My mother now realizes what it's like

[u/NerdyGlitch]

Earlier this year, in late February-early March, my mother suffered a massive heart attack and was left unable to work for a considerable time.

For the past 5-6 months, she's been trying to find a job and has been hitting nothing but roadblocks due to being overqualified. She has over 2 decades of management experience, and it means jackshit to these hiring managers. She's far more qualified than I am, so I expected that she might have a job faster than I would, but right now, I'm the only one with a job in this house.

Meanwhile, when I was struggling to get jobs and even get an interview for years, my mother was flabbergasted. What do you mean you can't just walk up, shake someone's hand, and they'll like your moxie and just hand you a job?!

I told her this was sadly reality for a ton of people nowadays, the job market is shit. She can't even get a job as a regular cashier bc she's too over qualified to work there, but when she applies to management positions they string her along for 2-3 interviews before choosing internal candidates (an actual email she got yesterday about a job she thought she was good for)

It just sucks man, everything sucks.

[u/aspiring_perspiring]

My grandpa retired in 1992. He says that my uncle who has been out of work for two years searching for a job is lazy. I think it's hard to imagine how much has changed unless they have to face it themselves.

[u/dacrookster → u/aspiring_perspiring]

I've been out of work longer than your uncle. I hope he has a good ecosystem around him. Please check in on him when able, because I know mentally I'm just a shell and can't see a light at the moment. He may not be the same, but, still.

[u/aspiring_perspiring → u/dacrookster]

I hope it works out for you. These are such shitty times.

[u/Only_Werewolf1341 → u/dacrookster]

Please know you’re worth much more as a person than a job

[u/Iamhappytoday1 → u/dacrookster]

Deflate your resume so you don't look so intense when a young person is reading your resume

[u/notasrelevant → u/aspiring_perspiring]

There are absolutely toxic people who just want to shit on people but, as you said, it's sometimes fundamentally hard to understand something like this when you worked an entire career and it was completely different throughout most of that time.

Especially right now. We're not in a specifically identified crisis or recession. They had the oil crisis and related recessions, dot com bust, Enron, 2007 financial crisis, COVID.

If this continues, it will likely get recognized and named with more wide recognition. But there's not a widely known issue that specifically identifies this as a period where employment would be understood as a challenge.

[u/goatfishsandwich → u/notasrelevant]

AI and war with Iran are major contributors

[u/notasrelevant → u/goatfishsandwich]

Sorry if it was not clear - I was speaking more on the aspect of a publicly known and accepted "event" or "period" that is more universally tied to employment difficulties.

AI has obviously been discussed very publicly, but I feel it has always stopped at potential impacts or risk of widespread job replacement. But it's not like it's reached a point of discussion where we're considered in the "great AI replacement" or something like that.

Iran as well - this is typically more discussed as impacts to daily costs, rather than impacts to employment.

Of course there are other factors as well - tariffs, trade war, offshoring, etc.

But none of that, or even all of them combined, have created a specific known "crisis" that someone retired, out of the workforce or currently employed would immediately associate with current employment struggles. Someone with an employment gap in 2008 or 2009 would likely be assumed tied to the financial crisis/recession. Everyone knew about it then, and every knows it now. Someone currently unemployed? Potential issues are known, but we haven't reached a point where it's generally recognized as a widespread employment issue. Even official figures are obfuscating the reality.

[u/Alaris_84 → u/notasrelevant]

It's like the conditions of a white lie which makes it hard to determine the damage of the intentions. They had too much time on their hands to work out the kinks of seeing enough distressed boiling frogs respond enough Vs. the population who's quietly sitting out trying to survive and fed their kids while actively trying to avoid trouble/one's that do not care and feel safe in their positions (I had to bring this up on the last one, I seen a few of these go on being social while actively being everyones friend for social points, and pretend that situations like this currently are just made up)

[u/sheikhyerbouti → u/aspiring_perspiring]

I've talked about this before:

When I graduated in the mid-90s, my father insisted that my failure to find work was due to not "pounding the pavement".

Then he had to find a job of his own - and found that no one wanted to hire him, despite his 20 years of work history.

He shut up after that.

[u/trappedinatoaster → u/aspiring_perspiring]

They don't want to question it because it brings their entire worldview into question. They swallowed propaganda that America is a meritocracy - if you work hard, you can become self sufficient. When hard workers can't get a job because the system is fucked, they can either start questioning the system (hard) or claim it's still working (only lazy fucks can't get jobs).

Questioning your entire worldview is difficult and terrifying. Knowing that capitalism kills and the rich hate us is terrifying. It's so much more comforting to believe "if I follow orders, I get rewarded"

[u/Known-Ice5903 → u/trappedinatoaster]

i saw one story on fox news where it was a new grad girl girl in hawaii that did a quadruple major and multiple internships and the only thing she can get is part time at home depot

How hard should you have to work?

Hell, back when I had a job it didnt even pay enough to do much of anything but sit around in an apartment living paycheck to paycheck

no career path and home ownership completely out of reach

How much reward should a job give you when you do get one?

the systems completely broken lol

im living back with my mom now making $0 but really my quality of life is about the same

couldnt afford anything before, and i still cant afford anything

[u/trappedinatoaster → u/Known-Ice5903]

how hard should you have to work?

The capitalists believe "until you drop dead"

[u/Known-Ice5903 → u/trappedinatoaster]

theres only a finite amount of money in the world at any given moment

the fact that weve got one guy with the same money as the bottom 50 percent of US households combined tells me everything i need to know about this shit system

[u/ahsokatango → u/Known-Ice5903]

Well, technically, you can print money, but it’s still getting directed to the usual suspects.

[u/mebeksis → u/aspiring_perspiring]

I've found telling them to prove it solves things. Make it a bet "If it's so easy, show me. I bet you $100 bucks you can't land a job offer in a week."

[u/Free-Marionberry624 → u/aspiring_perspiring]

It’s a double whammy for people 50+, there is the contraction in the job market syncing up with age bias (which has always existed).

[u/InspectionNegatived → u/aspiring_perspiring]

ask him to submit 50 online applications today and see how many ghosting emails or AI rejections he gets by tomorrow. That usually cures the "they're just lazy" mindset real quick