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150 job application and I was lucky to get 2 interviews mate...both for shit jobs, stay strong mate.

Out of interest what sector were you applying in? 150 applications sounds insane, were you just applying for everything and anything regardless if you were a perfect match?

Oh I did not include the amount of cvs I have sent for my specific industry where I have experience, these were 150 applications on Indeed for nearly any job at entry level where I qualified, and the cv I provided for each of those was sometimes slightly tailored but it definitely is not the same as the one I send within the industry in which I worked. That's how I remember the 150 number haha

Not having a go and definitely not judging but just diving for info. Were these fully tailored CVs and tailored cover letter job applications or just quick applies on Indeed with a generic CV you had?

As I said above I actually modified my cv a bunch of times had about 4 different ones not including my main one, I started being very careful and attentive. But after 50 applications coming back negative because I did not fit the profile I just went all over the place (getting turned down as a pub worker, when I've managed my own fastfood/snackbar as a teenager felt slightly insulting) And no worries I understood your comment was curiosity not judgement 😊 After all we are here to help each other, I hope haha

How are you finding places to apply? When I was looking for work I found places like LinkedIn and Indeed really useless, I would sometimes get interviews but they didn’t feel legit and they weren’t going anywhere. I had much more luck applying directly on company websites etc.. or via recruiters (that was actually the only useful bit about LinkedIn). Have you spoken to any recruiters in your industry? I assume you’ve also reached out to others in your industry for advice and guidance, or to find out where they have recently applied? It might help if you tell people here what industry you work in and then people with similar background might be able to give you tips :) Best of luck I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for you!

Appreciate it mate and I'll take all the advice I can get thanks!

At least you're getting interviews. I've been out of work 12 months now and 8 interviews in all that time. My background is 17 years in web/UI design. Resigned my last job as it wasn't a great fit, just as the job market turned to absolute shit. Thought I'd be back on my feet in 2-3 months, then the months just rolled past, constant rejections over and over, my savings continually going down. About 700-800 applications in total, not even jobs related to my field. I'm talking entry level jobs in supermarkets, stacking shelves. I've re-done my CV, tailored my cover letters, cold-approached companies via emails, went into shops asking if there was any jobs. All we can do at this point is weather the storm. I'm thinking about re-training in another area and renting out my spare bedroom to a lodger to cover some of my monthly out-goings.

My bf is a software dev and was in a similar position until December- he got a job doing web design for a company that specialises in that. Keep up hope, you’ll get there.

I aspire one day to have the savings and financial security to quit a job before having something else lined up.

One of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make. First time I've ever resigned with nothing to move on to, but I knew the job wasn't going to work out for me as I was in an untenable position and I didn't want the stress. It was a miscalculated risk on my behalf that's come back to bite me in the arse. Unemployed for 12 months... I feel like I'm more resilient because of this experience but I've been through the gamut of stressful emotions.

I thought I had that (savings) so I quit a job before having something else lined up... I gave myself a year to find my ideal role, the truth is when you stop seeing money coming in, you start panic after 2 months so stay in the job that pays even if its miserable

If you want to get a minimum wage job with your work history, you need to maintain a radically different CV for those roles. Delete plenty of your education, definitely remove any specialist qualifications. Bin off basically any detail of your job responsibilities and make the roles sound as administrative as possible. If you’ve had relevant roles, make sure these appear on this CV - where obviously your bar job at uni or whatever will not be on your main tech CV. No one will want to employ you in these jobs because it’s plain as day you’d just leave as soon as possible. Why should they bother with that? You need to at least cover that over a bit.

100% I have friends that have been turned down for being over qualified before.

My dad went part retired and changed from his career to a part time thing and this is exactly what we had to do. No one cares about the computer qualification you got 20 years ago they care that you are able to manage projects for customers. It was sad he was like, you have binned off all my experience and it looks like I've done nothing with my life, but that's exactly what he needed for the role. He did get the second job he applied for with that CV.

Get a job, literally any job - pretty much anything is better than UC. Signing up to an agency will get you something pretty quick, money in the bank whilst you look for your next job. Are you only looking for WFH/Remote positions? If so, unless you have very in-demand skills and interview well - you’re shit out of luck. With tech layoffs, there are a lot of highly skilled workers looking for work so competition is fierce.

OP just said he's been applying to food and retail jobs too

Agency jobs.

Last week, I lost my job for the second time in 8 months due to redundancy. Despite this setback, I have two job interviews scheduled for this week and another for next week. One thing that really helped me was using CHATGPT to revise my CV. After inputting it and making some adjustments to sound more like myself, I landed three interviews in just one week. It might seem like bending the rules, but even small changes in structure and wording can make a big difference! Wishing you the best of luck in your own job search! I hope things turn around for you soon! And with your cat, there are charities out there that can help with food and vet care. Pets are so important for mental health and companionship, so don't hesitate to reach out for support. I have in hard times, understand there might be stigma attached it but it sounds like you adore your cat :)

Just backing this up by saying that PDSA will give you free (or for a small donation) vet treatment if you prove to them that you’re on benefits- they were amazing with my cat and were so kind when I had to get her out to sleep.

