r/UKJobMarket

Hi everyone,

I’m here with an extremely low self esteem & absolutely shattered mindset. Yet somehow I’ve convinced myself to write this post. I’ve been in the UK since September 2023, since then I’ve haven’t gone back to home country but just been focused on completing my masters with high grades and then upskilling myself to a level where I don’t struggle to get a good job.

This was until the reality hit me and my optimism started plummeting. Now I’ve been working in the UK for 2 years, found some freelance contract jobs within digital marketing space, then I focused on my niche which was performance marketing as that showed actual market and skilled labour shortage.

I’ve been upskilling myself, worked with more than 70+ clients, worked across freelance, agency, in house roles. Built advanced depth across paid search + social, brand building and everything else that would help me get a sponsored job.

I’ve applied for 800+ jobs, spoken to 100 of recruitment agencies, spent just over £300 to various career advisors and instagrams uk career coach.

Result ?? I’m still looking for a sponsored role.

I was recently working with a marketing agency in Folkestone as their paid media manager. The town & company both were so orthodox and the work culture was extremely toxic and racist. Moreover the role wasn’t paying me well and was not going to sponsor. I was made redundant due to office politics on 28th May.

Since then I’ve been interviewing with various agencies and companies who hold the license to sponsor but won’t sponsor for all roles.

Now I’ve tried and tested every rule in the book, thought out of the box, upskilled myself, applied every where, tried building real and LinkedIn connections.

Anything that you would ideally imagine or expect from a hardworking candidate, I have done it. Unfortunately I’m still looking for a good job from the past 3 months. My savings are almost over and I only have 5 months left on my PSW visa.

I can’t see my dreams get shattered of getting a proper well paying job and eventually settling down here. I’ve reached a point where I just don’t know what to do. How exactly can I find a sponsored role ?

A lot of people have given me bullshit advice, maybe it’s 50% hard work 50% luck, no disrespect but for someone who’s trying to build a life here and has a huge student loan and dealing with extreme family stress and self doubt this shit doesn’t make sense. This along with market is tough for “marketing jobs”.

I see dickheads getting sponsored jobs on LinkedIn who can’t even string 2 sentences together in English, let alone be capable to be working here.

At the moment I’ve applying for all sorts of role where I bring my transferable advanced technical & soft skills to industries like finance etc where chances of sponsorship might be better.

But just 5 months timeline is making me really question everything.

What can be done to find a good job in performance marketing or broader digital marketing space ?? I’m also open to exploring AI & marketing levels roles. GTM, AI Market Engineer etc.

I’m really in need of genuine advice. I can’t go back as a failure back to my country.

Hey, so I’ve completed an MA in the uk that finished earlier this year and have been searching for a role in marketing, social media, copywriting, and roles related. I have 4 years of experience of being a social media manager, copywriter and even worked in PR for a bit. I’m from Portugal but my English is pretty advanced level and I have experience working for international companies in English.
I wanted to know how likely it would be to get a job that would sponsor me, or if I should probably give up and go home for a while, because it has been so many months and I have been unsuccessful in finding a job, much less one that would sponsor my visa.
Any advice?

I can see why so many people lie on their CV, having no experience is a major red flag to employers especially for grad/junior roles which are meant to be for people who lack experience lol

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for experiences from anyone who has used a paid career coach or job-search consultant to help with finding a job in the UK.

I recently completed a Master of Finance at UNSW and have early-career experience in financial analysis and banking research. I'm currently based in the UAE and targeting Analyst-level roles in London across banking, financial analysis, investment research and corporate finance.

I've been applying directly and contacting UK recruitment agencies, but my biggest challenge is generating interviews and building useful connections with recruiters and hiring managers while applying from overseas.

I've been looking at specialist services such as Career Mentor and The Finance Career Coach and have introductory calls booked with them.

I'm not really looking to pay someone just to rewrite my CV or LinkedIn. What I'd potentially pay for is someone who genuinely understands the UK financial-services market and can help with networking, identifying/approaching recruiters and hiring managers, positioning myself properly, and ultimately generating interviews.

Has anyone here used either of these services, or something similar?

I'm particularly interested in:

• How much were you quoted/charged?
• Did you actually get interviews or useful connections as a result?
• Did they introduce you to recruiters/hiring managers, or mainly teach you how to network yourself?
• Has anyone successfully used one while applying to the UK from overseas?
• Was it ultimately worth the money?

I'm willing to pay a reasonable amount if it genuinely adds value, but I'm hesitant about spending if it's mainly CV editing and generic job-search advice.

Any experiences, positive or negative, would be really appreciated.

Hi everyone, I'll try to keep this short.

