Technically jobless growth/ghost recession... but at least he has a better shot for being a good boi

Saw a guy standing outside our building this morning, overdressed for the weather, on his phone. Security mentioned he'd just come from an interview. Asked him how it went, he said "not really" and gave this half laugh that wasn't really a laugh.

Later found out from my assistant that a coworker had interviewed him for a junior analyst opening and rejected him for not being "technical enough."

That role has zero technical requirements. It's literally listed as entry level with no coding or technical skill needed anywhere in the description.

Pulled his CV out of curiosity. Normal fresh grad resume. One internship. Nothing that would explain a rejection like that.

Asked the coworker what he meant by technical. Got a vague answer about wanting someone who could hit the ground running, which isn't the same thing at all.

Still bothers me a little. Not my department, not my call, but I keep thinking about that half laugh.

A solid 1.5 year job hunt, countless applications, referrals, final rounds, networking, resume tailoring, career fairs, and whatnot (Im sure everyone here already knows all the must-do’s), I got severely depressed this July and reduced applying as crazily as before. I just didn’t have it in me anymore, I went through weird ups and downs in motivation so some days I would do 20 apps while other days just 5 or something. Now, towards end of August, I have admitted defeat indefinitely. This job hunt has completely destroyed my self worth, confidence, and any semblance I had of an identity. If it weren’t for family I would’ve been on the streets by now. Im only in my mid 20s and I have a strong feeling my career is over before it even began properly, I don’t see any hope of getting employed. I just wanted to let this out of my head. I wanted to write it somewhere that Im just done, I don’t know what to do anymore. It isn’t seeming like this will get better anytime soon, if anything it keeps getting worse.
I’ve never seen this many of my peers/friends out of a job simultaneously and day by day I see them get as hopeless as I am.

Been using the same résumé format since like 2019 and I literally just go into Word and edit. I despise generative AI btw.

Also is the goal to find a suitable candidate or someone who can stand out with designs on a piece of paper?

Anyone else dealing with this?

9 months, 140 applications, 3 onsites, 0 offers. ranked by how much time i wasted:

1. custom cover letter for every single app, zero measurable difference

2. "networking" via linkedin dms to strangers

3. following up after exactly one week

4. the video intro thing

5. paying $180 for a resume writer

6. applying within 10 minutes of a posting going up

7. career fairs

8. a portfolio site nobody opened

9. careerflow, after multiple rewrites(7+) got 2 recruiter dms the week after.

10. cold emailing hiring managers

11. certifications

12. "just be persistent"

what's on your list

Apologies for the long post but I am fuming as I’m writing this. I just had a screening video call with a recruiter from a publicly traded company with about 500 employees.

The recruiter was 5 mins late to the call, didn’t have her camera on as she “just got back from a weekend in Vegas and does not look presentable for camera”. I asked if I should turn my camera off as well but she told me to leave it on - I was already feeling uncomfortable at this point but still went ahead with the conversation.

She then asked about why I’m currently in the US since I’m from Canada, to which I replied I recently relocated here after getting married and it’s not possible to continue my previous role because it was onsite in Canada. She said she did not understand and asked me to explain? I repeated the same thing because I’m not sure what’s so hard to understand from my statement, to which she replied “Ok whatever, I think I understand” in a rude and dismissive tone??? Mind you, this is the same answer I’ve given all recruiters and nobody had an issue with it.

Moving on, she said they’re very intentional about who they hire and asked me “What’s the most interesting thing about yourself because looking at your resume, I don’t see anything that jumps out.” I was annoyed but still kept it professional, I explained my unique background and relevant skills I bring to the table, only for her to say “Ok but forget about the work, what do you do for fun?” 😬 I’m sorry what, is this a job interview or a date? I get that culture fit is important, but I expected a professional interview where I can talk about my skills and experiences, but they seemed to care more about whether I’ll fit in their clique than if I can do the job.

At this point I should have ended the call, but I still entertained her by telling my hobbies and such. She then switched gear to ask about one technical skill - finally a good sign I thought - so I confirmed I do have the skill and explained briefly what I did in my previous role pertaining to that. This woman goes on to say “whatever” a second time, and asked me “can you say what you just told me again but in one sentence” ???

WTF m’aam, do you have the listening comprehension of a 5th grader???!! It’s not like I gave her a long winded answer or anything, I spent 30 seconds explaining what I did, and somehow it’s still way over her head. In the past I’ve only had recruiters either thanking me for being specific with my answers or asking for more info/context, not made me summarize or be vague about important skills.