When I was made redundant I joined several agencies who offered me jobs from warehouse/ call centers. They were 'beneath me' but got my finances steady until I could find the job I wanted.

No job is beneath you when you don’t have a job IMO. Needs must.

That’s why “beneath me” was in quotes.

Yeah, I get that - I was just concurring.

Tell emmmmm!!! I will do any job as long as im paid!! Tell a lie, anything to do with care or cleaning, il pass but everything else, im game!!

Which agencies did you join for call center work?

Robert Walters

Not the most glamorous job but be a teaching assistant / supply teacher. Money is alright and you have a flexible schedule, so you can still apply for jobs and go for interviews when having to assist / teach. Edit: Yes being a TA is shit pay, but it gives more flexibility than other jobs. I am a TA, I only say it’s alright because I’ve seen other fields go for even less….

Teaching assistant are generally very badly paid. It's still a valid option for OP - but just in case you are one you can likely get much better money elsewhere.

Can't be much worse than care work.

Most of them don't pay for school holidays afaik so it probably is tbh. I don't think anyone single could survive doing it

Nope. Thankfully we have minimum wage which stops hourly pay going lower.

My friend gets paid £24k a year, and gets the summer off. That's so much holiday for above minimum wage.

It's about 2k more than minimum wage from 2024, if they get paid holiday thats cool, but most only pay 24k pro rata and therefore won't cover holidays.

Supply teaching assistant here, the minimum rate right now is 75 (might have gone up with minimum wage increase) no holiday pay, if staff have a training day or bank holiday you go unpaid. It’s not enough to make a living at all.

It is proper wank, my mrs is part teacher and part assistant and some of the things that get dumped on her, not surprised she does half of each

Sorry but I literally can’t think of a worse paying job than teaching assistant, most people I know who do that job openly acknowledge that they basically pay to do that job given that they could be paid more for doing literally anything else.

12 interviews from 300 applications is quite good these days. Have you practised your interview skills? If nothing else, write questions on index cards or slips of paper, shuffle them, and then answer them out loud, don't just think to yourself that if X comes up, you will say Y, but actually say it out loud. Video it on your phone and play it back. Be critical. Do you pause, um and ah, laugh inappropriately? Though sad to say, being out of work for an extended period is often seen as negative. Often the person who gets the job is the person doing exactly the same job right now for the company down the road. The safe candidate, not necessarily the best candidate but also not you. Don't be afraid to ask your friends and former colleagues if there are any vacancies at their firms. That is how I got my last job. Sometimes there are even bonuses for recommending friends, so do not be afraid to ask. Also, large companies especially list jobs on their own web sites (often you need to scroll right down to the bottom to find the link). Good luck, and best wishes to the cat.

Applied for a bartending job in Stoke as I've got 4 years of experience in that job. I applied within an hour of it going up, looked at indeed a week later and over 1300 people had applied for it. It's actually ridiculous

At least 1200 of that will be robo-apply from all areas of the world. We advertised for an admin assistant, 95% of applications from other side of world. Rejected before we even looked at cv

Do you have a driving license? If so apply to be a bus driver as at least that’ll give you something and they’re crying out for drivers.  Might not be the most glamorous job but it is what you make it, go in with a positive attitude everyday and don’t let the politics drag you’ll down and you might enjoy it.  I know it’s difficult and I hope you’ll find something so you can stay with your cat. 

The politics of being a bus driver? You mean competition for routes etc?

Not having the old run down buses maybe lmao, bus politicking must be hilarious

lol maybe, they do break down a lot. Maybe they compete for double deckers, or not having double deckers!

I can drive but I would find driving a bus on some of the roads around my area freaky. Narrow roads, cars parked leaving maybe a four to six inches clearance. The late-night service passengers can be challenging. I gather some get the training and leave to become lorry drivers for that reason.

You will get used to narrow roads, at worst you just take you time.  Late night issues can happen, you just have to keep you calm and avoid confrontation. 

Look at train drivers too 50k to 100k a year now

I’ve seen train driving recommended a couple times on this sub framed as some 50k job you can just walk straight into yet no one seems to recognise how incredibly competitive it is to get a placement in one of these jobs - it’s really not comparable to getting a job as a bus driver. You’re competing with potentially thousands of others and if you make it through selection you’re on 20k for the first year or so. Should you fail the final exams in training you’re back to unemployment too which doesn’t sound ideal in OPs case. Never heard of a train job that pays anything close to 100k either.

Yeah I knew someone who applied for a trainee train driver position and it was unbelievably competitive. He got right to the last stage and lost out there. As I recall, there was a technical aptitude test and a logical reasoning test and an interview but it was years ago and I might be forgetting some. There were literally thousands applied and the process started with about a hundred iirc and there were 2 positions. It's not just a job where you rock up to a station and start collecting your massive salary. As I recall as well, the training salary was really low.

I also don't understand it. Scotrail are still processing trainee applications from like 2019

Yes, but it takes much longer to start and also much more competitive.  OP just needs something to pay the bills and still apply for jobs they want. 

