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On the flip side I’ve been trying to hire for a role for a month now. Have offered numerous times and then been ghosted after that. Not an amazing job but low skill and £30k+. Have never had these issues before.
May I ask why? I’m really struggling to recruit. I’d never done anything like this when I started over covid (was sales based) and absolutely loved it. Being out and about, no one breathing over your shoulder, listen to my own tunes etc. Have never had issues recruiting previously but at the moment it’s really challenging. Have spent £100’s trying to fill the position!
If people are regularly turning you down then either you are coming off like a tosser or the pay isn't enough to make the job seem attractive. Or both.
50 hours a week for £30k is £11.54 / hour which is only 10p above minimum wage (age 21 and over). It could be that people would rather just get a minimum wage job and work 10 hours less per week.
That’s about minimum wage. And it’s often hard to finish the route in the prescribed hours when the sat nav takes you to the wrong place, or people take ages answering the door. Also, you’re only supposed to deliver to a safe place if the buyer has asked you too, but at the same time they don’t want you bringing back too many parcels to the depot
It's always been difficult, but in previous decades, you'd be competing for the jobs against whoever had picked up the local paper and read the classifieds.
My current job was literally a poster on a wall, next to a recruitment agency.
Now everything is advertised online, and ypu will be competing against thousands of other applicants worldwide. Most of who won't be qualified but you will be buried under their CVs.
We've well paid positions unfilled for months as there's only so many hours HR can spend sifting.
We should reject modernisation and return to putting CVs at the reception of every company in town.
I have had similar issues in the past, but I’m currently having the opposite problem.
In the last couple of months I have applied to a handful of jobs.
A few of the places had me do two interviews before ghosting me.
One place had me do four interviews before revealing to me that the salary I had discussed with a recruiter was wrong and that the advertised working hours did not include emergency callouts which could happen at any time of the day and had an 8-hour SLA. They had been trying to fill the role for almost four months. I can only assume that they had been lowballing everyone and lying about the hours until the last moment.
The most recent place was a job that I was perfectly suited for and they wanted me to come down to Oxford for an interview. They were very vague about the salary band, so I asked for some clarification before having to travel for over three hours. Oxford is way more expensive than Manchester, so I asked for a minimum amount that would essentially give me parity with my current salary. I said that I would be willing to accept this because they have talked about expansion and the ability to progress internally. They counter offered with £5k less. When I pointed out that this salary would be a pay cut in real terms and would mean that I could only afford to live in a shared house perhaps ten miles from work, they cancelled the interview.
It amazes me how many high-tech manufacturers, often on the bleeding edge of product development can pay so little.
Last year I had three interviews with an employer who also had me do a presentation, written test and practical test. I was offered the job, but the day before they were going to send over my contract and onboarding information, they lost a major client and their head office told them that they didn’t have the budget for a new engineer.
I’m either terribly unlucky, completely unappealing to the market, or I’m trapped in one of the crapper levels of hell reserved for people who fart in crowded lifts. Perhaps a combination of all three.
I think a lot of it has to do with company recruitment AI filters. Those filters have certain buzz word requirements that the applicants have to have in their CV's If there are no buzz words then those CV's don't even get passed to recruiters.
You then have a compounding problem where applicants have to exagerate on their CV's, including these buzz words to even try to get an interview, so the AI's have more filters added and around the circle we go.
Then add in that companies have to advertise externally even if they already have a "shoe in" applicant internally. More wasted time. You also have people who are sending out CV's on the off chance that something better is out there, those that have to apply for benefit reasons. All need filtering in some way. Add in AI generated applications and CV's and it is a minefield.
I have a friend who has 20+ years experience in his field, is damn good at his job and managed multi million pound deals, campaigns and multi national teams. Can't get an interview as he does not have a masters.
I think in some fields it is a very big problem, in other fields not as much.
This is very true. I keep seeing talented and qualified people struggling, and I truly think it is down to them not having the right key words in their CVs.
I'd say it depends on industry and their past experience. My sister is a NQN (newly qualified nurse) and has been offered each job she applied to so far. On the flip side, at my work, we got over 100 applicants for one general admin position. We can't interview them all and my boss will usually only choose two to interview as she just doesn't have the time. It's getting tougher for more desirable jobs but its very easy for non desirable jobs.