When there were 4 minutes left on the call, she said thanks for speaking with her and didn’t even ask me if I had any questions for her. I had to say “is it okay if I ask you some additional questions about the role” then she replied “yes but I don’t have much time”. When I asked when is her hard stop, she proceeded to answer in the most condescending tone “the more you talk, the less time you’ll have to get your answers”.

So I asked her about the whole process as a final question, and she responded “it’s an interview process. Next step is meeting with the hiring manager, then there’s an assignment and maybe a panel interview. But we don’t have a process in place and things could change last minute. We’re a billion dollar start-up, and we don’t like processes.”

You’d think that’s the end of it, but no, this lady added one last thing before we ended the call “let’s just take one step at a time first. I don’t even know if you’re moving forward to meet the hiring manager. We’re very selective and out of 100 resumes we received, we picked only 2 to interview.” So I went to check the job posting on LinkedIn again, it has already been reposted but with only 54 people who clicked apply 😬😬 I sent her an email to withdraw my application immediately after the call.

I’m absolutely floored and do not understand how this behavior is acceptable. Candidates are expected to research the company and role, dress up, be on time, professional and respectful while companies can say or do wtf they want. The hiring process is extremely broken right now and the more we condone this as candidates, the more they’ll disrespect our boundaries.

*Just really wanted to vent after a bad experience with a hiring manager last week and now an appalling interview with a recruiter.

What do we call this relationship - JOBYGAMY?

Entry Level Jobs - requiring 5+ Years experience.
Entry Level Jobs - asking 4 Years exp
Entry Level Jobs - demanding 3 Years exp
Entry Level Jobs - requiring 2 Years exp.
Entry Level Jobs - asking 1 Years exp.
Entry Level Jobs - looking for Recent Grads.

How can all be same?

What's better to call this than Polygamy?
- The JOBYGAMY?

Entry-level pay. Senior-level demands.
Can't get hired without experience.

Can't get experience without getting hired.
Companies are killing their own pipeline.

Interesting description!

28 and been unemployed for over a year and have a B.A and M.A and can't get much. despite applying and even going to recruiters

had 2 interviews this year and both rejections and one was an internship and depressed as what the hell is wrong with me that I can't get an internship

I feel like my 20s are wasted due to this as peers advance around me as I stagnate

As of right now, I have applied to ~55 jobs in the last couple of weeks. Over the course of this year, at least 200. Multiple interviews, multiple rejection emails. According to almost all the interviewers, my CV, covering letters, screening questions and pre-interview tasks and general experience are exactly what they are looking for. Fast forward a week later, the typical email of 'we regret to inform you...' with a tacked on reason. What the hell can I do if I've done everything right and still get told no?

I have been depressed for these past few days, but today I truly feel like shit and decided to post here.

I live in Portugal and I have a masters degree in psychology. Since january, I have been sending my CV left and right, trying to land myself a mandatory internship to become a *real* psychologist. So far, I have sent it to exactly 151 places and I managed to go on 6 interviews. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any of the internship positions. 

I’ve asked for feedback after every interview. Today one of the interviewers finally replied and said that, because I have no experience working with children, I can’t work at that school. They told me I should go to a school and volunteer with kids. At 23. Looking for my first real job. Thing is: I had highlighted heavily that I worked for 2 years planning and making birthday parties for kids. So, no, it’s definitely not a clinical setting, but I do have experience with the demographic, and giving that it’s an internship and that I am supposed to learn and have supervision, I find it odd the interviewer would respond that, given that it’s not true.

Since june, when I finished an online course that I made some money with, I realised that I can’t keep on being unemployed. So I began to put more effort applying to positions outside of my field of study, in hopes I would be luckier. In Portugal, the only prospects that a psychology degree gives you is either becoming a psychologist or being in HR. I have been applying to all of the junior HR positions that I come across, and so far I have only landed an online interview and heard nothing back. 

Also, what really made me want to vent here was that today I went to an interview for a receptionist position at a well-known car company. Keep in mind, I applied through an outsourcing company. I arrived 15 minutes earlier and I was met by a young woman, who, after the deal, I think might be the new receptionist, and she tells me that I can seat myself while I wait for HR to come get me for the interview. Five minutes before the schedule, the HR from the outsourcing company calls me and says there has been an emergency and that we have to reschedule. I respond that we can do it tomorrow, and HR tells me they are going to confirm with the client and would call me shortly. Obviously, I didn’t get that call. I wasted my time and I wasted my money on an uber for the interview site for it to get cancelled last minute. And HR couldn’t even get to the reception to apologise and ask for a reschedule which is what pisses me off the most here.

