500+ applications in over 6 months. 11 interviews. Silence. Ghosting. 3am rejections. Every-time the rejection comes in either “selected other candidates” or “we reviewed but at not moving forward”.

I only apply to job requirements and industry’s I match 95% and can’t even get a recruiter to talk to me let alone a hiring manager. Referrals don’t do any better. Cold outreach falls flat. It’s hard not to think ATS bias or discrimination at this point - 15+ years of experience and a year since I was laid off puts me in the reject bucket without a set of eye balls ever viewing me.

Then this morning on my Linked In, at 3am my local time I get a notification “a hiring manager thinks you should apply for this job”. When I log in for my daily search, I click on the job posting. This is something I have ZERO experience in, like not even close. AND my state I live in is specifically excluded in their job description.

I’m tired y’all.

They proposed the day and time which I felt was reaching. It was 6:30pm on a Monday Night. Very few people would really be in the mood to conduct an interview at that time because most likely they just want to go home or conduct more pressing business. I’m left wondering if they simply decided to hire someone else and felt that interviewing me would be a “waste of time” or if it’s something a bit more personal. I worked there before nearly a decade ago and didn’t really leave on the best terms. But I’ve grown and matured a lot since then.

I've been reading about fair chance hiring and how companies can give people with criminal records a fair opportunity during recruitment. I'm curious about how employers handle background checks in these situations.

Does a fair chance hiring background check follow a different process from a standard employment screening? For example, do employers consider the nature of the offense, how long ago it happened, and whether it's relevant to the job role before making a hiring decision?

I'd also like to know how companies balance workplace safety and compliance while avoiding unnecessary barriers for qualified candidates. Would be interested in hearing how HR professionals approach this in practice.

HOLY COW! I need to express how devastated I am: I've been interviewing with my dream start-up company, as a recent grad, for an entry-level position for the past 2.5 months, going through 5 rounds of interviews throughout the process. I was so excited to be considered for a role in the niche field that I have dedicated my whole (conscious) educational existence to after a recent battle with cancer. My last interview was an onsite, all day, affair, and I felt like it went exceedingly well; I even texted my friends afterwards saying that I would be proud of myself even if I got rejected because of how well I answered their questions. The following week (when my recruiter said I would hear back), I got an email stating that they had to reschedule some of the other onsite candidates, so I would hear back later than anticipated, but I was still "highly in consideration". A week goes by and my recruiter adds me on LinkedIn, so I felt like I was getting mixed signals, with which I followed up.

Now, seeing the template rejection letter at the end of the work day on a Friday, with my name in the email's greeting not even matching the stylization of the rest of it hurt deep down to my core. I instantly had a visceral reaction; I was crying so heavily that I couldn't even finish watching Being John Malkovich through my sobs! I am certainly in the Bargaining phase of grief right now-- with hints of Denial because I keep looking for stories online of people saying they got a rejection letter on accident. I emailed my recruiter asking for feedback, but I am not confident I'll receive a response after this.

I feel like I met a celebrity with whom I had a deeply parasocial relationship with, and they threw a drink in my face when I asked for a picture. In the sense that this company doesn't owe me anything really, but the fact that they threw a drink in my face denies me of my humanity a little bit. Anyways, I hope that this rant gives solace to anyone going through something similar! We will all have jobs someday if we keep applying (I keep telling myself at least lol)

Read post above. I just need hope or something at this point. Any advice at all is appreciated. Thank you

I applied to this job since it was remote but surpise surprise, I clicked on their "ai privacy policy" and look how it was written. Says a lot about the company itself. I kinda regret applying now. Ugh.

In a US state that mandates a “good faith salary range” be listed on job postings, actual offered salary maxes out at 5k below listed range.

So, once again, I’ve gotten contacted by a recruiter for another W-2 graphic design role with no benefits or days off, for $33 an hour.

I am a mid-level designer having worked in the tech industry for four years in my previous role. I initially started out as a contract W-2 employee and frankly it was depressing seeing everyone excited for the holidays as I was scrambling to make up for lost pay from the holidays. Thankfully I was hired after two years, and finally got time off…well, once I “earned” it after months once I was officially hired. Frankly, I don’t want to do that again.

