The Flint Blog
Notes on what's actually happening in the job market, written by the team building Flint. Evidence over vibes.
- ·5 min read
The August hiring slowdown is mostly a calendar illusion.
Eight UK job sources, about 200 boards, twelve weeks, around 4,000 new ads every week. August's dip is three missing working days. The one real summer collapse we could see is teaching, and it's 88%.
- ·7 min read
The best-paid UK jobs are the ones that won't tell you the salary.
I counted every live UK listing in Flint's pool on 8 September 2026: 49,916 jobs from 9,719 employers. Software roles state a salary 17% of the time. Social care roles, 70%. Six senior roles for every junior one. Two in five 'live' listings are over a month old.
- ·7 min read
How a CV match score should actually work.
Keyword matching is 2015 thinking. A real job score breaks down across six dimensions, weighted by what actually predicts an interview. Here's the model behind Flint and why each weight is where it is.
- ·6 min read
Is LinkedIn Premium Career worth £29.99 a month? I ran the numbers.
£359 a year for InMails, applicant ranking, and a 'Top Applicant' badge. Here's what it actually gets you, who it works for, and where cheaper tools win.
- ·6 min read
One in five job postings is a ghost. Here's how to spot them.
Greenhouse's own data says 18 to 22% of postings each quarter aren't real hires. Clarify found nearly one in three employers admit to it. Here's what a ghost job actually is, why companies keep posting them, and how to tell one before you waste a cover letter.
- ·5 min read
Why Flint doesn't auto-submit to jobs.
Sonara users report 50%+ submission failure rates. Recruiters blocklist the pattern. Auto-apply is a reputation spiral the tools can't reverse. Here's what the category actually delivers, and what we're doing instead.
- ·7 min read
The collapsing middle.
Entry-level software developer postings are down 20% since ChatGPT launched. Middle managers were a third of 2023 layoffs. Google cut 35% of its small-team managers. A new role shape is eating the org chart.
- ·6 min read
AI didn't kill the job market. It killed the bottom rung.
Entry-level employment in AI-exposed occupations fell 13% since ChatGPT launched. Senior workers in the same jobs grew 6–9%. The story isn't what you think.
- ·7 min read
What actually happens after you hit submit.
The '75% of CVs are auto-rejected' stat is fake. The real 2026 screening stack is weirder, kinder, and more beatable than you think.
- ·7 min read
The job market is quietly broken.
LinkedIn hit 11,000 applications per minute last year. One in five postings doesn't correspond to a real hire. Recruiters scan CVs in 8.4 seconds. Applying harder is the wrong move.