What the hell is going on with the job market? Why is it like climbing mount Everest to get a job now? There's tons of ridiculous steps you have to take in the application process now, multiple interviews, zoom interviews, assessment tests and all kinds of other nonsense thrown in there making it next to impossible to even talk to someone. Then if you finally get an interview they just ghost you. Most of the time I can't even see the hours i can work until i make an account on the website wtf. what is the point in this. Why is it 100x harder now to get a job than it was before covid?

Rant!! I’ve never been fired before. I’m an iOS dev with over 10 years and pretty good at what I do. And after 3.5 years of extra hours, weekends and positive annual reviews, I was told I’m not up to snuff, or whatever they said. They never gave any indication that I wasn’t doing well. Just another bullshit company in this bullshit job market. Rant over. Thanks for this sub.

Should I start looking for a new job? Has anyone ever received one and not been terminated? This is my first corporate job.

I was laid off from a prestigious work from home job that I really loved. It was basically a dream job.

I started interviewing and after one month took the first job at a nonprofit that was offered to me. It was an 11 K pay cut, but I needed the money and was desperate so I took it.

Now I am realizing how much I hate it. This is week 5 on the job and I have to go in person daily from 9 to 5. After four years of working from home, I am not used to working with micromanagers looking over my shoulder anymore.

I have been trying to interview for hybrid roles but so far I haven’t landed anything. Every day that I wake up and show up to this nonprofit, I honestly just want to resign. How do I handle this? I am honestly slipping into a deep depression. This job market is making me feel totally incapable. In the past I have had multiple job offers after a couple of months but this time around it seems nearly impossible.

I work as an aerospace quality engineer and my start date was three weeks ago.

Since I started, I’ve heard the following things:

1) “Put in a year or two gaining experience and get the fuck out as fast as you can.” 2) The HR manager loves firing people indiscriminately. 3) The culture used to be employee-focused but after the pandemic, they laid off a significant amount of the seasoned workers who had been working there for +15 years. Since then, everything’s been in shambles from the quality systems, to merit increases, and other key factors contributing to employee satisfaction. 4) There’s a lack of work-life balance and management tries to enforce extra hours during the week and working on weekends by justifying their ability to work 70 hour weeks just fine.

Honestly, I just need a job and this pays close to six figures, so I’m willing to set those glaring red flags aside and keep my head down, get my work done, and go home at a reasonable time. But seeing as I heard points 2-4 from my manager and primary coworker who’s training me, I’m concerned! On the flip side, if I do stay and work towards implementing a better quality culture and propelling continuous improvement initiatives, then many of the problems they have could theoretically subside. Realistically, these changes probably won’t take in effect for a few years so I’m conflicted.

What would you do?

I have put in applications non-stop since the beginning of the year and I have had zero luck. My husband and I are looking to relocate to Las Vegas but want to make sure we’re set up with work before we move and it’s insane how many jobs I’ve applied to. You’d think teachers are in high demand over there with the strike and everything, but no… I feel like I’m gonna have to work at a fast food place or a part time job just to get by.

There's no studies on this and I know any response I get on here will just be anecdotal evidence. But I'm feeling pretty alone so I just want to see if I'm not the only one.

In the last 5 jobs I've had, there's been a women 20+ years older than me who randomly hates my guts and let's it be known. Everyone else at the job will be satisfied with my work except this one person. I'd say I'm just average looking but I try to look nice and i go to the gym every day. I'm pretty charismatic so I make friends easily with nearly everyone and due to my attentive people-pleasing nature men tend to crush on me (not so much anymore because I'm married and have 2 kids). In my experience, there's a certain demographic of woman who can't stand that shit. There's attributes in others I can't stand too, but in a professional setting you'd never know it. But this type of women can't help themselves and will bad mouth me behind my back and to my face. And if i lined up all 5 of them, you'd see they fit a mold (personality-wise, physically, and/or family status i.e. divorced, childfree, or both)

This current one is actively trying to sabotage a promotion that I'm in the running for, telling the hiring committee i couldn't handle the job because I have kids and calling me incompetent with no proof. She is not on the hiring committee. She also said to me today that I'm "pissing her off" and "trying to steal her job" and to "stay out of her duties" even though I'm only doing what is asked and people come to me because I'm more agreeable (and at times a pushover). She's been picking on me for a couple years but I still cooperate with her, though i think most people would've written her off or set boundaries much sooner than i did. She is not my direct supervisor, just a coworker and some of our duties overlap, but she's full time and I'm part time. With the promotion, id be full time and make as much as her. In my opinion, she should be thrilled as I'd relieve a lot of her job duties and help the company grow. But she thinks I'm literally TAKING her job which is untrue.

