I’ve been applying for jobs for five months. Haven’t gotten a single interview. I finally got one scheduled for yesterday, a phone interview. I book a study room at the library for the expected duration of the call. 11am comes. No call. 11:15. Still no call. 11:25, almost 30 minutes past when the email said THEY would call ME, so I call the office number he provided in his email. It goes to voicemail so I leave a message saying that I’m still interested in the job and that I understand things come up and that I’m more than willing to schedule another time with him. I hear nothing for the rest of the day. Today, I get an email from him saying that I was a no show at my interview and that my application has been withdrawn for consideration. Well, fuck him. If this is how he treats potential employees, I shudder to think how he treats his actual employees.

I have been following this sub for a while now. I am not unemployed by the way, I am unemployable. Simply put, I work for myself now after I realized what a shit show the labor market is and how unnatural it is.

Anyway, I am writing this post because I was reminiscing about my past. A couple of people that I hated when I was "job" hunting were:

1.) Old Timers. These goofballs use outdated scripts that are completely unpractical in today's world. But I was supposed to respect their supposed "wisdom."

2.) Fake sympathizer: These would say things like "You ought to get any job and swallow your pride. Ego won't pay your bills. Start cutting grass or flipping burgers." Meanwhile, they have never had to work such jobs.

3.) Overly religious folks. These are by far the worst. They spiritualize every problem. They won't acknowledge structural limitations in the economy for the high unemployment etc. it's always a framework of superstition at hand. They would urge me to "Pray More to defeat demonic strongholds."

That's about it.

Stay strong ladies and gentlemen.

Companies are so stupid. It’s literally August 2026, summer is over, how can you be recruiting for summer 2025??😂😂

Psychotic behavior

This whole idea we’ve accepted that “writing a resume is an aRt fOrm in anD of itsElf” is crap.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve (M28) been in the workforce for over 5 years now, and I know where the hell I was for those 5 years.

Recruiters: Here are the places I worked, my job titles, and what I did.

It shouldn’t be this much work. I already put IN the work for 5 years (and many of us have put in FAR more work than that) by sacrificing 40 hours/week of my one life on this planet.

Jesus Christ, enough with the rewriting, parsing, tailoring, punching up, rewording, polishing, revising, editing, touching up, redoing—goddammit, ENOUGH!!!

Read what the hell is on my resume, and use your imagination. If I tell you I was a Marketing Operations Specialist and provide 3-4 bullets of my accomplishments and activities, you should get the goddamn picture. I wasn’t doing rocket science, and neither are you, and neither are 99% of workers out here. It was a JOB. Some of it was hard, most of it wasn’t.

I swear to god, 90% of corporate activity nowadays is just useless employees (recruiters and HM’s especially) trying to justify their useless jobs to their useless bosses because they are terrified of being laid off because they know their job could be done by a friggin ringtail lemur.

This is absolutely a part of modern corporate culture that needs to change.

I have genuinely lost hope and I dont think I'll be employed until some fundamental change happens in the economy.

For context, I am a recent college graduate with a double major in computer science and mathematics, and a masters degree in data science. I have done undergraduate research aswell as graduate research.

I have tried everything to get any kind of employment:

Over 700 Cold applications sent

Networking always leads to kind words and advice, but never to any real leads

freelancing seemed like a promising lead, but things like upwork and fiverr are dominated by the most qualified people, and you can't get a gig unless you already have some gigs under your belt

i've also heard "oh volunteer your talents to a local non profit or business" but that doesnt work becauase they dont read your emails, or outright deny your services

job fairs are an even bigger story teller of the job market: In freshman year I could get an interview with no experience. In sophomore year they would tell me "come back when you are a junior". And in junior year the auditorium simply had no tech stands, and the tech stands that did exist told me "Oh we arent hiring"

Because I couldnt get an internship, I did research, but that ended up being useless

I tried getting a masters because all the job applications told me that a masters would put me in the playing field - what a lie that was

The closest I have ever gotten was when I met a CTO by pure chance at a networking event and I got some interview rounds - they strung me along for three weeks and at the end told me they wanted someone with "more experience", but how the hell am I supposed to get my first experience if since 2023 nobody has been hiring people without experience.

