To think there are no jobs in the UK?

[Winniejari]

I have applied for hundreds of jobs over the course of three months. I have a masters of business and bachelor degree in computer science. Ive had over ten years experience in asia and europe and feel so down about getting nothing. What am I doing wrong?
Ive extended my job search to literally anywhere in the UK.
Ive heard nothing! Ive had one interview where i got to the final round and nope!
Does anyone else have this problem? Is it just the IT sector? How to get around it?

It makes you feel so unconfident when your inbox is just filled with rejection after rejection.

Is English your first language? She said very clearly that she is Thai!

That doesn't automatically mean that English is a second language.
I take 'first language' here to mean your most fluent spoken language rather than literal first.
Many people in other countries are multilingual especially if they went to private/international school. Can't pick a 'first' language they speak a few with equal fluency.

Or if it's a former British colony like mine we learn English at school and have an abundance of English media. I consider it a first language along with my country's native language. I think, dream and swear in both.

PP made a good point though for non-technical/'business' roles people are picky about command of the language. Especially as English is so widely spoken there will be plenty of other good candidates.

Indeed. Thank you.

You asked the language question without saying that you were aware she was from a non-English-speaking country. I simply do not believe that you has read the part where she said she was Thai, no matter how much @ImADevYo ties themselves up in knots trying to make excuses for you.

How offensive.
You are extremely racist and ignorant to assume someone's linguistic capabilities based on their country of origin. if you think that challenging your assumptions = 'tying myself up in knots' then educate yourself. Especially as I'm from a South East Asian country , have lived, worked and travelled extensively in the region. Plenty of people are multilingual. Not sure what your qualifications are to make such sweeping statements.

@ILikeStrictly did not assume. Fair enough.

I'm a software developer and most companies are dying for more devs/BAs/QAs if that's what you are going for? Need to be more specific than IT,

I posted too soon i.e. didn't read your updates, apologies, you been to any girlgeek events or tech meetups? whoever is sponsoring is usually looking; have a look on meetup/google etc, there will be one in your city; a recommendation can get you far; you know more about the company etc

So a product owner is a producer?
Friend is a games producer.

I lived in SE Asia for a decade and spent a lot of time in Thailand, including for work. I know many very highly-educated Thais and it is not the same as being from Hong Kong, Singapore or Malaysia in terms of the way that one might be educated in English and truly bilingual to the extent that they do not consider Thai to be their “first” language. .But do please crack on with your superiority complex if it makes you feel better.

It's you who has the superiority complex for jumping on PP 😂 and for assuming that just because you don't know anybody who is a truly multilingual Thai person they don't exist.

I know plenty and as I'm not just an expat, was born,raised and worked in South East Asia but clearly I know less than you who just 'lived there' for a decade who knows how long ago. I never assumed either way I said they 'might' be but your mistake was going ahead and assuming the are definitely not multilingual.

Never assume. That's the main point. Nothing wrong with asking. If you'd said this in real life you'd be considered prejudiced and rightly so.

To me, looking at jobserve there are a lot less IT roles than there was this time last year. Every single role I see on LinkedIn has over 100 applicants.

In April I was made redundant along with a number of colleague, it took me 250 applications to land a short term contract role and some of my colleagues haven't had so much as an interview since then and they are good at what they do my contract is coming to an end and I have applied for about 50 jobs in the last couple of weeks and had had one phone call in response.

The market is even worse now than it was back in April - but if you have a niche skillset / experience you may be lucky.

Definitely try and tailor your CV to each application otherwise you'll be screened out before your CV ever reaches a human. There's a youtube channel called lifeafterlayoff by a recruiter which gives lots of good advice on CV's and jobhunting.

Depends what you want to do in IT. I would say that you need to be really targeted to a company, role and area with every application. It's not necessary right or fair but where I work if someone had a foreign sounding name, lived across the country and had a patchy or overseas work experience they wouldn't be top of the list, it's wrong because it should be done on skills but number one tip of job hunting is that it's not done on skills. You have to make your application match the specific job and in reality the hiring decision maker is very likely to be British, middle aged and underqualified so that's your audience! Copy the jargon in the job ad. Secondly, so many applications these days ask you to fill in how well you meet certain situations and competencies. If it's not in the right box they will not look at your CV instead or another box instead. Persevere as there are jobs out there. If you're applying for a city far from where you live it makes recruiters nervous so I'd start local and work out from there. Good luck though!

@lljkk i wouldn't say a product owner is a producer; producer plans how to execute the vision; POs own 'agile' processes bit more adminey; may influence what direction you go in with the product; speaking on behalf of my own company they don't tend to advertise for POs externally; i wonder if you don't tick the right market experience for jobs

I used to be an internal recruiter in IT.

First thing in your circumstances is all the soft stuff at top of CV - are you already in the UK with a uK address, and your visa situation highlighted. Only certain areas of IT have shortages and if yours isn't particularly a shortage area, you won't be top of the list without UK experience if I'm honest- and certainly not if you aren't already in the UK.