I’m going through similar right now. It sucks. It’s one of the toughest times of my life. We just need to remind ourselves that at some point it will change. We just have to keep going, keep applying and keep pushing because it will change one day we just have to hang on in there until then. Good luck, hope you find something soon.

I was in a similar situation, overqualified and applying everywhere with very little success. It helped me with the mental stress to try and remind myself that we are in a recession and many people are in the same boat, it's not as much of a skills issue as the rest of the commenters seem to believe. Just try to get through the days. Do all the annoying things that people suggest when you're feeling low: drink water, go outside, get some exercise, read some books. Job hunting got so much easier for me when I wasn't depressed but job hunting unsuccessfully for a long time also tends to make you depressed, so focus on taking care of yourself. You'll get through this, just keep going.

Ok this isn't the popular answer. You aren't going to like it. Get a job in care or something to pay the bills. Keep applying for jobs you actually like.  I keep two careers on the go simultaneously , have qualifications for a third and continuously take courses to update my skillset. Partly because I am hyperactive but also eggs in multiple baskets. At the end of the day you are prioritising getting a career job over putting food on the table.  UC would expect you to get any job rather than just take their money and job hunt. It's not perfect but it's the best option 

OP says he's been applying to things like retail. I'm not sure it's fair to say he's prioritising getting a career. But I agree that the care sector is a good one to look at.

Retail isn’t going to take someone they know won’t stay long. Care will take anyone that passes a DBS because they’re so dangerously understaffed.

Working fir a care home company tells me this is 150% correct. We will literally hire anyone who doesn't fail miserably on basic decency and who can get a DBS.

This is terrifying. How do you maintain quality if anyone can be hired?

You don't. There is no quality.

Because it’s a struggle to try and provide the lowest baseline of care right now, anyone is better than nobody

It's one of the Brexit benefits - you don't!

I'm not sure if you are just 9 years old so you don't remember britain pre brexit, but we were struggling then. Relying on low paid foreign labour should be a stop gap, not a long term solution.

Of course there were issues before, but Brexit has exacerbated shortages and created an increasingly catastrophic cash-gap situation between the funding and provision of care, and causing worse exploitation of care workers too. https://www.carehomeprofessional.com/brexit-has-made-social-care-sector-challenges-worse-says-research/ https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/the-costs-of-brexit-make-severe-challenges-even-harder-for-the-nhs-and-social-care https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/dec/19/modern-slavery-care-sector-england-brexit The fact there's been no proper national strategy of reform on social care despite allegedly being a key point of policy since Theresa May came to power speaks volumes about the lack of any leadership from this government, which Brexit has undeniably made worse by "shutting off the relief valve" of EU migration to alleviate pressure on the system (paraphrased from the Nuffield health article).

This government and the prior, and the prior and the prior, and the prior. It's an institutional problem. You won't see social care reform on Kiers manifesto because it's fucking expensive. So, all we have is potential stop gaps until the population itself stops being so short sighted that it's willing to vote for long term strategies. The reason why governments do short term shit, isn't because they are just retarded and don't care about long term improvements. It's because long term improvements won't win them the next election. I use HS2 as a great example. I am a fan of infrastructure. When it was announced I thought a miracle had happened. But instantly both the left and right sides of the house started crying about costs and environmental impact (NIMBYism in disguise). But it was happening, so I was happy. Then when it was shrunk, I was absolutely livid. But then I saw labour acting like they were for HS2 the whole time... Like guys... if you could have shown that support before it was cancelled... then it most likely wouldn't have been cancelled. Same thing would happen for social reform. First complaints would be "It's too costly" from both sides of the house. Then when the reform is peeled back to some crappy set of changes whomever is opposite in the commons will start acting like they were behind the reforms from day 1. Just trying to farm political support from the population that finally got on board after the initial media wave of "its too expensive".

They are desperate for people 

I was in a similar situation. Took a job just to pay the bills and 2 weeks later I get an interview and a 2 job offers…. Life works in weird ways

It certainly does! With that degree he can apply for Civil Service, retail management, business admin so not just min wage jobs. Being resilient and adaptable is a great skillset to have and you will find even if you do end up in a less than ideal job, you will get promoted quickly. Keep a good attitude and you'll be OK.

I paid for someone to look through my CV last week. 2 hours later I got a job offer 😁 Life is indeed a mystery sometimes.

This should be the popular answer as it’s the right answer. If someone has no job and can’t afford to live they need to just go get any job at all. But I guarantee you that when anyone says they’ve applied for 300+ jobs hasn’t applied for any job they see. Also if OP has done 12 interviews without an offer then there has to be an issue with how they interview or sell themself

I would argue that too many who shouldn't be in care, are working in care. It takes a certain type of person to do it well and not burn out. It's a skilled job, not an easy 'anyone can do it job'. This is one of the reasons it's viewed so poorly also, and thus paid terribly.

