It’s going to be tough out there.

I recently caught up with my HR friend.

Over a cup of tea (honest), we discussed this site which led us onto talking about redundancy and job hunting. I was curious to know how things were changing, now that there are so many people looking for work and so few roles to fill. Their response was expected but still worrying.

They said there were significant changes.

• There’s been an average 40% increase across the board in applications for new jobs.
• The range of people applying for a role is considerably more diverse as applicants ‘downscale’ from senior positions or try to swap careers.
• The quality of applicants is improving as more people fall into the jobs market.

Which for those of us looking for work means,

• It’s going to be harder to get noticed. There will be more CV’s on recruiters desks, and they will have less time to go through them.
• The chances are that if you try to apply for a job that your only 80% to 90% suitable for, there’s a strong chance that there will be someone who will be 100% appropriate for it on the same shortlist.

The next few months are going to be tough.