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.

literally hundreds? You would have to be doing more than 2 a day to reach hundreds in 3 months - if that is the case you are doing them to fast, no adequate research, care, tailoring your application to the job, etc. Are you knocking them out in a hurry without putting real effort in?

Literally hundreds!

First thing jumping out at me is you are overqualified.

I did an undergraduate degree and got a job straightaway and was employed until taking a career break but only in an industry that you are seen as a commodity.

I would imagine that your line of employment is oversaturated with similar graduates. Too many graduates, not enough jobs.

Maybe try googling. You get product owners all over public sector digital.

heres the home office on their product roles

https://careers.homeoffice.gov.uk/role/digital-data-and-technology/product

I've read through this description and still have no idea what it means to be a product owner (or any of the other job descriptions listed). What product? Is it an IT term as most people think of physical products with that word?

There's so many jobs I read and it all feels like word salad bullshit. Often senior level roles where you sort of don't do anything but they make it sound big? I always feel suspicious if a role can't be explained to others that it's a bit bullshitty 😂. In my sector, anyone could read a job description and understand it. Whereas stuff like "framing needs and setting priorities" with no further context doesn't mean anything at all.

well, a decent application is going to take 4-8 hours to put together, so you are clearly knocking out rushed jobs

It took my non-EU partner (10 years experience and EU masters, but a different field to IT) 2.5 years to get his first job, and only now, 10 years on, he is back at the senior level he was when moving here.

He got his first job by a) doing a UK professional course b) working with a recruiter c) taking a junior role in a hard to recruit part of his professional field and d) taking a job 150 miles from home in a not brilliant part of the country and commuting weekly.

He was clear he wouldn't leave his professional field but compromised on absolutely everything else

After the first job the next applications were all easy.

Just because you don’t understand something, it doesn’t make the job bullshit @Blueey. People who work in the field know exactly what that link is talking about.

You are currently using a digital product to be rude about a question related to the product owner job role.

Here, for example, is a grade 7 CPS product owner role currently being advertised. People who have the skills and experience will know what the job description and person spec means.

https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi?jcode=1879142

@Winniejari applying for civil service jobs is a bit weird and you have to learn to do it. It’s not like applying for any other kind of job in weird ways that trips people who aren’t civil servants up.

@ReadyForPumpkins@KingsleyBorder told you so. I am sorry OP you will be at the mercy of people like Kingsley assuming you don't speak English properly. As PP said though your posts do contain some minor errors but on these sites it's hard to tell as typing on a phone is hard...
OP, have you updated your linkedin profile and put 'open to work'? Have you also had a look for IT recruiters?
They all have their specialities I don't know any product owner recruiters as I am technical but when DH was looking he put open to work and his inbox got flooded.
On LinkedIn you can look at their past posts and see whether it's things you like.
Have you considered contracting?

Also where you applying for these roles which sites?

Also are you on a partner visa or do you have permanent residence?

Have you considered attending tech networking events?

So reading bits of your thread aloud to my husband, who manages several product owners, devs etc. Absolutely there are jobs out there, and yes he knows recruiters in tech in the N Yorkshire area. They are crying out for decent, experienced, qualified people, but a lot of tech employees coming from abroad have salary expectations a lot higher than is typical for a UK role. They also get a lot of very generic CVs, which is no use to a very specalised role requiring niche skills, so make sure you draw out clearly that if it's asking for particular experience you clearly demonstrate that without having to infer it from a wall of text.

Thanks so much for your advice.
Ive got in touch with Purple CV for some help preparing my CV

Looking at IT Jobswatch the figures of perm jobs advertised in the last 6 months UK wide are down at least 50% compared to the same period in the previous two years, e.g
Product Owner jobs 440 (last 6 months) 1,458 (2022) 1,061 (2021)
Test Manager 87, 333, 316
.Net developer 2,268, 4,735, 3,781

Interesting - what does he mean by 'abroad'?
US salaries are a lot higher than the UK but ours are higher than most of Europe in general.
People coming from non-EU countries don't have high expectations generally they're happy to get almost any job as they're on visas.
Of course there also those following their higher earning spouses here who, upon realising how much childcare, nannies etc cost want a high salary to justify working otherwise they'd rather stay home.

well, a decent application is going to take 4-8 hours to put together, so you are clearly knocking out rushed jobs

This... Quality, not quantity is the key to successful job applications.

And there's your answer as to why you're unsuccessful... I've dealt with loads of generic job descriptions over the years that have clearly been produced on en masse with no focus on the actual job being applied for. They never even get shortlisted, let alone offered the job.

What field are you looking for OP? Data analysis/Scientist is an excptionally popular field of study right now and theres a lot of competition out there. If you are going down this route i would highly recommend you set up an online portfolio with free to use data and show your skills. Look at lower grade jobs to get your foot in the door

I am experiencing the same at the moment.
At least over 100 applications for 1 position and hiring managers are shortlisting 30 (!) candidates for the first stage interview. Crazy