Things have been a little bit quiet on here, largely because I started a full-time office job at the beginning of this month. That's not the sort of role I'd normally take (it's been eight years since my last role like that), but I'd been out of work since June and the opportunity was there. Plus the money's good, the people are nice, and I can walk to it. Anyway, I'm not here to talk about that role. Instead, I'm looking at the state of the current job market.
I've talked about this on LinkedIn a couple of times, which probably doesn't endear me to many companies, but hey; I have a bleak outlook on the future and am prone to stupid risks. Nevertheless, you can't really deny that the job market is horrible right now. I'm going to look at some of the worst things I've had to deal with in my job hunt.
Ghosting
This is one of the biggest things I've had to deal with; not hearing back. This is very common when sending out applications, but is also happening a lot after interviews as well.
It can be so frustrating and demoralising to tailor your CV and write a cover letter for dozens of roles each week, only to hear nothing. And on the off-chance you do hear back, most of the time it's a rejection that doesn't look like it was written by a human being. I realise that responding to every application can be difficult if there's a large volume. But if that's the case, I feel like the very least a company can do is give people a timeframe in which successful applicants can expect to be contacted. It's not ideal, but can offer some clarity and can help people tracking their applications determine which ones can be written off.
In the post-pandemic job market, I've noticed that there's been little to no post-interview feedback in many interviews. Some companies, to their credit, do give people windows to expect a response, but I still feel that they should provide more closure if they're actually interviewing. For example, I had two interviews in one week, and never heard back from either of them. One did give me a cut-off date and I never heard back. I figured I hadn't got the other one when I saw it re-posted a week later.
Ghosting isn't a new thing. Back in 2014, I was asked to attend an interview on short notice while on holiday, and I wish I'd said no. While I got back in time, I was a couple of minutes late for the interview because I'd been on site for the last half hour trying to find a parking space (during which time my car's engine nearly overheated). That's not the sort of thing you want when you're about to go in for an interview. Afterwards, I didn't hear anything. To me, that meant I'd cut my holiday short for nothing.
I've often heard it said that some companies are posting roles with no intention of filling them. Reasons can range from hiring internally, data-farming CVs, or driving traffic to job websites.
Job Advert Content
While ghosting is the biggest issue, the other major one is how job adverts often have missing, vague, or contradictory information.
Salaries
This is something that's often missing from a lot of roles, and can be one of the most important details in any job. We've all got bills to pay, after all. A lot of managers and job coaches say it's bad practice to ask about this in an interview. If that's the case, don't give people a reason to ask. I wouldn't ask about a salary at an interview unless it wasn't listed on the advert and I couldn't confirm it prior to the interview. And at that point, I'm likely having grave doubts about working at that company.
There should also be a sensible gap between the upper and lower brackets of the salary range. I consider £5,000-10,000 as a reasonable gap. I've heard people talk about how some roles say something like "£25,000 - £100,000". This seems common for sales roles, in which they often pay towards the lower end while the rest is commission. Personally, those aren't the kind of roles I'm looking for, so I haven't encountered it that much.
Logistics
A common source of frustration is when it's not clear where a role actually is. This is because when I'm looking at roles, I'm also planning for a potential commute. It doesn't matter if it's in the office for one day a week or five days a week; if I'm expected in the office, I need to know where it is so I can determine if I can reliably commute to it. I don't drive anymore, and public transport is notoriously unreliable. But even if I did still drive, I'd still like to know these details so I can find nearby parking and where the nearest petrol stations are.
What's even worse is when the location field of an advert lists one location, and then the body of the text states somewhere completely different that's often nowhere near that location. That is something which needs to stop. Unless the role is completely remote, it's a waste of everyone's time. For the job-seeker, it clogs up the search for roles in their area, and they're either going to ignore it or apply anyway (just to tick boxes for the Department for Work and Pensions). That latter case gives the organisation an influx of applicants who can't logistically take the role.
I've sometimes used cover letters to ask where a role actually is, citing logistical reasons. To be honest, if a company isn't being clear on where their role is, that suggests to me that the job isn't real.
Benefits
A common place to find red flags on a job advert is the benefits section. Most of the time, the benefits aren't actually benefits, but statutory entitlements (like pensions and holiday allowances).
The common example is the holiday allowance. In the UK, employees are legally entitled to 28 days of paid annual leave, which includes eight Bank Holidays at set times: New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, the first and last Monday in May, the last Monday in August (first in Scotland), Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. Most companies offer 25 days plus the Bank Holidays, and many have started offering a day's holiday on your birthday. But others try to frame the statutory entitlement as a benefit. On one occasion, I saw a role that was offering "generous holiday entitlements" without specifying an exact amount, along with half a day on your birthday. That doesn't sound very generous.
Moving forward, if a company doesn't list holidays in their benefits, I'm going to assume they're offering the statutory entitlement. It's actually better not to say it when that's the case, because it's akin to saying "we're offering the bare minimum".
The Selection Processes
The final thing I'd like to talk about is the selection process for roles. Typically, it should be the application, an interview, and then hopefully a call with an offer, followed by an induction.
However, most roles have more steps. Sometimes there's an initial phone interview, then an assessment, and then another interview. Sometimes these steps are repeated. There's even some applications that ask people to make a video to promote themselves. Unless the role involved making videos on a regular basis, that feels unneccesary. And there's still a good chance of getting ghosted before, after, or even during those hurdles.
On one occasion, I saw one role back in 2022 that was offering a twelve-week "boot-camp" style training programme prior to the interviews. But they also said that you wouldn't be paid for the training period. Yes, you read that right; twelve weeks of unpaid training for a job you might not even get. Who's got the time for that? I actually reported the advert to the platform it was on, because it didn't sound legal.
This came up at the end of my latest job hunt, when I had two interviews in the same week again. One was for a temporary role, while the other was permanent (albeit with an earlier start, but an early finish on Fridays). However, I received an offer for the temporary role on the same day I had the interview for the permanent one. When I was told the permanent role had another round of interviews, I decided to take the offer that was still on the table rather than risk the other one falling through. I gave them my regrets the following day.
All in all, I spent a long time in my job search feeling like I was being messed around. While my current role is a temporary contract, I'm hoping I'll get something with a little more flexibility at the end of it (either within the company or somewhere else). But I also fear returning to the same issues in the job market.
But that's a worry for later.
Happy writing.