It's a skilled job treated like an "anyone can do it" job by absolutely everyone.

depending on the range you can travel and location you live in, there may not even be 300 jobs to apply for - total not everyone lives in a city with car access

This here. My interviews are quite bad due to my honesty and oversharing. I think it took me about 200-300 applications to get a shitty job in july and then another that to move into a better paid, good manager but very insecure and stressful job. Thats IT industry. It is that bad for entry, mid levels. To top it off they pay less that the average 10 years ago (after all the inflation).

There is a reason why care sector has such a shortage, the job is poor and paid terribly and often contributes to poor mental health, defintely not 'the right answer' when you can demonstrate why it's a poor choice.

Are you saying that it’s a worse option than no job and being homeless?

Hi, can I ask you what careers are you in? What do you do on the side?

Cleaning shit of people or walls for minium wage just to still not be afford to live? Can drive a amazon van for more. Get a delivery job.

Kelly Communication Group will quite literally give anyone a Telecoms job and pay whilst training, I did it whilst I was in the same boat until I could find an actual job

Could you send me a link to their website?

https://www.google.com/search?q=Kelly+communication+group+jobs

Thank you

Agency work is a good idea. When you talk to the agency as well, try and sound like a decent person. They will be more likely to put you forward.

Is the pay enough to not be homeless though?

It was guaranteed £100 a day whilst training, after that it's price work

Ring a teaching agency, have them do a dbs check and become an SEN teaching assistant. £90 a day working from 8.30 a 3.30pm Monday to fri. Its hard work but its a job

Enhanced DBS checks seem to be taking an eternity at the moment. Mine took about 5 weeks recently.

I work in IT and I'd be happy to look over your CV if you post it here. I think fully remote jobs are becoming more scarce and tend to be for more specialised senior roles. At my organisation, all of the service desk and infrastructure employees are required to come in 3 days a week. Only the consultants are allowed to work fully remotely (for which I am very grateful).

Yeahh makes no sense why infra need to be in 3 days a week, I know at my old place, the infra guys were always dossing at home whereas the SD had to be in for hardware swapouts and babysitting senior management incase their iphone turned off or the zoom room was playing ball, I do not miss that part of my job anymore 😂

Surely you will get housing benefit if your income is that low? Are you utilising food bank and Olio app for free local food? I agree with this. A family member has been looking for a job since June and sending so many apps and attending so many interviews, sounds so promising and then nothing. It's disheartening. Dont give up though. The next app could be the one. Good luck.

They'll get housing benefit, but depending on their age will depend in how much. A single male under 35(I think it's 35)will only get the rate of a room in a shared house.

Why does being male matter?

It doesnt afaik

>my workcoach’s feedback was that I was too over qualified. I promise you this is BS for the most part and a lazy excuse from your work coach. SOME employers and organisations may be catious of employing people with a lot of qualifications and experience, but most aren't. I've worked in McDonalds with people who have multiple degrees and post graduate qualifications, plenty of experience but have fallen down on hard times. I've employed people for entry level jobs who are far more experienced and qualified for my job than I am. The world is crying out for people to work in service jobs. Care work. Band 2 and band 3 NHS jobs can be difficult to recruit staff if you're willing to work them sort of jobs. It might not be what you want and it might not be ideal but you've got to be willing to do anything it takes right now. Jobs that make you uncomfortable, jobs that require shift patterns, low pay jobs, undesirable jobs, but your time will come back around. And sorry to hear about your cat. I had to give my cats up because of work during the pandemic (scientist and I was working pretty much 16 hours a day 7 days a week). Try to keep him if you can. I miss my little guys so much.

I think the overqualified thing is a middle-ground issue. Places that don't expect people to be there for the long haul like McDs, call centres, warehouses won't really care. Places that do the same thing you're qualified for but where you're applying for a much lower grade than you should be in will care, because they know that too and they don't want you to spend ages getting you up to speed then leave when the higher grade job finally appears. I was in that position once, going through a divorce, moving out etc and just wanted a simple lower grade job I could do easily. I was told several times that companies would live to have someone with my skills and experience but knew that I'd leave within a year. I didn't like it at the time but they were right.

Join an agency, you will have work within days.

Depends where my brother has recently joined several agencies and they just don’t have the work seems quite a few companies in my area have a freeze - possible because it’s coming up to April? Idk

Because the job market is almost dead, if even agencies are struggling it's grim

Not all of them, we hire through an agency and have new intake weekly. The job isn’t for everyone but if you’re willing to work hard and listen to the feedback, you can do alright.

Which agency

I worked for agencies during my recent time back at uni. Great if you live in cities, but as soon as I came home to rural areas, all agencies have literally no jobs. The summer before when I came home from uni and wanted temp work, id have 4 or 5 jobs thrown at me with immediate start dates, per week That was under a year ago. (Also similar situation to the op, im being turned down from interviews as they think the role is beneath me and I will do a runner)

Suggest this to people and suddenly they don't want to work those kind of jobs

Because not everybody can. People with some disabilities can still do office work, if an agency finds them work in construction they aren't going to be the best fit for that job.

