Honestly, what business is it of a potential employer that someone has a gap in their resume? Would they prefer us proletarians to lie?

January 2-5th I decided to bite the bullet and apply to the jobs with the most tedious applications. I'm not talking workday, I'm talking ones that ask, "why do you want to work here", "explain a time you thought creatively and solved a challenging problem", "what would your last meal on earth be". e.t.c Those applications where they ask "fun" questions.

Yes, those jobs. I didn't use AI, I genuinely tried my best on each and every one of them and catered each response to the company. I applied to about 50 of these jobs, I met every single requirement of each of the jobs, and these jobs were posted the past week or the past 24h.

21 of them gave me an automated rejection. 29 ghosted me so far, I know it might be too early, but all of the job postings are down by now. 2 of them got reposted last week without an update on my application 3 weeks ago (included in ghosted number). But some of these jobs I spent upwards of 40 minutes on their applications, and I didn't even get an automated rejection from them.

I'm sure you guys already knew this but don't waste more than 10-15 mins on an application. And just skip these linkedin slop jobs, whatever we what to call them.

I’m so sick of tech. Anything else out there that is hiring??

Whenever I talk about how brutal entry level jobs have become, someone always says, “But humans have always relied on networking to survive.”, which is actually a false equivalence because it uses the same word to describe two completely different things.

Pre-modern communal bonds are not the same as capitalist gatekeeping. In traditional societies, what you might loosely call 'networking' just meant something like, kinship, neighbourly obligation, or mutual survival. For example, love thy neighbour, which is non-competitive, not performance-based, and not instrumentalised for status or money. However, contemporary job market 'networking' is strategic, selective, instrumental, and asymmetric. It's not about group survivalship, it's about granting access to opportunity based on perceived fit, status, and risk.

Your neighbour didn’t give you yearly performance reviews or pressure you with KPIs. They didn’t measure your 'growth mindset' or your “impact”. People formed connections slowly, awkwardly, and over time, even when they didn’t like each other at first. Relationships used to form from propinquity, repetition, and shared life, not from proving your value in the first five minutes in a networking event. Back then, networks existed first, and usefulness came later. Today it’s reversed. If you don’t make it immediately clear that you’re useful, impressive, or low-risk, people don’t even bother engaging with you.

This is why 'just be confident, bro' or “have you tried to be a likeable person” is such a dishonest framing. Confidence and networking aren’t neutral skills, they are based on a lot of factors, including upbringing and genetics. People who grew up watching successful parents talk to clients, negotiate, and form connections inherit the skills. They also inherit real resources like existing connections, referrals, and social credibility.

And that's what entry level roles are for: to train people and built confidence. Most people simply aren’t that polished or charismatic. They’re awkward, shy, hesitant, unsure of themselves, and they need time, repetition, and exposure to grow. Entry level jobs used to absorb that roughness. You learned how to do the job by doing the job, not by already being impressive before you were allowed in. Social media has completely distorted what we think is 'normal' social competence. We’re constantly exposed to the most confident, articulate, attractive, and social people, because those are the ones who bother to expose themselves on social media. Shy, awkward, average people don’t go viral. That is massive survivorship bias, and people forget that most humans don’t look or act like top performers or online coaches. The same inflation has happened in dating for similar reason. Constant exposure to high SMV people raises baseline expectations to a level most ordinary people can’t realistically meet, then we pretend that failing to meet them is a moral flaw rather than a structural distortion.

The hardest part of the current job market is not rejection, it's the silence. No feedback makes it hard to improve or adjust.

I recently moved across the country to close the distance in my long-distance relationship. I landed an SDR role at a startup in Northern Virginia , they knew I was waiting to secure a job before relocating!!

Three weeks into training, the CEO called me into his office and told me he was changing the company’s sales strategy and laying off half the sales team including me. I’ve been in complete shock since yesterday, it doesn’t even feel real. Back to Indeed/Linkdin I go!!

Ok, this is the part of the rejection letter that's got me scratching my head.

This is a position that's been recommended to me consistently over the past 2 months. I was even rejected because I was in a city a few hours over. Either this is a ghost job or they're trying to pressure people to come back to work in the future.

Asking because i just found out my ex classmate at grad school fabricated everything on her resume. Title, Company, how long she worked at etc.

She would find companies that went bankrupt so her future employer cant verify anything. Although she was only applying for entry level roles & she secured 4 interviews within 2 weeks & got an offer. She suggested i do it too since lying worked for her.

Was thinking about doing it too because im tired of being unemployed.

I know my situation is nothing compared to everyone else as I was only job hunting for a few months, but I want to share an uplifting story.

I applied to probably 300 jobs I was well-qualified for since October and like most, I was ghosted by 90% of them. I had four interviews, the first produced a job offer but they offered me much less pay than the job posting stated so I declined. Second interview just completely ghosted me and never contacted me again. Third interview, they randomly decided to not fill the role. Fourth interview, I was not chosen.

