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

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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 work in project implementation in the finance industry, and with rates the way they are, and therefore business volumes taking a hit, project budgets are way down.

It's likely similar in other industries with the costs of everything being as high as they are. Businesses are just aiming to get through this patch and therefore not doing much improvement or development. Which means less roles available and therefore more competition when they are.

Coupled with people hanging onto decent jobs rather than looking for progression with the cost of living worrying them. Makes for a bad job market unfortunately.

Same in my world.

We're looking for 2 CAD designers and it's proving very difficult.

Job seekers market in my industry

I think it's a tough market at the moment good luck, know it's hard

It is brutal at the moment. Not just in tech, marketing etc. The number of applicants vs roles is huge. Am also hunting and am usually sniper enough about it to guarantee an interview... but haven't had one in my last four applications, two of which I was invited to interview for and then told they didn't take me through because the field was so very strong.

It's been bad for at least a year. Family member got made redundant in November 2022 and didn't secure another position until July 2023. And he had a very impressive Cv.

You just have to be relentless OP. Treat finding a job as a full time job.

Agree! The role I’m looking for should be a market salary of around £100k but there are sooo many of these roles ( a ‘head of role’) paying as low as £40k but with an average of around the £60-£70k mark. Terrible

Salaries being offered in 2024 are not so different for those offered nearly 20 years ago. They may have crept up at the bottom end, but at more senior levels are rubbish.
Not sure where all of the capable folks have gone instead, but I meet very few impressive individuals in the Finance field today.

It's a really tough market. I work in tech. too OP. Starting to apply for nontech jobs as well.
Keep going.

I am getting interviews, but not bagged a role yet. Been looking since October.

Civil and structural engineers and CAD techs (consulting) are in high demand and salaries have gone up a lot. There also aren't enough candidates for jobs, and competent candidates are even rarer so it's not down across the board.

Hope you manage to secure something soon.

All the big banks use recruitment agencies - they pay an agency to create a job board for them that looks like it’s internal but it’s still completely managed by the recruiter. Most of them have one main recruiter they use and then they will go out to the smaller agencies if needed.

A friend in recruitment tells me that many job adverts are fake, the jobs don't exist and they're just a CV/data mining exercise. Is that true? That can't be legal.

Some might well be fake, recruiters or outsourcing companies then get access to companies names and what technologies they use so can contact them and try and sell them their service. It always used to be a sign of a fake role if a recruiter asked you for two references before putting you forward.

It is true across all industries, yes. But it is not to do with the cost of health insurance. They are a richer nation and wages have not stagnated in the past 20 years like they have done here and in much of Europe. Salaries in Tech, Finance, Law etc. are 50-100% higher in the US and only a fraction of that differential goes on health insurance.

I work in an international company and my exact role in the US pays 70% more. The cost of living there is not too dissimilar to London, private healthcare is a standard benefit for all employees, and as it’s an international firm the holiday and maternity/parental leave is in line with the UK. So it’s 70% more money for doing the exact same job but in a richer nation.

Hmmm, I (senior BA) was half heartedly considering looking at what’s out there but I think I might sit tight and save myself the stress based on these comments.
We struggled to recruit for Senior BAs over summer, juniors were fine but lots of people who had qualifications but no experience for the more senior roles.
Im surprised product managers are being slimmed down given that it seems to be the new ‘thing’ to move from project lifecycle to product lifecycle.
Although if firms are investing less/doing less transformation work then I can see why BAU wouldn’t need a product manager.
Good luck with your search OP

Tech is grim at the moment, look at the amount of layoffs at Amazon, Google, Unity etc. If you have in demand skills (automation, ML etc) then there are still plenty of jobs out there, if not then maybe time to brush up on skills.

I think there are a lot of companies reducing numbers or putting in job freezes at the mo, and if that happens after an advert has gone to press then the process can trail to a halt. It is annoying not even to get an acknowledgement that the application was received though.

The company I work for definitely don’t do fake ads - but this is a large international company. I can imagine the smaller ones may do it.

Have you considered widening your search, e.g. to tech product manager in Edtech?
Good luck, there are hundreds of applicants for every role at the moment, so it’s harder for even individuals with a great CV to be spotted in the CV mountain that needs sifting.

I’d say the market definitely isn’t great. DH got made redundant last year from a tech marketing type role and it took him 7 months of actively looking and interviewing to find a new role. Previously he was being approached regularly by recruiters but I think now lots of people are out of work so the talent pool is larger, combined with companies being cautious about recruiting due to cost control. Hopefully it will improve this year though.

I work in tech and it’s bad at the moment, really bad. Most companies I know are making redundancies and a lot of our clients are as well. Everyone seems to be on a hiring freeze. I keep wondering if this is a burst bubble situation, for tech and consultancies etc.

Nothing really to add to what's been said. I agree with what someone said about LinkedIn - people do add all sorts of extravagant claims and employers know this, but if your profile info. gives the facts, tells prospective employers what you would bring to their organisation and your past achievements, then that's all good. Have you added any recommendations from people you've worked with in the past?
Is it likely that the slump might be worse at present because things haven't got back into the swing after New Year yet? Are companies cautious because of Election coming up?

It's awful in my industry in that we have 60 plus vacancies in our division but few suitable applicants. Those that we interview are asking for 20% payrises whi then get counter offered by current employer and stay with them.

I have a friend who specifically recruits for the tech market and he says things are really bad at the moment - so bad that he hardly has any work and is always in the gym!

Some sectors are desperate for candidates but unfortunately yours isn't one of them - hopefully things will pick up this year.

I recruit in tech sector. There is still plenty going on, it is much quieter than last year but we are placing lots of technical people. What is your actual job/skill set role?

There were massive tech layoffs (redundancies) in the US in 2023, and the industry has pulled back. All of those techies are now looking for jobs and looking for jobs in tech but in other sectors - healthcare, banking, whatever. AI has also made software developers more productive, so there's less need to hire more of them.

My DH works in tech but in a management role. He's also going to retire in the next year or two, so we're not too worried. But it is a very different environment now than a few years ago.

Our son graduated with a degree in accounting in 2022, went to work for one of the big four accounting firms, and is now looking to find another job. There's a shortage of people with accounting degrees in the US, so he's had loads of interviews and can be picky about it.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/14/after-big-tech-layoffs-silicon-valley-loses-its-monopoly-on-workers.html