New analysis by the ONS released today (14th October) revealed the unemployment rate for people aged 16 years increased to 4.8 per cent in July 2025 to August 2025. This is up in the latest quarter and above estimates of a year ago.
Mark Rothwell, CEO, Hiring Hub says “We have definitely seen a drop in the roles available in the market, however what we have seen over the last few months is an increase in fill rates, meaning that when employers go out with a role they have a much higher intent to recruit.
Although the statistics can feel a little worrying, we believe that with the support of businesses, recruiters and some key advice, the nation will eventually get to a point where job seeking becomes less of an issue. We are hopeful that unemployment rates will deplete within the year.
Mark has also offered some advice for job seekers on what could help land the job you want:
- Upskill your soft skills: Cultivate your soft skills, employers highly value communication, teamwork, reliability, so ensure you are shouting about this in your CV or cover letter. When getting to the interview stage, prepare examples of how you have demonstrated this in previous work or experiences.
- Use life experiences to your advantage: Don’t discredit your life experiences. If you are currently lacking work experience and are struggling to offer examples in an interview on why you would be a perfect fit for the role, think about how you have demonstrated specific skills through your life. Everybody possesses life skills, so use this to your advantage.
- Research in demand skills: Some sectors are struggling to find candidates that have certain in-demand skills such as other languages (French, Spanish, Danish). Other examples of in demand skills include IT, data, AI. It’s all about upskilling and reskilling. You can also look for employers who offer vocational training.
- Always include references or have them available: For employers, a lack of references is a concern – especially if you are missing one from your current employer. Even if you have left a company on bad terms that were not your fault, including at least two is crucial. Many employers will mainly just need to confirm you were employed there, so this shouldn’t be something to be cautious about.
- Don’t lie on your CV: It may seem obvious, but embellishing your qualifications can ruin your chances of getting a job. If you are caught out throughout the application process, this will be an instant right-off for employers.
- Try not to appear overly comfortable during an interview: It may sound strange, but appearing ‘too comfortable’ during an interview can be an instant red flag for employers. An example of this may be doing another task during a virtual interview, or even sitting in bed! Believe it or not, it has happened before.
- Do your research: Turning up to an interview and not referring to the company’s clients, successes or even general knowledge can be a massive turn off for employers. They may be seeing tons of candidates, so making your interviewer see how much you would like to be a part of the company could be the tipping point to landing the job.
- Avoid casual attire: It is important to present yourself in a professional manner in a job interview. This may seem obvious, but if you happen to be invited to a virtual interview, ensure you are still professionally dressed. There have been instances of candidates attending virtual interviews with wet hair or tracksuit tops. In rare cases, depending on the company, employers may not mind this, but it is best to present yourself in the best way possible, rather than risk it.
Mark has also offered some key advice on what employers can do to ensure they are finding the right talent, efficiently:
- Invest in on-the-job training programmes: It is important for employers to share the responsibility of preparing the next generation of workers. Employers should be preparing graduates for the workforce with programmes in place to upskill and share knowledge. You will find graduates are often enthusiastic and eager to learn, which would be a huge benefit to any company keen to drive results.
- Support inclusive hiring: Ensuring your hiring process is inclusive to all genders, backgrounds and cultures is important not only for candidates, but for your business too. You can do this by ensuring your job advertisement is un-biased, all interview questions are consistent with every candidate and the hiring process is accessible to all.
- Create entry-level opportunities: Attract fresh talent to your business with graduate programmes, offering a structured upskilling process and clear information on what they can expect.
- Provide clear progression paths: Every candidate will be interested in how they can progress through your company. Ensure at interview stage, that you explain the team structure and possible upskilling points.
- Grab a candidate’s attention: To attract the best candidates you need to give them a reason to work for you. So sell the opportunity, whether it’s a fantastic office, culture, flexible working, salary, or career progression. Whatever your USP, make sure your candidates know about it.
- Job title: It’s important that you get the job title bang on. Get it wrong, and no one will apply. Worse than that, no one will even read your ad. Research what other organisations are calling this role and use accordingly. That way, it will be more recognisable and desirable for a candidate’s job search.
- Advert distribution: To get a good response, people need to see your advert. The best way to ensure that it’s distributed widely is to use a multiposting service which can place the ad on all the major, and relevant niche, job boards in the UK.