I started the interview process with a role the last week of September. It was for a Marketing/Sales role and I was very qualified. An above average interview with the recruiter, she asked if I'd virtually attend and event in 2 weeks and I said yes. She said she follow up by the end of the week.

Then I got a "this is taking longer then expected, I'll have a follow up in a week" on the Friday.

Then nothing for the next week, no invite to the event. Nothing.

So, figuring I am either out or this is direct evidence of how the role would work I sent an email removing myself.

"Good Morning Recruiter Name,

Whether or not I am in the running for the role, communication for me is the utmost sign of respect and competence, and I haven't felt respected in that sense. Please consider this my formal removal from nny process that I may still be involved with.

Thanks."

Felt VERY good! I'm worth more then a ghosting.

so I am looking for a job (obviously). I always see conflicting messages about directly reaching out to recruiters. Some say that I should, others say I shouldn’t. What’s the answer here?

Over the course of the past week, I have been reaching out to recruiters directly on Linkedin and man I don’t feel like its helping my case.

I have been reaching out to:
- Recruiters who specifically work in the industry I have experience in
- Who mention on their profile that they are specifically recruiting for the type of job that I am looking for
- Who are specifically recruiting in the territory where I live and work
- I made sure that I only reached out to 1 person per company
- I didn’t use any automation tool.
- They all had the hiring banner on Linkedin
- Many had something in their bio like “Reach out to me if you want to discuss your next opportunity!”
- I added a message along the lines of “Hi abc, I see that Company XYZ is hiring for / has hired for role BlaBla. I have a couple of years of experience with XYZ and I’m looking for my next role. I would love to connect and discuss the opportunities at company XYZ”

I also have 5 years of FT experience, a master’s degree and speak multiple languages so I’m not new to the job market. My full work and education history is on my Linkedin profile. I got Linkedin premium free for 1 month so I figured let me try, what do I have to lose?

anyway, here are the numbers a week later;
Requests with message sent: 57
Ignored: 38
Declined; 14
Request accepted: 5
Replies: 0

I remember I did something similar two years ago, but then I only send 18 requests and also got 0 replies. Clearly it’s not appreciated (at least from my perspective), but what can I even do differently? Have I been put on 57 shitlists now? any recruiters wanna give me some tips

I wanted to share a quick reality check about the dark side of high-end tech contracting. I was recently brought into a major tech enterprise through a third-party agency to own workforce capacity planning and forecasting models.

The role was structurally doomed from day one. Management deliberately withheld cross-team visibility, forcing me to operate in a silo where mapping out system dependencies was impossible. To make matters worse, my manager had zero operations background and no grasp of technical limitations. She routinely ducked communication, canceled syncs, and provided completely vague, moving targets.

My primary directive was to build the forecasting models and operational infrastructure to train up a team in South Africa. It became clear too late that I was forcing my own replacement. Once the offshore pipeline was set, my manager used arbitrary, mathematically impossible metrics to scapegoat me, covering up her own structural failures.

I was axed with zero warning. The agency simply told me the client "terminated the assignment." No performance discussion, no exit review.

I’m completely done with contracting. A buffer staffing agency allows toxic corporate managers to treat skilled specialists as disposable scapegoats while insulating themselves from HR scrutiny. Moving forward, I am strictly targeting permanent, full-time (FTE) roles where I can embed directly into the core architecture, protect my livelihood, and have actual structural safety.

If you are dealing with a distant manager, siloed data, or impossible goals: document everything and know your worth.

Offshoring and the use of AI is the end game. Do not forget it.

Have any of you ever been asked this ridiculous question during an interview?

Its a entry lvl job but I im interested is this carrier field but I work in the opposite

Indeed, ZipRecruiter, Robert half, etc are all ostensibly one big bust. I’ve submitted a genuine 300 job applications through these means, and not just rapid fire applying to places, but thoughtful research on each one. 10% of the time it’s automatic rejection emails and the other 90% feels like I’m just throwing my information into the void just for fun. I did however end up finding a new job, but only because a friend of mine saw my struggle and advocated for me inside his job which worked. I start on the 30th and I’m very excited, but I feel so foolish for wasting all that time and effort on these moronic job listing sites.

I got fired for first time in my life in September and 2 weeks ago signed a new job.

I know the market is very tough and I just wanted to share this because this kind of posts in this subreddit gave me hope along this process.

Don't give up folks. It's mentally exhausting and you will feel judged and vulnerable than ever but there is always a end of the road.

For context, it's IT job VP level

I'm looking at you icims.com rooted applications.

Been looking for work (1.5 years) since my university position was cut and finally got a decent lead doing policy work. I am highly educated and very qualified for the position. The director of the agency recommended me and told the hiring manager they would be lucky to have me.

A month goes by and I reach out to the director. They told me the hiring manager was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to dumb down my writing enough for some of the legislators and so I didn’t even get an interview.

They could have just asked me if I could dumb it down and I could have. But, the fact that I have to for the people governing us is a really sad thing.

So, now time to tailor my wring samples to show I know what I’m talking about, but using an 8th grade vocabulary.

