Haha.
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Applying for jobs is exhausting and soul-crushing
- Thread starter Moofers
- Start date
2017 hasn't been off to the best start.
1. Current low-wage job didn't hire me on to replace HR person for maternity, went for someone with "experience" who I've never seen (internal applicants only). But at least the manager was honest with me that I was 2nd in line for it, and I'm going to be doing some job shadowing. Management knows I'm overqualified for the position I am currently in.
2. Two jobs I applied to last November are now open again, exact same position too a FT and a PT. The full time one being hired by friend of mine from school who clearly just wanted to fill the position immediately. At least my previous applications aren't going to the garbage.
But I am volunteering in the things I love, and the people I work with enjoy having me around. I'm trying my best to shape up with whatever I can do.
1. Current low-wage job didn't hire me on to replace HR person for maternity, went for someone with "experience" who I've never seen (internal applicants only). But at least the manager was honest with me that I was 2nd in line for it, and I'm going to be doing some job shadowing. Management knows I'm overqualified for the position I am currently in.
2. Two jobs I applied to last November are now open again, exact same position too a FT and a PT. The full time one being hired by friend of mine from school who clearly just wanted to fill the position immediately. At least my previous applications aren't going to the garbage.
But I am volunteering in the things I love, and the people I work with enjoy having me around. I'm trying my best to shape up with whatever I can do.
Seems like a wonderful waste of time.
Next time pick a theme and stick with it: I would like to be more... like a fisherman.
I would like to be less... on dry land when I could be out fishing instead.
The most beautiful thing that ever happened to me was...reeling in a 10 pound red snapper.
The worst thing blah blah was... when my wife was mad about me spending too much time fishing and she took a baseball bat to my talking Billy Bass.
My friends say... what the crap he's fishing again?
I think being competitive is... you get the idea.
I haven't heard back from any of the LinkedIn recruiters who reached out to me.
I've applied to hundreds jobs over the last 4 months, but only managed 2 interviews.
I can't afford to go back to school.
My volunteering keeps having setbacks keeping me from starting.
My parents keep pressuring me and make me feel worthless.
I have no emotional support to help me get through this.
I'm in a constant state of panic.
I haven't been eating, and rarely get out of bed now.
I don't know what to do anymore.
I've applied to hundreds jobs over the last 4 months, but only managed 2 interviews.
I can't afford to go back to school.
My volunteering keeps having setbacks keeping me from starting.
My parents keep pressuring me and make me feel worthless.
I have no emotional support to help me get through this.
I'm in a constant state of panic.
I haven't been eating, and rarely get out of bed now.
I don't know what to do anymore.
Look for a social service job in your state or local government. You could work in many different areas while you figure things out.
ZackieChan
Member
I haven't heard back from any of the LinkedIn recruiters who reached out to me.
I've applied to hundreds jobs over the last 4 months, but only managed 2 interviews.
I can't afford to go back to school.
My volunteering keeps having setbacks keeping me from starting.
My parents keep pressuring me and make me feel worthless.
I have no emotional support to help me get through this.
I'm in a constant state of panic.
I haven't been eating, and rarely get out of bed now.
I don't know what to do anymore.
What is your field?
I have an associates degree in game development.
I've been applying to anything remotely related to the skills I picked up from it. Everything from simple data entry stuff to entry level game/ui/ux design roles. The two interviews I got were both outside of my field (UX Design and Social Media Management).
Are you familiar with Amazon Web Services at all? Lots of smaller development shops are going that route these days to save on costs. There are tons of labs and tutorials out there you can use to get familiar with it, and you can create your own account for free to experiment as well.
It's a good skill to have on a resume these days, and it's a good idea in general to try to stay productive during your job search and not get too bogged down with emotion.
I've seen this thread pop up a lot over the years but this is getting to me now. I was asked to resign from my position in November. I had been out a bit (most of which wasn't my fault as I had been ill a lot over the year and had a lot of different things outside of work and inside work affect me) and it was doing a number on my mental health. I felt slight relief at first (mixed with embarrassment and shame, which still hasn't gone) but I haven't been able to find anything since and I'm applying to normal retail jobs and bar jobs as well as jobs as an administrator (which was my last position). The rent is due next week and while I'm protected by law for a couple of weeks I don't see how I can get anything in time to cover it. Luckily my girlfriend found work pretty much right at the time I lost my job but it isn't enough. I'm just getting irritated by the lack of replies right now. I've had one interview and was told I'd be told within 24 hours whether I got it or not but they didn't contact me for 5 days. Nothing on the horizon now and I feel more lost than I have been in my periods out of work.
