Alleged worker shortage, but somehow I can't find a job

[lobeliasb]

All you hear about in the media is that there is a worker shortage and that companies are crying out for staff, but where exactly are these desperate companies? I have 10 years experience in marketing and sales (but have moved into marketing exclusively in the past 8 years) and can't get an interview for the life of me. I have a BA and a masters and still, crickets.

I would like to move away from marketing and go more into data analysis (something I did frequently in my last role), but it feels very much like transferable skills don't count anymore. You need to have done the exact job role being advertised, and many companies want you to also have done that same role in the exact same industry or niche. In fact, I have applied for roles that are exactly like my current role, same exact duties, but they want 5 years experience in X and Y when realistically, someone with 3 years experience is just as good.

How is anyone meant to move on to a different role for more pay if employers seemingly only want lateral movers? I'm mystified. It wasn't like this a few years ago. Not to mention the pay is awful and every role has 200 applicants on LinkedIn desperate for the paltry wage. Sad state of affairs.

You're probably right. Out of curiosity, how did you get into data protection? Was it a career before GDPR came about?

You don't need to be any years in your cab. A recruiter would remove them.

I'd love a new career but I have bills to pay and I've already been told I'm too old. So who's going to want to give someone like me a job?
I've tried to side step my career but my age gets in the way.

I already have a Software and Cisco degree and I can't afford to get another degree in something more useful..

Nevermind aye.

Anyway, for anyone looking to move to the SW for a better life. Don't do it 😆

That's my only advice.

careers.nationalexpress.com/search/2440

I actually saw this job earlier and then saw your post. I don’t know what salary you are looking for but it’s nothing to sniff at 🙂

Agree with this. The demand for candidates is really patchy and sector specific. There are skills shortages in many areas but in others the economic climate is starting to bite. We're noticing applicant numbers for some of our vacancies are creeping up again as businesses start closing and making staff redundant.

My guess is that a lot of organisations don't want to gamble on someone without experience at a fairly uncertain time or have been living with a vacancy for some time and need someone who can hit the ground running. They probably don't have capacity to spend time developing someone.

You need to lie more. I say lie, a man wouldn't see it that way 😂

If you seriously have been doing the role without the job title, describe all of that and give yourself a better job title, with the old one in brackets.

Don't make the mistake of not acting like a man bullshit artist. Remember the interview is a performance that measures none of the skills you'll be using in the job. The purpose of the interview is to get the job offer.

Remember companies are bullshitting you too, oh yes we are family friendly, flexible, great perks! It's lies. All lies. And they will fire you the instant they want to.

Don't give them your loyalty. Give yourself your loyalty..!

@Merlott I think I love you 🤣 that really cheered me up x

Honestly, I wouldn't employ anyone who had limited experience other than marketing outside of marketing work if I could avoid it on the basis of my experience within the industry.

Could you request an internal move and improve your skills/experience and then look?

A recruiter (I shan't name and shame) but a recruiter with an office in Exeter who advertise many marketing roles told me I'm too old for the industry! I'm 35. 5 star reviews on Google as well. Absolutely gutted she said that!
I'd be more than gutted. I'd remind her to remind her clients that discrimination on the basis of age is illegal.

@senua I did mention it and she said "it's a fact of life"

I left a Google review and she replied with "Hello XX. I have had a look through our details and we have no record of dealing with you. Please call us to discuss further"

So it was a double humiliating. Yet they're one of Exeters more well known recruiters. 😔

I literally cried!

Excellent! Anything IT related is a skills shortage so I'm surprised .. though burnout is real and I can empathise with wanting to never be responsible for IT ever again

To that point, you always see advice to apply even if you have 70% of the description because the mens do it and don't see it as a problem, but women always wait to have 100%. Yet here on this thread we have people saying you MUST MATCH EXACTLY otherwise you clearly are useless and someone needs to spend two years training you and holding your hand like its your first big girl job. That's total bs - men don't stand for it, why should women? Someone is hiring those men, why should it be any different for women?

