Anyone else worried about the terrible job market?

[Sorryagain]

I’ve been self employed throughout my professional life - over 30 years. I was in one profession, then broadened out and added more skills and generated a lot of work in another industry.

Both industries are fucked. Tons of redundancies, no hires. Barely any contract work. Lots of people looking. LinkedIn is a cesspit.

I am used to the hustle - but I’ve never known it so hard, nigh on impossible, to get work.

Ive been applying for permanent roles I think I could do - but even with my tons of transferrable skills, such is the market that there are enough people who perfectly fit the job description that I don’t get a look in.

Im lucky in that I have a partner who works - but I want to work. I’m seriously terrified of how bad things are - it’s never been like this for me, ever.

I just wanted to see if others are facing this?

And because I think it’s a combo of AI and cost of living/economics, I can’t see how things will improve.

Agree with you, staff at my public sector employer are terrified of losing their jobs with the devolution changes coming. And those that are confidnt their jobs will stay are worried that once the super councils are in place, there will be even more work for less staff (which we're used to but right now we're at breaking point, there's no spare capacity anywhere).

My profession is safety based and the jobs have changed massively since covid. Employers want someone on the payroll to blame basically if and when things go tits up, but they expect you to be able to cover multiple sites across whole regions alone, or nationally, or even internationally. There's also a brain drain as a lot of experienced professionals are retiring or leaving the profession as they've had enough.

Job creation, whether it public or private sector, supports the economy as a whole.

If the government cuts tens of thousands of public sector jobs then firstly, they will be paying out more than a billion in redundancy pay. They will then have to pay job seekers allowance/universal credit/rent payments etc for all these extra people. There will obviously then be a knock on effect for the rest of the economy, as tens of thousands of people cut back and stop spending. The private sector struggles, cuts jobs, the government gets less tax revenue. It’s a domino effect. In order to support the economy, you need to provide jobs. Cutting them, in any sector, will make the situation worse.

Already, I think we are entering stagflation. Business are hopelessly raising their prices, that people losing jobs won’t be able to pay. Massive public sector redundancies will decimate small local businesses.

There was someone on the radio very worried talking about the domino effect of a small business going under then suppliers not being paid.

Entering? Feels like we've been in it for years!

Another aspect is that because of WFH, new/young employees really aren't progressing as quickly as they used to. Not surprising when they're not immersed around experienced employees to help them, nurture them, support them, and supervise them and the newbies aren't "picking up" on things simply by listening and watching the other workers anymore. On the days that the newbies are in, often the more experienced staff aren't, so it's no better for them than working from home. They're also less likely to do a teams call for help every little problem they face. If both trainer and trainee are together in the workplace, the trainer can keep an eye on the trainee, see if they've nothing to do, or seem to struggle, etc. I think it's becoming a big problem.

I’m sure that’s true in some industries, but that hasn’t been my experience. I’m a teacher, so I’ve been alone in the classroom since the moment it wasn’t technically a crime to leave me there! In the last decade, there’s never been another adult available for long enough for me to take a bathroom break, let alone get someone experienced available when I need them for input on any problems I’m having. I actually got more feedback during Covid because live lessons were recorded, so other teachers could watch them back after and give feedback.

Didn’t get the job. I’m getting so bloody fed up. My dyslexia is a stumbling block. It was the dyslexia that caused me to be bullied by the store manager. Had 21.5 years of customer service prior to this with hardly any issues regarding dyslexia. Why did it show up for him?

I will be migrated from JSA to UC just before Easter. I don’t want to be on UC. The stigma of this for me is going to shameful. When I go to the job centre, I have more work experience and qualifications than 6 random people in there.

My friends and family are horrified that I don’t have a job or one lined up. My former colleagues thought with my experience, willingness to learn, adapt, positivity etc I would be in employment asap. It’s the fucking ALS system that companies use that doesn’t understand skills can be used in various roles. Quick googling finds loads of this. Wish companies will ditch this.

i just want to enjoy my life by earning money to do things and buy things.

I feel so awful about my life. If it wasn’t for my supportive parents (money and a shoulder to cry on), I would have ended my life.

Sorry to hear this. Isn’t dyslexia covered by the Equality Act? Employers shouldn’t be rejecting you for this, surely. Please don’t worry about being on UC, there is no stigma and nothing to be ashamed of. And people will only know if you tell them and if they judge you for this they are idiots.

What sort of roles are you looking for, are your skills transferable?

Oh just you wait, the best is yet to come.

We’re not even in recession yet, despite the doom and gloom, we’re doing better than Germany.

