The job market is the worst it's been in my memory?

[deeleyj]

Aibu to think the job market is the worst it's been in my memory?

It's brutal out there.

I feel completely stuck in a job I hate because a) there's not much out there b) companies I fancy are making constant cuts c) the jobs that are there pay half what I'm on now d) each job that's left has about 100 applicants e) hiring freezes in my industry

Will it ever get better? Or is this it? Is this a knock on from Covid? Or AI?

I'm feeling really awful about it and just feel completely stuck. People around me saying I should be grateful. All my mates in my company have been made redundant over the last year. I'm just keeping my head down.

It's not just my sector. My town had a huge employer and used to employ half the town. I just searched their website, not a single open role.

I read a story the other day about a lady applying for a dentistry degree, straight A student... didn't get a place as there just isn't the funding or places available.

I swear it's never been this bad and i just can't see it getting better

It's not the worst it's ever been by a long shot. I remember the recession of the 80's and the crash in the city caused by collapse of Lehrman Bros etc .

At the start of the pandemic I worked supporting undergraduates to secure placement years jobs. In the space of 2 weeks in mid-March 2020 80% of our existing live vacancies were cancelled by employers. We had 0 number of new vacancies and I had an inbox full of students in despair because professional jobs they had already secured for the summer were suddenly scrapped. We went from being rushed off our feet to having virtually nothing.

I'm not currently job seeking so I can't say how bad it is currently but I doubt it's as bad as in 2020.

@TeamPolin It depends what sector you are in. The collapse of Lehman Brothers had no real impact in my sector. Brexit had a significant negative impact.

I’d just got UB 40 One on Ten as my earworm, then l found your post..

One in 10 of the population were unemployed in the early 80’s.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

And now it's my earworm 😂

😂😂😂

Sorry!

Biotech is recruiting massively. DH had a chat last week with a senior bod at AstraZeneca - he said they’re aiming to double in size (recruitment-wise) by 2030.

There’s definitely a dearth of senior roles. DH left his job in December and despite sending out dozens of applications, networking and attending relevant jobs fairs he’s yet to secure a formal interview. His skill set is quite niche but he’s been doing courses, including on AI and Change Management, to boost his CV. We’re lucky that we have savings and my job to rely on while he’s not working but we’ve both been surprised by how slow the jobs market is.

Realistically, those sort of non-teaching school term only jobs are rare as hens teeth and there is absolutely no need for them to pay a large salary to get someone to do the job. Likewise, in small towns, local government jobs are very highly prized if there aren't very many other employers there so it isn't going to pay well.

Sad but true.

Could you commute to London a couple of days a week? At what point are the kids all in schools etc? Can your partner/kids' dad do wrap around for a couple of days a week?

If you are in a place with only one major employer, then you really need to be able to commute in order to have a range of decent employment options unfortunately.

This really isn't the worst time ever to be looking for a job (unemployment rate still low by historic standards) but it isn't a great time and so if you are restricting yourself to fully remote only, that is a challenge.

My advice as someone facing similar difficulties:

• keep an eye out (daily email notification) for the jobs suitable for you and apply for them within the first 24 hrs
• consider commuting to London up to twice a week

good luck! don’t give up!

OP this isn’t about the jobs market really is it. It’s about you feeling a bit restless in your current career and wanting a change - and being a bit frustrated because a career change means starting at the bottom again. Which you can’t really afford to do, because you’ve reached a certain level in your current role which you’ve invested years in to achieve.

I completely understand. I work in banking, I’ve worked in banking for over 25yrs. It bores me to tears, but I’m pretty good at it, at a relatively senior level and it funds our lifestyle. It doesn’t interest me like it did 25yrs ago, there’s no passion there anymore, but it pays well, I can WFH 3 days a week, the pension contribution is great.

