The Gendered Reality of Job Seeking: The Smart Works Index 2025 - Greater Manchester Focus

This inaugural Smart Works Index 2025 – Greater Manchester Focus edition focuses on the 743 women who contributed to the Index, from the 1,120 women supported by Smart Works Greater Manchester in 2025. Behind every data point is the determination of women striving for stability and sustainable employment across the Greater Manchester region.

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The Smart Works Index 2025 - Greater Manchester Focus

Job-Seeking in Greater Manchester — Key Trends

Smart Works Greater Manchester first opened its doors in June 2015 in Stockport town centre, before expanding with a second centre in Manchester city centre in May 2023. Over the last decade, we have supported over 6,000 unemployed women across all 10 Greater Manchester boroughs and the wider North West.

1. Deprivation is intertwined with unemployment

In 2025, deprivation was a defining feature of the job-seeking landscape for women supported by Smart Works Greater Manchester. 25% of the Greater Manchester population live in neighbourhoods ranked in the 10% most deprived in England, and postcode analysis shows that 38% of our beneficiaries live in these neighbourhoods.

2. Youth unemployment remains a significant challenge

Young women (16–24) made up 21% of our clients in 2023, rising to 26% in 2025. This meaningful increase reflects both growing need and the effectiveness of our targeted outreach. Youth unemployment remains a significant challenge across Greater Manchester, and young women often face additional barriers such as limited work experience, caring responsibilities, disrupted education, or a lack of professional networks. These factors make our tailored, confidence-building support particularly vital in helping them take their first steps into sustainable employment.

3. Unemployment destroys confidence

The emotional toll is clear. 64% of clients feel less confident applying for jobs because of the job search process, and many enter interviews feeling misaligned with the roles available: 26% feel under-qualified for the upcoming position, while 14% feel overqualified. These mismatches reflect a system that often fails to recognise women’s potential or provide clear, accessible pathways into work.

The Smart Works Index - Greater Manchester Focus In Numbers

The process of job seeking is more demanding than ever.
The Index findings are stark,women are applying for more roles, feeling their confidence diminish throughout the process.
However, women persist, even as confidence wears thin.
They adapt, even as expectations shift. They keep showing up, even when hiring processes shut them out too quickly and too often.

job applications on average before a woman gets a job

1 in 3

women apply for 50+ roles

64%

of women feel less confident as a result of the job search process

38%

of Smart Works Greater Manchester clients have been out of work for over 12 months

average hours women spend searching for work per week

Our clients: hear their voices

Andrea, 60 Oldham

“I didn’t realise the biggest reinvention would come at 60.”

I turned 60 last week. I’ve had a long and varied career. For most of my life, I worked in the leisure industry - running nightclubs, bars, pubs and live venues. In my late forties, I made a big pivot and joined the police. Joining the Met gave me brilliant experience, especially in licensing and modern slavery. But policing wasn’t quite what I hoped it would be.

Eventually, I came back to what I knew best: people. I started looking for part-time or flexible roles, anything where I could bring my experience into a new chapter. The way job hunting works now has completely changed. It used to be simple: a CV, a phone call, or the local paper on a Thursday. Now it’s endless websites, repeated listings, algorithms, and being dragged off in the wrong direction if you click on the wrong thing.

Even with decades of experience, I couldn’t get a job in a supermarket. It didn’t make sense. You’d think employers would value older workers more - reliability, stability, commitment - but it didn’t feel like that at all.

And then I came to Smart Works Greater Manchester. By the time I arrived, I was running on empty. The first thing they did was make me feel seen, not as someone unemployed, but as someone with something to offer. The outfit was lovely, but it was the conversation that changed me. Through coaching, I regained my self-belief and focus.

The Smart Works Effect: when women get the right support - they succeed

Despite the worsening job market, 64% of Smart Works Greater Manchester clients secure employment, even as women applied for more roles, faced more rejection, and spent more hours searching than ever before.
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This is not luck. It is the impact of targeted preparation, expert coaching and a moment of human connection at exactly the right time.

Our model proves something essential: Support works. Human connection works. Being seen works.

What Smart Works offers

1. Human contact

Real conversation, empathy and guidance, everything the online process removes.

2. Tailored support

Coaching that reflects each woman’s strengths, circumstances and goals.

3. Confidence building

Evidence from 94% of clients shows the transformative impact of being seen and believed in.

4. Skills translation

Helping women articulate transferable skills so they are not overlooked by automated systems.

5. Interview preparation

Mock interviews, personalised feedback and practical guidance that the system does not provide.

6. Visible empowerment

Professional clothing that reflects competence, credibility and self-belief.

7. Emotional scaffolding

Support that helps women absorb rejection, regain motivation and keep going.

8. Professional presentation

Equipping women with the tools, verbal, non-verbal and visual to present their best selves.

Why Smart Works Greater Manchester Needs Support Now

As competition intensifies and women’s confidence collapses, our service is not just relevant, it is essential.

Women are doing everything the system asks of them. They are showing up, trying again after every rejection, and still being shut out. Smart Works is the difference between a woman giving up and a woman getting the job.

Demand for our support has never been higher, and we’ve continued to evolve our services to meet women at every stage of their journey into work. In 2025, Smart Works Greater Manchester supported over 1,000 women, delivering 876 interview preparation appointments, 297 career coaching sessions, and 237 second dressings for those who secured a job. By offering both in‑person and virtual appointments, we help remove barriers so women across the city region can access support in the way that works best for them.

To meet the growing demand Smart Works must:

reach more women, in more communities

train and support more volunteers

invest in our wardrobe and coaching teams

expand our centres, so distance is never a barrier

strengthen our voice, so the system changes too

We can only do this with supporters and partners who believe in women’s potential as strongly as we do.

Partner with us. Donate. Stand with women.

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