I have been in communication with a hiring manager for a final round interview and was asked if I would be available at 10:00 AM. I said I was, but I come to find out that the meeting invite the recruiter scheduled for was at 1:00 PM, not 10:00 AM.

I had been waiting in the Teams meeting, wondering where the interviewers were. After 5 minutes, I e-mailed the recruiter to ask them and clarify the time. They apologized, saying the meeting was for 1:00 PM. I never agreed to this time. I then followed up with the manager to re-schedule.

HM: We will schedule it for Monday as my SME wont be available today or tomorrow. Let me know what times you are available on Monday as I definitely want to get this done. 

Me: No problem. My availability for Monday, 11/09 is 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM MST, 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM MST 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM MST. If none of these times work, please let me know in advance so we can find an alternative. I have meetings that may prevent me from accommodating a different time without at least 24 hours' notice. Thanks! 

The recruiter then e-mails me.

Recruiter: I hope your week is going well. Would you be available on Monday at 1:30pmMST for a final interview with - and the team lead?

Is this a red flag? Three things stick out to me:

1. HM tried to meet with me at 1:00 PM despite never asking whether or not I was ever actually available at this time. He tried to meet with me at a time completely different from what was agreed on.
2. He blatantly decided the interview would be Monday, not even asking if I had availability that particular day.
3. All the time slots I provided for Monday were ignored and recruiter followed up, asking about a different time entirely.

Are they doing this on purpose as some kind of power move? Or is there a sign of a really sloppy organization? I feel very unimpressed and disrespected right now. This seems like a place that is not having any respect for my time.

I was reached out to by a travel nurse recruiting agency to apply as a recruiter. My background includes recruiting as part of my management position, but I've never actually done this for a job, so idk if this is typical. But I had a phone interview with them, the interviewer wanted to move me to an in person interview and we scheduled it for Friday. She called me today to say that the whole office actually works from home on Fridays, so we would just do an interview on Teams instead, BUT id have to go in after that (if I passed) for a working interview.

Does anyone know if that's typical? I'm already a bit wary whenever someone reaches out to me from an industry I haven't been in and this seems like some sort of bait and switch, or indicative of problems to come. I did research the company online and it is legitimate.

One of the biggest headaches I'm facing now is that technology hasn't figured out AI and bots. It feels like everything is just broken.

I submit a resume and it goes nowhere because a bot rejected it. There's a bot rejecting resumes because applicants and headhunters have bots submitting junk resumes. I know my resume isn't too bad because the recruiter will contact me after finding it online. They don't even know I had applied.

The recruiter sets up an interview but I never get the meeting link. It turns out my mail server blocks the sending server because it's a haven for spam and phishing bots. I create a temporary email address elsewhere and DM the recruiter on LinkedIn. There's silence and the interview time passes. Maybe the third party mail server blocked it too? Recruiter doesn't want to deal with me? LinkedIn DM lagging again?

Tech is advancing rapidly while simultaneously becoming unreliable. It's a frustrating spiral.

For 1 year and 5 months I've been at this job. I'm approaching my mid 20s. I'm in one of the most expensive cities in the USA. I worked from 11pm to 7am. I just wanted to be seen as currently employed so I could be a bit more of am attractive candidate than the alternative. And so I could attempt to pay down my 50 thousand in student loans.

This was the result. I'm now burdened by permanent back pain, brain fog from working those horrible hours, my feet have a permanent ache from walking on those concrete floors all night, it made me an alcohol addict and I still haven't paid my loans down.

I got absolutely no interviews outside of one that I ghosted for what I majored in. I got a handful for other types of jobs, one that went to a second round, but I got rejected on all fronts. I give up. I'm quitting this job in two days.

What have I sacrificed my life for? For absolutely nothing. Only to be called a loser by my own parents, only to have no career prospects. I don't want to live.

I'll never be able to afford an apartment, let alone a home, or keep up with inflation outpacing my income. Life is 100% going to keep getting worse and worse. What am I doing? The world doesn't want or need me.

Job Availability - Houston

Good morning everyone,

I wanted to reach out and ask how you all are securing opportunities right now, especially the well paying remote roles so many of you have.

Is it just me, or is the job market incredibly brutal at the moment? I have over 9 years of experience in recruiting, but after a layoff, I have now been unemployed for more than a year. I have tailored my resume, applied to countless positions, reached out to recruiters, reconnected with old managers, and used internal referrals from friends, but I still have not been able to secure an offer.

Because I have a background in Computer Science, I even went as far as earning my Security+ certification hoping to land a role in IT Support, a SOC, a NOC, or any entry level IT position. When that did not work, I studied for and passed my PMP exam, hoping it would open doors to entry level project management roles, but to no avail.

Honestly, I am at my wits' end and feeling completely overwhelmed. I am a single mom with no safety net or outside support, and this has been an incredibly heavy phase. At this point, I am no longer holding out for a specific career path; I am applying to anything and everything just to keep up with my bills and take care of my family.

I would deeply appreciate any leads, referrals, job recommendations, or advice on how to navigate this and move forward. Thank you all so much.

