New figures have revealed that 40% of Fife Council’s advertised job vacancies were filled by existing staff in the year to May 2025.

Freedom of Information data shows that for the period 1st May 2024 to 1st May 2025, 59.48% of newstarts were external to the Council, with 40.52% of jobs taken by internal candidates.

During the period, Fife Council advertised more than 2,458 positions (although some adverts had more than one role available).

Figures shared during a recent Cabinet Committee also shed more light on the Council’s workforce, demonstrating that 1,985 people had left the Council in the previous year. The figures also showed 90% of the workforce are on permanent contracts, 72% were female and 52% worked full time. The average age of the workforce is 45.8 years old.

The figures taken together indicate that in the past year, possibly 16% of the 18,411 workforce (15,000 FTE) left the Council or changed jobs, that’s 1 in 6 workers.

Figures detailing the split of internal and external recruitment were not mentioned in the cabinet paper to councillors.

But it was the low number of young people in the workforce that caught the eye of one local councillor, with just 6.1% of the 18,000 employees being under 25 years of age.

This is something Cllr Rosemary Liewald (SNP) questioned during the meeting, asking “I am looking to understand why few young people are joining or staying with us and I am wondering, is this due to limited progression after apprenticeships, or a stronger pull from the private sector, or other barriers?”

Nicola Harris, HR lead officer at the council said: “There’s work going on behind the scenes where we try and look at a slightly different approach to our promotion of these opportunities in relation to approaching these young people.”

“So, soon we are going to be trying to work closely with developing the young workforce to try and have more impact within schools in terms of people making those choices about their next steps and we are also consideing how we can perhaps change our content on social media etc so that we are more aligned with the platforms that young people might be using.”

Fife Council have held a number of popular recruitment fairs in recent years to encourage locals into jobs across a range of departments and skill types, with events held recently in Kirkcaldy and the Maxwell Centre, Cowdenbeath.

What’s your experience of applying for a job with Fife Council? Share your thoughts and experiences on social media or email us at news@radiocowdenbeath.scot

Freedom of Information details from FCIR: 58332