'I applied for 600 jobs but only got my dream job after I changed one thing'

It isn't what you know, so much as who you know, when it comes to applying for your first job. That's something 24-year-old graduate Malkah Yaseen is only too aware of after spending a dispiriting 18 months looking for work related to her degree in construction management.

Malkah sent off application after application – she thinks around 600 in total – but without success. She told the i newspaper: "It became such a chore. I was doing five applications a day. It was so mentally draining – it literally took the life out of me. I feel embarrassed that it took me so long," she told the i newspaper.

But there was one simple trick that led to success. The number of advertised vacancies in the UK has declined by about 17%, year-on-year – with some 150,000 fewer job openings than there were in 2024.

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Meanwhile, the number of jobseekers has risen by around 65%, according to figures from recruitment software company Tribepad. In a crowded job market, it's hard to make your application stand out even with the most carefully-crafted CV.

Even after providing ample evidence that she was qualified for a role, often with a lengthy supporting statement, Malkah would receive an impersonal email reply.

It would say that, due to the high volume of candidates, the employer couldn't give any feedback.

That left Malkah working in a management role for a car dealership – a job that had no relevance to her degree.

The turning point, she says, is summoning up the courage to ask for personal recommendation from someone that already worked at one of the companies she had targeted.

Shrewdly, Malkah also looked into which companies offered a referral scheme for new hires. She explained: "I'd always let them know if there was some sort of benefit, for example, £500 if you refer someone for a job who then gets it.

"That's obviously a plus, but you need to sell yourself to them too," she explained.

While it might seem quite embarrassing to make such a direct approach, it paid off in Makkah's case.

She points out that the person you're approaching has probably been in the same position as you, at some point.

Her breakthrough, in the end, came through a contact she'd made at a previous job: "I have a school friend who did architecture at [The University of ] Sheffield, and I was selling him a car, and I was telling him how much I wanted to find a job related to my degree.

"He was working at [construction company] Graham and he sent me a poster for the job. He was a construction planner and was being promoted, so needed someone to fill his role. He put me forward and that's how I got the job,"