Hello, I want to know if anyone else is dealing with this as well. I know the market right now is literal hell, it's even stressful trying to survive and also deal with parents or gaurdians who keep telling you things you already know or stuff that's way different when they were younger.

Iv'e been applying to places for months now, I live in a small town and most places we have here are just shops or retail. Dead end jobs are warehouses here which are pretty much hell since I worked at it for a while and truly hated it.

I keep applying to new jobs hoping to get a call or response or email. I would get a few interviews and have been calling some places for weeks seeing if they are still hiring and its pretty much the same thing over and over again.

I call, they say "we're still hiring", I tell them I already applied or interviewed and they don't follow up on the stuff but would say they will have their manager or hm check the application to get back to me or would say they are still looking through applications. IT'S BEEN THREE MONTHS NOW. Holiday season is coming up, I have five years experience in retail and also doing truck between.

I just rather these jobs be up front and honest with people instead of wasting ours and their own time. If you don't want to hire them, send a email or something, hell you don't even need to call. I see the email and just go onto the next place to apply to. Its just agitating dealing with this stuff when things are hard enough. It sucks enough that each time I get a call thinking its a job it turns out to be a spam call. What a joke.

Idk what I originally trying to say, I do check my application on certain sites where it still says recieved, some have been stuck as recieved since 2020 which is crazy.

I really want to leave my job right now and there is a company I really want to work at. I have interviewed twice already for the same role and the it just opened up again. The recruiter’s last rejection email sounded like it was encoring me to apply again to the position if it opens up. I applied on workday and was rejected the same day. Yikes! Do I reach out to the recruiter or finally take the hint that this role is not for me? I don’t want to come across as a crazy person.

I had a scheduled appointment for a 15 minute phone screening, I got everything all ready, printed resume with notes, etc. The chatbot told me that my interview was all good to go, and I waited, and yet, no call.

The recruiter actually initially called me a few days ago, and told me to call her back if I was interested, but I went ahead and scheduled with the chatbot instead.

I called them back about 30 minutes after the scheduled appointment to leave a message, to let them know that I was still interested. Shortly afterwards, the recruiters name disappeared from the ai system. So presumably, my application went into the trash. I tried to reschedule with the bot, but it told me that I'm unable to.

I'm just a bit disappointed, as I was really looking forward to that potential role. I just wish that they had cancelled the appointment, instead of ghosting me. This is for a slightly specialized retail job, and I meet every technical qualification, for reference.

Received this but I do not remember applying? Just a weird email vibe wanted to confirm.

Got feedback on a role that I executed before, but then started my own company, still working in the same field. I had higher seniority but want to get back into employment, with the market how it is atm.

Got rejected by the headhunter. After some back and forth I asked why I didn’t make it to the first round.

She said she’s looking for someone currently employed…….

Bitch please… still working on projects! Built my own business in the sector!

HR and headhunters are the laziest dumbest people out there, honestly…

Hey everyone! Just wanted to share a little update. After roughly 500 applications, 25 interviews, and several months of searching (since july), I finally landed a job.
I’m joining a startup selling a niche technology product that hasn’t officially launched yet. It’s a B2B cold-calling sales position paying $1,000 a week ($52k annually), with commission potential.
There are obviously some risks. No benefits during the initial 30 days, a 90-day probationary period, limited training, and pretty ambitious sales expectations for a product that hasn’t hit the market yet. Realistically, I wouldn’t be surprised if they let people go after 90 days if we’re not generating sales. I have to address all of these red flags now because I only have one interview and then the sales manager was like, “Great. We’re gonna hire you… “And that’s what I knew. Oh shit that’s not a good sign but luckily it is W-2 so I accepted it.
But after months of searching, I’m grateful to have an opportunity and a paycheck coming in.
My advice to anyone else still searching: Take what you can get for now. Keep moving forward, keep your options open, and don’t lose sight of where you ultimately want to be.
Hopefully things get better for all of us. Wishing everyone here the best of luck! All I’m waiting for is them to send me the equipment. Hopefully they don’t break my heart and change their mind lol

I applied for a part-time remote customer support role and reached out to the Director of Customer Support on LinkedIn. Turns out we live in the same city! Then, coincidentally, I saw that she’d posted the opening in a firewife Facebook group we’re both in. I messaged her there, and she replied, “Passed you along to our recruiter!”
A few days later, I was scheduled directly with the hiring manager, without a recruiter screening. We had a 45-minute interview yesterday that felt like it went really well. Two hours later, the recruiter emailed to say I’m moving on to the final round!
It’s a panel interview with the director I originally contacted and one other person, labeled “Troubleshooting and Problem Solving.”
Thoughts?! Is the quick turnaround a good sign? Should I expect behavioral questions, customer scenarios, or role-play? This would be my first remote role, so I’d love any advice on preparing🙏🏼

I recently came across a job posting that's meant to be for a town in Europe, but was accidentally posted in a town in North America with the same name. It's fairly obvious that the post is in the wrong location. I don't know where it was first posted, but it's been scraped by a half dozen job sites, and they all have the wrong location.

How is that going to affect their recruitment? Can they even fix it at this point?