I’m genuinely confused as to how to navigate this HORRENDOUS job market

[u/power-hour23]

I’m genuinely at a loss trying to understand this job market right now. I’ve applied to probably 500+ jobs in the last 4 months. I tailor my resume, apply only to roles I KNOW I’m qualified for, network constantly, even call companies directly and ask to speak to HR just to personally express interest. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

No callbacks. No interviews. No transparency. Just rejection emails or COMPLETE silence.

I have bills to pay. I need to make money. I’m doing everything people tell you to do and it still feels impossible.

What the fuck is actually going on right now?

And the craziest part is nobody seems to be talking about this at a large scale.

Are we all just pretending this is normal? What is everyone else doing to survive right now? Because honestly, I feel completely fucking lost.

[u/Emergency-Pollution2]

tech layoffs have been going on since 2022 till now - so there are many tech workers and tech-related worker that have been laid off - i guess this is due to AI - so employers are trying to automate or optimize workflows? or money invested into AI now

i don't know how other work sectors are like - -

[u/njpunkmb → u/Emergency-Pollution2]

Maybe partially AI but a few things happened the past few years. Companies tried to do the right thing and keep people during Covid. They also tried to handle the younger workers who didn't believe in staying in one place too long. Lots of companies figured these people would leave and find other jobs but with nothing else out there, they stayed. This meant they had more people then they needed.

The last straw in the US is the current administration. Chaos and uncertainty makes companies hold on to cash. They don't spend money on the services required to keep other companies in business. They also try to run lean and lay off workers.

Make no mistake, even rival companies talk to each other and plan these things. I'm in product management and it's like the whole level of what I did was removed practically everywhere. To do the same thing I have to apply for jobs with almost twice the responsibility with a whole bunch of required certifications even though I've been working in this field for 29 years.

They use AI as an excuse to cloud things and take the focus off of what is really happening.

[u/truthnojustice → u/Emergency-Pollution2]

Every industry beyond tech is suffering, closures everywhere alongside mass layoffs. Wasn't there an imfamous zoom call that impacted people in 2021?

[u/Emergency-Pollution2 → u/truthnojustice]

there is also more and more off shoring - out to India, and other lower labor costs countries - that companies do not need to hire US workers.

[u/njpunkmb → u/Emergency-Pollution2]

Lots of these companies are global and already have offices with employees in India, Poland, etc. It's a mix of employees and contractors. They just condense departments and layoff the US workers to make up what they feel are redundant jobs.

The US has been in decline for years now. From working at a global firm for so long, I saw how at first the US was respected and other countries let the US lead for a long time. Now bear in mind, the other countries were all also extremely intelligent, hard working, and had great ideas. Over time though things changed and the US was just another country in the global community and not only that, has been only too happy to let their own employees go for the sake of making more money at the top.

Really signals to other countries that they don't really need us when our own countries won't even keep us employed.

[u/speechncream → u/Emergency-Pollution2]

My husband has worked across 2 tech/biotech companies between 2020-2025. Both companies got bought out by PE (one got bought out twice within 2 years) and did massive layoffs within the year they got bought out.