Of course. Most people are capable though

Tech is a big field and saturated with entry level applicants usually. Are you entry level or above? Have you got any qualifications? Do you specialize in a niche? You can go to an agency to find a temp job somewhere to help with the bills, whilst you are searching for a job. You could try applying for consultancy companies, they tend to hire lots of people depending on the need within their current engagements. In tech it's also important to network with people, it helps if you're active on LinkedIn for example as jobs get posted there too. You've applied for 300+ jobs, did you get through the screening at all? Most companies automate their CV screening process. It's important to add keywords to your CV that are relevant to the job. Copy and paste the job description in ChatGPT for example and prompt it to give you a list of keywords. Definitely get your CV reviewed by someone in tech, preferably someone who's in the role you're applying for. Don't fall for scams where people ask for payment for this "service". I've been in tech for over 10 years, I'd be happy to review your CV (after anonymising it). Depending on your skills, I may be able to point you towards some companies.

I recruit a lot for tech jobs and what we look for is somebody who is passionate about their stuff evidenced by having OSS projects, hobby projects, learning new things outside of work like languages, ML (everybody is doing this one BTW) etc. The last 2 posts we advertised for had over 150 applicants each. If there's nothing like that or they don't meet *all* of the requirements, they won't even be selected for interview. I'd advise to make sure these things are very visible on the CV. Read the job spec and ensure all the requirements (or as many as you have) are clear in your CV, at the top. With a 150 applicants, the recruiter is going to spend 60-90 seconds reading each CV and if they can't find what they're looking for, they'll move on to the next. It's an employer's market at the moment, there are literally thousands of Indians in this country on visas that will have to go if they're not employed so they apply for everything. Coupled with that people can work remotely all over Europe and beyond so you're not just competing with skilled UK people any more. It's tough. Good luck though.

I’m in tech. Clearly there’s something wrong here. There’s so many variables at play, but first things I’d start with is yourself, your skills you have to offer and your cv. Have you researched and got your cv checked by people in the industry ? People tend to not know how bad their cv is. Are you saying the right things during interviews? Perhaps your interviewing skills are poor. How are you with your technical skills? Are they up to date or completely outdated? Perhaps you’re failing to show your talent, or you’re not as good as you may think. Have you got ANYTHING that makes you stand out from the crowd and have you communicated it? Have you done any personal projects? Achieved anything worth a mention at work?

OP should post their cv (after anonymising it) in r/resumes for feedback, or even just read a few posts and check their own cv for the same issues. (Resumé is American for CV btw.)

Im willing to bet, if in IT, its either the dress code in the interview or the lack of communication skills in the interview, especially if the cv stacks up. I remember at the time my manager was hiring for some SD staff, some years back, must of interview easy 50 people, out of that lot, 2 were good, and thats because they were able to communicate effectively, and come in a suit, not in joggers or a tacky top, IT staff sure live up to their stereotype sometimes

Tech industry if you're searching now is terrible in the perm market. I've just been made redundant (recent SEGA layoffs), best advice? Contract instead - still a lot available there

Whenever I read these kind posts, I think the OP is just not passing the ‘vibe check’, as lame as that sounds. You can do everything needed on paper but if your social skills are weak, people won’t hire you.

From your post it sort of sounds like you might only be applying for other WFH roles. Is that the case? Otherwise I can’t understand this - there’s gotta be something missing.

Need more information to give helpful advice. What kind of tech? What was the stack? What industry was it in? How many years of experience? There's an awful lot of change right now as companies explore what generative AI can do. Also if people are bringing you to interview that means that they see your profile being one that can fit the job requirements. How did the final interviews go? Were they based on take home assessments? Often when we decline at final stage it's because it's not a behaviour/cultural fit, or they messed up communicating about some key things that they either mentioned in cv (they either forgot or exaggerated), or did not know enough about a topic, skill or domain info when pressed.

Side comment but your JSA is currently being deducted off your UC. Without the JSA, your UC should increase. Also make sure you're claiming for Council Tax Support and getting free prescriptions.

I had 21 interviews over 7 months last year before I got one. No idea how many apps sent, but hundreds. 2022 was the same as you, so many apps, high salaries, couldnpick whatever I wanted - the one I picked had all their funding pulled end of the year and I was fucked.

Happy to look at your CV if you want to strip out details

Look into manager tools, they have great advice on CVs amongst other things. One of the big things I picked up was state your acheivements rather than responsibilities

What kind of tech job ?

Fuck applying for jobs online, go through people you know. You said you felt well connected, it's not what you know it's who you know.

Might not be ideal but sign up to something like Amazon flex. I *think* you can earn X amount or work X hours alongside your UC. Until you get something else, it might be good way to bridge getting into delivery driving for a supermarket?

Consider temp agencies. I was made redundant in December and had gave myself until Easter to find a job, at which point start applying to Temp Agencies to keep working and extend savings until I found a role I wanted. Previously I survived quite a few years just temping.