In the same boat as you with the application targeting and cover letters and trying to make a move up rather than yet another lateral. I get some interviews and a few recruiters contacting me, but they are for jobs I dont really want or don't pay enough after that first discussion. Some sectors may have vacancies (my husband is in data and could move up and tomorrow if he wanted to) but this market for experienced professionals is more closely resembling a market in recession, I dont care what the statistics say. There is a massive mismatch between living costs and what businesses can afford to pay and well, that's not going to end well for a lot of people.

Indeed and LinkedIn are pretty crap, but have you taken a different approach such as considering which sectors you have a demonstrable interest in the area (hobby, volunteer work, etc?), identifying companies serving within that sector and then checking vacancies on company websites? You've got to find the fishing hole that isn't crowded!

The roles I'm going for are more market research/insight analyst type roles, not hard science or tech industry analyst roles and they don't require coding languages in the main. I have done jobs that literally match the job descriptions but the job title is different.

Some of the largest MI and research firms have been steadily outsourcing more of these positions to Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) and India. It's a numbers thing. Middle-class wages in those countries are worth a fraction of a standard British salary, and the people tend to be very well-educated and reasonably fluent in English.

If a company as large as Seasalt is genuinely advertising professional roles at NMW, then to me that sounds like they want to either either someone in their early 20s who is able and willing to work lots of unpaid overtime ... or they want that role to sit empty so that they can justify outsourcing it.

So ... what to do? I don't quite know myself. I know I'll have to add more to my own skillset eventually, whether through the employer I'm at or off my own back. I've occasionally had success when I've tried contacting the hiring manager before submitting cover letter and CV, and just asking questions about the role. That's sometimes helped me get a better sense of their needs, and whether I can feasibly meet them. And gauge whether they value the experience I would bring.

I'm surprised any recruiter had the audacity to say that 35 is "too old" for a role. Last I heard, age discrimination is illegal and could get them in trouble.

Who do we complain about age discrimination to? @iCouldSleepForAYear x

Christ, I'm moving to the SW this summer 😬

This thread is terrifying

You could search online for details to email someone else in the company eg CEO, HR department, employee on linked in etc.

Or post on social media or write a review. Employers do check websites like glass door

What do you do for a profession? Are you moving to Devon or Cornwall? :(

School/MAT data manager. In theory I can get work anywhere, in reality the wages are not great for the jobs I'm seeing.

Devon. Exeter/Exmouth region.

Why aren't you marketing yourself more? Start making some posts on LinkedIn that demonstrate your cross skill capacity. Speak to an audience of hiring managers and recruiters for the types of roles you're after. Make industry connections and get the attention of niche and reputable recruiters, who will be in contact with organisations who don't even advertise their role. Make yourself head huntable.

When I was applying I concluded that getting any job now is 1,000 times harder than it used to be because:

• jobs are advertised widely
• ease of applying online to lots of jobs

= 1,000s of applications for each job

Recruitment is so hard now, sifting through thousands of applications.

Ironically this feels like there is even less chance for the right candidate to be matched with the right job.

You'd think it would be better for both employers and employees but actually it seems to have created more admin on both parts.

I'm in a skill shortage area and remember the job search and it was soul destroying.

Also my daughter is 19, ready willing and able to do any number of NMW jobs, she had the same experience.

Don't lose heart but if you can, do try to build up a network to tip you off about opportunities.

Exactly what @drunkornot suggested. There may be a legal route as well, although I don't know off the top of my head.

I saw your post that states she tried to burn you with "no record" when you left a Google review. Even if the recruiter has no record (perhaps because she deleted it to cover her ass), chances are, you still do. You can send a screenshot of that response in your complaint alongside any email correspondence from her, screenshots of LinkedIn DMs from her, and screenshots of phone calls taken from or dialled to her number.

Having been in a position of attempting to recruit a highly-skilled position and scanning over 1,000 applications on Workable ... I would be fucking livid if I was paying a recruiter for her services, and then learned she'd turned a potentially excellent candidate away because "35 is too old for your industry".

So, reporting wouldn't be a petty act of revenge. Age discrimination hurts both prospective employees and employers.

I asked this question a few months ago. Like pp said, the main sectors are hospitality and retail - NMW jobs. It’s crap. As you say, no one wants to train and develop staff.