Just a product owner job generally in the digital/IT team of a government service like this:
https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi?SID=cGFnZWFjdGlvbj12aWV3dmFjYnlqb2JsaXN0JnNlYXJjaHBhZ2U9MSZ1c2Vyc2VhcmNoY29udGV4dD01NDc1OTkxMiZvd25lcj01MDcwMDAwJnNlYXJjaHNvcnQ9c2NvcmUmb3duZXJ0eXBlPWZhaXImcGFnZWNsYXNzPUpvYnMmam9ibGlzdF92aWV3X3ZhYz0xODgwODEyJnJlcXNpZz0xNjk3ODM3NTYwLTJkZTM2ZTRiN2MyMjA5MGU5M2I1NDA1NzhjYTNiOWM3NTBiZTgyNGQ=

https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi?SID=b3duZXJ0eXBlPWZhaXImam9ibGlzdF92aWV3X3ZhYz0xODc5MTQyJnBhZ2VjbGFzcz1Kb2JzJnVzZXJzZWFyY2hjb250ZXh0PTU0NzU5OTEyJnBhZ2VhY3Rpb249dmlld3ZhY2J5am9ibGlzdCZzZWFyY2hwYWdlPTEmc2VhcmNoc29ydD1zY29yZSZvd25lcj01MDcwMDAwJnJlcXNpZz0xNjk3ODM3NTYwLTJkZTM2ZTRiN2MyMjA5MGU5M2I1NDA1NzhjYTNiOWM3NTBiZTgyNGQ=

Sorry that was a reply to @ClaraBourne

@ImADevYo the difference I think @KingsleyBorder sees in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia is a significant portion of the population being foreign educated. It’s especially prevalent in middle classes. Many people send their kids to British boarding schools, and many more are returnee migrants from Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Thailand does not have a large return migrant population. Many in this category are educated in a native language environment from teenage.

I finished my last contract 3 months ago and just got a new one this week.
And it wasn't advertised, a friend suggested me.

The market has been tough, barely got a call back for applications. Funny though once I said yes to this job, two other interviews came through.

Hang in there. I've found a lot of recruitment agents lost their jobs during covid and have had to track down new contacts for agencies I've worked through in the past to get the jobs they have on my LinkedIn feed.

It's been quite weird seeing all these personal trainer and caterer stories (not knowing any of either) and realising it was the new careers of agents.

Make sure your cv includes specifically the words referenced in the adverts. A lot of internal recruiters don’t specialise (we have 50,000 employees and recruiters are regional not subject based). They won’t have the knowledge to extrapolate from your cv so tailor it to the terms in the advert.
look for agencies who specialise in your area and approach the recruiters directly, even if they’re not currently advertising a role. Recruiters want to provide good quality candidates as soon as possible so make the connection and they will approach you.

Second the other points on making clear that you have right to work and fluency in multiple languages if all your experience is non-uk. If you’re not currently resident in uk you should make it clear that you are relocating anyway and not looking for company to organise that. There are multiple applicants for each job so recruiters look for ways to cut the pile down.

Thank you so much for your advice.
I am bilingual, I can speak English similar to a native and Thai native but I realise this may put employers off as they think Im from Asia and cant speak.
I have a UK address and my partner is British so thats how I have my long term visa.
Can any one reccomend some good IT recruiters in Yorkshire or London?

Register with all the agencies you can - not just one or two. A 'good' agency is the one which gets you the job.

Also get a native English speaker to proof read your cv, just to check it reads smoothly.

It is hard to get a job at the moment - because of the cost of living crisis just about everybody is looking for a job that pays better. What this means is that recruiters are getting lots of cvs, so can pick exactly the right experience. Keep going. There are lots of good suggestions on the thread.

I have definitely experienced this in multiple countries. As I said in my previous post, the first job in a new country is the toughest. It’s not unique to the uk. But it is certainly a real struggle and that is with having an ‘english’ name on the cv. I think once an employer knows someone else has had confidence in you the next one will feel more confident.

make sure your cover letter matches the job description and is tailored to respond to it.

In your role I would definitely be making use of your contacts in LinkedIn and really harvest them.

I wish you all the best of luck in finding a role which is appropriate for you, and sorry to hear how difficult it is proving to be.

Computing Teachers are desperately needed, and you receive a £30,000 tax free bursary to train as one, if you’re considering retraining to do something else? The course is a year long.

IT sector is laying off people or recruit newbies form unis who come in at low salaries, many big ones are cutting back on staff- over 100 are going to find out on Monday they have lost their jobs in one. While IT sector is attractive, working from home etc- they have now so much choice competition. I know a lady who emigrated from SA to work in the UK on a gov project, its time for a visa renewal and rather than support this womans work visa they let her go saying its cheaper for them to get a new person.

YABVU to think there is no jobs in the UK