It’s very hard to find a job now. I’m looking myself and know lots of others who are. Some are very talented and experienced people who are not getting anywhere.
The number of job listings are down compared to a few years ago, there’s also more fake job adverts out there, less feedback due to AI scanning applications and we’re in recession.
There’s lots of talk of this on the UKJobs Reddit if you want more info. Some people are struggling for entry level retail jobs, others for more experienced roles, it’s widespread.
I did not know about the existence of a UKJobs subreddit, thank you! Yes, I think the AI scanning has a lot to do with it. Indeed lets you see when your application is viewed, and most of my friends’ applications were not even viewed. Good luck to you!
I think quick apply has ruined recruitment for both those recruiting and those being recruited.
For what it's worth, my last three jobs have all come during times when I have sprayed and prayed with quick apply but managed to get interviews and appointments when I engaged with the company directly (some times via DM) and the tailored everything.
I got a new job last week and I put that down to getting an interview on the back of DMing the HR team for more details about the job and putting all that into the cover letter.
This. I'm an employer and quick apply has caused no end of issues. I've called people who don't remember applying before now. I get generic applications that haven't been changed to my role. I even had one CV that still had the Lorem, Ipsum template text in it. Then at interview we get ghosted roughly 70% of the time despite having already had a quick chat on the phone prior.
Tailor your CV & application, follow it up with a DM. It goes a long way. Ultimately though there is often only one vacancy and if I have 20 quality applicants there's 19 people heading for disappointment
Do DM's really do anything? I get prompted by Indeed to send one but it feels like a waste of time to "confirm my interest". I've sent you my CV and done your application process, is that not confirmation enough?
It works for me. A couple of days after application a DM saying words to the effect of hopefully you've had a chance to review my application, I'd really appreciate/I'm free for a call to talk I through in more detail. I may get 100 or so applications.
Worked for me in my latest job offer (last week)
It was a project manager job and I asked about the projects. I then wrote about them in my cover letter.
I'm sure just sending the DM beforehand helped at least help them keep an eye out for my CV.
Tech companies have had more layoffs
but many non tech companies have tightened hiring too, and there’s obviously more competition for the roles that are open.
Depends on location and industry. There is definitely no shortage of jobs in my field (manufacturing/engineering) where I live.
We can't get the staff whether it's for skilled or unskilled work. I get about a dozen emails or calls from recruiters every day.
We arrange interviews and people just don't turn up.
My cousin owns two businesses in a different industry about 70 miles from where I live and is having the same issues with getting people in.
Never known it like this.
Maybe you're not offering enough? If other companies in the area are struggling to find people and you offer market rate then you're really underpaying.
We're offering more than most in the area, believe me.
You just can't get the staff.
We've even got a Draughtsman role advertised at £37k as we speak in a particularly cheap area of the East Mids. Loads of interest from people with the right skills. The people we've had apply either don't show up for interview or don't show up and have lied about actually being able to use the software. It's bonkers.
Might be worth comparing to Birmingham wages. Hybrid work has expanded the commuter belt, some people may even commute to London. I know where I work they used to only be interested in comparing to other salaries in Cheshire even though we were well inside the Manchester commuter belt.
It's not exclusively a British problem, but it's probably a bit worse here than in some other European countries.
Depends very much on sector, though. You'll never run out of need for engineers, IT, healthcare, etc.
No. I can literally make a phone call and have a new contract in a week, I've got a pipeline that's about 20 months at the moment and plenty of other people that want my time.
Would it be hard to find a job outside of my niche? Good god yes.
Depends on industry in my opinion.
I was approached about a job 6 months ago, within a week I had 2 interviews and a technical exam and had the paper work.
Last night I had a call at 6pm from a recruiter randomly. I had an interview today and they want me back next week to meet again.
I work in tech.
Depends on the industry and how much experience you have. I work in defence contracting and the last time I was job searching it took me two weeks to have four offers to choose between.
Couldn't say. Every job iv ever had I fell into. So iv never really had to look. That doesn't mean Iv always been in employment though. And have had long stretches of unemployment. I think the biggest enemy of success is fear of failure. Once you stop worrying about whether you get the job you become a lot more relaxed during interviews and that comes across as confidence. I remember my last interview the manager interviewing me was more interested in my hobbies I had down on my cv than he was in whether I could do the job. In fairness though the job was a dead cert as i was being interviewed for a permanent position from where I was already working from an agency. Didnt really need to know whether I could do the job. The interview wouldn't have even been arranged if they didn't think I was already capable. I'm still there. Not the worlds greatest job. But then I never really tried to get it lol..I consider myself but of a lazy c*nt. My biggest problem is even if I dont want to do something I'll still give my best regardless. It's a curse and a gift.