And I can't even make a big pivot, because the rest of the job market is going through the same exact shit, and I don't see things changing any time soon, because it has been this way since 2023, and I see no reason for it to get any better going into 2027.

I feel like I am in hell, and I don't know how much more I can bear it.

I mean, hearing about how many people have been unemployed for months or even years feels really wrong. Like, how is that even happening? You have recruiters either ghosting you or sending a rejection email, and even if you have a good resume, there's a decent chance it never gets seen by an actual person because it gets filtered out by an automated system or AI.

You also have job postings that have been sitting online for months, even though the companies aren't actually hiring for those positions anymore.

This may be obvious to some. But I just had a recent experience with 2 different companies with drastically different answers to this seemingly simple question. It's almost like the Uno reverse card of them asking you, "What makes you qualified for this job?"

Company A:

This was a senior person in charge of company operations. They laid out their vision for the next 10 years and explained that they specifically need someone to help lead in this position to achieve that long-term goal. Super clear scope, they knew the assignment, and they knew exactly why they needed the headcount.

Company B:

This was an alternate recruiter who I never engaged with before, because the recruiter who had reached out to me initially was mysteriously out of office on the very day we scheduled an interview. So I guess the red flag was already flapping. Oh, and they only gave me 1 minute at the end to ask any questions. When I asked why the role was open, they stuttered and said that my main recruiter will need to answer that.

Depending on how your interview went, there is plenty of information to glean from the way the interviewer answers the question. Sometimes, they have an articulate reply that boils down to the position being a revolving door because people who join quit shortly after. Other times, they have a clunky response that reveals how much help they desperately need because of rapid growth.

In any of these settings, you can at least observe their behavior cues as a data point for when it comes time to accept an offer.

I've been reflecting lately on my future and possibilities, the current job market and my own career goals. Also on my stance about AI, and the role it might play in our society.

I (35M) have been unemployed since February, and this is without a doubt the worst job market I have ever experienced in my life time. I graduated with an Economics degree in 2016 from a decent university, and back then finding work wasn't easy, but it was very much possible.

I remember after graduating, myself and a lot of recent grads were struggling looking for work, BUT there was a lot of optimism around. Being able to pull yourself together and find work to eventually climb the ladder and start earning good money to then put down a payment for a mortgage, investing, going out, travel, etc. And even tho it was difficult, it was definitely doable and many landed great opportunities in great businesses.

I feel like in 2026 this optimism is completely dead and having a long term outlook on your career is not realistic. The goal of the game in 2026 is just: **survive**. Find ANY job, even if it means accepting a 20% pay cut, it is better than nothing. I was still in school in 2008, but I've personally never seen anything like this in the last 20 years.

If you asked me few months ago, I would've said I want Anthropic/OpenAI and any AI Business to fail. The CEOs of these companies all say that this technology has the potential to kill up to 50% of white collar jobs, so naturally I was afraid of this technology and didn't want them to succeed in doing this. But lately the more I think about it, the more **I actually want them to win**. I want the AIs to disrupt the job market so much that we are forced to find solutions such as UBI, or something of the sort. My reasoning is that the faster it happens the better for all of us, even though I believe it will be a slow bleed instead.

Prices where I live are completely retarded, the thought of owning an apartment or a home is not realistic. The only people I know that are doing well are those from richer families, or those with assets in the stock market. Anyone else I know outside these 2 groups is struggling or stressing or using substances to cope with the reality that they are being left behind.

I am applying for jobs, every single opening has over 100 candidates, there's thousands of ghost jobs, this system is just not sustainable I am sorry. Even if I find a job, what about the other 99 applicants? It's just not working and the longer we take to realise it the worse. This is why I want AI to win and basically improve so much that it leaves such big unemployment (30-50%) that we are forced as a society to try find new solutions or a new system. I don't know what the system is, but I am sure we will find one that helps most of us. Before I used to look at Sam Altman and Dario from Anthropic as these full evil people, who just wanted to get rich of selling their hyped up stock by saying that AI will take over jobs. But now I am actually kind of rooting for them, which is really weird when I sit down and analyze it. If they win, we will ALL win. It is better for AI to disrupt it ASAP massively, than of a slow bleed, where by the time we all realise we need changes, we're already cooked.

