Commiseration thread for jobseekers

Anonymous
Dealing with the nightmare that is looking for a job right now? Come on in! Complain away.

I was laid off about four months ago. I’ve had three interviews since, out of many, many applications.

The first one was one of the worst, most uncomfortable, unprofessional encounters I’ve ever had over Zoom. I still regret not just hanging up on the guy five minutes into it.

The second in-person interview was nice, but I was way overdressed and overqualified for the job and I did not get it.

The third interview felt the most promising, as it was with a former manager who encouraged me to apply for the job. Seven weeks of crickets after the interview, and I just received an auto-generated email from HR to notify me that I wasn’t selected. No word whatsoever from the hiring manager, whose kids go to school with mine and I often see around town.

How’s it going for you?
Anonymous
Keep working at it and don’t even linger on rejections. I’ve submitted at least 50 apps since February, lots of first and second interviews and received two offers. Accepted the most recent one. It was quite the slog!
Anonymous
I’ve been unemployed for over a year now due to a termination. It was fun in the first few months when I had plenty of free time to dedicate to the hobbies I love. At month 6, I was nervous. Month 9, unhappy. 12? Miserable. I used to be the person that would get a group of people together to have a night out. Now? I’m declining invites left and right because I don’t want to spend the metro funds to go to their part of the DMV.

I get interviews every now and then. Even make it to the last round a few times. I had a recent first round with a Fortune 100 company, so it doesn’t feel like my resume should be holding me back from interviewing with smaller companies with job titles and experiences I’m much better suited for. And yet it does. I was fired with just less than a year under my belt in my terminated role and I know that’s holding me back. But what can I do? Between that and how competitive the entry/mid-level market is for policy-related job searchers, all I can do is keep grinding out applications.
Anonymous
Why were you terminated?
Anonymous
I'm not doing well mentally..been unemployed a year. I am 45. I am about to run out of my savings. I drive for Uber and work in a restaurant. And my wife left me as well and I have child support payments. And on top of everything I have a tough chronic illness called ulcerative colitis. I am currently uninsured, but thankfully I am getting the drug I need for my illness for free but I don't know for how long.

I do blame myself for not building a network I can rely on. As a result I am wasting my time applying on indeed, LinkedIn etc ....I know that won't get me anywhere.

Before I got let go I was an operations associate. To be more precise, in my last job my functions consisted of pulling data as a power user and providing it to various teams such as accounting, legal etc.

Sorry if I am rambling at this point....I am just really worried....I barely have $100k in my 401k...my life is a mess. I am lonely as well because I am clearly not datable.

On a positive note though despite my poor mental state I don't do drugs, I don't drink alcohol and I exercise regularly and eat healthy.

Anonymous
Boss wasn’t happy with the quality of my work. On paper, I agree that I was a little out of my depth. In practice, they knew when they interviewed me that this role was a substantial jump from my earlier position and I would absolutely need some training. And I definitely received some, but the parts that were cited as my weakness and reason for letting me go were also the parts I historically tried to get the most feedback on, with minimal notes.
Anonymous
Ghost jobs should be illegal. Can state lawmakers do anything about it?
Anonymous
It’s awful. Laid off 4 months ago. One interview where they were unbelievably complimentary and then ghosted me. Other applications have gone nowhere despite having all the qualifications. It’s brutal and I’m ready to give up.
Anonymous
Sigh.😔
Yep- going through it, bystander- husband has been unemployed-ish for a while.
SAHM not longer but needs to find work- while
competing against all these fine experienced workers.
Jesus, Mary, Joseph- pray for us!
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:It’s awful. Laid off 4 months ago. One interview where they were unbelievably complimentary and then ghosted me. Other applications have gone nowhere despite having all the qualifications. It’s brutal and I’m ready to give up.


How will you give up? Can you give up? What plans do you have?
Anonymous
One thing I hate about later stage capitalism is we are pushed into extreme specialization requiring years and years to become useful and earn real income but then if our company goes under or lays off that same specialization is not usually valued elsewhere and we are just suddenly screwed. it’s just dumb luck. I realize other systems like feudalism and communism don’t offer much better but I really hope our kids and grandchildren come up with a better system somehow.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It’s awful. Laid off 4 months ago. One interview where they were unbelievably complimentary and then ghosted me. Other applications have gone nowhere despite having all the qualifications. It’s brutal and I’m ready to give up.


How will you give up? Can you give up? What plans do you have?


It was just a vent. But as it is, I'm 57 and let's just say places aren't scrambling to hire 57-year-old women these days, or any days. I worked in nonprofit and I always thought part of the allure of it was that there wasn't much age discrimination as far as I could tell. When I started in this specialized field when I was 35, everyone seemed to be the age I am now. So I figured (stupidly, obviously) that I wouldn't experience ageism, but I most certainly have.

I'm hoping to get a job in a bookstore or something, but even that's proving to be challenging. Everyone wants experience.
Anonymous
WorkDay is a complete piece of shit. Why oh why must I upload my resume and then manually copy paste each section into individual sections one by one. I think its designed to filter in the people willing to eat shit for a job.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It’s awful. Laid off 4 months ago. One interview where they were unbelievably complimentary and then ghosted me. Other applications have gone nowhere despite having all the qualifications. It’s brutal and I’m ready to give up.


How will you give up? Can you give up? What plans do you have?


It was just a vent. But as it is, I'm 57 and let's just say places aren't scrambling to hire 57-year-old women these days, or any days. I worked in nonprofit and I always thought part of the allure of it was that there wasn't much age discrimination as far as I could tell. When I started in this specialized field when I was 35, everyone seemed to be the age I am now. So I figured (stupidly, obviously) that I wouldn't experience ageism, but I most certainly have.

I'm hoping to get a job in a bookstore or something, but even that's proving to be challenging. Everyone wants experience.


Or men...
Anonymous
My friend who is 48 was laid off last year from a job making $225k. I am his age and have been making around $100k for a long time. He can't even find a job that will pay him $100k. I am very surprised. My assumption was always that people who make a lot especially over $200k are so unique in terms of skill sets that companies will hire them as soon as they are available.

It really makes me wonder wonder people are just randomly paid a certain salary.
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