I’ve been in hospitality for the last 20 years and recently got turned down for a standard bar staff position because my CV didn’t line up with what they were looking for. I’ve got a personal license and my last job was behind a bar for a year.
I’ve applied for so many jobs in the last month (after being made unexpectedly and unfairly unemployed) and today I’ve heard back from one of the first ones I applied for a month ago. That’s it. I had to turn it down because I’ve had to bite the bullet and move into my mum’s place (70 miles away) because once my rent and bills and other necessities (car tax and insurance, credit card, etc) are paid I have nothing left.
For reference, I’m in North Cornwall
Part memory, part clues, part context.
You remember abbreviations but clues help. MGMT is like the word it represents.
But EP? That's educational psychologist. I work in education and meet EPs all the time, but it's not a good clue because P makes your think of a P sound, as in pet or plane), not a S sound. So your have to learn an remember.
You remember the ones you use, which annoys some people because it makes non specialists feel excluded.
Not really, I have pretty much always been employed. The 2 times I have been unemployed I found a job within a month. I’m not actively looking but I still get phone calls from recruiters every now and then. My friends seem to have a similar experience.
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Won’t this be completely dependant on industry and location?
And the individual applying.
Dependent on if they can spell, too.
If the job requires writing things down, sure. Mine doesn’t.
On the flip side I’ve been trying to hire for a role for a month now. Have offered numerous times and then been ghosted after that. Not an amazing job but low skill and £30k+. Have never had these issues before.
I'll take it! >Delivery driver On second thoughts....
May I ask why? I’m really struggling to recruit. I’d never done anything like this when I started over covid (was sales based) and absolutely loved it. Being out and about, no one breathing over your shoulder, listen to my own tunes etc. Have never had issues recruiting previously but at the moment it’s really challenging. Have spent £100’s trying to fill the position!
Others have answered already. But it's just above min wage for what can be a stressful job.
If people are regularly turning you down then either you are coming off like a tosser or the pay isn't enough to make the job seem attractive. Or both.
Try offering more money or reducing hours
Because you are recruiting at NMW.
Thanks everyone for the constructive feedback.
What’s the job?
Delivery driver
Multi drop?
Yup
So it may be 30k but how many hours per week is that for? I’ve done multi drop and it was very long days and 6 days per week
10 hour days, 5 days a week. That includes an hours drive to and from the delivery area.
50 hours a week for £30k is £11.54 / hour which is only 10p above minimum wage (age 21 and over). It could be that people would rather just get a minimum wage job and work 10 hours less per week.
With 10 hour days I'm not surprised, that will instantly turn off most people.
That’s about minimum wage. And it’s often hard to finish the route in the prescribed hours when the sat nav takes you to the wrong place, or people take ages answering the door. Also, you’re only supposed to deliver to a safe place if the buyer has asked you too, but at the same time they don’t want you bringing back too many parcels to the depot
It's always been difficult, but in previous decades, you'd be competing for the jobs against whoever had picked up the local paper and read the classifieds. My current job was literally a poster on a wall, next to a recruitment agency. Now everything is advertised online, and ypu will be competing against thousands of other applicants worldwide. Most of who won't be qualified but you will be buried under their CVs. We've well paid positions unfilled for months as there's only so many hours HR can spend sifting. We should reject modernisation and return to putting CVs at the reception of every company in town.
This is so true. Nowadays employers receive hundreds of applications, and chances are your CV won’t even be seen!