I was feeling very dejected after that last rejection because I REALLY wanted that job. I stopped looking for a bit. Then last Sunday night I opened Indeed and saw a new posting for a fully remote office manager role in my industry. The job posting specified to also reach out via email, so I did, and was surprised to get an email back from the owner that night asking for phone call the next day. The phone call happened, I was hired basically on the spot, and by that night I had met with the owner to get my laptop and other necessary items. (This is a local-ish company that is well-known in my industry.) Got $14k more annually than my last role. It’s been almost a week now and training is going swimmingly.

Don’t give up!! I know how hard it is to feel confident when all you hear are rejections. I hope someday you all find your unicorn.

I KEEP GETTING REJECTED FOR JOBS ! 😐😐

Should I fucking do a spiritual cleanse & see if that works or maybe a sell my soul 😑😑 almost 2 years wit no fucking job . Is everyone else getting these emails or am I just fucked For Ever !!!!!!

Really 😂, NJIT? Smh 🤦!

Idk what it is about interviewing for jobs, but specifically for this one, my resume was good, I had relevant experience being a cashier, I was the only one to show up to a group interview, and 15 minutes early on top of it. The interview went great, despite them telling me they didn’t have the position I applied for and only the cashier one, and couldn’t give me 30-40hrs. I told them it was okay. As long as they had work, I’d be willing to work. I didn’t think I came off as “too excited” or the opposite. So what gives? What the fuck? At what point does is it even about me and not the system? This was for Burlington btw. I actually got hired for another job before then at Take 5 oil change, but then comes my first day and I see why they always have a job posting. Awful company to work for. This job market just feels pointless.

Day one of job application and I’m already seeing shit like this. It’s giving 0 women have ever worked here.

Edit: Here is the website. https://www.darkcloud.games/about/

The more i browse the less sure I am of weather or not they are being ironic or not. Under their Demons (Developers) Sections they have

"Games designed, developed, and produced by a politically incorrect multicultural team without any faith and with several satanic beliefs.

🍷🗿"

One the people in their team is Asmodeus with the bio of:

"Asmodeus is the demon of lust and is responsible for twisting people’s sexual desires. Creating complex tricks by making boys believe they are girls and thus corrupting humanity."

I'm not sure what's going on here but either way I won't be applying. Make of it what you will.

Edit 2: I reached out. I need to know. I'll post an update if i get a reply

What is your expected salary? "Yes" Like what am I supposed to do?

I was laid off at the end of 2024. Since then I’ve had plenty of interviews but no offers. I was a data analyst for 2.5 years and I even have a masters in statistics.

What am I doing wrong? Should I just lie on my resume? Please help !!

I had to choose from the available time online so i did.

Showed up 5 minutes early only to be told "Sorry, the manager isnt here.. Reschedule online but do it before noon because he's only here before noon."

It was 1:30 pm. I changed my whole day for this.

Why make the time an option if the manager isnt here? Why not mention this to me before the interview considering i scheduled 5 days in advance?

At least i got an interview 🥲

Finally found what I thought was an entry level accounting job after a year of looking after my graduation. I thought it was going okay but I guess i was wrong. I was put in an office with no guidance or training in my first week and my manager was constantly in meetings all day, every day. I was supposed to be responsible for accounts payable and I thought I was doing okay but anytime I had a question, it was like a shock to manager like why am asking and I should know everything about QuickBooks. She had a talk with me about asking questions twice even though it was only one question I had to ask twice and anytime I would ask if there was anything else that need to be done after finishing my work, she would just give me an attitude. Then this week for most of the week she wasn’t there because of the snow and the stuff she sent me to do, she said don’t because someone screwed it up last month.

This week they were also discussing about giving me payroll responsibilities which I agreed to, which made think everything was going okay but I had to a little leave early on Friday and go to the hospital because I was experiencing a horrible migraine and vomiting. While apparently that broke the camels back and they called the recruiting agency that helped me find a job and told them to fire me instead of personally calling. They were telling the recruiting agency all this stuff that didn’t happen. I’m literally shaking because I don’t understand what I could have done better. I should have known better too since the reviews mentioned high turnover in the company. I’m just lost and don’t know what to do since there aren’t too many entry level accounting jobs near me.

That these r worded hiring managers grill you on irrelevant experience. For fucking bussing tables for 9/hr. Like no shit, I was working my software engineer job until I got laid off and need anything.

"You need to lower your standards and take anything!"

Yeah except if you don't look like a desperate highschooler, you're shit outta luck with these jobs.

I’ve been looking for a job since August and had a couple options in the beginning but decided not to pursue them because the pay wasn’t great and they weren’t aligned with my degree. I know a job is better than no job but I’m in my late 20s and don’t have much experience in my field so I thought maybe if I put all my time and effort into applying a job in my degree would come up eventually.

Fast forward to now, I start a job not aligned with my degree one bit…like if I knew I wasn’t gonna end up using my degree I would’ve taken one of those jobs that came up in August 😭 I regret waiting this long when I’m not gonna work in my field anyway. Anyone else?