Just having a bit of a moan on behalf of my wife. Around 18 months ago she left teaching to join the world of data analysis. She found a job in data for a large construction company and has been developing her skills as much as they’ll let her. Unfortunately employee development doesn’t seem to be a priority for the company - they’ve been promising access to their SQL database so she can work on more meaningful projects (she’s been taking SQL courses on her own and really enjoys it) yet six month later still no access… She’s expressed interest in attending the company hackathon (they said no funding), external relevant events (she can attend but without any support from the company), offered ideas on how to massivley streamline their current project (they say Excel is just fine thank you)…
Given all that, she has understandably been looking for a place where she can actually develop and use her data skills, but there is a surpring lack of “early career” positions open out there. Looking at the career pages for Monzo, Wise, companies like that, there seem to be hundreds of “Lead Analyst”/“Senior Data Tech” roles open, and they all produly display their internship programs for new graduates (must have finished Uni in the past 1-2 years). Where are the roles for people in between? Those who have changed careers in their 30s but don’t yet have “lead/senior” experience levels? Surely it can’t be that uncommon for people to take a similar path to my wife…
I feel the job market as whole is just completely inundated with applicants.
Does your wife have LinkedIn? They may have more luck on their if they are, jobs go up and come down so fast at the minute as the recruiters just can’t keep up.
It’s also worthwhile reaching out to prospective employers wifey might be interested in, as they may have jobs upcoming, or a relevant interest might make a HR rep consider another role opening for the right person.
Come April many companies will likely be on the recruit.
It’s odd to even see that monzo aren’t hiring for ops at the moment - but with their South Africa base taking off, it’s much cheaper for them to outsource off shore.
I believe UK companies should only recruit UK based employees, while costly, I’m sure it would have a more positive impact in some industries (telecoms and banking where outsourcing seems so normal for them).
That is so disheartening. I guess I’m mostly just confused why there seem to be so many lead/senior roles available yet no junior/entry positions. Surely some of those lead roles are being filled by junior people (thus opening up the junior positions)?
The offshoring is a good point, I hadn’t considered the possibility most of the junior roles are being filled that way. She does have LinkedIn but isn’t super active on it. I guess because she has a job at the moment, just maybe not the one she wants to be in, she hasn’t felt the need to update it. I’ll mention it to her for sure though.
My son graduated with MSc Computer Science with First Class Honours in July and still no job. Graduate entry jobs just aren’t there at the moment as companies are thinking that they can be done by AI.
Has your wife tried looking for apprenticeship? They pay real wages nowadays, not below minimum wage anymore.
It’s definitely a hard time finding a job. I took a leap of faith leaving my old job after years of autism burnout (post late diagnosis) only to find myself coming back because not only there’s hardly any hiring, there’s also a very small number of workplaces that are friendly to autistic sensory needs.
With the new 6 month in service entitlement to claims of unfair of dismissal (before you had to be in service for 2 years), I anticipate the new regulations would unfortunately either slow down hiring or people will get sacked after 6 months joining more often.
She looked into apprenticeships when she was first looking to make the switch (~18 months ago), but fortunately she found a “data” job fairly quickly. I put “data” in quotes because while it was sold to her as proper data analysis, it has mostly been data scraping/excel (not the SQL/ETL/real data analysis she was hoping for). She’s been doing that ever since (1 year as an agency hire, hired permanently 6 months ago) but is just disappointed with the lack of skills needed/wanted. I’ll mention an apprenticeship to her, but as she already has something in the field, I’m not sure it would be beneficial in her case Thank you for the suggestion though!
I’d definitely recommend polishing up her LinkedIn profile and checking messages on there regularly.
When we look for specialists, we typically work with a recruitment agency, and they consistently deliver exactly the type of candidates we’re after. They use market analysis tools and proactively reach out to people via platforms like LinkedIn and similar channels.
Ironically, I can’t stand the amount of recruiter spam I get offering me roles, but the reality is that it does work if you find a good one. I’d suggest she looks for a reputable recruitment agency, as they’re likely to uncover some opportunities. The best part is that they usually don’t charge the candidate, as their fees are paid by the hiring company.
I totally get it, it can be rather annoying. Career transitions may go unnoticed because many organizations only hire recent graduates or highly experienced individuals.
Smaller businesses or startups are occasionally more receptive to people changing occupations, particularly if they are driven and eager to learn. Your wife might be a fantastic fit somewhere that appreciates her abilities given all the SQL classes and ideas she has been working on.
Yeah it doesn’t make sense it’s like a conveyor belt at some point those experienced hires will retire and they’ll need replacements. It’s like shift the work of training and experience off to another company and then hope later you’ll be able to entice those people in I guess.
A game of hot potatoes as such but if all the companies start doing this then there’s issues
What they seem to have completely ignored is the demographics. Our place did a consultation a few years ago and, rolling the figures forward, there’s now close to 80% (yes, eighty) within two or three years of their retirement age.
In practice, those working from home are largely sticking around until something happens e.g. I’m leaving in 18 months or so as I’m moving to Australia. Those doing the ‘digging the roads’ type jobs are mostly leaving when they hit their retirement age.
Granted, the demographics in our place is a bit skewed, but only a bit as there’s a wave of retirements coming up across the board.
And, laughably, it would appear that I could just walk into a job in Australia when I get my visa, for the same reason as is happening here i.e. loads of experience.
I work in apprenticeships, and the move towards companies wanting experienced apprentices (who are often more qualified than they ought to be for an apprenticeship) as cheap labour, rather than wanting to train up inexperienced and/or young people, has accelerated recently. Huge shame.
