Is the job market tough or am I just useless?

[Mnetter72]

Had numerous rejections, not even made it to interview. I have had a couple of fill in the gap jobs so haven’t had experience for a couple of years in the roles I’m applying for. Will this penalise me? Just feel a bit hopeless

Job hunting has always been soul destroying for me, I dont do well in interviews, I can only do well once I am in the job where I can prove myself.

When we have a senior role available in my department over a year ago, management already encouraged me to apply, quietly tell me that it is me they want to hire. Officially, they still need to advertise the job internally and externally. Imagine how many people saw the job and spending much time to taylor their CVs not knowing that it will never go to them!

Totally agree which is why, as I have already said, the vast majority of recruiters use AI as part of their process but not to make decisions.

It's not naivety. Take a step back and really think about it. Internal candidates have a huge advantage - they know the job, the people, the systems and they are 'better the devil you know'. For that reason they often do get the job because they are actually the best candidate. However, if an external candidate comes along who is absolutely brilliant and can offer something that outweighs those advantages then they will be appointed. Why on earth wouldn't they be? What benefit to the employer is rejecting a candidate who is better than what you have?! Anyone who promises a job to an internal candidate before due process is run is the naive one and also a really fucking terrible manager!

What I will say is that in the public sector there is still a culture of nudges and winks to encourage internal people to apply for a job as 'the job is yours'. This is usually junior managers who are getting above their station and willy waving, trying to show their authority when the reality is they have none. I have had to reject numerous internal candidates who have been told the job is theirs. It's fucking hard for me and a million times worse for the poor candidate as they've often told their friends and family and spent the increased salary.

Yes this happens in HE too due to fixed term contracts. It's a real waste of time. Sometimes they put 'open to internal candidates only' which is much better.

@HoskinsChoice the external candidates may well be appointable but it's highly unlikely that they are going to get it over the person who is already doing the job when it's only being advertised due to contractual issues i.e. it's not really a new or vacant position. This absolutely does happen.

Thank you for making me feel like I’m not insane.

It does not help when you see roles listed as remote. Then look at the JD and says "you will spend 2 days in our offices in Belfast". That's not remote! That's hybrid! Even more so with being in Belfast.

Another role says "you will spend the first 3 weeks training in our head office in London". No mention that travel and accommodation will be paid for. No one with no job will be applying unless it states that the travel and accommodation is paid.

I guess if you consider that many admin roles can attract 200 CVs it's just a quicker way of sifting through and coming up with a shorter list for a human being to review. AI can be good as a productivity tool rather than spending hours on a task such as reading CVs for hours.

the key thing for applicants is making absolutely sure you include all the must have criteria, if you don't, you'll slip through the net, be it AI or human.

Policy means all jobs are advertised externally where I work. But internal candidates have some advantages - they are familiar with us and our systems. Also we tend to know them better so have a more rounded view of their abilities. This can work both ways. I recently interviewed an internal candidate who interviewed far better than I'd have expected, given her poor performance in a similar role. Fortunately an external candidate was still clearly better and has turned out well.

But the whole process is very broken. Currently I'm wading through applications where the personal statements all look great, but the experience listed doesn't live up to them. Think 'I've extensive project management experience gained by implementing different types of system' vs a year in a relevant role where achievements are listed as including producing a useful report.

ChatGPT has a lot to answer for

I applied for about 10 jobs last year, got 4 interviews and 1 offer.

The role I was really keen on was a slight step up but I figured why not go for it, what do I have to lose?

The company responded saying we don't think you are a fit for this role but would you want to be considered for a role immediately below. I went for it, interviewed really well but got feedback they were going with another candidate. At the time I suspected they just didn't want to pay the market rate for my skills.

Fast forward a few months, both the role I originally applied for and the one I interviewed for are advertised again.

Telling me they went out to the market, got someone to do the roles as cheap as possible who then couldn't hack it or didn't deliver.

The most frustrating part for me is they don't advertise the pay band for highly skilled jobs. It's always "as cheap as possible".

And don't get me started on Recruiters either. All they ask is what your currently salary is then say "oh yes, we have companies that will match that".

I'm not moving for any less than a 10% bump.

The role I'm in their first offer only matched my current salary at the time. I said no thanks, they countered with 10% more.

52 is too soon to be too old to work although I get what marketing can be like. Really harsh.

Op it’s tough atm worryingly.

It’s the job market! I was just job-hunting and had the worst experience, and I had to job-hunt post-2008 crash and mid-COVID before it all went “eat out to help out” and “what lockdown?”

Some rejections were helpful because they specified how many applications they’d received to explain why it had taken so long to reject and why I wasn’t shortlisted: upwards of 500 for many roles.

It’s very much an employers’ market right now, you can always tell by looking at the salaries and benefits on adverts: atm the salaries are from a decade ago and I’ve seen “benefits” like statutory pension (what a benefit, following the law!), free fruit on one day of the week, half a day off on your birthday (what a treat!) and, my favourite, “because we value work-life balance, we offer a 40-hour week” lmao

It's terrible out there. I know of three fellow jobseekers at the moment, all highly experienced but can't get a job. I've had quite a few interviews but keep getting pipped to the post. For one job I was told it was between me and somebody else, but that they chose the other candidate because they thought I'd be a better fit for another department. They said they were going to contact the other department and make a recommendation. That was a year ago now. I've heard nothing, and not a single job has come up there which I'm told is because they can't afford to replace people when they leave.

I spend hours on applications. I retrained so I tend to look for development roles, but they seem to be going to people who are over experienced for them. I interviewed for a development role recently but was rejected because somebody else had more experience in a particular area than me, even though it was that area that was supposed to be for development. What's the point?

I applied for an academic job couple of weeks ago. I met all of the criteria, including the desirable criteria, plus had extensive experience in the subject area. 36 hours after the closing date I got a rejection email with the usual 'huge volume of applicants'. How did they sift so many applications in such a short time?

It’s very much an employers’ market right now, you can always tell by looking at the salaries and benefits on adverts: atm the salaries are from a decade ago and I’ve seen “benefits” like statutory pension (what a benefit, following the law!), free fruit on one day of the week, half a day off on your birthday (what a treat!) and, my favourite, “because we value work-life balance, we offer a 40-hour week” lmao @pelargoniums

Salaries are shocking. Sometimes I forget this is 2025, not 2011. I saw a scientific role that looked interesting, until I saw the salary. £23k for a 40 hour week, so less than minimum wage which I'm guessing they didn't realise, and for that they wanted someone with a scientific degree (masters preferred), previous experience, plus skills in relatively niche software.

Why is it too old though? I don’t get it. Surely you’ll just get the salary that is on offer so you can’t be too expensive