My current job has become unbearable and I am looking to leave for a new career. I am looking for apprenticeships so I can retrain myself in a new field. Some apprenticeships pay significantly more than my current role too. I work in a sales role too and despite everything, it does look great on paper and has provided great experience for other roles.

I feel I may need to get out sooner rather than later as I have been threatened with redundancy. My redundancy pay wouldn't last long (circa £2000) and I am more concerned about how long it would take to find a replacement job as I know it's hell out there.

I may have a chance to take a simple job locally.

Is it a bad idea to take a stopgap job, to give myself breathing room and train and apply for a new career role? Does it invalidate my experience in my current role, is it seen as a "step back" or "suspicious" on a CV?

Thank you.

The figures are bad. The reality behind them is worse.

UK companies cut 13,000 jobs in June — then cut another 13,000 in July.

That isn’t “a few businesses restructuring”. It means 26,000 pay packets disappeared while politicians continued pointing at economic growth.

Vacancies have fallen to around 707,000. Youth unemployment has hit 16.1%. Nearly 1 million people aged 16–24 are now neither working nor studying.

Young people are being told to get experience while entry-level jobs vanish. Graduates are leaving university and entering a labour market where suitable jobs have fallen by 33%.

At the same time, employers are being squeezed by:

\- Higher employer National Insurance

\- A higher minimum wage

\- Rising energy and operating costs

\- Borrowing costs near 5.45%

So businesses are doing what businesses do: freezing recruitment, leaving vacancies empty and refusing to replace workers who leave.

The result is a silent jobs massacre:

Fewer interviews.

Fewer first chances.

More people stuck on benefits.

More graduates moving back home.

Less tax revenue.

More government borrowing.

Higher interest costs.

The UK can keep claiming GDP is growing.

But if the number of people earning, spending and building careers is shrinking, this isn’t prosperity.

It’s economic decline being hidden behind a single headline number.

I was made redundant in early May so its been just over 3 months that I've been looking for work. I'm looking for Business Intelligence/Data anlayst type roles.

I've made about 55 applications and have had 4 interviews and one application where i got to the next stage and had to a paid task but didn't get beyond that unfortunately. I am receiving redundancy insurance payouts ( and JSA but that ends in November) each month and have had two so far, 10 months remaining. I'm thinking of giving myself until the 6th payment(December) to find a job in my field before i just start applying to anything.

How long has it taken people to find a job after being made redundant?

I lived overseas for a few years and moved back to the UK a few months ago. Whilst overseas I was working as a dancer in a gentleman’s club and i’ve been doing that here. My income is pretty stable and fluctuates between 800-1100 a week post tax. I got into this industry due to being made redundant from three jobs in the UK before moving abroad.

Although i’m working, my family are putting increasing pressure on me to get a 9-5 because I need to think about my prospects and my long term career. They strongly disapprove of this job and speak down on it and to me with contempt. I have a LLB and a Msc from two russell group universities, and i’m paranoid that their pressure may be justified and i should move into a career that aligns with my qualifications.

For anyone who works in law, how is the legal job market in the UK currently? Is it worth trying to look or is the market that cooked that I should just continue with what i do now?

Hey everyone! I’m going to London soon for my Masters and I wanted to know which industries/ places offer part time roles to international students apart from hospitality or cafes?

My son is starting nursery soon so I need to start looking for work.
I was hoping for something I can do from home but just don’t know where to look.
I personally think indeed is pretty crap so I was wondering if you guys knew of anyone hiring a wfh position that I can apply straight from their website or if there were sites better than indeed to have a look through?

TYIA!

Hey everyone, I’m feeling really stuck on what I should be applying for at this point.

I used to live in the UK and did my Master’s in London in translation. I managed to land a Big 4 audit job after graduating, but unfortunately after four months got laid off at the end of 2023.

I spent most of 2024 job hunting but didn’t manage to find a proper role. Because of visa issues, I had to leave London. Since then, I’ve been freelancing remotely, mainly doing language and content-related work.

The thing is, I’ve realised how much I miss my life in London, and I really want to move back. The biggest issue now is obviously sponsorship.

I’ve been looking at localisation and language-related roles, but I don’t necessarily want to limit myself to localisation. I’m pretty open to anything related to content, languages, language services, etc.

What worries me is that my work experience isn’t exactly consistent, especially with the career gap and the switch from audit to language or content work. Do you guys think I’m wasting my time trying to find a sponsored job in London with my background?

I honestly feel pretty lost at the moment and don’t really know what my next move should be. Would really appreciate any thoughts, especially from people working in content or language services.😭Many thx!!

