Finding a job in the UK has become almost impossible, regardless of your specific skills or how strong your CV is. When companies hire, thousands of people apply. For example, let’s say Tesco is hiring two people for a Tesco Express in Lewisham. Tesco posts an ad on their careers website, and the number of applicants ranges from 4,000 to 5,000.
It’s impossible for them to read all those applications, act on them, and find the most suitable candidate. They probably only look at the top 10 applications before making a decision. Because reading 4,000 applications would require monitoring dozens of others.
In fact, in a recent BBC news report, a young man said: “I’ve applied for 400 jobs so far, and 90% of the companies didn’t even bother to respond.”
Then there are websites like Indeed, Findjobs, and Totaljobs, which are mostly used by job seekers. When you apply for a job on Indeed, the chances of your CV being accepted are less than one in 100,000. At least 10,000 people apply for each job. The chances of anyone being lucky among that many are practically nonexistent. Two weeks later, the applicant receives a response like this: ‘Thank you for applying. Your application has been carefully reviewed, and unfortunately, you do not meet our criteria. We will be considering other applicants. Thank you for applying.’
To those who have jobs and are currently employed, let me say this: Appreciate your current job. If you lose it, the chances of finding a similar job are less than one in a million. If you absolutely must leave, find another job first.