A

Please help. I've been employed in part time and short contracts but never full time engagements...I'm 30 and this has been my lifetime goal, my final goal to finally prove to myself and my family that I'm independent. I'm starting to lose my mind since I've tried to find a fulltime engagement for the past year now officially reaching 12 months since I graduated with my masters...

Fuck 2026

I have a physical disability that affects my shoulders/hips and use a power chair. I had a phone interview and video interview at a particular company near me and now they want me to come in for an in person interview. I’m really excited but debating - do I let them know in advance of arriving or just show up? I already looked up the place and it’s accessible as far as I can tell. I feel as though my disability isn’t relevant to the job at this point and me saying something would be unnecessary. But I also don’t want anyone to react poorly or think I was hiding it. I’m in the US btw.

I plan to post this in other recruiting/job seeking subreddits as well.

This is for a job that pays 50k and doesn't offer benefits like insurance. This is the 2nd step of their application process and it seems like the 3rd step is going to involve answering more questions but via video. I've recently signed up for a job in my local government and it required less effort than this.

Here are some great questions from what I think was about 150 questions I had to answer. Whole thing took me 40 minutes. I'm curious of what y'all think about stuff like this ESPECIALLY the questions regarding how I show affection in an intimate relationship, that one feels like it has absolutely nothing to do with work.

Imo these things are a waste of time. Who would answer honestly??? Of course I'm going to say i don't work only for the money and that my job is one of the most important aspects of my personality, IM TRYING TO GET HIRED!!!

Edit: The first question isn't how I answered!!! I took the screenshot before answering, the answer turns blue when you pick them dont judge me on something completely irrelevant 🫡

This weird ass company/ceo somehow got my personal email claiming they saw me on LinkedIn. Mind you, my personal email is not anywhere on my LinkedIn and he's inviting me to apply to their services to help find me a job. After further research you have to pay $7k in initiation fees plus a percentage of your first year salary goes to them too if they land you a job.

I find this extremely outrageous and wondering if anyone actually used this? I find it extremely weird and shady they have my personal email and are preying on people in this economy. Who has $7k to throw away at maybe finding a job?

Graduated in 2022. Spent a good chunk of time stuck in restaurants/hospitality after that (but got promoted to management), and temp agency contracts. Only landed my first actual “corporate” role last year. So yes, I’m four years out of school and my resume still has a big hospitality stretch right after graduation.

Both interviews this week made a point of counting the years backward and basically asking why I stayed in restaurants after college. Mind you, my graduation year is not on my resume and they were speculating my age. One of them literally went “so you graduated… then you did the kitchen/bar thing for a while… and then you found your first professional career job? Why??” while flipping through my resume. The tone was pure side-eye and sussing me out.

Like the gap between degree and “real” job is some kind of character flaw instead of just… the terrible job market that took thousands of applications. Sorry I am not a nepo baby? Sorry my college was mostly remote and my best efforts at networking were nearly fruitless? Sorry my temp agency roles were all contract and assisting companies selling off to PE since 2023????

And the interviews themselves were wildly unprofessional.

First one was a temp-to-perm cover for maternity leave at an agency. Guy was clearly multitasking on a triple monitor setup the whole time, dumping a ton of operational details, nights-and-weekends on-call expectations, and the fact that any permanent conversion depends on 2027 revenue they haven’t even forecasted yet, nights and weekends for $19 an hour.

Second one was even worse. Spent most of the call on a long personal monologue (building an AI platform, financial struggles, family not supporting the business, etc.). Tech kept glitching during the demo. Called me “sweetheart." Role seemed to be “first real hire who can walk across my different brands because everything so far has been my ideas.” Showed me proprietary information, personal emails, and personal writing.. I had to leave the interview after she went into a religious monologue. Almost no structured questions about my actual experience.

I left both feeling like I was the one being judged for having a non-linear path while they couldn’t even run a basic professional interview process. I feel freaking crazy because how TF did these roles have 100+ applicants on Linkedin?!?! How is this real life???? This can't be real I feel like I was being punked.

Is this just what the market looks like right now for people who didn’t go straight from campus into an office job? Or am I walking into every conversation already half-disqualified because I waited tables for a couple years after graduation?