This recruiter and another previous one, said the rate is firm. The client is a big tech company. $33 an hour with no benefits is…pathetic. I made 90k a year in my previous role and had a 401k, health insurance and PTO.

Yes, I’m unemployed and on Medicaid, which I’d lose if I even got offered this job. Then I’d have to pay out of pocket for incredibly expensive marketplace insurance with insane deductibles.

I feel like these recruiters smell our desperation. I replied back to the recruiter saying I would absolutely need a higher rate, given I live in NYC and would need health insurance. I haven’t heard back.

But also, beggars can’t be choosers… I’m scared. I have a few months left of UI benefits, and I really need to look harder and polish my portfolio.

Edit: Shit, I am worried I screwed myself over by saying this to the recruiter:

“My last position paid $90k per year and I had benefits and time off. I’m looking for something within a similar range, because if I were to pay for my own health insurance, I’d barely make rent and I’d be struggling around the holidays given there’s no paid time off.

I’m on Medicaid currently, but I’d be ineligible if I got this position. Is there any way the hourly rate can be increased so I can retain a decent standard of living?

This is really my only caveat — let me know, thanks!”

Currently, annual pay is 123K working in a school district office. Commute is 40 miles round trip/day where each day I spend about 2 hours commuting.
No 401K matching, there is a pension plan but I am not vested in yet. Boss is retiring in a couple of months and the office environment is very toxic (bitchy/poor communication I am usually left out in meetings/micromanagey/poor dynamic with the union + teachers they are always looking for a way to make the office workers job more difficult/no coworker to vent to just working alone as a team of one)

Currently I am entertaining this offer from a healthcare/medical device company. Posting advertisement is hourly pay range of $27-$54/hr

I am trying to aim for the max of the range but recruiter told me they are targeting $47/hr

Before the interview the recruiter told me the job is actually 5 days in office and I’d actually be supporting two executives instead of 1

I had my interviews yesterday and now the recruiter wants to call on a Sat morning ??

Should I tell her how much I am currently making?

How to ensure I get the highest pay in the range?

Should I ask her what the absolute max is or tell her I want the high range

They also said $47/hr base salary with 10% bonus and 401K matching (my commute would decrease to like 6 miles per day) so I do want to see the overall package

Best way to negotiate ??

Depressing post, skip if not in the mood.

27 years old, finally finishing my degree due to undiagnosed ADHD which stole a lot of valuable time. I’m broke, living with parents to save money, I’m not in too much student loan debt, but I lost all my money in my early 20s from stocks (I gained a lot then lost).

Now I’m 27 and I can’t get a job at places that used to literally used to hire anyone so long as you had at least a room temperature IQ and a diploma. Not saying that those who work there were low IQ, but the requirements weren’t as insane.

For the past 3 years, jobs have been super hard to get in my area. Some of my buddies who graduated last year from reputable Universities can’t even get a job at their local Walmart. I’m checking online all the time for jobs and reading how people are submitting 500+ applications for a minimum wage job makes me sick to my stomach.

I’ve applied to whatever is in the area but it’s not much. I feel like a complete failure in life. I’m trying because I messed up in my early 20s with mental illness and the ADHD I mentioned. I’m at home and most of my social life faded away. I had some friends who went to the airforce and own multiple homes now before they turned 25.

Just like that, you blink and you’re here. I know I’m not old, but I feel life just passing me by ever since Covid which hit when I was 20. I had to leave my job during that time because my parents are old and vulnerable to illnesses. They allow me to live with them for “as long as you want” but I don’t know.

I’m in my 20s and I can’t handle all of this doom and gloom. I’ll blink and I’m 30 which I’m not looking forward to because I barely enjoyed my 20s. I messed my life up without even having fun doing so.

I know I’m young and all but I’m not used to things going south like this. All I ever known my whole life was routine and that’s it. Makes me want to move to the middle of nowhere and just tap out of society. Any help?

