My experience echos yours too... lost count of the number of times I've been ghosted. I've learned not to trust agents. At all. If I get a call I assume that

My experience echos yours too... lost count of the number of times I've been ghosted. I've learned not to trust agents. At all. If I get a call I assume that I'll be ghosted or that they're lying about the role. If I manage to get an interview, I usually get the role (I'd say about 70%+) but getting to the interview stage is always a pain with the agencies. That being said, the market is most definitely different at the moment: I'd hate to be applying for entry-level (or even mid-level) roles at the moment! I have a friend who is looking and he's struggling to get anywhere at the moment and he has more experience than me (I'm more senior than him but his CV has extensive experience on it).