Jobseekers spending £1.44bn a year on finding their dream job

New research shows

Jobseekers are spending up to a staggering £1.44bn a year on their job hunt, research released from totaljobs as part of its #MillionPoundJamie campaign has found.

Each jobseeker spends on average up to £852 a year on interviews, which includes new clothes, courses and training, transport and haircuts. 

On average, jobseekers spend £146 on every job interview they attend*, including £33 on a new outfit, £20 on new shoes, and £24 on transport. 16-24 year olds spend the most out of any age group, spending up to £167 on average for every interview.

However, despite this huge outlay, the data also reveals that 27 per cent of jobseekers don’t research the role when preparing for a job interview and 60 per cent don’t update their CVs for each role applied for – a basic and key component of any job hunt. Furthermore, 37 per cent of jobseekers don’t research the industry when preparing for a job interview

The majority of jobseekers don’t get a good night’s sleep (58 per cent) and nearly all don’t eat well before an interview (85 per cent). The research also reveals 6 per cent have a manicure, 28 per cent shave, whilst only 6 per cent bother to polish their shoes.

It comes as no surprise, then, that totaljobs research also reveals that 76 per cent of jobseekers are finding the job hunting process difficult while 81 per cent have job hunting fears. Fears include not being invited for interview (28 per cent), never finding a new job (16 per cent) and not having the right or enough experience (13 per cent).

John Salt, Group sales director, totaljobs, said: “It’s concerning to see the amount of money that jobseekers are spending to get themselves noticed, when they are not preparing in some of the most basic, low cost, but effective ways they could be. Simple things like researching the role and the industry will obviously count for a lot at interview stage, as will the way jobseekers come across generally to their prospective employer in interview.

 Our research also shows that a vast majority of job seekers have job hunting fears. That’s why we’ve launched #MillionPoundJamie, working with a range of industry experts to show how to tackle these fears, get noticed and land a job they love. For anyone who is finding their job hunt a challenge, visit our website to follow Jamie’s journey to success and find fantastic tips and advice on being the best you can be, giving you that edge throughout the interview process.