What are you working on at this moment?
Roland_Gunner
Member
Jesus, can you move or work remotely? One of my friends was able to get his company to agree to two wfh days after six months on the job.
Syphon Filter
Member
do what you have to do. to me 1 hour is normal but if it is even remotely worth it I will go further.
Manmademan
Member
nope.
you MAY be coming on a little too strong with this.
I'm really hoping your title is something like "astronaut neurosurgeon" with that kind of university bill.
8 months of job hunting isn't very long. make sure you're sending out resumes daily. not one or two, think ten to twenty. If you're not living somewhere with those kinds of job opportunities, consider a move.
Yeah, pardon me but I really don't need the sarcastic responses right now and that didn't tell me anything. Forget I posted.
Had an interview for a paid web design internship last Wednesday on the phone, it went well. Then I went and did an onsite interview with said company, that seemed to go well too. Today I learned that they were going with someone else. It really sucks because I really did my research, had good questions, and answered all the questions that they asked.
Finding a job is so fucking exhausting and depressing. Now I have to do it all over again for who knows how long.
Best of luck everyone...
Finding a job is so fucking exhausting and depressing. Now I have to do it all over again for who knows how long.
Best of luck everyone...
I don't know about this. Eight months is a pretty long time and depending on Aomber's field 10 or 20 resumes may just not be feasable. I work in IT in a city with almost unlimited IT jobs and it'd be hard for me to find 20 jobs a day to apply to for months on end.
Aomber - does your school have any kind of placement program you can take advantage of?
Sorry to hear it. Make some notes about the interview to look back on later. Questions they asked, what you thought you answered well, what you could have answered better, etc. A "failed" interview is the absolute best practice for the one you'll eventually nail.
Syphon Filter
Member
Keep going , I also do web design ( ui/ux design specifically ) and I got an internship eventually last year. Still trying to build on that. where are you located at and are you more of a designer or developer? do you have a portfolio?
Remote flexibility would be something I am looking for in these further out places as I am interviewing. Obviously not a requirement, since a lot of places seem to have a negative stigma about it. Working from home one or two days a week would be awesome, but I am not holding my breath.
I'll definitely do it if it is worth it, but I am not exactly looking forward to it. I don't know what these commute time looks like during typical morning/evening rush hour, so 1-1.5 hours can turn out to be a lot more. Then you factor in days that it snows... (even rain will cause people to drive like snails).
ZackieChan
Member
What are your skills, though?
What is your field/what can you do that someone would pay you for?
Spiral Insanity
Banned
You can't just casually drop putting 200k into developing connections that didnt pan out and not explain further.. thats mean.
Are you working on some projects for yourself in the meantime? There is nothing stopping you.
ZackieChan
Member
Forget about projects for himself, what about freelance web design work that pays?
Spiral Insanity
Banned
Thats what I meant with that. Depending on his familiarity.
ZackieChan
Member
If he wants work, he better get familiar real quick!
So I had an interview about a week and a half ago and the interviewer seemed to really like me, we had a good long interview and he walked me out and shook my hand and wished me well. He said he would be contacting people for a follow up by 1/13. So I haven't heard anything back yet. Here's the thing though I live in the Pacific Northwest and we were just hit last week with a historic snowstorm. So i'm debating calling and seeing what's up but I don't know if i'm freaking out over nothing since the storm might have delayed them. What do you all think?
StrongBlackVine
Banned
Just take a job. ANY job even it sucks. You don't want to have to explain gaps in your work history and your parents would probably get off your back. You'll probably feel better about yourself too as opposed to sulking in bed all day.
Always good to call, shows that you are interested in the role.
Yep nothing wrong with that in my opinion. Email is nice too as it's not as intrusive as a phone call, but of course is also easy for the hiring manager to ignore. When I was in a similar situation last year I emailed saying something to the effect of "just checking in, thanks again for the interview, looking forward to hearing more." I got a response pretty soon after that. The answer was "no" but hey at least I heard back.
