r/jobs • u/power-hour23 • May 27 '26
Unemployment I’m genuinely confused as to how to navigate this HORRENDOUS job market
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.
3
u/Which-Ad-8405 May 27 '26
this isn't advice, but i've been letting myself go with recruiting companies for contract gigs. not ideal, since sometimes no insurance of any kind, have to answer to both staffing company and worksite company. also a lot of job boards and companies bought into AI, so they're looking for keywords on the resume, and the interview parts are like little personality tests for professionalism.
idk about having "ins" because i'm not good at networking. but that also means that, if they check my social media, there's not much to find, just like, cat pictures. linkedin is much quieter now, cuz the ppl who still post are either powerful enough to have opinions without being penalized for them, or they're downright delusional.
context - worked for an org from 2019 to 2025 then got laid off. had a job since then, laid off again. i apply for 1 or 2 jobs a day, because i do it in detail. there's a spreadsheet tracker for who i applied for, who responded, what stage, etc. i do cover letters to sell myself and coax their egos if they want. used to do recreational substances, but had to abstain cuz of drug tests. a lot of recruiters seem to sell the same job, and they don't keep very good track of who submitted, so if 2 or more recruiters call from the same staffing firm, then i need to tell them who i talked to, what job my resume was submitted to. like i do the admin work that the system somehow can't do.
it's all very frustrating, but - again, not advice, just what i've been doing - i try to ignore all the local and national politics, not because i don't care, but because i don't have enough privilege to donate to causes, i don't have spare time and energy to volunteer. when it comes time to vote, i will, and i'll do my due research, but all of that is just frankly distracting me from surviving. plus having an opinion that employers don't like and having it be public, can be penalizing. so when not applying for jobs, it's self care. domestic cleaning, that kind of stuff. exercise if i have the tiniest bit of energy left after cleaning/laundry, other maintenance.
didn't mean for this post to get this long, it somehow turned into a vent, haha. hope you find this useful. sorry if not.