Just noticed Grill Hut Catering Ltd (260 Upper Chorlton Road) has a valid skilled worker sponsorship licence. Same address seems linked to a few companies that can bring people in on skilled worker visas.

It’s a basic takeaway with pretty rough reviews. What skill is needed to make burgers that qualifies for a skilled worker visa? Is this normal for places like this in Manchester or is something off?

Genuinely curious how this works.

So Good I'm not unemployed right now. I would have to beg and grovel for the worst jobs that treat you like scum.

So, as I have posted before, I got a letter to meet with my hiring manager about my review on my performance after 4 weeks. I failed 3 times over ridiculously small things for my assessment. The third one is the last attempt. The commonly occurring feedback was that I am losing attention/focus, and tends to get confused for the steps in the bio manufacturing site aka compounding.

My issue is my commute and my underlying health condition:

1. I am commuting for 3-3.5 hours on the way and it takes a toll on my health, so I know immediately I need to move closer to make sure it is not a problem. I got 3 tours and got one aiming to lock down by next month. To stay alert, I drink 2-4 cups of coffee and mismanaged it a little too much on it. I think I can get back on it soon.

2. In the past, my GP diagnosed that my vitamin D level on my blood is significantly low. The symptoms are brain fog resulting in loss of attention and focus and forgetfulness. I took a high dose of vit D in the past and it got better and I lowered the dose. But I am not sure I get back to a higher dose, so I am checking it with my GP. I am planning to get a letter from my GP about this.

3. I am working on my performance improvement plan, so that I address the feedback. In the past, scope and perspective weren't what I aligned to in the job description and now I will work thoroughly.

These are my arguments. I am not sure what their point of view is, though. Will they be a little more empathetic or will they work on it to make sure they will never get in trouble? If the latter is true. Will my points get them in trouble down the round if they let me go?

Please, share your advice.

Ive been looking for work for close to a year now, primarily online as i need something stable for an upcoming move i am hoping to make. The biggest problem that ive found is all of the available jobs require either a degree or 2+ years of experience. I know this is the standard "How can i get experience to work without working" problem but im genuinely stumped.

Ive got experience in sales/assistant positions dating all the way back to my earlier school days up until the last few years but had a difficult final year and wasnt able to work as i wasnt stable. I would appreciate any advice in this regard as I know how nigh impossible this job market is to navigate and i cant seem to come right no matter where or how hard i try.

For context i live in south africa(which MANY of the jobs on linkedin and Indeed actually specifically look for) and im able to work around most time zones. Im also going to begin studying towards TEFL certification so that i can start teaching as ive been told by many people that i would be a good fit for it, but i need a stable income for the time being anyway.

Thank you in advance for any advice>

Hi all,

I’ve been working in EHR consulting for about 4 years, with the last 3.5 years focused on Epic. I have several Epic certifications and work full-time for a consulting firm in the Netherlands/Europe. My work consists mainly of full implementations etc.

From what I know, my company bills me out at an average rate of around €120/hour, while I earn roughly €55k/year. I completely understand that billable rate is not the same as salary. There is overhead, bench time, sick leave, sales, management, non-billable employees, etc. However, the gap still feels pretty extreme to me. I’ve brought up compensation multiple times, but I mostly get vague answers about “overhead” and the need to pay for people who are benched, sick, or otherwise not billable. There never seems to be a concrete explanation of what I would actually need to do to make significantly more.

Another thing that increasingly bothers me is the mediocrity I see around me. I periodically work with colleagues who, in my view, are significantly less capable, less productive, or need much more hand-holding, yet some of them earn considerably more than I do. We really have some ''10 year maintenance analysts'' that are now consultants and are just plainly incompetent.

I know comparing yourself to colleagues isn’t always productive, but it becomes hard to ignore when compensation seems to have relatively little relationship with actual performance, Epic knowledge, responsibility, or the amount of value someone delivers.

It sometimes feels like in Europe, and perhaps especially in the Netherlands, companies are very comfortable giving small incremental raises regardless of performance, while the only way to actually reset your market value is to leave. I hear so much similar stories from friends in completely different fields of work.

So I’m curious what people here think:

• Does ~€55k sound reasonable?
• How much should I realistically care about the fact that I’m being billed at ~€120/hour?
• How do you deal with seeing mediocre colleagues earning substantially more than you?
• Is there any realistic way to force a meaningful salary correction internally, or is switching firms usually the answer?
• If switching is the answer, which Epic consulting firms in Europe/the Netherlands would you recommend?

Would especially like to hear from people who have worked in the European Epic consulting market. For now trying to stay away from freelance since i just bought a house, and apart from mediocracy, i do like to have colleagues.