Would be great if you could share what you did differently that actually made the all important difference?

(...and congratulations on your new job!)

So many applications require you to create an account. Do people find it frustrating and unnecessary to jump through these hoops to apply, or is it just me??? 😫

Since January Ive applied for 40+ roles and almost half didn't even acknowledge the application.

Interviews feel more competitive than ever, recruiters are overloaded, and every job post seems to amass 300 applicants within hours.

Its hard to stay consistent without letting the process wreck my confidence.

Biggest things I hear people say,

• tailoring CV's for each role
• apply early
• networking instead of “easy apply” spam
• taking breaks before burnout hits - which I hate because when I'm on a break I feel guilty for not doing more, when I know I should be taking a break! Its a vicious circle.

Anyone else finding the market unusually brutal right now, or is it just me?

If you doom-scroll job boards at 1am wondering what you could be doing wrong you are not alone. Been there (still there) done that.

A lot of good, experienced, intelligent people like you are struggling to get interviews right now. The market is overcrowded, automated systems reject perfectly good applicants, and some companies even post jobs that they aren’t even ready to fill yet. It’s brutal.

BUT, Getting rejected does not automatically mean we are bad at what we do, or that we are not suitable.

We should keep improving where we can:

• tailor our CV - there are free tools out there, DM me and I'll point you to a good one.
• apply consistently
• network whenever possible
• take breaks before burnout hits, its easy to become demotivated.
• celebrate small wins like callbacks or interviews

But we should also remember that our value as a person is not tied to a recruiter clicking “next”.

Half the process feels like trying to impress a vending machine programmed by minions.

Its a journey. Baby steps - just keep going... one step at a time.

We will get there.

Does dyslexia cause frustration when writing CV's?

I want to help.

How much benefit would a dyslexic friendly CV creation tool be?

One that passes ATS screening, and that could be used for free?

I genuinely think job hunting in 2026 is damaging people’s mental health more than most employers realise.

You can do everything “right” now and still get nowhere. And the worst part?

People start believing it that they’re not good enough. I believe it is the system itself that is broken and the byproduct is that too many companies ghost us candidates completely.

So if you’re struggling right now, it does NOT automatically mean you’re failing, it means a closer look at how you're positioned, so keep your chin up.

Employers who communicate clearly and treat us respectfully stand out massively now and those are the ones we should be targeting.

...anyway, just my thoughts. Good luck on your job search, remember they are lucky to have you! 🙌

When, at the very time you need a good night’s sleep, your brain is doing interview gymnastics causing pre interview nerves to tingle then 01:00 is 02:00, before you know it 02:00 is 03:45 and now anxiety creeps in with the knowledge that you have to be wide awake in a few hours! Arghh!!!

All tips and tricks appreciated!

I really do hope this helps if you are Job Searching right now..

1. Treat job hunting like a job. Not like a 14-hour punishment ritual invented by Victorian mill owners. Set working hours. Start time, finish time, breaks. If we spend every waking hour doom-scrolling vacancies and rewriting our CV for “dynamic fast-paced ninja environments,” our brain starts identifying rejection emails as a personality trait.
2. Keep structure in your day even when nobody is watching. Get up, shower, get dressed properly. We unravel surprisingly quickly once “tracksuit at 2pm” becomes a lifestyle philosophy. Tiny routines stop our confidence dissolving into wallpaper paste.
3. Separate our worth from our employment status. A company not hiring us is often timing, budgets, internal chaos, ghost jobs, ATS filtering, or managers who think “competitive salary” is a personality. It is not a scientific measurement of your value as a human.
4. Limit rejection exposure. Don’t check emails every 11 minutes like a Victorian widow awaiting a telegram from the front. Batch applications. Batch responses. Protect your nervous system a bit.
5. Keep moving physically. Walking, gym, cycling, anything. Exercise is annoyingly effective. Our brain chemistry improves, stress drops, sleep improves, and we stop feeling like an abandoned LinkedIn profile with legs.
6. Talk to actual humans regularly. Isolation magnifies anxiety. Meet friends, family, former colleagues. Even brief conversations help stop our thoughts turning into a self-hosted disaster podcast.
7. Do one productive thing unrelated to jobs each day. Learn something. Build something. Volunteer. Improve a skill. Cook properly. We need progress, not just applications disappearing into HR black holes guarded by AI keyword filters and Sharon (no offence to any Sharons reading this!) from recruitment.
8. Control the financial uncertainty where we can. Make a realistic budget early. Cut panic spending. Speak to lenders/utilities before problems escalate. Financial clarity reduces mental pressure massively, even if the numbers aren’t ideal.
9. Avoid comparing ourself to LinkedIn success theatre. LinkedIn is essentially a business-themed theme park where everyone is “thrilled to announce” things while internally combusting. People curate outcomes, not panic attacks.
10. Remember unemployment is usually a phase, not an identity. Careers are messy now. Redundancies, restructures, AI disruption, hiring freezes, fake vacancies, outsourced recruitment. The modern job market behaves like it was designed by caffeinated minions. Temporary setbacks are normal, even for us people.

