale, Wallasey was found to be the least competitive at just 0.05 daily applicants per opening.

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Career expert at Resume, Amanda Augustine said: "While it’s no surprise to learn that London is home to the most competitive job market in the UK, I was surprised to see how sharp of a drop-off in competition there is between London and the second-most competitive town, Basildon, more than 50 per cent.

"If job seekers wish to live in a city centre and face significantly less competition for work, I strongly recommend looking for vacancies that suit one’s needs outside of London.”

“It’s interesting to see that the least competitive industries are also experiencing ongoing worker shortages. Customer service, care and educational roles are notorious for their ‘thankless’ roles where employees often feel overworked, underappreciated and underpaid.

“Employers in these industries that are struggling to attract top talent should re-examine their recruitment marketing efforts, as well as their corporate policies and culture, to look for areas for improvement.

"If they truly want to improve recruitment and retention rates, it begins with improving the employee experience within their organisations.”