Job vacancy numbers

Author
Discussion

Babber101

Original Poster:

100 posts

125 months

Wednesday 6th March
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Anybody else notice job vacancies on the main website jobs boards seem to have really dropped recently?

The number of vacancies with the largest plc employers also seems to be very low too. Companies that have 10s thousands staff to only have 30/40 vacancies seems really low

Feels like very little movement in the market.

Just be interested for others take on it?

I’m desperate to move but can’t find anything and it’s getting a little demoralising

CoupeKid

809 posts

72 months

Wednesday 6th March
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I'd agree.

I'm in an industry that apparently has a skills shortage but what I'm finding is that companies want unicorns.

-crookedtail-

1,578 posts

197 months

Wednesday 6th March
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I left my last role at the end September last year as I wanted some time out to reset. Have now been actively looking for specific roles in my sector since Jan and it has certainly been tough, or at least slower than usual. The rate at which recruiters ping me on LinkedIn as dried up a bit.

I think the tech sector has had a tough time in the last 18 months so there are lot of talented folks available, albeit not the unicorns some companies may be after. Salaries/rates in my world, IT/Salesforce, seem lower than a few years ago too which is a bit of bugger!!

More positively, I've been fortunate enough to have had a couple of final interviews so hopefully something will come by soon.

Babber101

Original Poster:

100 posts

125 months

Wednesday 6th March
quotequote all
Good luck with the second interviews -crookedtail-

UK plc all just seems a bit flat and stagnant at the moment, hopefully pick up after elections in UK & US

Olivera

7,671 posts

246 months

Wednesday 6th March
quotequote all
CoupeKid said:
I'd agree.
I'm in an industry that apparently has a skills shortage but what I'm finding is that companies want unicorns.
IT? Unicorn wanted for donkey money?

Babber101

Original Poster:

100 posts

125 months

Wednesday 6th March
quotequote all
Good luck with the second interviews -crookedtail-

UK plc all just seems a bit flat and stagnant at the moment, hopefully pick up after elections in UK & US

Scabutz

8,162 posts

87 months

Wednesday 6th March
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I work in IT, development which has always had a shortage. Numbers definitely seem down. I'm senior management and it took me a year almost to find a new role. Few roles about.

Couple of years ago when I was building new teams we were interviewing people who already had a couple of offers on the table and had to pay above and beyond to snag them. This isn't the case at the min.

CoupeKid

809 posts

72 months

Wednesday 6th March
quotequote all
Olivera said:
CoupeKid said:
I'd agree.
I'm in an industry that apparently has a skills shortage but what I'm finding is that companies want unicorns.
IT? Unicorn wanted for donkey money?
I'm in Info Sec, but mainly on the Governance, Risk and Compliance side. A bit niche and not the most exciting one at that but it's a living.

What I'm finding is that companies want GRC and threat detection or ISO27001 and industry specific standards knowledge. It's fine. It's their prerogative but it does cut down the pool of candidates they're fishing from if they don't accept that people with the core skills can pick up new skills with a bit of training.

I don't want to turn this into a personal blog or whinge but some examples of interviews I've had recently.

1) 2 interviews with a competitor. At the second stage the director made it clear he wasn't going to pay me anymore than I already was on (recruitment consultant had indicated it might be £10k more). The thought of moving sideways for no gain wasn't appealing.

2) Some twit who seemed to want about 4 skills which aren't really a natural combination.

3) A consultancy who would make me do a very dull job for 6 months before considering me for anything else. I felt that I was being set up to fail so didn't take that one further.

4) A first stage interview which I thought went well on the whole although I wasn't a perfect fit but I never got a call back and they are still advertising the job.

5) The "cultural fit" getting to know you interview which was actually a tough first line interview. The recruiter told me that all his candidates were rejected. Apparently they liked me and thought I was very knowledgeable but didn't answer one question in enough detail.

I've got three applications in at the moment but it seems tougher than when I was last looking 3 years ago.

parabolica

6,807 posts

191 months

Thursday 7th March
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CoupeKid said:
A familiar story
I went through the exact same a few years ago, but with the added caveat that I had taken a year off work - a treat for having worked my ass off from age 16 until age 35 when I could afford to do this. Had a great time travelling and spending time with friends and family that I otherwise wouldn't.

In addition to everything you mention above I was crucified by some recruiters for the fact I hadn't been working for the last year and one went as far as to suggest the reason for me taking the time off was because I was arrested and charged with something! Told me he never recommends male candidates with gaps on their CVs because it usually means "they're a wrong'un". This guy called me, to tell me this!

I finally landed something after a few months of search (some of that was my fault - trying to change industry but wasted time as it wasn't fruitful) but my days of searching stick with me. I feel for anyone who has gone through this from COVID, and although people are a lot more accepting of gaps on CVs etc now-a-days, I guarantee there are still recruiters/hirers out there who have the same blinkered bias as years gone past.

flatlandsman

764 posts

14 months

Thursday 7th March
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End of financial year for a lot of firms, not hard to see why the boards go dry, it happens most years