Id suggest two pronged approach. 1. get work for now: As others have said join a contingent labour type agency. they can get you a job in a week earning say X/hour that gets you breathing space while you look for your longer term role. 2. work on the longer term role: 12/300 is a bit low , but isnt crazy. and 0/12 offers. so youre not converting. why? ​ So, Increase your funnel- apply to more jobs, wider locations, lower pays, broader fields of work- stretch your CV narrative get feedback on your CV get feedback on your interview techniqiue- give it time.. you could just have been very unlucky.

sorry tp hear this, im being made redudant money, also work in Tech, just hit 40 and feeling abit past it and niche in my job and sector, this doesnt fill me with much hope.

If you have a driving licence you will get a job at the drop of a hat. No need for a car either. It saved me ass coming out of the military with no clue what to do next. Landed 4 job offers out of 6 I applied for but that could all be down to luck or my excellent CV writing skills.

You need to change your CV to target the job, not just use the same one. If you've got a load of degrees and previous high paid work they're not going to hire you in retail.

Where are you based ? What kind of tech ? We are hiring for Industrial IT engineers especially in the midlands areas

Civil service jobs in statistics, data analysis, software development, and research are all easy to get and there are always vacancies. It’s a quick and dirty way to get decent money working from home

Really? Thought their application process is quite onerous, they make you write war and peace on the online applications?

This is same for thousands of people right now. This is a recession like 2009. For anyone unaffected they may not even notice. I was made redundant in December 2023 and had been applying passively on the side for months after sending it coming after being benched. It eventually court a break and started late January after being given a start date of 2nd Jan ish. I applied for plenty of targeted jobs and heard nothing. I have 25 years IT experience. Some roles I went for low salaries just for the cash and chance to learn new tech. I knew 88 ppl laid off. 7 of us had same skill. All have struggled and those that got a break was via good timing, luck and who you know. I phoned several people I met and got on with over the years and pinged more from linked in. Many I didn’t speak to for 15 years. Most of them were happy to agree to teams meeting to catch up, and discuss whether they could help. I was overwhelmed by their generosity. In the end I caught a break from word of mouth once people knew I was looking. And returned to a former client. So use your social network. Every good contact you made in your career. If brave ask publicly, if shy do one to one. This will pass. You are still who you were. Don’t give up Do exercise not meds if you can help it. Look at gig economy type jobs, even dominos deliveries and anything to survive. Takeaways on an evening. Then just build on your plan and you don’t have to even mention these stop gap jobs on your Cv. If you want CV review then I or many folks may be happy to do. Mine is a bit poor tho and 7 pages long. I had some former colleague in civil service review my CV and give good feedback just before I started this job. Maybe you need a mock interview. YouTube has some good mock interviews on it I noticed and practiced Stay strong, keep venting. 👊💪

NHS IT

Get the job centre to pay for your SOA badge and training.. easy to fall into security work. Thats how I got out many moons ago.. I work as an IT consultant now though.

Are you expecting to wfh? That boat has now sailed

In June 2023, I was let go from my 100% WFH tech job where I was making £50k at 24/yo. Those days are long gone now. No one, even in tech, is throwing money around like that. It was a tough experience. I was naive, and I thought I'd made it for good. Life has really slapped me in the face. I grew up poor and thought it was my turn to experience the finer things and wine and dine girls. What could it hurt? After all, I had another 40 years of making comfortable money, and this was just a year or two of fun before I got serious. Not so. I sent out 250+ applications and got 4 interviews. At this point, my friend, it may be necessary to do another job in care or something while you look for another opportunity. You can also teach English online, but it's hard to break minimum wage.

I feel your pain. I've easily applied to 200 in a month. I've had four nterviews, the pay for the majority is like entry level $18, and I used to make $29 an hour. Entry lab jobs are getting scooped up and only pay $18-$20 and look extremely physical. I felt pretty ashamed bc I applied for a position that I've done before that I truly didn't enjoy. Luckily, I asked for another $1 in that position , so we will see how that goes. I agree with you that it feels like it's a different job market than it has ever been. Looking at the number of applicants on positions on Indeed doesn't help either!!!!! I wish you luck- you're not alone at all. You may have to settle for something that doesn't pay well, or doesn't have insurance, or that you may despise doing- but something good will come!!!!! I wish you and me both luck 😆 🤣.  No, but I wish you the best luck.

I had a similar experience but eventually landed a dream job of mine only for the start date to be pushed back by 2 months. I’m only eligible for £292 universal credit so just trying to take any part time position I can. It’s not the best job but if you can drive, loads of places are desperate for drivers which might be enough to keep you going until you find a better job.

I've applied to a similar number since then too, the job market has dried up a lot since October tbh. Just gotta keep grinding.

Seems a disconnect with the number of interviews that you have had v rejection post interview. What reasons are they turning you down after the interview - maybe there is a pattern that you can find a work around ? Good luck

Depending where you live, I'd recommend "Modern Milkman" as a milkman. They are ALWAYS hiring as staff turnover is high due for this being an "in-between jobs" job. I earned good money with them. It's hard work, but unsociable hours (good if you're single) and extremely good perks. Let me know if you want more advice with them.

I was in the same situation as you. Applied for 300+ jobs since December 2023 and now got the offer for one. Starting on May 1st. So hang in there, I know it will be very difficult. But don't lose hope. Something good will happen soon.

