Many companies are struggling to keep up with the rapidly changing business landscape right now, with some having to shut down stores and branches, lay off workers or dramatically readjust their strategies because of the coronavirus pandemic. Yet demand for essential goods and services is still high and the UK's biggest supermarkets, medical providers and the armed forces are hiring up to thousands of new recruits to meet it. Click or scroll through to see who is recruiting in numbers in the UK right now.

The British Army is the largest apprenticeship provider in the UK and there are more than 80,000 soldiers in the country. The force is constantly looking for fresh recruits, but is also advertising for more than 100 roles with prior experience, ranging from technicians and engineers to musicians.

In a similar vein, the Royal Navy also has more than 100 jobs currently live on its website. New recruits without any prior experience are also very welcome, with the organisation continuing to enlist people throughout the pandemic. The assessment process has changed to ensure that it is COVID-19 secure, including fitness tests being carried out via Zoom.

More than 140 UK-based jobs are currently waiting to be filled at the world’s best-known social media giant. Facebook usage and revenue have continued to increase throughout the pandemic, putting it in good stead to weather the virus that is proving fatal to other businesses. The company’s success has also been reflected in founder Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth, which has almost doubled since April this year and currently sits at $101.5 billion (£77.4bn).

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Ocado describes itself as “the world’s largest dedicated online grocery retailer”, and provides groceries to households across England and Wales. The company recently came into the spotlight after its partnership with M&S led to swathes of orders coming in – so many in fact that some orders had to be cancelled due to lack of capacity. Business is certainly booming, and as a result Ocado is currently looking to hire around 180 people in the UK.

Lidl was hiring up and down the UK at the peak of the pandemic, and took on around 2,500 temporary workers. The supermarket chain isn’t letting up on the recruitment front, and is still looking for new people to join the company, including cleaners, warehouse workers, fishmongers and customer assistants. There are more than 180 jobs currently listed on Lidl’s website, with full-time and part-time positions available.

As one of the many companies racing to find a COVID-19 vaccine, it’s unsurprising that AstraZeneca is looking for more hands to help with the effort. The pharmaceutical company is currently hiring for more than 200 UK-based positions. The vaccine currently being trialled by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford is thought to be one of the most promising in the world, with the UK Government having already ordered 100 million doses.

Professional services company Deloitte has offices all over the world, and is looking to take on more than 240 new team members across its UK operations. The 'Big Four' accounting firm has been providing services relating to assurance, consulting and tax for more than 150 years, and although coronavirus has caused uncertainty in the sector, it has fared better than many during the crisis.

Supermarket chain Morrisons has almost 500 stores across the UK, and a lot of them want to take on new members of staff. There are currently more than 250 positions looking to be filled on the company’s website, including home delivery drivers, engineers, and florists. Morrisons started out as a market stall in Bradford, and has expanded to the point that it now has 97,000 employees.

Supermarkets had record sales during lockdown, with panic buying leaving shelves empty. Iceland alone hired an additional 3,000 members of staff to cope with extra demand. While shoppers have now returned to more normal purchasing habits, the frozen food chain is still looking to expand, and nearly 400 jobs are currently up for grabs on the company’s website. 

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Another UK-based supermarket doing well through the pandemic is Co-Op, which is opening 50 new stores across Great Britain. Around 1,000 new members of staff are needed to get the supermarkets up and running, as well as to expand more than 100 stores to the tune of £130 million. This is the company’s second big recruitment drive of 2020, after it took on an additional 1,000 members of staff at the peak of lockdown. Co-Op currently employs 55,000 people across the UK.

Next currently has nearly 1,500 vacancies listed online, despite having warned that sales would drop “faster and steeper” than anticipated as a result of the pandemic. The positions on offer are a mix of temporary and permanent roles, and seasonal jobs are also likely to crop up as we head towards the festive period.

Amazon has really thrived during the pandemic, pushing founder and CEO Jeff Bezos well ahead of the crowd financially with an incredible net worth of $189.8 billion (£144.7bn). The boom has had a positive effect on those looking for work at Amazon too, with 7,000 permanent UK-based jobs announced at the beginning of September. 

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The NHS has sought to increase medical staff numbers during the COVID-19 outbreak, with thousands of retired nurses, midwives and doctors having re-joined the workforce. While the country has moved on from the peak of lockdown, the NHS is still looking to recruit. The service’s website currently has nearly 14,000 live jobs, including qualified medical professionals and COVID-19 test workers to executive and clerical positions.

The UK’s largest supermarket with a 27% share of the market, Tesco is still on a recruitment drive thanks to its continued success throughout the pandemic. The company recently announced that it was creating another 16,000 jobs in the UK to accommodate its surge in online shoppers, in addition to the 20,000 positions the supermarket was hiring for back in March. Tesco has also streamlined the application process, meaning that applicants can have an interview and get the job in just one day.

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