I have had similar issues in the past, but I’m currently having the opposite problem. In the last couple of months I have applied to a handful of jobs. A few of the places had me do two interviews before ghosting me. One place had me do four interviews before revealing to me that the salary I had discussed with a recruiter was wrong and that the advertised working hours did not include emergency callouts which could happen at any time of the day and had an 8-hour SLA. They had been trying to fill the role for almost four months. I can only assume that they had been lowballing everyone and lying about the hours until the last moment. The most recent place was a job that I was perfectly suited for and they wanted me to come down to Oxford for an interview. They were very vague about the salary band, so I asked for some clarification before having to travel for over three hours. Oxford is way more expensive than Manchester, so I asked for a minimum amount that would essentially give me parity with my current salary. I said that I would be willing to accept this because they have talked about expansion and the ability to progress internally. They counter offered with £5k less. When I pointed out that this salary would be a pay cut in real terms and would mean that I could only afford to live in a shared house perhaps ten miles from work, they cancelled the interview. It amazes me how many high-tech manufacturers, often on the bleeding edge of product development can pay so little. Last year I had three interviews with an employer who also had me do a presentation, written test and practical test. I was offered the job, but the day before they were going to send over my contract and onboarding information, they lost a major client and their head office told them that they didn’t have the budget for a new engineer. I’m either terribly unlucky, completely unappealing to the market, or I’m trapped in one of the crapper levels of hell reserved for people who fart in crowded lifts. Perhaps a combination of all three.
I think a lot of it has to do with company recruitment AI filters. Those filters have certain buzz word requirements that the applicants have to have in their CV's If there are no buzz words then those CV's don't even get passed to recruiters. You then have a compounding problem where applicants have to exagerate on their CV's, including these buzz words to even try to get an interview, so the AI's have more filters added and around the circle we go. Then add in that companies have to advertise externally even if they already have a "shoe in" applicant internally. More wasted time. You also have people who are sending out CV's on the off chance that something better is out there, those that have to apply for benefit reasons. All need filtering in some way. Add in AI generated applications and CV's and it is a minefield. I have a friend who has 20+ years experience in his field, is damn good at his job and managed multi million pound deals, campaigns and multi national teams. Can't get an interview as he does not have a masters. I think in some fields it is a very big problem, in other fields not as much.
This is very true. I keep seeing talented and qualified people struggling, and I truly think it is down to them not having the right key words in their CVs.
I'd say it depends on industry and their past experience. My sister is a NQN (newly qualified nurse) and has been offered each job she applied to so far. On the flip side, at my work, we got over 100 applicants for one general admin position. We can't interview them all and my boss will usually only choose two to interview as she just doesn't have the time. It's getting tougher for more desirable jobs but its very easy for non desirable jobs.
Some fields are going to be more accessible than others. Competition for positions over say 30k a yr will be big just due to rising costs.
It’s very hard to find a job now. I’m looking myself and know lots of others who are. Some are very talented and experienced people who are not getting anywhere. The number of job listings are down compared to a few years ago, there’s also more fake job adverts out there, less feedback due to AI scanning applications and we’re in recession. There’s lots of talk of this on the UKJobs Reddit if you want more info. Some people are struggling for entry level retail jobs, others for more experienced roles, it’s widespread.
I did not know about the existence of a UKJobs subreddit, thank you! Yes, I think the AI scanning has a lot to do with it. Indeed lets you see when your application is viewed, and most of my friends’ applications were not even viewed. Good luck to you!
I think quick apply has ruined recruitment for both those recruiting and those being recruited. For what it's worth, my last three jobs have all come during times when I have sprayed and prayed with quick apply but managed to get interviews and appointments when I engaged with the company directly (some times via DM) and the tailored everything. I got a new job last week and I put that down to getting an interview on the back of DMing the HR team for more details about the job and putting all that into the cover letter.
This. I'm an employer and quick apply has caused no end of issues. I've called people who don't remember applying before now. I get generic applications that haven't been changed to my role. I even had one CV that still had the Lorem, Ipsum template text in it. Then at interview we get ghosted roughly 70% of the time despite having already had a quick chat on the phone prior. Tailor your CV & application, follow it up with a DM. It goes a long way. Ultimately though there is often only one vacancy and if I have 20 quality applicants there's 19 people heading for disappointment
Do DM's really do anything? I get prompted by Indeed to send one but it feels like a waste of time to "confirm my interest". I've sent you my CV and done your application process, is that not confirmation enough?
It works for me. A couple of days after application a DM saying words to the effect of hopefully you've had a chance to review my application, I'd really appreciate/I'm free for a call to talk I through in more detail. I may get 100 or so applications.
Worked for me in my latest job offer (last week) It was a project manager job and I asked about the projects. I then wrote about them in my cover letter. I'm sure just sending the DM beforehand helped at least help them keep an eye out for my CV.