And one extra point because we do enjoy round numbers but secretly need some reassurance:

1. Our confidence will return after action, not before it. We wait to “feel motivated” before applying, networking, retraining, or trying something new. Usually the motivation comes after movement begins. After all our brains are inconvenient little goblins like that.

Hope this helps and wishing you the very best of luck!

Not so long ago it was a job searchers market, but now I am feeling the employers are by far more ruthless. Their biggest crime IMO, Ghosting. If you are being ghosted remember it's not about you, it's about the employer. I applied for a senior role in Jan, screening phone call done, first interview with Commercial Director and HR done, second interview with MD, Commercial manager and HR conducted in a crowded lounge area (for a senior role!?) done.

Follow up emails sent. Even sent a 30/60/90 day plan as supplemental info to support my application. no acknowledgement of receipt. This takes us up to April, where I knew I was in the final pick... I chased beginning of May to be told, oh sorry the MD offered someone else last week.

No feed back, no acknowledgement. When I secure my next role I may craft an email to their MD - their process was outrageous.

I sincerely hope you do not experience that level of frustration.

It's not you that's being rejected, it's your CV or Resume. Many fail at the first hurdle simply because they are not landing or passing systems. It's not your experience, it's the CV. I'm old school and it has taken me a while to fully understand and fix. The journey was a little disheartening though. Happy to share the outcomes if you are experiencing the same thing.

Example... (Not Real Life!)

PRESENT who I am now	I'm currently a senior product manager at FinAlpha, where I lead the cards-and-payments squad. I'm the person the team calls when a launch is two weeks out and the data's still ambiguous — I move fast, I cut scope ruthlessly, and I make decisions that stick.
PAST how I got here	I came into product through engineering. I spent four years at Monzo as a backend engineer before moving into product at NatWest, where I shipped the SME lending journey end-to-end. That mix means I can speak fluently to engineers about trade-offs and just as fluently to the CFO about commercial impact.
FUTURE why this role	From the role description, you're rebuilding the Trust Center and you've flagged adoption rate as the headline metric. That's the same shape of problem I tackled at NatWest — we lifted SME activation by 31% in eight months by stripping the journey from 14 steps to 6. I'd want to bring that same surgical approach here, and I'm specifically excited because Vanta is at the stage where the engineering DNA can actually ship the changes that come out of discovery work.

A Summarised Delivery

• Aim for 60-90 seconds. Past 90s and you have lost the room, clarity equals confidence.
• Pace your delivery: calm, not rushed. Confidence comes from preparation, not memorisation.
• Mirror the JD's exact phrasing in the Future section. If the role description says 'activation', say 'activation' not 'sign-up rate'.
• Optional powerful close: end by inviting them to dig deeper. It turns the interview into a conversation and signals seniority.

Pitfalls To Avoid

• Don't open with where you grew up or your degree from years ago. Biography signals you don't know what they are really asking.
• Don't list job titles chronologically. The Past section is a curated narrative, not a CV recap.
• Don't list responsibilities like 'I managed a team of five'. List achievements: 'I cut churn by 23% in two quarters'.
• Don't skip the Future bridge. This is the most common reason candidates sound directionless.
• Don't ramble. If you're past 90 seconds, you're losing the room, even with great content.

Hope this helps, Good Luck! 🤞

When, at the very time you need a good night’s sleep, your brain is doing interview gymnastics causing pre interview nerves to tingle then 01:00 is 02:00, before you know it 02:00 is 03:45 and now anxiety creeps in with the knowledge that you have to be wide awake in a few hours! Arghh!!!

All tips and tricks appreciated!

We can use AI to improve a CV, what more can these apps actually do?

When, at the very time you need a good night’s sleep, your brain is doing interview gymnastics causing pre interview nerves to tingle then 01:00 is 02:00, before you know it 02:00 is 03:45 and now anxiety creeps in with the knowledge that you have to be wide awake in a few hours! Arghh!!!

All tips and tricks appreciated!