Good luck, sir or madam. Don't forget the "thank you" email the next day. Use it as an opportunity to address anything you may have forgotten to mention during the interview.
PandaPandaPanda
Member
Hope you get the job, but remember to keep applying elsewhere too.
Syphon Filter
Member
He still needs to show work to get the clients though.
You know... job interviews are such a weird beast.
I've had a lot over the years and one thing I know for sure, I have absolutely no clue how to gauge them.
I have had ones that I thought went awful and they loved me and I got the job.
I have had ones that I thought went fantastic and didn't get it and everything in between.
Even the ones I am super prepared for and knowledgeable about, I always feel that kind of out of it half drunk mode, where its like you know what you want to say, you get a question, you feel like you put that question through a cipher and then put your through another cipher and the answer comes out and you are all just kind of there watching it, like "yup that happened"
And you give each other all that look that says "we hate interviews" and you all stumble on.
Such a weird weird thing, all I can come out saying is, it almost always feels like its a dice through, and if you get the right people, you win, if not, almost nothing matters.
Edit:
Welp evidently the interview did not go well. I was super qualified for that job too, literally in my "wheelhouse" as they say. It's nice I heard back so quickly, but like.. what the fuck are you supposed to do?
Like "hey here is A job"
Oh damn I'm A candidate.
"Oh hey yeah come right in, seems great"
And then "decided to pursue other candidates"
Okay... So what do I do now? Apply jobs I have no experience in? Apply jobs above what I have experience in? Like damn. When your experience aligned perfectly and you really tried and studied up and thought about the job and gave it your best.... that is exhausting and soul crushing as hell.
I've had a lot over the years and one thing I know for sure, I have absolutely no clue how to gauge them.
I have had ones that I thought went awful and they loved me and I got the job.
I have had ones that I thought went fantastic and didn't get it and everything in between.
Even the ones I am super prepared for and knowledgeable about, I always feel that kind of out of it half drunk mode, where its like you know what you want to say, you get a question, you feel like you put that question through a cipher and then put your through another cipher and the answer comes out and you are all just kind of there watching it, like "yup that happened"
And you give each other all that look that says "we hate interviews" and you all stumble on.
Such a weird weird thing, all I can come out saying is, it almost always feels like its a dice through, and if you get the right people, you win, if not, almost nothing matters.
Edit:
Welp evidently the interview did not go well. I was super qualified for that job too, literally in my "wheelhouse" as they say. It's nice I heard back so quickly, but like.. what the fuck are you supposed to do?
Like "hey here is A job"
Oh damn I'm A candidate.
"Oh hey yeah come right in, seems great"
And then "decided to pursue other candidates"
Okay... So what do I do now? Apply jobs I have no experience in? Apply jobs above what I have experience in? Like damn. When your experience aligned perfectly and you really tried and studied up and thought about the job and gave it your best.... that is exhausting and soul crushing as hell.
Gook luck Magnus! Sounds exciting!
1. Not all interviewers are good at finding the best candidates. In fact some of them are pretty damn bad at it. I had a boss a few years ago who hired one absolute numbskull after another. His interview process was terrible for finding good candidates, so I bet more than one person had the same experience with him that you're having now. Thought they were perfect, but the interviewer doesn't know how to recognize that.
2. You don't know for sure what they're looking for. A few years ago I interviewed for a job that I could have knocked out of the park. After four(!) in-person interviews they went with someone else. And I of course don't know their reasoning. I'm confident I had the best skills for the job, but maybe the other guy was a little better. Or maybe he was cheaper, or lived closer, willing to work more hours, etc. Who knows? The point is that it's not just about your qualifications.
Remember to learn from every interview. Think about what worked and build on it for next time. Think about answers that weren't as convincing and beef them up. Like everything in life, interviewing is a skill that you'll get better at every time you do it.
It's definitely exhausting and soul crushing but remember a couple of things:
1. Not all interviewers are good at finding the best candidates. In fact some of them are pretty damn bad at it. I had a boss a few years ago who hired one absolute numbskull after another. His interview process was terrible for finding good candidates, so I bet more than one person had the same experience with him that you're having now. Thought they were perfect, but the interviewer doesn't know how to recognize that.
