To ask where (and in what sectors) all the jobs are

[TheNavyOtter]

I got made redundant earlier this year in a big layoff from a start-up. Since then, I've been trying to look for work, in what feels like a nightmare market. I'm in my second career, and have (I think) a lot of skills and qualifications, and I've worked in well-known organisations at a good level, and have managed big teams. But thanks to the career change, I'm a mixture in terms of my career history (though not in a bad/chaotic way, I've had solid jobs). However, I have seen virtually nothing that shouts 'this is you!' in terms of fit, which is I guess how I transferred between jobs before this layoff. The jobs I have applied to, often at much lower pay than my previous roles - actually, lower pay than I earned 20 years ago in some cases - appear to be attracting 100s of applicants. I have the breadth of skills to contort myself to make a decent case for a lot of roles, but so far, no good at all - just silence on applications where I fit every qualification - but probably so did many others. I feel pretty desperate/worthless, and really frustrated. Is it just me? Where are the jobs? And if you go through something like this, how, in the end? I really need a plan of what to do. Am I missing something, and being v unreasonable?

It’s a tough market rn. Have a look at ask a manager.com she gives advice on workplace issues - as a work version of dear sally but less fluffy.

it may also be that your applying for jobs that are too junior and they don’t think you will stay long term.

Get your most critical friend to review your CV ideally one with hiring experience?

reach out to your contacts at companies you wouldn’t mind working for - you never know who you know

depends on the sector you want to work in what what jobs your aiming at ?

1. Are you tailoring your application and CV to each individual job?
2. It might be worth paying for some professional help on revising your CV.
3. Are you on Linkdin?
4. Keep going - you will find that magic position eventually.

Do you have any pharma companies near you?

As a manager I get lots of applications for lower paid jobs but often the person will say in their application that they have the skills and knowledge to do the job but they don’t have the qualifications or experience to do the job. They may be great people, they often have degrees, but actually do not pass the scoring system as haven’t looked at the essential criteria. I don’t know if that is any help to you but this is my observation of recent applicants.

I say this a lot at the moment but I'd go to a recruiter/headhunter. Ask around for recommendations.

Thank you so much. I'm London-based, and my skillset is across comms, advocacy, and most recently research (I'm a applied psychologist by training). I'm tailoring everything to the nth degree, on LinkedIn, seen a outplacement careers coach, who helped with the CV @Rocknrollstar. The coach mainly looked a bit stricken and said she had other people like me in the same position, that it was an awful market, and I had to look for the hidden market. I was on the other side of this hiring as a manager in a bad market with 1000s applicants many moons ago, and I suspect that the issue is that once you get over 100 applications for a job, it's tiring and almost a bit random trying to filter down, It's a good point about asking my friends about what is wrong with my CV. That's interesting about pharma @Loveduppenguin what sort of roles? Quite a lot of my roles have been in health work. I'll look at ask a manager.com hotandpermi .

@PermanentTemporary with headhunters/recruiters, I've been really unsure whether I'll get the same response (ie they are so inundated I will just be an irrelevance) but I will give it a go - do you think it's best to look for people in dominant industries you've worked in, or by skill/function?

Maybe talk a few and go with one that you would like to work with if you were doing the recruiting? The one I know that I thinknis a bit of a genius focuses on a local market, but in London maybe skill would be best.

Definitely look for 'hidden jobs'. There are roles out there that the hiring manger hasn't managed to write the jd for yet. Reach out to any contacts at companies you're interested and ask if they're hiring/squeezed for capacity/in need of a short term dig out - whatever.

All that said, it's a beastly market. My current org is slashing headcount is the company I left last year.

If you have a health background, have a look at MacMillan, they're on a senior hiring sweep. Good luck, I know it sucks x

PermanentTemporary I always try on every job I've gone for to show how I meet all of the essential criteria. No assumptions about my qualifications or years of work experience being enough. I do think that I might be applying, inadvertently, into very high application roles, as I've had the 'sorry, shortlisting is delayed as we are deluged by applicants'. Not on purpose at all! So I possibly need to find keywords or roles that are less popular, and find where I have value to someone....

Thanks @PermanentTemporary - I'll try that, and good tip about MacMillan/hidden jobs @Evaka . I hope in the end this will all work out, and teach me some valuable life lessons, but it's quite a horrible experience

What is your background and qualifications? There’s so many roles in pharma.

It is incredible difficult to get a new job...I don't know why the companies make it so difficult. It might be worth looking at doing "user research" as I've heard that's in demand, or ADHD counselling as there is a huge back-log of people, (particularly children), waiting to be assessed. I'm on my third career as a tour guide in London and there is lots of work, as so many tourists, so if you fancy a change look at that.

Thank you for the ideas @THEHAPPYTOURGUIDE @Loveduppenguin my first career was in communications - internal, brand, reputation, public affairs - strong research/health flavour My second has been organisational psychology - including lots of research. (I‘ve done counselling work too). I think more than anything it’s having feedback and ideas in what feels like a padded cell right now! So I really appreciate you posting - it’s really kind.

large global pharmaceutical companies will have all of those types of roles, I would definitely look into it. Have a look at what companies are in your area, some might even offer hybrid roles