I would absolutely love to make a complete career change, one of the things I really fancy is as a school business manager. I looked into it quite seriously a few years ago and sent off some applications. I have transferable skills, I think I could do a really good job of it, and it pays pretty well - not as well as banking but doable. But there is no way any school would hire me directly into a senior level role with no proven track record. In the same way I wouldn’t hire someone into my team, at a senior level with only transferable skills. I’d give them a more junior role and promote them quickly if it worked out. But I think with any career change, you have to accept it will be a couple of years at the bottom again.

Hence I’m still in banking 😭

Yes it was .. I left school in 1980 aged 16 and i had the yellow pages to pick companies from and write to them
many didn’t answer.
3 Million unemployed and The Boys From The Black Stuff drama reflected the desperation of many.
The music charts also reflected it with the song from the specials “Ghost Town”
It was a very challenging time for sure.

Sounds like a sectoral issue or the fact you’re looking for remote or very local work. My organisation and similar (completely different to what you work in) have been doing loads of recruitment recently, and not always getting good candidates.

Love that song was so true

Yanbu

I think people are usually talking about office/professional jobs.

I work in the haulage/aggregates sector and almost every haulier I know is recruiting. I've had to block most of the agencies I did work for in the past as they're still calling me six years later, and I've got five customers asking me to do some driving work for them even though I'm mainly operational now.

My mate recently managed to go from a van driver to a fuel tanker driver in a matter of months and is on track to make £65k this year. In the past you needed a few years experience.

You can't seriously say remote working was anything like as common as it has been since COVID

For someone trained in science, you sure love anecdotes.

And I didn't. Rare and as common as it is now are not the same thing.

It wasn't rare before covid. In 2019, of 32 million employed people, 4 million had worked remotely in the week before they were surveyed. 8.7 million people said they'd worked from home previously.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/coronavirusandhomeworkingintheuklabourmarket/2019

There is no definition of rare that could encompass more than a quarter of employees having done something. Covid and lockdown accelerated a trend that was already well established.

Agree with PP upthread that it's very tough in biotech at the moment, there have been and are still a lot of layoffs, so more people chasing the few roles there are. And with a downstream effect on OPs area as companies cut back on other costs, like publications.

This is an example of my sector... news from yesterday
Bristol Myers Squibb is the latest large pharma to wield the restructuring ax, with plans to cut $1.5 billion in costs by the end of 2025, including laying off more than 2,000 employees.
All those people flooding linked in, looking for the same types of job.

Agreed.

i saw an advert for what was essentially a CIO (chief information officer) for under £50k in London looking for 10 years experience

aldi or Lidl wanted a global head of marketing and procurement for 55-65k

I think they are chancing their arms as if you were redundant and desperate you might take it as it’s better than nothing.

Why is pharma feeling it?

I just googled to see if I could find an answer and saw this

‘Pharmaceutical and biotech companies are not significantly impacted by economic shocks and recessions. For instance, as a share of GDP, US national healthcare expenditures grew in past recessions, such as those in the early 90s and early 2000s, as well as the global financial crisis of 2007-09.’

What’s going on atm?

Firms gave halted investment due to our crazy and ineffective government who appear to believe their sole job is to send a plane with 3 people to Rwanda. Meanwhile there are no announcements of initiatives that will help kick start the economy that will encourage wider investment.

Firms are holding tight until we get a new government or a closer relationship with Europe is on the cards.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/04/25/bristol-myers-squibb-bmy-earnings-q1-2024.html

More on the one in pp

Your account management experience will absolutely make you a viable candidate in other sectors! You’ll have masses of transferable skills that you can utilise.

You may need to be office based, or hybrid, initially so that you can quickly get to grips with new process and workplace culture, but if a home-based role is the end goal, then start by researching supplier agencies who offer these types of contracts and see which industries resonate to you.

Pre-pandemic I worked from home once a fortnight. So I was part of that quarter. But on no planet is a role that’s office based 9 days out of 10 accurately described as “remote”. Fully remote was unusual.