2. You don't know for sure what they're looking for. A few years ago I interviewed for a job that I could have knocked out of the park. After four(!) in-person interviews they went with someone else. And I of course don't know their reasoning. I'm confident I had the best skills for the job, but maybe the other guy was a little better. Or maybe he was cheaper, or lived closer, willing to work more hours, etc. Who knows? The point is that it's not just about your qualifications.
Remember to learn from every interview. Think about what worked and build on it for next time. Think about answers that weren't as convincing and beef them up. Like everything in life, interviewing is a skill that you'll get better at every time you do it.
doctorcdcs
Member
applied for a job today.
couldn't apply for another because the website had issues and wouldn't display properly.
and i applied for two volunteer positions a couple of months ago; still haven't heard anything back from them
I know I can do more, but at the same time, my initial "spring in my step" that I had when I first graduated has now disappeared, so I'm starting to waver on my enthusiasm when it comes to looking up job postings.
OP is right, it IS soul-crushing.
couldn't apply for another because the website had issues and wouldn't display properly.
and i applied for two volunteer positions a couple of months ago; still haven't heard anything back from them
I know I can do more, but at the same time, my initial "spring in my step" that I had when I first graduated has now disappeared, so I'm starting to waver on my enthusiasm when it comes to looking up job postings.
OP is right, it IS soul-crushing.
Unsolicited advice: Make sure your references know they're on your list. No bueno if they get called and ignore it thinking it's spam or something.
MonorailCat
Member
Yup, after I finished my Masters Degree I was really motivated and sent ~2 applications every day. But then after a few weeks I received soooo many rejections that I started being afraid to even open outlook. Started too feel useless.
Now I am happy if I can motivate myself to do a few applications a week .. but at the same time I feel terrible, because I could do so much more. But if would do more, I would get even more rejections and feel even worse. It's a catch 22 for me :/
It certainly is the luck of the draw with interviewers, it just sucks so much when it all goes so well, and you feel so good talking with everyone, even the interview seems great and then... nope!!! Rejection.
I feel I was great for the job simply because I've done almost the exact job, so you'd think it would at least get them to give you a shot... A lot of things you apply for, you are kinda iffy about, but when its all what you know, you hope it gives you an advantage.
Then when you get the generic polite response, you have nothing to go on but endless speculation that just tears you apart. I try and do better each time and I have learned a lot. But when you lose out on one of your big hopeful opportunities... all that seems left is just a sea of jobs you don't care as much about, who will also reject you for unknown unclear reasons.
It seems pure luck. Or knowing somebody who will get them to by pass things for you cause "he's my friend, hes my brother, I know this guy" whatever. Its so hard to keep up that hope and optimism when you realize, you can't even sell companies on jobs you are a pro at.
I feel I have the best luck and do the best, when I kind of don't give a shit, don't really know anything about the job, it doesn't match with what I have done or care about. You hear about caring and dedication all the time and "do your research" but seems just saying fuck it and pure apathy makes you charming. I dunno GAF. I just dunno.
Yes thanks. My former supervisor knows I'm on the job hunt. I informed my other references recently because they have less involvement on a regular basis.
SolidSnakeUS
Member
Even though I'm currently working, I'm going to be moving with my girlfriend to a different part of the state and will need a new job. Won't be moving till the end of July, but still, not looking forward to going through job search hell again. It took me 15 months to find the current job I'm doing now.
Update: Following an actual invitation to apply from the recruiter there, I've landed a phone interview already for this job. So thrilled! Moving fast.
Royal_Phalanx
Member
Organizer of coding meetup mentioned that he could help me out with an application I made to the company he works in (software development position) by mentioning me to HR. The meetup is held in their offices which look amazing, so they definitely support people trying to get into development. Feel like there is at last reason to get a bit hopeful.
Captain Tuttle
Member
Very true. I looked for years with no luck and once I forced myself to get out and get in front of people things started to happen. And I had a BIG gap in my resume but I was able to pitch myself to employers.
Like this dude. This is how you get a job, the internet is a blackhole for job searches imo. It works sometimes but it's not reliable.
Get out there in front of people, push yourself outside of your comfort zone (big deal for me personally, I really struggled with it). You'll end up a better employee and ultimately worth more for companies
Just my opinion of course. Good luck to everyone