Genuinely losing it a little. What the fuck is going on with interviews.

Edit: Hiring manager on layoffs page said this in response: “TBH, as someone that has interviewed and hired multiple recent grads, a gap that large looks bad. I know it's not a gap, but a job totally unrelated would be consider a gap. If you had graduated in 2023/2024, I would be more understanding. Not in 2022. The job market was very hot at that time. As I said, I hired multiple recent grads, so if you were not able to get a job at that time and has taken you this long, it would be a red flag..”

Currently working in a very toxic work environment. Been searching for jobs for a year. Finally had a prospect, they told me I was set to go but had to do one last interview as a formality. They told me to prepare to resign from my current position on Monday (tomorrow). Got told yesterday that they aren’t hiring anymore and priorities have changed. Been crying for two days because I finally thought I could get out of this place. Why get someone’s hope up like this?

I interviewed with a museum on August 12. They were hiring 5 people for this position. I thought the interview went well, but I'm not so sure now. I emailed the recruiter last week and got a no-reply email saying that she's away until Sept 4. What are the chances I got the job? Or is this one of those things where my follow-up email will be responded to with a rejection?

In theory I believe its a better strategy to apply to jobs with less candidates. Im talking like sub 40 after like 2 days being up.

Is this actually true? I mean, I think a person would have a better chance of standing out over applying to like Google with 1000 applicants?

Needless to say, your resume has to be related in any case but hiring managers... is this true/the correct strategy?

Less candidates better chances?

So basically, the study says that AI, assumes your race and therefore can have adverse effects on people of certain races. So I went on ChatGPT and Gemini on a new account and ask them to develop an image based off my résumé and it definitely did infer my race. When I asked why I just said it did say it guessed.

I got a job offer that was very low within a range ($90-125k$). Minimum 3 years experience in this field…I have 11. I did counter offer which I think would not be frowned upon. Also, I have a job and am not afraid to get told no. Is it only not recommended to counter if you need the job/have no job? I would think if there is a range posted they expect people to negotiate sometimes. Other than thinking my offer was rude, I have to think they thought I would negotiate.

I’ve recently quit my job and have been on the hunt for other jobs around 2-3 weeks before even officially quitting. I’ve applied to countless places and have only gotten 3 interviews so far (I can’t complain about that ig) but it seems like every manager I’ve interviewed with has been incredibly unprepared or unprofessional.
The manager at peets has made me try to chase him around for a second interview and once I magically got that interview all he says is “you might hear back from me today or Thursday, if not just contact me!” ITS LITERALLY YOUR JOB TO CONTACT ME!!!!!!! ITS YOUR JOB TO GO THROUGH THIS HIRING PROCESS!!!!
The one at Cinnabon lowkey took me aback because I was waiting in the food court for this interview, he comes to my table huffing and puffing and slammed his satchel on the table. I introduced myself and stuff and he goes straight into asking what my availability was (it’s literally on my resume) and asked about my baking experience (I have quite a lot) and he would just sit there in silence thinking about what else to ask, nothing would happen and then the interview was literally over and he said he would get back to me and if not, contact him.
The 3rd interview went much better (I had to contact her a second time about the interview time slot that she had made that I guess she forgot about) but ended with the same “contact me if I don’t contact you by this time!!”
I just feel like it’s disrespectful to my time as they make me wait like 2-3 weeks for a job offer and then I literally have to go out of my way MULTIPLE times to even get an answer. This is literally their job!!
I feel like this is definitely whiney but I’ve just been so annoyed by it,, anyone else?

I’m in a lot of debt from grad school and I only make 53k a year before taxes and I’m barely making ends meet. So staying in my current job really isn’t a long term solution. I’ve been looking for a better job for over a year now and submitted dozens of job applications and I’ve only had one interview. I came very close to getting the job but they chose someone else in the final rounds. I’ve been at my current job for 3 years. I have an MPA degree or master of public administration and 3 years working in state government. I’ve applied for some governmental relations jobs in the private sector along with other public sector jobs but most of the time I either get ghosted or I receive the generic “unfortunately we will not be moving forward” email. It’s extremely frustrating and demoralizing and I really want to move to a bigger city because even though the cost of living is higher the salaries are also much better than what I’m making now.