The problem is not effort. The problem is what that effort is built on, and where it gets pointed. Belfast is a relatively compact employment market, and many employers here receive far more applications than the number of roles would suggest. An untailored CV is easy to spot in that volume, and it gets filtered out quickly, often by an applicant tracking system before a person ever reads it.

Feeling stuck at the start of your career is more common than it looks. This guide explains why direction feels harder to find than people expect, what actually helps when you don't know where to begin, and how to tell whether the problem is the role or the environment around it.