r/UKJobMarket

Primark or anything would be amazing

My boss said that he is happy for me to stay on and that there will be more things for us to work on.

He could see that I was unsure about the whole thing and said that he would support me to get me back on board. I genuinely has come across as a good hearted person to me.

We are an extremely small team and I doubt that they could replace me because of how small the team is, how absolutely nothing is documented and how tight budgets are.

I left because I did not know the future of the company and we were on track to lose a core client. I did in fact over think the whole thing and I should have spoken to him more.

On the day before I handed in my resignation he informed me that they signed on for several more years.

The new company I will be going to has a manager that said he will support my development and it would be a pay increase, however they are also going through a severe financial hard ship with various redundancies. It's also a baking role where things can be cut through, the team is huge and everything is already automated.

I have come to the realisation that nowhere is safe and you cannot get a job for life anywhere. I plan to stay at my current role which I really enjoy and ride it out and enjoy as much if it as I can.

I absolutely love my current role and boss. Any advice?

Or perhaps any experiences of this happening to you?

Thanks!

(Posted something similar however was rightly called out for using AI)

So when I graduated 3 years ago. I got my dream job working for a political party, specifically in campaigns. I really enjoyed it, until earlier this year when I hit burnout.

I also fell in love with someone as well, however due to their work, they can't move. So this has resulted in me moving to Glasgow

So I'm currently undertaking an MSc at the Uni of Glasgow (Global Communications) as I want to do more stuff in comms and my last job in the party I worked for involved doing a lot of press releases and liaising with the press and hoping to go into Comms (ideally crisis comms) long term.

I'm not sure however how to cope with the anxiety in all honesty. I don't know if I'm doing the right things to try and avoid unemployment, yes it's a horrible market, however people are still getting jobs etc.

I think I'm trying to ask a couple of questions.

- should I just spam as many graduate schemes as possible now that I qualify for them again
- considering it's October, while I'm doing networking, should I also be panic applying for the jobs I want to do
- how does everyone keep positive or at least not get really bad thoughts

My self-esteem nose dived earlier this year because of my failed job hunt. I'm alienating my friends, my family because I feel a need to correct them on their positive views of me.

I don't want to feel like a failure, but it's really hard not to.

(Apologises for the ramble)

Hey everyone,

Back in August, I was informed that my role would likely disappear because it’s shifting to another team and becoming much less prominent—which also means a lower salary. On top of that, my manager didn't want me to apply for the new version of the role.

We’re now in October and I’m still waiting to hear what the official next stage is. Knowing what was coming, I started applying for jobs right away and managed to get through about 4 interviews. Now I’m in that painful waiting period where I’m supposed to be hearing back, but the waiting is brutal.

Beyond the wait, I’ve noticed a really frustrating shift in the job market itself:

• Where did the traditional research roles go? My background is in traditional market research. In the past, I used to apply for these types of roles and get loads of interviews.
• The shift to Insights & Strategy: Lately, the classic research titles seem to have vanished. Everything now seems heavily titled around Insights, Business Intelligence, or Strategy, with completely different skill expectations.

Is anyone else working in market research experiencing this right now? Are traditional research roles genuinely being phased out or rebranded, or is the market just in a weird spot? Would love to hear how others in the industry are navigating this.

Hello guys. How do I get into marketing jobs? I did my masters in marketing. I’m very decent in my studies to the point that I graduated as a topper from my batch. I do content creation for my own channel and I’ve two clients whose social media page is run and managed by me. But that’s the only relevant experience I’ve got so every time I apply for marketing jobs I get called for interview but later they are like there are many applicants with more experience so they reject Me. I desperately want to be in social media and marketing but idk how do I get experience without anyone hiring me first. How do new people get experience

Need help please

I have experience & I have tailored my cv numerous times, i have multiple cvs for different types of jobs and i'm always updating to match what jobs require yet its constant rejections! even from the retail jobs which I have experience in yet people (even people i know) with less experience are getting them??? what the hell more can I do because I am mentally exhausted

edit: If there is anyone that is hiring/knows companies that are hiring or is even willing to provide connections, I would honestly be so grateful please

Has anyone been able to get a job without having a linkedin profile/presence??

i’m curious because people keep advising to “tailor your application to the job description”. But what happens when your linkedin profile and your resume that you applied with do not have matching job titles or descriptions (because u changed wording)?

I'm a masters graduate, 13 GCSEs, 3 a levels and extensive experience in customer service and tech support, I used to like helping people. Now I can't find work!

What's wrong with me?

I never hear anything back, there's always someone better, they had more experience in {insert random obscure feature here} I've got to the point where I'm aggressive in my applications, because I'm always thinking that I've got to basically step on someone to get anywhere.

What should I do?

… compared to 11,000 staff it has globally

I'm curious to know what you guys do to progress in life after having to give up on (or waiting for) the traditional grad path to work for you.

This is my first grad job as a compliance analyst in a trading firm and they put down my standard working hours on the contract as 8 am to 6 pm. The manager in the interview said the hours are long and 6 pm is minimal leaving time but that coupled with an 8 am start is a wow.