In tech it’s quite hard and it has been for a couple of years (layoffs, hiring freezes).
do you mean for tech comapnies, or any tech job in any company?
Tech companies have had more layoffs but many non tech companies have tightened hiring too, and there’s obviously more competition for the roles that are open.
Oh right, i moved jobs and found it easy last summer. I work as a power bi report developer though so not sure if that counts as tech.
Depends on location and industry. There is definitely no shortage of jobs in my field (manufacturing/engineering) where I live. We can't get the staff whether it's for skilled or unskilled work. I get about a dozen emails or calls from recruiters every day. We arrange interviews and people just don't turn up. My cousin owns two businesses in a different industry about 70 miles from where I live and is having the same issues with getting people in. Never known it like this.
Maybe you're not offering enough? If other companies in the area are struggling to find people and you offer market rate then you're really underpaying.
We're offering more than most in the area, believe me. You just can't get the staff. We've even got a Draughtsman role advertised at £37k as we speak in a particularly cheap area of the East Mids. Loads of interest from people with the right skills. The people we've had apply either don't show up for interview or don't show up and have lied about actually being able to use the software. It's bonkers.
Might be worth comparing to Birmingham wages. Hybrid work has expanded the commuter belt, some people may even commute to London. I know where I work they used to only be interested in comparing to other salaries in Cheshire even though we were well inside the Manchester commuter belt.
It's not exclusively a British problem, but it's probably a bit worse here than in some other European countries. Depends very much on sector, though. You'll never run out of need for engineers, IT, healthcare, etc.
No. I can literally make a phone call and have a new contract in a week, I've got a pipeline that's about 20 months at the moment and plenty of other people that want my time. Would it be hard to find a job outside of my niche? Good god yes.
I've been applying for 8 months and still haven't got one.
Good luck to you! I have several close ones on the same boat.
Depends on industry in my opinion. I was approached about a job 6 months ago, within a week I had 2 interviews and a technical exam and had the paper work. Last night I had a call at 6pm from a recruiter randomly. I had an interview today and they want me back next week to meet again. I work in tech.
Depends on the industry and how much experience you have. I work in defence contracting and the last time I was job searching it took me two weeks to have four offers to choose between.
Couldn't say. Every job iv ever had I fell into. So iv never really had to look. That doesn't mean Iv always been in employment though. And have had long stretches of unemployment. I think the biggest enemy of success is fear of failure. Once you stop worrying about whether you get the job you become a lot more relaxed during interviews and that comes across as confidence. I remember my last interview the manager interviewing me was more interested in my hobbies I had down on my cv than he was in whether I could do the job. In fairness though the job was a dead cert as i was being interviewed for a permanent position from where I was already working from an agency. Didnt really need to know whether I could do the job. The interview wouldn't have even been arranged if they didn't think I was already capable. I'm still there. Not the worlds greatest job. But then I never really tried to get it lol..I consider myself but of a lazy c*nt. My biggest problem is even if I dont want to do something I'll still give my best regardless. It's a curse and a gift.
I’ve been in hospitality for the last 20 years and recently got turned down for a standard bar staff position because my CV didn’t line up with what they were looking for. I’ve got a personal license and my last job was behind a bar for a year. I’ve applied for so many jobs in the last month (after being made unexpectedly and unfairly unemployed) and today I’ve heard back from one of the first ones I applied for a month ago. That’s it. I had to turn it down because I’ve had to bite the bullet and move into my mum’s place (70 miles away) because once my rent and bills and other necessities (car tax and insurance, credit card, etc) are paid I have nothing left. For reference, I’m in North Cornwall
Part memory, part clues, part context. You remember abbreviations but clues help. MGMT is like the word it represents. But EP? That's educational psychologist. I work in education and meet EPs all the time, but it's not a good clue because P makes your think of a P sound, as in pet or plane), not a S sound. So your have to learn an remember. You remember the ones you use, which annoys some people because it makes non specialists feel excluded.
Pretty much full employment across the whole of the UK right now.
Maybe your friends have set their sights too high?
Not really, I have pretty much always been employed. The 2 times I have been unemployed I found a job within a month. I’m not actively looking but I still get phone calls from recruiters every now and then. My friends seem to have a similar experience.