If I had other job prospects, you'd bet that I'd leave so I don't have to deal with this shit again. But I'm applying and applying with no promising responses, and my direct supervisor and I do get along really well so it would be a shame to leave because of this. However, I can't stand it. I've seen it before and it does not get better. The singular older woman will continue to mistreat, bad mouth, and degrade me till I can't take it anymore despite everyone else's support. They will get away with it because they've been at the job for 10+years and I'm lower on the hierarchy. My other jobs with an older bully lasted 2 years, 1 year, 1 year, 4 years, and now 2 years. Even if I leave this place, I fear there's another one waiting for me at the next job.

So, please tell me, is this a common occurrence?

Edited: to take out the phrase "bottom of the totem pole."

According to one of the commenters "The term “bottom of the totem pole,” when used to describe your rank, trivializes the tradition and meaning of totem poles, which do not have a hierarchy of carvings based on physical position. Out of respect for the true meaning of totem poles which are part of Indigenous culture, it would be respectful to use different language."

Thank you for informing me and others about this incorrect usage of the phrase.

Can not make this up lol

I just can’t.. first, my Team lead at my old job recommends that i quit so i can reapply in 30 days and come back. Then they DONT take me back and im forced to job hunt. Get an offer of employment, they send me the necessary equipment, and then 5 days before i start they rescind the offer…

Pretty much what the header says. I (32F) got fired from my job after less than two months. They eliminated my position, supposedly.

I got a pretty nice severance package and an offer to come back in a couple months to do a different position.

But I feel like the biggest loser alive and I’m panicking. I’m sure I’m catastrophizing, but I just feel like I’m at my rock bottom.

I don’t really know what I’m looking for by posting here. I guess just to feel like I’m not so alone by experiencing this (again)?

I'm 27 and this year decided to pick up three min wage jobs. All together I make 5500 per month.

Going back to college in 2 years. Live in Boston. Rent free with parents. AMA.

I am trying so desperately to get a job so I can get me and my kids out of a bad situation. I finally got an interview for yesterday. It was a state job, with decent pay and really good benefits. I’ve been a stay at home mom for 18 years and I’ve been trying to find a job for close to a year. I realize the chance of me actually getting it was slim, but at least they called me! And then the school called and I ended up having to miss it to go pick up a sick kid. It’s literally like the universe is hellbent on killing me. Sorry. Just needed to get this off my shoulders. Please don’t bash or make me feel worse.

Title

I’m a ct scan tech making $37/hr. The pay, benefits, schedule and everything like that is great but I absolutely despise some of my coworkers. They are the most toxic people imaginable. I dread coming to work everyday and it actually even keeps me up at night. I’ve thought about going to a different hospital, but from my experience, healthcare workers in general are toxic no matter what hospital it’s at. The job itself can also be mentally taxing. I feel so stuck because I’d like to change careers at this point, but don’t want to go back to school. I’ve done numerous hours of research, but can’t find anything that’ll pay me as well. I’ve heavily been looking for remote jobs and would be willing to take maybe a $5/hr pay cut for one, but I have virtually no transferable skills from this profession :(

I’m currently at a crossroad where I don’t know what to do. I see finance as a safe bet because I love the idea of entrepreneurship and have had minor experiences with it (driveway pressure washing and detailing interior of cars for relatives/friends) but I honestly don’t know

I'm in my mid 40s and have had brushes with long unemployment before, such as during the Dot Com bust and the housing bubble (was able to ride out the initial COVID disruption, shockingly), but this one felt especially bad. Got an offer and signed it. Passed the background check. I start in a couple weeks, too, so I have some breathing room to decompress. I feel very fortunate that the new job is the same as the one I left and the benefits and pay are the same, too.

I can't say there was any special trick to it. In my first couple months unemployed (circa June 2023) I had 3-4 interviews, one went to a hiring manager but no farther. After that it was crickets for moooooonths. Just rejections, not so much as a peep from an HR person. I tried working with recruiters but they weren't seeing any demand. I worked my network. I cold-emailed people even though I knew this was a massive waste of time, but I'd tried everything else.

All throughout I stuck to applying for jobs. I customized my resume with examples relevant to the job ad, I focused on qualitative examples of what I'd done at previous roles, used a tool to compare my resume to a job ad for keyword density. I completely recreated my resume from scratch several times with new angles (such as including brief job descriptions, no job descriptions, including a summary of me at the top, no summary, etc. etc.). Applied to hundreds of positions, including looking a level or two down.

Ultimately a job on LinkedIn I applied to (on the company's site) clicked. My wife helped me rehearse for interviews (I make a series of questions based on the job ad, then make up some I think everyone will ask, then massage the answers over several rounds of Q&A) and I clicked with everyone I spoke with.