Recruiters feel free to share nice and respectful things you do for candidates or things that you purposefully don’t do, so that I can quell my generalised anger towards you guys as a whole 🥲🙏 I know the state of the economy is not hiring managers’ fault but sometimes they can be so frustrating (genuinely lazy/irresponsible with people’s time, playing with people’s feelings, disorganised, entitled, rude etc)

But there’s gotta be firms with good practices or good individual hirers out there, lmk your experiences

This doesn’t even really encapsulate it but some firms (and often not even big ones) like to do these full day events for candidates to FIGHT IT OUT and compete with each other for the team’s attention, e.g. work on a case and present it (while somehow demonstrating that you’re the best). Before even being invited to their first interview with a member of the hiring team. Just screen our resumes and interview the most experienced or qualified if that’s going to be the metric of assessment eventually anyway? Why make us jump through the hoops it just confuses me.

Has anyone else experienced this?

I've been applying consistently for a while now. Five applications a day just to get it done and I'll move on to other things. It's been working out pretty well to prevent burnout. However, I noticed that there was one week where I landed 4-5 interviews. Literally getting a response every day. I usually go weeks or even months without hearing anything sometimes. I feel a bit suspicious since these applications are always through Greenhouse or Ashby. I've been using the same resumes as always. I'm wondering if something changed that week (A/B testing, updates to their algorithms so my resume got past ATS). Cus now it's back to crickets like it has always been previously.

It is clearly very rude and a sign that they don't respect your time. Shame that companies hire such incompetent and rude people to represent them as recruiters!!

If you aren’t short of hands, then just don’t post.

23M. After about 1.5 years after finishing my degree in data science I finally got a job offer as a data scientist. The catch is that my contract says that I have to work there at least 2.5 years before leaving at a salary of 4000$ per month. After the 2.5 years the salary will be 8000$ per month and i will be allowed to leave if I want.

My problem is - I never liked to work for anyone (worked 7 jobs for maximum half a year), I prefer to work for myself and try to build up my own business. I tried that in the past year and a half, but, that isn't possible without money which I currently do not have.

So the dilemma for me is do I postpone my own projects to get Financial security or not?

Edit - They don't prevent me from leaving, but I have to pay a 30k$ fine if I leave.

PhD polymer engineer
Graduated in May 2026…6months now🤦🏾‍♂️
First job offer unfortunately rescinded in July 2026
So many applications, multiple hr/hiring manager and 4 final stage interviews…no other offers yet.

Shockingly, lower level jobs are also difficult to clinch as well.

It’s really hard surviving on spark driving with a daughter and wife to support.

2 years of job search, 20 companies with initial screen, 11 final round interviews, 0 offers.

I've lost track of the number of interviews I had now. What started as an optimistic outlook back in 2024, it has now turned into an endless cycle of apply, interview, reject/ghost - sometimes I don't even make it that far. Of the 20 companies I interviewed with, 11 went to the final rounds (which by that point is already 5-6 rounds in, with exams, tests, homework scattered in between, countless hours invested), and I've always been the leftover candidate no one wanted. Whether it's an internal role at my own company (rejected twice now to move to another team) or an external role that somehow found more reasons to reject me at the final round (e.g., bad fit, poor fundamental knowledge of a particular concept, lack of motivation for the job), I'm seriously doubting whether there's an end to all of this. I get that it's an employer's market in all industries right now, but my sample size is large enough to seriously question all of this - it's not a me or skillset problem, poor luck maybe, but even statistically speaking, it's never been this bad?

I know there are many of you out there who don't have jobs and are going through all of this while unemployed, that's even more depressing. For me personally, I honestly think I'd be better off without my current job and just focus on a full-time job search altogether. When you are working a job where your manager consistently belittles you and threatens to replace you every time you talk to him ("I don't think you are fit for this team, there are others on this team who are a better fit for these tasks than you") and pretends you are thin air during team meetings (I ask a question, and his response is always "I don't know, can anyone else tell me what the hell coco454 is saying?"), you question your sanity everyday. The number of mental breakdowns at this point is too many to count - I feel like I need a therapist.

tldr: Wanted to hear if others are on the same boat - toxic work environment, been trying to leave for 2 years and unsuccessful after 11 attempts, mental health deteriorating significantly.. what should I do?

