Job hunting but no response whatsoever - is it me or the UK job market is incredibly bad?

[ForThisPost1]

I work in tech in London, and this is the first time I have experienced this. Usually, I will receive calls from recruiters shortly after I set my LinkedIn profile to "open to work, actively searching". But I have been waiting to hear something since last October. I applied for many jobs but have yet to receive a response, apart from one or two rejection emails. This is very unusual. Initially, I thought it was because of my CV, but my friend, who is a professional recruiter, reviewed it and said it was a great one. This situation puzzles me. Is it me, or is the job market exceptionally bad now?

Any suggestion is welcome. Thank you so much.

I think it is quite bad atm. I'm jobhunting at the moment.

I've found hiring managers for lower paid jobs / jobs which don't offer much flexible working, all office based etc are more responsive funnily enough! I imagine those roles are harder to fill

Really depends on the role I think - I know tech sales and recruitment are tough markets right now with lots of cuts being made but the actual ‘techies’ are still in high demand imo so perhaps it’s how in demand your expertise is right now

@Ineedanewsofa I am a technical product manager in Fintech with over 10 years experiences. I even managed to find a job at the height of lockdown. I am not sure if this is actual "techie"?

Exactly the same here - haven’t even had a response from most ads.

It’s brutal at the mo and rates/salaries way down.

When will the market, especially tech, improve. I am panicking now.

So marketing then.
Yeah it's brutal in marketing atm.

I’m looking for a job in tech marketing and have 10+ years experience and finding it a nightmare! Made redundant November and been through all full rounds of 8 jobs to no avail. On end interviews for 2 more this week.

Product management is in a weird place right now - development budgets are lower as companies are being more conservative. It seems like a lot of places are just focusing on BAU work, which doesn't necessarily need a product owner to manage if there's a mature team in place.
Also depends on the usual things - notice period, salary range, etc. Good luck in your search!!

@Bluebunnylover Well done for getting the interviews! And 8 jobs are fantastic considering it was over Christmas season too.
Can you please share some of advice?
Good luck to your interview this week!

I think it's bad atm and hasn't got going. I got made redundant (falsely) on Christmas Eve, and every Finance Recruiter has said it hasn't even got going yet.

@ForThisPost1 I’d say not unfortunately, devs, devops guys, architects, engineers can still pretty much walk into a job and name their price but it’s tough outside of those roles. Interesting that you’re in fintech, I was told by a recruiter today that some of their clients actively avoided hiring fintech people because they don’t consider the knowledge transferable as the tech is too niche. Perhaps emphasise your transferable skills and other sector knowledge to appeal to a wider audience? Hope it picks up for you soon

ForThisPost1 one thing I do is to have 3 different CV’s; one for event manager, field marketing and then program manager.

I’ve done detailed cover notes which take 30 minutes to write but don’t necessarily secure an interview! Even applied for a role with a technology partner of the company I was made redundant from and not even an interview!!

Well that’s good news

My other half has been on garden leave from a bank since October interviewed on 22 December and should have decision tomorrow. Have you tried the banks job boards rather than recruitment agencies. Big institutions don't want to pay 25pc to a recruiter for a six figure hire, they have internal recruiters. How us your LinkedIn profile plenty of recommendations, telling what results you deliver etc rather than lots of I do this that etc it should be by working with me you will gain xyz

Sorry to hear this, but I’m afraid from what I’m reading on the IT forums, etc that this is the worst market for IT tech in living memory, worse than 2001, 2008, Covid, etc. It’s a perfect storm of inflation, brexit, too much expansion over Covid, too many tech visas (for the so called labour shortage), amongst other things. Hope things turn around quickly for you op.

@Bluebunnylover Thank you so much for the tips. I will prepare another CV for analyst roles. I am so sick of this endless fear and search....

Very bad.

When nearly 300 people apply for an urgently needed type of job at a family business in a little town, you know the chips are down.

The only invite so far commanded a response within 24 hours to accept a place for a potential interview and the date changed (whilst in my favour) makes me think there is overwhelm.

I think it has always been bad. Are you applying for jobs on linked in? I find that a bit easier as you get notified when they view or reject you. Worth a try if your industry allows?

Yes the job market is awful! I am a senior corporate real estate professional. I’m lucky I’m doing interim work right now to fill the gap but I’m hearing nothing back from perm roles in applying for! Or the salaries are atrocious! I’ve had my CV professionally written, I have great global leadership experience but am not really getting any bites!

I've never known it so bad - I've been in tech for 20 years and there was a 6 month period in 2008 when work dried up but the market went back to normal quite quickly. For the last 50 jobs I've applied for on LinkedIn my application has only been viewed by three companies. Jobserve is better because I think it's not so popular with people overseas applying.

It's a perfect storm where interest rates are high so companies do not want to risk expansion, especially as prices go up (for rent, construction, equipment etc). So they hunker down and don't take on any new staff.
The huge tech expansion during COVID is also having to deflate and get back to a more even level.
We are also seeing AI coming in and other tech jobs going to India or other markets with a highly educated workforce but lower wages.

Half the challenge here is actually LinkedIn type fora, people make up all sorts of nonsense on there and so it’s difficult to assess the veracity of candidates.

We’re recruiting for a transformation project manager, we’ve had over 120 applications via LI, all of whom didn’t come close to fulfilling what we need, nothing too niche, just someone who has a good balance of PM skills and knowledge. The organisation was trying to bring people onboard directly to minimise fees but we’ve made the decision to go to a recruiter now to get someone in who is capable of doing the role.

It’s a difficult market all around, and unfortunately the days of leaving one job, and walking into another in tech easily seem to have passed for now.

The emphasis on workers wanting to work from home has also meant employers are willing to go way further afield to make up teams. If people aren't going to come into the office why worry that they are in commenting distance?
So they save a lot of money employing people outside expensive (comparatively) job markets.

Totally agree (irony is that I'm a transformation programme manager) but recruiting for a Business Analyst maternity cover. 52 applications in 3 days and despite me asking 'no agencies yet'; I've had 7 contact me 'to help' on LinkedIn.
The market is tough; OP when you've pro actively reached out to recruiters what have they said?