“I Secretly Applied for UK Jobs on My Wife’s Behalf”

“I Secretly Applied for UK Jobs on My Wife’s Behalf”

The Nigerian experience is physical, emotional, and sometimes international. No one knows it better than our features on #TheAbroadLife, a series where we detail and explore Nigerian experiences while living abroad.  Mike (43) moved to the UK for a master’s degree when he became disillusioned with life in Nigeria. In this story, he shares the struggle of being a mature student in data science, and how a Christmas holiday in the UK turned into a permanent relocation for his family after he secretly applied for jobs on his wife’s behalf. This model is AI-generated and not affiliated with the story in any way Where do you live currently, and when did you leave Nigeria? I currently live in Kent, United Kingdom, and I left Nigeria just after the pandemic in January 2021. Was that your first time leaving the country? No, I have travelled out of the country several times. My spouse and I go on vacation almost every year, but that was the first time...
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The workers that are most in demand in the UK – and the jobs that aren’t hiring

The workers that are most in demand in the UK – and the jobs that aren’t hiring

Demand for nannies, au pairs, sales executives, and delivery drivers has seen a significant surge in recent weeks, according to new research. Conversely, job adverts for roles such as aircraft pilots, air traffic controllers, travel agents, and train drivers have experienced the sharpest decline. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) reported that the total number of new job adverts in April stood at 711,733. That figure represents a 7.7 per cent drop from March and a 5.6 per cent decrease compared to the previous year. The easing momentum in the jobs market is attributed to several factors, including the Easter holidays, rising employment costs, and ongoing uncertainty stemming from the conflict in the Middle East. ...
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The workers that are most in demand in the UK – and the jobs that aren’t hiring

The workers that are most in demand in the UK – and the jobs that aren’t hiring

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreDemand for nannies, au pairs, sales executives,...
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Dreadful UK jobs report questions need for rate hikes | snaps

Dreadful UK jobs report questions need for rate hikes | snaps

Ouch! Taken at face value, the latest UK jobs report is bad pretty much wherever you look. Admittedly, some of it looks more like noise than signal. Take the 100,000 drop in payrolled employment. That is a big number, but one that will almost certainly get revised up. We saw something similar last May, where an initially reported 109k drop was then revised up to a much more modest -14k decline. There are plenty of similar examples in recent history. Still, backward revisions to both February and March are a reminder that the situation is fragile. Weakness has been particularly concentrated in consumer-facing sectors most affected by last year’s tax and minimum wage hikes. That pressure is only likely to be exacerbated by the incoming energy shock. Source link...
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Public have more fear than hope on AI and future of work, study finds

Public have more fear than hope on AI and future of work, study finds

Seven in 10 of the UK public are worried about the economic impacts of AI, six in 10 think it will eliminate more jobs than it creates, half think its impact will be worse than a normal recession – and one in five think it will create civil unrest. People are particularly worried about the impacts on entry-level jobs and young people more generally: nearly six in 10 agree with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s 2025 prediction that AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs within five years. New research by King’s College London's Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Policy Institute finds that while fear of AI's impact on jobs and society is widespread and cuts across every group, there is somewhat less concern about the impact on people’s own jobs, and some groups are more excited about the positive impacts, particularly employers, men generally and male undergraduate students in particular. The findings are being launched at the King's AI Summit: Workforce...
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Next boss warns of ‘dramatic’ fall in entry-level jobs

Next boss warns of ‘dramatic’ fall in entry-level jobs

Lord Wolfson insisted Next had to make a profit. "If you look at retail over the last 25 years... 70 to 80% of the names that were there then have gone. And what you can't do is say, we just won't run the business for profit because if you don't run the business for profit, you just don't stay in business," he said.He also repeated his criticisms of the government's Employment Rights Act, warning one aspect of the legislation meant it was "going to get much harder" for Next to offer more hours for its staff.One of the reforms includes a requirement for employers to offer guaranteed hours to casual workers in a bid to curb the use of zero-hours contracts.While not a fan of zero-hours contracts, Lord Wolfson said the new rules reduced the ability to offer extra hours at busy times "because the risk is you then have to contract for those hours forever"."You can't afford to... have...
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Next boss warns over ‘dramatic fall’ in UK entry-level jobs | Economics

Next boss warns over ‘dramatic fall’ in UK entry-level jobs | Economics

The boss of Next has sounded the alarm about a “dramatic fall” in the number of entry-level jobs in the UK that is driving up youth unemployment, saying the retailer now receives twice as many applicants for each role than two years ago.Lord Wolfson said the clothing and homeware chain, where he has been chief executive since 2001, typically received 10 applications for every job in its shops in 2024 but that number has now risen to 19.“That doubling of applicants for shop jobs is indicative of just how big the crisis is in youth unemployment at the moment,” he told the BBC.Wolfson’s comments came as a report commissioned by the government is expected to find that Labour has failed to tackle the soaring number of people not in education, employment or training (Neet) and must launch a “system reset” involving a fresh attempt to overhaul health and disability benefits.Alan Milburn, who is leading a review into why almost a...
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‘My job is going’: U.K. workers squeezed out by AI

‘My job is going’: U.K. workers squeezed out by AI

London – When a client asked her a year ago to design a glossary to train an artificial intelligence system, translator Jessica Spengler realized she was going to train her own replacement.“That was the day I really thought ... my job is going,” said the 52-year-old, who translates into English for German educational and historical organizations.In the U.K., where services account for around 80% of the economy, AI has become flexible, fast and inexpensive competition for many white-collar workers, with the impacts beginning to emerge. Source link...
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‘Hundreds of job applications’: young people on their struggle to find work | Unemployment

‘Hundreds of job applications’: young people on their struggle to find work | Unemployment

Catherina, 24, in BrightonWhen Catherina finished her degree in digital film production in London, she thought her prospects of finding work were good, but she has found the jobs market tough.“I was coming out of uni very expectant and hopeful, but then I was facing a very competitive industry,” she said. “I was always hearing nothing back.”She has produced a few short films that have been shown at festivals and found occasional work on film and TV productions as a runner – a job generally seen as the first rung on the ladder of the industry. But finding more than that has been tricky.She said she had believed if she put in the work she would reap the rewards. “It was ‘work ethic, do the hustle and it will pay off one day’.”She said she was “blessed” to be able to live with her parents while she looked for permanent work, but said she would “love” to have her own...
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‘I’ve applied for more than 400 roles’ – how young people are facing the job shortage

‘I’ve applied for more than 400 roles’ – how young people are facing the job shortage

Luke, 23, who studied product design at Central St Martin's University, has not found a job even after applying for more than 400 positions.The application process is quite vile. You apply, but then the [online process] wants to know the exact same information somewhere else in a different form.What you end up having to do is actually go through it again and redo all of it from scratch.Any normal person coming out of a university degree would think: "Yes, I've got a degree. I am now open to all these starting, junior jobs".You find out they haven't got the finances or AI has just replaced a whole load of jobs.The amount of rejections definitely make you depressed. It's humiliating. I started [claiming] Universal Credit in March last year. Entering into the job centres is really depressing. I felt a sense of rejection. The fact that everything I've done means nothing, in this day and age it's useless. It's the Catch-22...
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