@sweetpumpkins customer service (not in a retail environment - shop) and admin roles. Looking anywhere in Leicestershire. I have a car. Doesn't matter if its on site, hybrid or remote.

I actually had some feedback from the interview. Some answers lacked the task. Next time I will define each of the elements.

Question "Could you tell me a time where had to deal with an upset/angry customer and how did you resolve it?"

So "Situation - customer came to pick up a food order (buffet food) and some parts were missing. Customer was upset, worried that she is losing out on money"

"Task to establish what was missing and contents of each item was missing, via checking on the website".

"Action, Spoke to a manager and explained to get what's needed from shop floor and put through as goodwill. Went around store to pick what we had. Had to ask customer what desserts she wanted as this dessert was a food order exclusive. Picked up some platter trays as some of the missing items came on platters. Then took the customer to the CSD, put through the items taken from the shop floor as goodwill, as customer paid online, plus a £10 gift card and a bunch of flowers as an apology for being messed about." (The manager e-mailed the receipt to the food ordering team at HQ to get money back)

"Result. Customer ended up with about £7 more food, free platters, paper napkins, gift card and flowers. She was very appreciative with the way I kept calm and collective. She thought she had to rush around other supermarkets to pick up the missing items". She kept thanking me each time if she saw me in the store"

In my sector there's demand and if anything its pushing wages up. There's no one good to hire! Ive just hired someone who was my fourth choice because the others got snapped up too fast.

What is your sector @oohlarlar ?

@Auburngal Your answer above is excellent BTW !!

Yes , but where's the money coming from to pay for all these new state created roles?

I believe printing money,aka QE, doesn't work so well....

I spent 10 years becoming really specialist and have stayed in jobs for around 5-6 year usually with an internal promotion. I think that helps with interviews plus conveying my attitude to work. I've recently been on the interviewing side and I personally found it interesting how under prepared some people were and gave some weak answers that didn't really address the question.

The problem is, who will have money to buy them if AI is doing all of the jobs.

I need to frame the answers like this in the future. Plus need to add "try to make customer less upset" under task

This is why we need personalised feedback from interviews as I didn't know the task part wasn't standing out. It takes minutes to polish up, think of better examples.

Without feedback, we go to interviews answering similar questions in a similar way. Not knowing what went wrong.

But that's completely different because you're older, experienced and established in your career.

Now I am! But back in the day, when I did my training through a school, I was alone with the class for everything but PE from the middle of September. The only reason I couldn’t be left alone to teach PE was because the insurance wasn’t valid without someone qualified in the room. I had formal observations during my training year and NQT year, and obviously I’ve been observed 3 hours a year since then because it’s legally required, but that’s it! And it’s not like you can learn anything from chatting to colleagues at lunch, because everyone is bolting their food in 10 minutes to get back to work. I had never had a formative observation until Covid, which was 4 or 5 years into my career. I had better, more relevant, more detailed feedback during Covid that I’ve ever had in a school. Many people training today have similar experiences to mine. It is possible to do extremely good CPD online, but it requires everyone involved to be trying, rather than just complaining that it’s too hard and wishing the school could open again.

If you ask me it should be coming from the 13 billion pounds a year that we are currently spending on illegal migration and asylum seekers combined with welfare payments for foreign nationals. That’s where the money is going that should be invested in our economy.

My niece was made redundant from her finance post at the end of February. She'd been there 15 years and had progressed well. She got 3 months redundancy plus 16 weeks so about 6 months worth of salary. She had 2 weeks off and caught up on jobs at home and polished up her CV. Started applying for jobs mid March. She's had 3 interviews and has had one second interview and has been invited back for 2 more seconds interviews but she said all jobs would involve more travelling time, more time in office and one job involved travel around UK. Slightly less salary too but she said she'd take the first job she could do because lots of employers are cutting back on jobs ATM and she has a huge mortgage. It's depressing and the government are going to cut a lot of civil service roles too in every department. I hope it's not the start of a recession.

'I hope it's not the start of a recession'
Very likely that it is if we are not already there.

We were technically in recession in the last two quarters of 2023. It’s inevitable, the economy is cyclical.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/business-68680004

Yes, I know. I agree that the economy is cyclical and that it is inevitable at some point. I think this is likely to be particularly severe, for various reasons.
As an aside, I have always maintained that Sunak called the election early very deliberately, during a brief reprieve in the economic data. He got a lot of criticism for it but I think he knew exactly what he was doing.

It’s not inevitable. 50/50 seems to be the current position from a few economists. Depending on Labour’s policies.