To think the job market is awful at the moment?

[AutumnNightss]

I recently got made redundant from my job. I have been applying to lots of roles and I haven't heard anything back from any of them. I work in the pharma industry and I have never known it to be like this. Previously, I would be able to apply to 5 jobs and hear back from all 5 within a couple of days with interviews lined up. I'd have recruiters constantly reaching out to be on LinkedIn as it was a candidate's market.

This time around, I've applied to so many jobs and have heard absolutely nothing back from any of them. There are barely any jobs being posted to apply for in the first place. I know how to write a CV and cover letter and tailor it to the job specification, I've got good experience. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Is anyone else finding it the same at the moment?

Yes - my DH is a senior software engineer with a couple of decades of experience, as a team lead as well. He was made redundant April 2023 and still hasn't been successful in securing a full-time job.

He has sent out over 200 applications, rarely hears back, gets outright rejections when in the past he'd have no trouble at all getting interviews and offers. Has been through around 15- 20 multi-round interviews and been pipped at the post by 'a candidate who matched our tech stack exactly' or similar reasons.

I have noticed there are now a few more jobs around than in the last half of 2023, so things might be picking up a little in his sector. Trouble is, a lot of his type of work has moved abroad due to the unmentionable 'B' word.

...I meant 'last half of 2024' - it's been a long time.

Pharma is really tough at the moment.

Yep - construction industry jobs all but dried up, which is a vey, very bad sign (this industry is the first to go when things go tits up). Actual building work still goes on on the projects that have been on site, but office/ design work is very slow, as there are no projects coming in. So all the jobs relating to this are basically disappeared - I would normally be chased by recruiters with offers, this hasn't been happening for a long while.

Yes, I think it's tough. I am looking and there is not much out there. I also know several people going through redundancy right now.

The main jobs in my area seem to be for level 3 childcare (which I don't have) or care agencies with difficult hours

Awful. Dd works in a construction aligned profession and her company went bust a few weeks ago. No jobs for her level in the whole of England.

This is crazy given the the Government are planning to build so many homes over the next few years…. How will they do it if firms go bust!

Agreed.

I wanted to leave my current job to find something more suitable but I have been looking for months without success so I am staying put for now.

I did pick up a bit of freelance work though. Maybe you could look at freelancing and temp contracts while you continue to look for something permanent?

Labour (and I voted for them...) have not done the economy any good and business are reluctant to hire and expend, especially with the added taxes they have to pay.

I keep hoping the situation will improve but for now it is bleak.

Yep, I follow the ONS stats on job vacancies and the picture is of falling numbers each successive quarter:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/jobsandvacanciesintheuk/january2025

Quote:

Main points

• The estimated number of vacancies was 812,000 in the UK in October to December 2024; this is a decrease of 24,000, or 2.9%, from July to September 2024.
• Vacancy numbers have been decreasing for two and a half years, with quarterly decreases in 10 of the 18 industry sectors in October to December 2024.

I have been looking for a while now, alongside freelance work. There is a long-running thread in the ‘Work’ section called ‘Waiting to be shortlisted’ where some of us have gathered.

I would agree. My partner has been looking for over a year for something permanent. He's been doing some short term agency contracts but hasn't got anything more long term. Lots of applying, lots of interviews but not got the job. I have thought about moving jobs, mainly because a bit more money would be useful but again not much out there and we work in completely different sectors. It's quite worrying.

I looked a teaching role, fixed term and part time so they wanted an agency. Ok.

The more I unpicked it, the worse it was. They didn’t want to pay to scale, and it was little more than 10 yrs ago. Maybe less.

Then I looked into the umbrella company arrangement the agency forces you to use. You end up paying employers NI at around 15% as well as your own. You pay the apprentice levy this way. You pay a cut of the assignment fee to the agency and the umbrella company. You pay your own holiday pay, and loose it if you don’t claim it in time. This is all BEFORE you pay the usual tax. It was just shy of 40% of the assignment fee you actually end up losing from the stated pay in total. After deductions it’s under £100 to spend an ever lengthening day with increasing demands in a class with so many EHCPs it’s unbelievable (and no… they don’t have a TA each, they share1). Planing for the class would be extreme with the range of needs. Keeping it to 10 hours a day would be impressive. For not much over £9 an hour it’s unbelievable where teaching jobs have gone.

I work in the same industry and was made redundant last summer. I agree it’s pretty bad out there, you’re not doing anything wrong, there’s just not enough jobs for the people. Just keep going, most of the other people who left with me have now found jobs. But a couple are still looking. Don’t let it get you down, it’s now a case of if you get a job, just a case of when. The market is just making things slower for most.

When you apply for a job, do you make contact with the hiring person at the company? Ask some questions about the job. Ask if you could have a telephone call to discuss? That helps to get them to look out for your cv etc

I guess employers are nervous about the imminent national insurance increase. Another factor is the growing use of AI in some sectors, which is going to be more problematic in terms of job hunting as time goes on. It’s troubling.

The agency model of working is a travesty. If Labour want to actually do something good, they need to challenge the model and make it illegal for the worker to have to suffer the employers nic, apprentice levy and agency fees - these are clearly employer costs and should be paid by the employer! Come on Rachel, do something that would actually benefit workers for once!

Better still, just scrap the agency model for all but the shortest of temporary/casual working. It only used to work because the worker could set up their own limited company to avoid the employer costs, but IR35 stopped that and put all the burdens and costs onto the agency worker.

My DH is in the same boat, made redundant because of the NI changes into an industry crippled by them. There are very few jobs and stiff competition for them. Labour have really messed up his industry.

Has he tried government?

Only do this if you know it’s a thing in your industry. In a lot of fields this would be an irritating faux pas. You make contact by applying.

It has been tough for about 18 months.... pre labour govt. friends working in recruitment said about this time last year they had never seen it as bad.
I started looking for a new job last January it took until June previously it had been a matter of weeks.

Lots of people looking for jobs as a lot of redundancy's and a lack of growth due to how bad the economy has been post covid, brexit and truss.

We have scoring systems so this wouldn't make a difference, plus its meant to be blind to remove bias.
We have hundreds apply for each role. Tech.

Pharma is particularly bad at the moment.

I also think Labour (and I am a card-carrying supporter) have been real wallies in the way they have managed the economy and the NI situation. They have undone so much goodwill. Yes the problem preceded them but they just don’t project any real progress or change.

Hang on in there it’s tough but the cycle will turn.

Yet we keep importing millions of (often unskilled) migrants. Madness.

I wonder where this is all going and how much is due to the speed if automation and AI coupled with things like the hike in NI.

Always the call is to get a job, any job, but if you're in a position where there's no scope to get a role you're qualified in at the level you're at, and little hope of going higher, then you end up essentially going backwards.

Going for a supermarket job as an interim fix makes you a retention risk, and there aren't infinite NMW jobs that offer full time hours, because part-time workers/ zero hours contracts are cheaper for employers. Also the age factor - as NMW is stratified, obviously employers will go for the cheapest candidate based on age if the skill set isn't hugely relevant.

I'm out of the game at the moment and when I try to get back into it it's going to be a pretty daunting experience on many levels.....

Sorry to hear that op. The private sector has been hit hard by the budget and generally

When I recruit this turns me off someone to be honest. I find it an irritating addition to the burden of working whilst trying to find new team members. I usually assume they would be a bit of an over precious team member who would see themselves as special trying to get round process.