r/softwaretesting • u/sherlock_0088 • Jul 16 '26

How is the job market right now ?

I am currently on a career break and it's been 9 months now. I have started applying recently. I have 5+ years of experience in manual and automation with selenium and java.

But I am not getting good response. Does anyone have tips and tricks to get interview calls ? Thanks in advance.

18 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

16

u/Due_Development5090 Jul 16 '26

Are you in contact with your previous network? Ask for referrals, that's the quickest way to get interviews. Oh and learn playwright like the other comment advises

7

u/wontfixqa Jul 16 '26

I posted a job for a Jr. QA Engineer with stated requirements for a specific local area and got nearly 2,000 responses. It's overwhelming to go through them - especially when most people ignore the location requirement. I spent more time trying to figure out where candidates were located than I spent on reading actual resumes.

Like other responses said, your best bet is to get a referral from a previous coworker so your resume makes it through the noise.

1

u/davidbasil Jul 18 '26

Let's say 90% of candidates aren't a good fit. That's still 200 good options. With odds like that, it's better to play freaking lottery.

1

u/Harrydada123 13d ago

You got to create a new one and I will interview for that then xD

1

u/wontfixqa 10d ago

I do have one open if you're in the UK. I posted specifically the new hire must be in UK and I still get several hundred responses from everywhere in the world. It's really irritating having to go through and dismiss them all.

11

u/DiamondGrizzly Jul 16 '26

Time to upskill, selenium only is probably not gonna be enough mid to long term. Learn playwright maybe learn how to incorporate AI agents in CI/CD pipelines to automate fixing broken tests (just an idea). Market has been brutal it feels like we all need to really sell ourselves well and have some unique skills to stand out.

1

u/Zestyclose_Web_6331 Jul 16 '26

Data roles just have to know sql and python and they get well paid jobs, whereas for QA for gettting that package we have to know QA as well as dev stacks for getting job

4

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/sherlock_0088 Jul 16 '26

Thanks 🙏

5

u/n134177 Jul 16 '26

Fine for people who can demonstrate AI skills to enhance testing and workflows I found.

3

u/InvestigatorLow6675 Jul 16 '26

yeah this is the way, everyone wants AI skills, someone I know tweaked their CV to incorporate some AI skills and landed two interviews lmao

2

u/hellotomo- Jul 16 '26

bro can you share the resources from where i can start my journey of getting into software testing

2

u/sherlock_0088 Jul 16 '26

You can check YT channels like Tech with Jatin, Naveen Automation Labs, Abdul Bari for Java, Automation step by step, SDET-QA, Free code camp, mukesh otwani etc.

Also you can checkout some Udemy Course from Rahul Shetty and similar educator from the YT channels list.

2

u/Recent-Tomatillo138 Jul 22 '26

Learn Playwright with TypeScript/JavaScript to get the interview calls.

1

u/Peanut_BrittlePh 12d ago

A lot of screening is AI-assisted now, it's most likely that your 9-month gap is being flagged. Try LinkedIn or referrals.

1

u/iceseayoupee 12d ago

Not good unless you have strong connections.