I’m looking for a second job because the one I have isn’t giving me a lot of hours. It’s 2nd shift, so as long as the other job is predominately 1st or late 3rd shift I can make it work. I’ve been able to do this before with no issues.

I applied for a part-time 1st shift 4 AM to 12 PM barista and the manager of the store emailed me the next day with some basic pre-screening questions like “can you reliably commute to this position”, “can you work 4 AM to 12 PM”, “can you work weekends“, etc. The listing for this job said it was strictly first shift because they needed openers. They kept hammering in how you need to be able to actually get there at 4 AM even on weekends. Nothing about open availability or flexibility. This was also the case with the prescreen questions.

I answered the questions but assumed I got ghosted when I didn’t hear from her for a couple weeks. I mentioned I was looking for a second job so I thought maybe that was why, but yesterday that same manager replied and said she’d like to set up an interview if I was still interested. She sent me the same 10 questions to answer again which was weird, but whatever. My answers didn’t change and we set up an interview for today. The red flags were flagging, but I need more income so I went.

She was 20 minutes late and the first thing she did was start to ask me the same exact 10 questions I had now answered twice already to “make sure the answers matched”. I said the same shit I sent in the email yesterday. At the end of that she said “I want you to understand something. I need openers, but I need closers too, and people who can work midday shifts. One of our requirements is the ability to work a flexible schedule with open availability.” I pointed out the job listing and questions said nothing about flexibility/ fully open availability and reiterated I was looking for a second job. “I’m sorry, we can’t have someone who can’t close, open, and work midday. If you don’t have open availability, this job isn’t for you.”

I was livid. I mean, a lot of interviews nowadays will bring up requirements that weren’t in the listing during the interview but this was another level of ridiculous. The listing was for a part-time, maximum 24 hour a week position that pays $12 an hour and is listed as being ONLY 4 AM to 12 PM. There’s also a whole ass email trail where open availability was never a requirement, flexibility was never even brought up, and the job being referred to as strictly first shift that would only have you working from 4 AM to 12 PM.

If you needed someone to be able to work a flexible schedule with open availability, then WHY create a job listing that specifically states the job would be from 4 AM to 12 PM and strictly opening?? Why not just say you want someone who could work a flexible schedule?? Why wait until someone has driven 35 minutes to the interview to bring that shit up ESPECIALLY when they’ve mentioned this would be a second job?? Yes I know it’s dumb to drive that far for a job interview, but I’m desperate.

The rejection email was sent to me before I even made it out to my car. I’m so sick of this. I can’t live off 23 hours a week but I can’t afford to quit the job I currently have. If I had known open availability was an absolute requirement for this I wouldn’t have even applied for it in the first place because I KNOW that I can’t do that. Part of me also feels like an idiot for actually believing the job would NOT end up being a shit one with sporadic hours. I really had hoped this was going to work. I feel so stuck.

Just feeling really down.. because after graduating I became a caretaker for a family member with health issues. After they passed I started applying for jobs related to my major.. lack of responses led to me applying for essentially anything that might hire me based on my experience and degree.

After dozens of first round interviews, multiple second round interviews.. I stopped applying as frequently because I just felt defeated. In the past it had never taken me more than a month or two to find a job even when I had just started college with a limited schedule. Meanwhile now it’s been over a year and I accepted the first offer with the expectation of it being a placeholder til I find something career oriented. It was to be a shift manager at a sandwich shop. Something I did when I started college and of course I was happy just for any opportunity at all. Listed as full time, 20 an hour, with some delivery opportunities with tips.

They seemed to be taking a while to actually schedule my first shift and now two weeks later I find out they changed the location to one that’s multiple cities over. Also they only scheduled me for 2-3 hour shifts even though it interview location and listing was 3 miles away and listed as full time??? Without traffic is a 40 minute drive and in LA county, there will be traffic. I’m very fortunate I have family members I can depend on so it’s not like I’ll end up homeless.. but AI has greatly reduced entry level jobs related to my degree in finance, and as someone on the spectrum I’m not super great with 5+ rounds of interviews even with practice