To feel like looking for work is like getting into a medieval siege town

[scaryclown]

With the people in jobs hunkering down and defending all evil attacks from suspicious outsiders?

I am SO SICK of having people 'help' by saying ''why don't you understand your skills more' or 'have you tried re-writing your CV'.. which to me feels like marching my troops up and down outside the walls, only to run them a bit harder into the walls over and over again.

Does anyone know a drain or a well I can climb into?

How do I translate my overt approach into a ninja spy attack?
(don't say wear black - I did that with some blueshirts and they were visibly frightened!)

Agree with you OP.. I think a lot of us with employment don't realise how lucky we are at the moment, just to have a job. Although a lot of people are in jobs which suck, or are low-paid, or zero hours contracts..they are often better than the alternative.
Sorry, I don't have any ideas about how you can sell yourself better, or come across in the way employers are looking for, but I'm sure someone will be along soon.
Don't give up trying OP

Yanbu. What about getting some agency work until you find something more permanent? That's how i got my fixed term contract.

What industry are to tying to find work in?

It's cut throat everywhere at the min, essentially you need to be the one who can shine above the rest with your skill set.

I've applied for over 1000 jobs via agencies in the last three weeks. Two interviews, both wall of silence.

Able to do all those jobs with eyes shut, and about 1/3 said they were desperate for immediate start.

What is your experience? Are you looking at a particular type of role?

Can you iron? If so you're on easy street if current threads show anything.

Give Brexit, no wonder people are hanging on to jobs.

I'm a careers adviser- happy to give you CV feedback if you want.

I'd also say that 1000 jobs in a couple weeks might be too scattergun in approach - my normal advice to people is spend more time making fewer focussed applications

If you're wanting work, any work (as its easier to get a job, when you're in a job) then try a supply agency and be a supply cover supervisor. They are always desperate for fresh meat, and no experience necessary...

YANBU, I was job hunting for ages and I swear I'd got to the point where if one more person said 'have you tried re-writing your CV' they were likely to end up eating my fucking CV.

What sort of work are you after? I found applying through agencies wasn't getting me anywhere and had better luck looking on the vacancies bit on the websites of places I wanted to work and applying that way, no idea if that works the same in all lines of work though.

I'm in exactly the same situation. I've been sahm for getting on 15 years but I've volunteered all over the place, taken refresher courses and started studying business friendly courses online. Ive never not been doing something.

I get a better response from employers directly than agencies. Agencies never see outside the box.

1 job I applied for wanted CILEX qualifications. I have the original ILEX qualification before they became a 'chartered profession' the agency refused to forward my cv because I didn't have the qualification the employer wanted.

This will only get worse with the new gcse grading. An employer will ask for grade 7,8 or 9 but you have an A so your application wont be considered

Another attitude I've come across which has baffled me is the assumption that I have forgotten everything I have ever done in the workplace. I'm genuinely confused by this as having 30 year old gcses is a sign of your ability but not working for 15 years means you have forgotten everything

Keep going, forget agencies theyre just cv collectors, go direct to big company websites theyre more likely to read your cv and decide if you have transferable skills.

DH has been looking for work since January when he was dismissed (that'd be a whole other thread as employment tribunal rumbling on).

I thought the dismissal would be the real blocker but it turns out despite years of experience he can't even get a foot in the door anywhere.

Like pp have said he's applied for hundreds of jobs, both through Reed / LinkedIn etc and direct to companies, he's targeted his CV and gone for jobs he could do in his sleep as well as those that would stretch him.

He's been invited for interviews for two jobs out of all those. Both said they weren't worried by the dismissal and both were the higher salary, more stretching end of what he'd been applying for (financial sector). One gave him three interviews but ultimately he was unsuccessful.

We're both starting to panic now as we never thought he would be out of work this long. As most of the jobs don't even bother to come back to you much less give any feedback, it's dreadfully hard to work out where to try and adapt or improve.

I'm really sorry, but I'm going to suggest looking at your cv again. If you've applied for 1000 jobs recently then that suggests you're not tailoring your cv to the job description. Often they will literally compare your cv to the job description and if it doesn't match up then you're in the no pile. I believe sometimes they even use software that looks for key words/phrases.

Also, are you just emailing a cv, or have you been in and registered with an agency? The latter is often far better - an emailed cv is sometimes just used as a data mining exercise.

I had my CV rewritten by professional company and that made huge difference in getting interview fir jobs I am after.

(or rather was) as the last time I was looking was a year ago and am not looking to change.