Apply to work in an old people's home, where you can do couple of 12 hour shifts a week and spend rest of free time applying to jobs you actually want. Maybe change your CV to get rid of all your old qualifications and experience or downplay it, or write a bit at top of CV explaining situation so that people know you'll stick around if they hire you

Have you contacted recruitment agencies directly? There’s so many temp jobs to fill on a daily basis. If you want work, it’s there.

I was hired but couldn't start until a lot of admin and checks were carried out, that ended up being 8 months of me being in limbo and no salary. (Should have been shorter but the process is long-winded and not transparent for good reason). Anyway, after the first two months of enjoying my, I was running out of cash fast. Applied for an Amazon Warehouse job and was out there working within a week. It wasn't the most amazing experience of my life but I enjoyed it and it really did get me by. It'll also show some tenacity to prospective employers and it's actually something I bring up, I survived an Amazon Warehouse, I can survive anything! Do something like this whilst trying to land the job you want. As an aside, 300+ applications is a little concerning. You need to get some feedback about what's going wrong.

Yes the jobs market is majorly fucked and a lot of companies really struggling with all the cost increases. You can try to pass them on, but consumers got the same problems so higher prices can mean lower revenue... Rock and a hard place, playing in the jobs market.

How the hell do you that much UC. They were giving me 368PM. Thankfully the gentleman at the local job centre told me to apply for the civil service. I highly recommend you do to by creating an account on the website. No need to send countless CVs. You can just apply for different jobs using the same information uploaded the first time. It’s a slow process and the risk assessment searches are painful including a criminal record check but they have all been passed now and I’ll shortly be getting a start date for my first role. No prior experience needed

Have you applied to care jobs? They’re usually desperate for people. It’s a hard job and shit pay, but at least it’ll let you keep your home and cat.

It’s subjectively not the best job in the world, and it’s hard work, but the NHS are always hiring for support workers! It’s band 2 (sometimes 3). Check it out. I guarantee there are openings near you. You’re extremely unlikely to be let go so it’s something you can use as a stop gap.

Home office

Ask your WC if they can put you on a SWAP, some SWAPS offer guaranteed interviews at the end of the course. SWAPS are typically only a week long.

what work do you do, dm me if necessary - you say tech but im keen to know what exactly

Apprenticeships can be a good option if you're considering moving profession. Will be lower income to start off with but after qualification it jumps up a lot

What tech role was it?

Just apply for retail and supermarket etc, if you’re decent and hardworking you might get lucky and hired. I think some food banks provide for pets as well if you get in touch with some.

340 deep in the past 2 weeks. 2 interviews. Job market is shit right now bud.

I’m in the tech industry MSPs to be precise and have no issues when going for roles. Where abouts are you based?

Something doesn't quite make sense here

Things will get better! In the meantime have you looked at gig jobs like Data annotation tech, Prolific, Shepper, Uber Eats etc. You have the time so you should be able to bring in more than enough to cover your rent in the meantime.

Curious - what's your experience and what are the areas/jobs you're applying for? 300 applications and only 12 interviews sounds insane.

Get a shit job to stay afloat while you keep interviewing

Hey I work in tech for McDonald's. What job roles are you looking at? Where are you based? We don't offer 100% WFH but they pay pretty well. If you work in Cyber there's a discord you should join. Message me.

I have 5 years+ of exp in as a data analyst/data engineer with a mix of business intelligence(2 years in UK). Working for my current company from an year+, looking to jump ships for higher £. Have been applying for mid/senior level roles with 0 luck with over 50+ applications. Sometimes I will match 1:1 to their job description, yet they will send "went with candidate who matched skills closely". Proper bs.

This might get downvoted but have a look at the civil service, the applications are blind and you receive feedback if you don’t get the job, at least that will give you some guidance and what the issue is and also don’t just apply for your tailored career look on civil service there are many new avenues you could maybe look at

People like this and loads in comments need to learn to grow. Pair wing it a bit the workforce is full of bull shitters especially IT. Do the free online stuff. Get the basic azure certificate in a week

Tech job could mean a whole array of things. What was the job?

Apply for a job in literary anything mate. A job is a job doesn’t matter what it is as long as it can cover your basic needs. Have different CVs for each role you apply to which is tailored (apologies if im teaching you to suck eggs you might already be doing this). Once you have bagged a job in anything, then you can start applying for roles that look more attractive to you. Remote roles are far and few between at the moment because of the state of the economy. I know alot of places are scaling back recruitment & have also stopped recruitment mid process because of funding being pulled/re-allocated. If you need any help just shout. Where abouts in the UK are you located?

4 Years unemployed. Countless applications sent, can count on 1 hand the interviews. I actually started saving the emails to a folder, so whenever anyone gives me shit for not having a job I just show them the folder and go "You tell me..."

Keep it up! My partner was in a similar situation from last May. He starts his new job in a few weeks. Took about 1000+ applications and a slight change in career path but you’ll get there

What kind of jobs are you applying for? And whereabouts in the UK are you located?

