I can’t find a new job

[Hadtochangemyhat]

Just that really!!! Stuck in a job that I just don’t enjoy. I have had 10 interviews and only success at one to then be told it was decided as fixed term for 1 year!!! Feedback always good but there is always someone with “x,y and z skills who pipped me to the post!!!! Two jobs had already been filled with internal candidates and I was just there because they had to advertise! It’s all left me feeling so depressed and anxious. I feel like I must be total rubbish. My job is okay on paper but it’s quiet and I don’t feel happy. I’m an older lady but not ready to retire yet. Unless I take a job with the minimum wage I just don’t know what to do?? Any advice? Wondered if anyone felt the same?

OP, don’t despair yet. Ten isn’t that many really. But also to get to interview stage 10x shows that your CV is good. And it sounds like you could have been right for any of those jobs but only one person can win in these situations unfortunately. Keep going! You’ve got so much to offer.

You can’t be “total rubbish” to have got to interview that many times! And to have all that good feedback.

You're doing well to get the interviews. I've been looking and applying for over a year, and only had 3-4 interviews, and only progressed to the later stages once. Its partly my age i think, partly because I need to replace a senior salary, but also the market is tanking and its incredibly competitive. It sounds like youre doing everything right so I hope you get somewhere soon.

Keep going op. Dh was made redundant 4 months ago and still hasn't found a new job yet! he's applied for over 50 jobs and only had 2 interviews. It's brutal out there at the moment, the advantage you have is that you currently have a job so just keep doing what you're doing and something will come up, good luck

Thank you for your replies. It’s so soul destroying and each rejection I take personally!

I've been applying this year, only had the one offer of an interview (which I ended up turning down as the commute would have made me worse off). I've been rejected for 3 jobs this week, not sure what else I can do. I'm also really fed up of being asked about a 2 year gap when I was 18 by agencies. I'm 47 what I did or didn't do at 18 is irrelevant now.

My brother, far more qualified and specialised than me, really struggled getting a new job. Took him 8 months.

It's soul destroying.

Is there any way you can improve your current job? Ask to work on different projects or to be trained for new skills? Or to move to a busier role if it is too quiet for you?

Is there any freelance work you could do that would earn similar daily amounts, so you could cut down to 3 days a week?

Keep applying. You are doing well to get so many interviews. It's just a matter of finding the right fit with the right salary.

I now work for myself with some regular work contracted to a big company and I LOVE it. But when I was trying to get a permanent job in my fifties I did slightly suspect that I was the token 'older' candidate who kept getting through to the final stage interviews in companies full of 30-somethings, when they had no intention of hiring me, they just wanted to be seen to be fair. Do you think this might be happening?

Massage the truth for that 2 year gap. Even if you just did the occasional night babysitting I'd cover that as 'Mother's Help' or 'au pair' (which is an unqualified nanny status) or if you did a few shifts as a waitress put 'hospitality for Tiny Village Cafe and Local Pub'. It's not always humans that sift the CVs these days, it might be AI and they'll automatically flag that gap, however little it matters.

Your cv must be ok if you are getting to interview stage so how about getting some interview practice. Do you know anybody in management/exec positions who hires and might be willing to do a mock interview and give you some feedback.

Thanks. I was failing Alevels and working in a pub. Never really needed to put anything but for some reason this year everyone seems to want to know. I was thinking of taking off all my jobs before university but I think I'll change my mind now.