I feel betrayed, frustrated and utterly stupid. I spent five years in university, I worked hard to get my degrees. I cancelled plans with family and friends, took my time and a toll on my mental health to study, to volunteer, to work, only for my efforts to mean nothing in the end. I have been waiting for 8 months to get my internship, but a lot of people in the same situation as me have been there for a year or two… 

I really wish the job market didn’t suck right now, that’s all.

Thanks for the email, I know already I didn’t get it lmao

Came across this Instagram reel that captures my experience with every company currently “hiring”. I have not seen any job opening in the past 12 months that did not require at least one homework assignment PLUS presenting that assignment, sometimes followed by a one day onsite. This is on top of the 5-6 rounds of interviews that extract information from you and leave 3-5 minutes at the end for questions that they don’t have time to answer.

In most cases the assignment is meant to solve a company specific business issue, and sometimes you are being evaluated by a person who doesn’t know your area of expertise. This screams free labor and it’s crazy that so many candidates have been ok with this for so long that companies are asking for it without blinking.

Another weird thing is recruiters (internal or external) are faking strong interest from the company to ensure you stay motivated and bend over backwards to comply with their insane process. Even when it’s very obvious you are not a good fit for the skills they need, they pretend your experience is fantastic, so they can reject you after squeezing every ounce of value out of you.

Is anyone else experiencing this? For people who received job offers recently - did you have to work on take home case studies and present them?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcriUuaRDZJ/

For context, I’m sharing this to warn others. And I feel lucky enough in this shitty job market to be able to say no to a shitty contract and careful enough to read it before signing.

The same day I got the contract, I was being pushed to sign it by EOD. It was a six month contract with good pay. Sounded too good to be true, and as I read through it and used AI to analyze it, it was clear that this contract had major issues. There were red flags all over the place. Language that would allow them to claim work or products I created for my own businesses for up to a year AFTER the contract ended unless I proved otherwise. The ability to change my pay at their sole discretion. They even had the wrong name of the company they were hiring me for. There were missing exhibits that were referenced but never included. Language allowing them to inspect personal devices I used for work even after the contract ended. Ridiculous liability clauses that could make me responsible for their losses and legal fees. Restrictions involving clients and vendors I might never even work with.

It was so bad that I hired a lawyer to review it and tell me whether it was even salvageable. After I sent the lawyer’s feedback to the recruiting agency, they asked ME to rewrite their contract or pay my lawyer again to revise it for them. Uhm. No.

I walked away.

Read every page. Read every attachment. Ask questions. “It’s standard” does not mean it’s fair. And if a company pressures you to sign faster than they’re willing to answer your questions, that is your answer.

I (25m) had a stable job, but it was destroying my mental health. As in I was coming home from work every day drinking 3-4 beers and getting anxiety attacks at my desk kind of destruction. I was paid barely above the poverty line to do what amounted to two separate job's worth of work, on top of being bullied by my boss.

After months of intense searching (over 40 applications) I found what felt like a great job. I had a great, supportive manager for the first time in my life. I had great colleagues that I actually enjoyed being around and working with. Best of all, the manager promised me a career opportunity, to grow with the company as he spearheaded the new department that I was hired to work in.

Six weeks later the business owner decided for obscure reasons that she had spent too much money on setting this up, and fired my manager. I'm lucky that I got re-hired, but now I work in this business's store front as a clerk, and I lost about half my salary because the business owner won't give me full time employment even though she's posting offers on Indeed to hire more clerks.

I can't even try for a second part time job because they publish the schedule the day before the work week starts.

I'm legit crying looking for jobs and applying. It's a desert out there...

I can't figure out if my name is connected to his email address somewhere or they are just playing dumb and emailing him because they see we are associated. They email him but address it to me like they think it's my email address, even though the email address is clearly his name which is clearly not my name.

I'm 37 years old, married with a different last name, and haven't lived at my parents house in over a decade. Every time he forwards me one I respond with a nasty response; it has happened at least 5 times. What gives?

I know this is a reoccurring and common gripe, but this really makes me want to burn it all to the ground...

Beware of this consulting firm - they’re stacked with good talent but the company is filled with insider politicking and some of the most obnoxious people you’ll find. Super rude about layoffs and the COO Jeff Marowitz is an absolute soulless douchebag who gets on these layoff calls w the HR and lawyer and pretends to give a shit. Absolutely utterly horrible. Stay away. Absolute waste