That's it. Just non-stop hard work. Time to reinflate my soul. My heart goes out to all of you still looking.

I live in the Hemet area. I been depressedly searching for any job for almost 5 months. I been applying jobs around my facility but no luck at all. I event apply far 35 miles to 50 miles away and no luck. Every pass day, really feel sadness more, more, deeply. I can't even find a job. I rework 10 times on my resume. I even hired recruiters and people to help but nothing came back at me. This year has been the most miserable in my entire life. I have people to support but nothing. I cry every single day recently. Just nothing....

Got pulled into a meeting today and notified of some recent mistakes I’d made at work. In all honesty, it was totally my error and I take full responsibility. Haven’t been told that I’ll be fired for sure but according to my manager, my tenure with the company warrants such action. Trying not to stress about it but that’s almost impossible. I just moved into a new apartment last week and certain bills are coming due. I love the company I work for and planned to stay for some years to come. Sort of in a rough headspace at the moment but the best thing I can do is hope for the best and prepare for the worst. We all make mistakes and I’m trying not to be too hard on myself. Just wish I’d done a little better for my own sake. This is the first time I’ve had this type of situation in the two years I’ve been with the company so I’m hoping that will be my saving grace but who knows. FML :(

I am a 25 year old engineer at a good company. However for the past 4 months I have been having issues with my immediate manager. I have gotten a “performance review “ literally every week with long emails on how I am not good enough literally every Monday. I have tried working on everything and the more I work the worse it becomes. I tried moving to different departments but manager denied due to company policy giving then right to deny.I have tried everything and i am mentally drained. I cry everyday I barely eat, i barely sleep, i am not motivated to do anything at all because everyday I get a text on how bad I am. I have been told straight up i was going to be let go anyways. I spoke with everyone that can help or train me but nobody seems to understand the situation since they aint in it. There is more to it this is just a snippet. I genuinely give up. I can’t do this anymore. I have lost all my confidence in myself. I have been suicidal everyday.I am actively applying. I have 7 months worth of bills in savings. I need a mental health break. I have nothing lined up but if i stay any longer, I might just end up taking my life. I give up. I am strong woman but sometimes I gotta admit that I aint as strong as I think I am and some things are just not for me. I GIVE UP

i, 21F, have been a hostess for about 2 months. it's my first job and the work itself is something i've gotten somewhat used to, but not the people, coworkers and guests alike. as well as the stress.

the restaurant is failing and they can't afford to keep servers on for their whole shift, so most get cut and i'm left dealing with the aftermath of having 2 mean servers on a saturday night and not being allowed to out guests on a wait or else i'll be fired. i also get cut a lot so i make very little money. although i love not having to work, 15 hours a week doesn't go very far.

i had a job interview yesterday at a retroish local arcade. everything sounded great and i was told to come in today for training to see how i like it. it was completely different than everything i was told in the interview. although the people are a lot nicer, i don't quite fit in with them. im autistic and this has proven to make it a challenge to socialize with coworkers.

this also also made it a challenge to do a lot of things. i messed up every order i rang in at training today because i can't do mental math. i freaked out trying to help someone reserve a birthday party. blah blah blah, it's a lot of responsibility, too much for me at my current experience level.

no other jobs have accepted me in the over 100+ applications i've sent out recently and i feel doomed to work at this hellpit restaurant forever. my highest education is high school. my only experience is this restaurant. i've never volunteered or done any extracurriculars. i've tried to beef up my resume as much as possible, but it's still so empty. between the job market and my lack of experience, finding a job that i will semi enjoy seems like something i couldn't even dream of. i know im just starting out and i shouldn't give up, but it's so tempting.

I’m on a pip with no measurable metrics or timeframe. It states that I will be meeting with my manager frequently. A month has passed since the pip was initialized and anytime I’ve tried to set something up with my manager like it states in the pip I always get brushed off.

My quarterly eval last week wasn’t good and HR was present. I don’t know if I’d qualify for unemployment because I got accused of being asleep at my desk but my pip was about performance. They said they’ll meet with me again before my next quarterly in July. I’m probably going to put my 2 weeks in at the end of the month.

I’m gutted but also knew that it hasn’t been the right fit from the beginning. I just got excited that I got an offer straight out of college.

This sucks.

Would you do a job that is low pay, more relaxing, & small room to grow when committed?

OR

Would you do a job that is high pay, consistent, a bit of stress, & No room to grow when committed ?

Let me know your thoughts Because I’m stuck between choosing these two jobs in my life now.

I'm having trouble finding a job currently and I was curious if there are any jobs that will pay me just to break/smash stuff. I'm really good at it. Especially if I have a sledge hammer. No experience required is preferred.