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.

Same boat here . Never been unemployed in my life and can't even claim job seekers as I was self employed. Previous company can't afford contractors and not even getting interviews. Probably ageism and think I'm over qualified . I'm happy to take a less senior role ! Struggling to understand it .

Oh that’s so good! Hope you don’t mind me asking but what is it you do in finance? Perhaps you’re quite senior?
I’m a Londoner, have always worked in financial services after uni and can’t relate at all😅

Some people will need to adapt their skills and retrain in more relevant areas. It's the same as any other time in history eg the industrial revolution, job requirement and skills needed change as society changes.

Just my personal experience but even when I have adapted/upskilled, it still wasn’t enough for employers who can be very picky due to lots of applicants.

My most recent rejection for a “junior” role the interview feedback was positive but they ultimately went with someone who already had identical work experience of xyz in xyz environment. I even worked in the same industry and for a very similar company that serves them, met 90% of job ad but had also done independent upskilling for the 10% of ‘desirable’ criteria I lacked tangible work experience in.

I would’ve thought if you meet 100% of job ad requirements including ‘desirable’ reqs you’re technically overqualified, but seems employers can be picky in this market.
The pay was below market rate for the industry (banking in London) and they wanted full office attendance for first six months, and after that only one day WFH considered. Feels like a race to the bottom to me

Me. I’ve been job hunting since December after a maternity cover post ended. Its always been easy to find work but there are local authority cuts and freezers currently and I’m quite depressed about it.

I've got a teenager with SEN. I'm so worried about her future employment options. It's hard for super confident, well qualified teenagers to secure any work now. How will the less confident, less socially able ones manage.

At the same time they're being told they won't get state benefits anymore because they have to go to work instead. What work!

It's definitely scary out there. And AI gets better every few months so I am unsure what exactly is a 'safe' job. I remember 5 years ago, someone in accounting saying I was lucky because I have creative skills whilst they would lose their job to AI and well now look!

I guess it's time to turn my tiny garden into a mini farm and learn to bake as someone else mentioned. I jest but I am very worried and I may have to do this.

Some companies are in growth mode and hiring. I am lucky to work with a few of them.
I am scared if my contracts end though, as the market isnt great.
I am hoping we are in a cycle and growth will happen again soon.
Have you got some good recruitment agents looking for you?
When I am in job or contract hunting I go for spray and pray and have three or four versions of my cv I fire off to about 300 roles. Ive never got a job from spending hours on an application, I find its a numbers game just keep hitting apply. I dont even apply to roles that take hours to do the application.

We are increasingly nearing the breakdown of the social contract, and that won't be pretty.
The proportion of 18-25 year olds not in education, training or employment is terrifying. The proportion of graduates in insecure temporary work similarly terrifying.

There simply won't be an experienced workforce in some sectors in ten years time. When Gen X retire and take their experience with them the gaps will show.

It isn't sustainable. We are increasingly seeing 'natural shrinkage' at work with vacancies remaining unrecruited. The 'who you know' and nepotism model is rife again.

I've urged ds2 to train in plumbing and heating roles. We've offered to pay for the training. He's currently at university doing a humanities undergrad degree. I can't see him securing a standard job because of his autism. He'll probably argue he's not practical enough, but humans are all practical creatures to a certain extent and beggars can't be choosers now. He'll have to adapt and learn.

We are increasingly nearing the breakdown of the social contract, and that won't be pretty.
The proportion of 18-25 year olds not in education, training or employment is terrifying. The proportion of graduates in insecure temporary work similarly terrifying.
There simply won't be an experienced workforce in some sectors in ten years time. When Gen X retire and take their experience with them the gaps will show.
It isn't sustainable. We are increasingly seeing 'natural shrinkage' at work with vacancies remaining unrecruited. The 'who you know' and nepotism model is rife again.

I agree with this ^. I get so frustrated when posters on here (usually in the context of someone debating whether to have a 3rd/4th child) say that the UK needs people to have more children because of the ageing population. What (well paid, net contributor) jobs are all these kids going to do? I have one child and because we are OK financially we will help her as much as we can. If we weren't in this financial position I'm not sure that we would have had a child because for the majority of future adults, unless they inherit money, life is going to be hard and financially precarious. It definitely feels like a race to the bottom.

Good luck to all of you on here, it must be so worrying for you.

This is one of the reasons I know I won't get the job I recently interviewed for. I meet about 90% of the criteria plus some of the desirable criteria, have volunteer experience and have also done relevant courses off my own back. But I lack the professional experience in this particular area, and they were inundated with applications, so it will likely go to someone overqualified. Employers don't seem to want to take a chance on people anymore, or if they do they can't justify the risk.

Very few of DD's contemporaries who graduated last year with good Russell Group degrees have found a "proper" job - they are all doing bar / cafe / restaurant work. Truly depressing with all that student debt. They are all very worried and I feel so sorry for them.

To follow on from my previous post, I've literally just received an email from another organisation I applied to last week that says 'we had over 500 applicants, the calibre of which was exceptional with a number of very good candidates who met or exceeded both the essential and desirable criteria, This made the selection process very competitive and therefore I am afraid you didn't make the shortlist'.

It's soul destroying.

"spray and pray..." LOVE IT.

What industry / sorts of companies are you in?

Tech consultancy and digital marketing.

but...it's always been like this? WFH was very rare to none existent before covid and many jobs, esp office ones, require full time employees. It's employees expectations changed

I've been trying to recruit a role since May 2024, my fellow managers in different debts have also been struggling.

We're finding the issue is people all want to permanently wfh, whereas our type of work requires a lot of travel sometimes hundreds of miles in a day.

I am lucky if I get a dozen applications for a role, and even when I have made an offer they come back asking if there is allowances to not do the travelling which there isn't as its vital to the role. Bit like being a firefighter but asking if there is an option not to fight fires.

I've given up and am now running my team on reduced staff levels instead.

Is it that bad? My experience in the last 3 months.

Tried to hire for a £140k chief executive job. Got only 3 shortlistable candidates and only two of those were close to appointable after interview.

Tried to fill my own 70k operations job. No applications so far.

Got the first job I applied for when looking for a move.

DS working in a chain coffee shop can't get staff despite paying over nmw.

Other DS working in a supermarket finds the same

DP working in market research often needs freelancers for a couple of hours, for around £250 and doesn't find it easy to get people who will actually turn up.

Local schools can't get support staff, TAs, admin or site staff at all.

Heard back from a job last week. There were 40 vacancies available, after some psychometric testing I was in top 1% of applicants, and I didn't even get an interview. 😢

Hi, could you tell us a bit more about your industry which has a skills shortage please?

Isn't that a pricing thing? Salary needs.to be enough to.make the role more attractive than the wfh options? Although I agree, if the jobs market was that bad for jobseekers, these roles would be filled.

wow, that's not my experience at all

Yet struggling to recruit in schools. Jobs at all levels advertised and re-advertised. Vew applicants each round.

AI and automation are going to destroy tens of thousands of jobs, and unlike previous industrial revolutions I’m not convinced new, let alone better, jobs will replace them.

The thing that people misunderstand about AI and automation is that whether or not it is as good as a human, or even as fast as a human, is irrelevant. It just has to be cheaper than a human.