UK Job Market
When UK employers actually hire: the job hunting calendar that beats January
Vacancies are still falling but permanent hiring has turned. Here's the UK hiring calendar: when employers really recruit, and how to time your applications.
1cv is built around one idea: give people the specific, honest guidance they would get from a well-connected friend in recruitment. The kind of advice that comes from seeing thousands of applications, interviews, and job offers from the hiring side of the table.
Browse by topic
CV Writing
Make your CV impossible to ignore. Format, structure, and language that gets you past the first cut.
Cover Letters
Most cover letters are wallpaper. Learn to write one that earns a second read.
Job Applications
From ATS forms to speculative emails: everything you need to apply with confidence.
UK Job Market
What's hiring, what's not, and what the data says about salaries and trends.
Career Change
Switching fields without starting from scratch. Practical steps for a confident pivot.
Practical advice for every stage of your job search
Whether you are writing your first CV after university, returning to work after a break, or thinking about switching industries entirely, the fundamentals connect. A strong CV still needs to be paired with a well-judged application. A career change needs a different approach to both. Understanding the job market and which sectors are actually hiring, what salaries look like in your region changes how you position yourself in everything you write. The five topic areas on this site reflect the real shape of a job search. Start with whichever is most pressing. Everything here is practical. There are no motivational platitudes, no advice that amounts to "just be yourself", and no tips that assume you have three hours to spend on a single application.
Recent articles
CV Writing
How to explain a gap on your CV without apologising for it
CV gap worrying you? A senior UK recruiter on how to date it, word it in one line, and handle redundancy, health, caring or a long job hunt.
Career Change
Adult apprenticeships: how to retrain on a wage instead of a loan
There's no upper age limit on UK apprenticeships. Here's what adult apprentices actually get paid, how the year-one rule works, and how to pitch yourself at 35 or 50.
Job Applications
The salary expectations box: what to write when you don't know the number
Stuck on the salary expectations box? A UK talent acquisition lead explains what to write, the range formula that works, and how to handle "current salary".
Cover Letters
When the cover letter says "optional": should you write one anyway?
Cover letter marked optional? A former hiring manager on when it wins you the job, when to skip it, and the 150-word version that actually gets read.
Guides by topic
CV Writing
- "Jobcentre in your pocket" review
- Are you hiding Prompt Injections in your Resume?
- ATS-proof your CV: what recruiters' software is really looking for
- CV formats explained: chronological, functional, and hybrid, which to use and when
- How to explain a gap on your CV without apologising for it
- How to tailor your CV for every job application without losing your mind
- How to write a personal statement that actually gets read
- The 10 CV mistakes that get you overlooked before the first interview
- The graduate CV: how to make no experience look like a strength
Cover Letters
- Cover letter mistakes that make hiring managers cringe
- Cover letter vs. email application: what to do and when
- How to start a cover letter: first lines that get you read
- How to write a cover letter if you have no experience
- How to write a cover letter that doesn't sound like everyone else's
- The perfect cover letter structure with a template you can actually use
- Using AI to write your cover letter: what works and what gets you binned
- When the cover letter says "optional": should you write one anyway?
Job Applications
- How to fill in a job application form without copying your CV
- How to track your job applications without losing your mind
- How to use LinkedIn to get noticed by recruiters without being annoying
- Speculative applications: how to reach out when there's no job posted
- The follow-up email: when to send one and what to say
- The salary expectations box: what to write when you don't know the number
- What employers actually check before they hire you
- Why you're not hearing back, and what to do about it
UK Job Market
- Ghost jobs: why so many UK vacancies aren't real, and how to spot them
- Graduate job market: what to expect in your first year of applying
- How redundancy works in the UK: your rights and what to do next
- Remote and hybrid work in the UK: where it stands in 2026
- The best cities to find work in the UK outside London
- The six-month rule: how the new unfair dismissal law changes your job hunt
- The UK job market right now: what's hiring, what's not
- UK salary benchmarks by sector: are you being paid fairly?
- When UK employers actually hire: the job hunting calendar that beats January
Career Change
- Adult apprenticeships: how to retrain on a wage instead of a loan
- How to change careers without starting from scratch
- How to write a CV when changing careers
- Is it too late to change careers? (Spoiler: no.)
- Networking into a new industry when you don't know anyone
- The best ways to retrain in the UK (free and paid options)
- The proof problem: how to show you can do a job you've never done
- Transferable skills: how to identify yours and sell them