Is this normal? I’ve heard of 8-5 or 9-6 but not 8-6. Has anyone experienced something similar. It’s 5 days in office (not remote) and they do not offer meals or transport on company’s expenses. The pay is good for a graduate role but not as good as traders or first line roles ofc

I cannot believe I am approaching 2 years of unemployment. I never anticipated the length of time it would take me to find another job after being made redundant in a sales role back in January 2025.

Is there anyone else who has been unemployed for as long as I have? Because I don’t think this is normal or should be normal. I have over 10 years work experience in luxury sales, operational roles and financial services. I’ve had a few offers rescinded, or keep being rejected due to another candidate being closer aligned to what they are looking yet receiving good feedback apart from that.

To the people receiving job offers and getting hired in the 2025 and 2026 job market, how did you do it? what roles are you applying for?

I feel like I am wasting my 30s and I am truly scared of what my future holds staying in London.

Has anyone out there for a job after 2+ years of unemployment?

Did an assessment for a tutor job. Even though, I’m a first year uni student, I got really low marks in it and they didn’t hire me. I couldn’t even explain basic math in simple terms. I tell myself it’s because I was tired that day from another job assessment but I don’t know how to move past that since, I did Alevel maths and got a good grade. So, how couldn’t I do 11+ maths? I might just be stupid.

23 m here in london looking for a part-time job

Looking possible that I might be made redundant. Never been through process and collective consultation just started. I have not been with employer 2 years but they have included me in consultation.

What should I do? Anyone had similar experience?

Is saying made redundant a negative? Has anyone been through this situation before.

i’m 20 and dropped out from my prior university course as i didn’t have much interest (optometry) to decide to take a gap year and figure things out

i have wanted to do dentistry for a while but unfortunately got rejected 3 times, so i’m looking for alternative options, i feel like im discovering maybe it isn’t meant for me as someone who’s on the more introverted side and might find the repetitive tasks tedious. i’ve always considered something in healthcare and im kind of debating between medicine or dental therapy right now, medicine is more prestigious and broad and I can specialise in a lot of different things, but the state of the NHS doesn’t look great and i know it’s a huge lifelong commitment with not a great work life balance so im unsure. dental therapy seems stable 9-5 but quite repetitive and a lack of progression

on the other hand for the first time i’m considering non healthcare general degrees, but with the state of the job market im unsure about picking something that doesn’t lead to a guaranteed job at the end. At the same time im scared of picking a vocational degree that basically means im stuck doing that job until the end of time. however it seems like the most employable degrees involve some sort of maths and im very naturally weak at it and dont enjoy it whatsoever, the only thing left is law but even that doesnt sound exciting to me, and im aware it super competitive to get into and again the work life balance isn’t great

id appreciate any insight from people who are already working, i know i sound mega indecisive right now but i feel like ive wasted so much time already and i need to make the right decision

Hello, I have always been actively looking for a job since I was 16, now that I am 20 and started University I am looking for work desperately to support myself. But I can never get any luck, I have always gotten automated rejection messages. I have been to job centers, spoken to careers advice but it never went anywhere, I honestly don't know what to do.

In my experience, I have easily passed interviews without so many questions around 10+ years and without any online assessments.

Now I feel that no matter how structured my answers are, they still rejecting people. The amount of rejection is affecting me on how I now perform and feel useless. Is there anyone else feeling this way?

I’ve been living and working in Stockholm for several years. I worked for a startup, mainly with cellulose-based materials and polymers. Unfortunately, I was laid off due to redundancy/reorganisation. It’s now been around a year since I started seriously looking for my next job, but even before that I was actively searching a job, so it total it is more than 2 years!

I have an MSc in Chemistry and around 3 years of industrial experience. I’ve also had a lot of hands-on laboratory experience — basically almost everything from setting up and organising a lab, equipment selection and purchasing, calibration and maintenance, to material characterisation, chemical processing, formulation and production-related work.

After a while, I started feeling that being educated outside Sweden, not speaking perfect Swedish, and the current situation in the Swedish job market (recession and corruption) were making things considerably harder for me. My Swedish friends are struggling in finding a job though.

Because of this, my husband and I are seriously considering moving to the UK. His CV is stronger for the UK market and he already has some professional connections there, so we’re not too worried about him finding a job. My concern is me :(

I’m a very career-oriented person, and honestly, being unemployed for another year or two would be extremely difficult for me. I don’t want to spend several more years just applying for jobs and waiting.

So I’d really appreciate some honest advice from people in the UK.

With an MSc in Chemistry, around 3 years of industrial experience, and a background in cellulose-based materials, polymers, laboratory work and materials characterisation, is it realistic to find a suitable job in the UK right now?

I’m mainly interested in materials development, process development, polymers, coatings, paper/cellulose, specialty chemicals, industrial R&D or similar roles.

And if it is realistic, how would you approach the UK job market in my situation? Are there particular industries, regions, companies or recruitment agencies I should focus on?

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story. I’d really appreciate practical advice from people who have actually been through something similar.

[removed]