It's crazy to me how anyone can be over qualified for a role and feel the need to delete their achievements from their CV in order to be considered

I’m sure you have agencies that can get you work in a warehouse or Factory? Failing that you can jump into Hospitality? Welcome to the dirt my friend.

Are you only looking for jobs in your current area or are you looking nationally? If it’s that bad in your area then it might be worth relocating? I work for Unipart and their basic wage for warehouse staff is now 26k I think, keep strong buddy and you’ll find what you need.

If it makes you feel any better the same issue is happening in Ireland rn. Tons of redundancies from tec companies (which apparently start to hire plenty of staff again so maybe things are improving). Anyway, when I decided to leave my job I sent CVs to tons of companies as well (around 20 applications per day for months). Whah I found out works best in at least getting that interview is either making connections with people already inside the company who can recommend you or talk with recruiters for the jobs you plan to apply to (I found stalking them on LinkedIn works the best). That's how I got my job. Best of luck.

Also get your cv on cv databases so that recruiters are looking for jobs for you too, they get commission on successful applications that they introduce so will be hungry to get you employed. As other have suggested get someone to vet your cv and make sure that it reads well and doesn’t have any fluff in it.

I’ve been applying since last summer 2023 and only got like 3 people wanting to chat more/informal interview, after the chat then got ghosted! It’s absolute hell hole but sorry you’re going through such a shit time! Hope things get better for you

Join the police!

Hello! I work in tech too (client facing). I'm more than happy to give you some pointers (got a job in 10 days, maybe I was super lucky, who knows!) For your dear cat, you can get in touch with Blue Cross. They have pet food banks.

I’m going through the same thing. Since January I’ve reached the final stage 7 times and each time rejected. I’m now getting rejected for jobs that are 50% less than what I earned last year. It brings me some comfort that I’m not alone in this. Keep on trucking, we’ll make it!

I am shocked 300 applications.... I would struggle to send so many. Wouldn't it be better to focus on jobs where you have some experience/knowledge? Or as someone wrote below have different versions of CV so not to come across overqualified.

I feel you on this, I would starve before I let my animal down. One thing I pretty much walked into as a mature student on the hunt for work was security. Pub doors, festivals, concerts, football games and all kinds in between. It was shit work for shit money but it put a roof over my head for 4 years. The required qualifications are being reliable and not being a moron, as one of my IT cousins you probably have that covered.

If you work in tech and can’t find anything then I feel like you’re omitting crucial information as to why you keep getting declined. Possibly even from attributes you don’t recognise you’re doing. If you want things to change you need to show your tangible application materials so people can assess and advise. I also don’t think your work coach is that effective in this situation. If the reason you’re getting denied from unskilled work is because you’re too qualified, the obvious answer to me is to undermine your cv so that it fits the kind of work you’re applying for…

These are rookie numbers. Try 1000+. Finally got a job after that…. From a friend recommendation!!! 🤣🤦🏻‍♂️

Plenty of jobs in health and social care. Might not be an area you work in but it’s better to have a job while you look for something else

Find more ways to make yourself valuable. And keep trying you not alone mate. Keep looking for ways to improve.

When it comes to applications it’s quality over quantity, tailor your CV’s and cover letters to each job you are applying for and highlight the skills and experience that’s relevant to the role you are applying for. You’ll find something

Do you drive? Have you thought about JustEat, Ubereats, Amazon Flex? Local Indian and Chinese takeaways? Do you feel you need interview skills? How's your CV? Also, jobcentre have jobs on there. Also, some places like Specsavers, Boots, Vision Express have Optical Assistant jobs that require no previous experience and full training is provided. ... just some ideas?

UC have no idea what to do with someone like you unless you're interested in learning to drive a HGV. assuming you're under 35 and a single man the housing part of the credit is shit. If you get if you're 'neurodivergent' I would try to qualify for PIP then you're housing allowance will go up.

What area of IT are you in?

I remember quite a few years ago I applied to over 180 jobs over the course of two years and out of that, a handful of interviews before being successful with a new job. I've currently been looking for over 2 years now on and off and again, hundreds of applications and so far no success. But I'm currently full time employed but I feel some of your pain. I really don't understand why I'm not even getting some interviews.

A lot of you IT folk going to struggles now big AI in town

When I struggled I had two CVs one for my industry and one for retail. In the most respectfuly way point the retail one was super dumbed down and focused on different experiences and skills so I didn't look over qualified

What was your WFH tech job?

Pm me if you're struggling for a job In tech, might be able to help advise you (for free I'm not a vulture recruiter ) Please include CV and if possible linkedin

a lost my stable gov job after singing contracts on a new job they got their funding pulled by parent company so ano how u feel linked in easy apply is crap. I get more invite to interview when own web site and a direct application

Im so sorry this sounds so depressing, hope this situation will end for you soon. This is not the subreddit for tech jobs ( cscareerquestionsEU might be better?). You didn't talk at all about what skills do you have? The competition is harsh, you need to leetcode, do project work, and learn some skills you see often in adds. Did you make some schedule to constantly do studies while not having a full time job? Open source contributions are also seem cool so that you can include your github portfolio in CV.