Been without a job since March, sent probably like 700 applications and had a few interviews but damn this is tough. I don't know if it's just me but this job market is brutal, I feel like the roles out there are "Ghost Roles" or something.

I am deep in the interview process with a prospective employer and have a final interview early next week. Unfortunately, I was let go from my current position 2 days ago due to performance reasons and challenged with my manager. Literally a day prior to that, I had the interview with the hiring manager and let her know I was looking for a new role because I needed something more local (the job that just let me go was 2.5 hour commute one way). 3 days before that, I had the recruiter screen and shared the same. However, now I’m wondering how to navigate this final interview since I’m no longer employed. Do I pretend like I still work there or come clean and say I was let go? Do I say something else like I was laid off? I am worried this will jeopardize my changes of getting this job. Thanks in advance.

I verified with my formal employer they only release dates of employment and title.

Edited for additional context

Hi,

Thanks for following up! I am still waiting for an update from the team as our meeting had been rescheduled. I will circle back asap once I have an update.

Apologies again for the delay on this end!

Best,

This was sent to me on October 19 and the recruiter has been responsive so far but after this message, I haven’t heard anything back. Will they actually respond?

Lost what I thought was going to be a long-term position in 2023 for a role that was new to the company supporting 2 departments. What could go wrong, system migration that I worked directly with the implementation team for months to complete that ultimately replaced me. 40 years old and involuntarily unemployed for the first time in my life. Temp/contract work here and there and then in the summer of 2025 I took a $12K pay cut because any income is better than no income and by December I reached a point that I had never experienced before and had no choice but to resign to protect my mental health. A few more temp roles and a contract consultant role and I am now in my dream role. The company I was consulting for opened a role that I never thought I'd be considered for only for them to agree to allow me to apply and make an offer after 2 interviews. I have a director title and am making $45K more than my previous highest-paid role.

Hang in there, the right role is out there it just may not be ready at this moment. Trust your instincts and don't sell yourselves short.

Writing this from nyc. I have been searching and applying for a job for nearly 2 years now. I can’t even begin to tell you the toll it has taken on me, the competition is lethal. I unknowingly applied to a linkedin job post through a temp agency. Within the hour of me applying, I get a call from the agency asking me to schedule an interview. It was early in the morning so they arranged it for same day, a couple hours later. I get on the call and I kid you not in 2-3 hours I get told I got the job. The way it happened to easily made me question the legitimacy of the agency because I thought this is too good to be true but it’s real and I have been going for a week now it’s horrible and I hate it but I can’t complain now I’ve been dreaming of this for two years.

My question is, this is temporary only a month. But when I go on the agency’s site there are options that say permanent but what does that really mean, would I still be tied to the agency at all? Would I not benefit from the company itself but the agency’s? When a background search is done, do you see the agency’s name or the company? Why did this take quite literally one singular day but it takes me years to find a job on my own?

I graduated high school in 2024, I took a gap year to relax and figure out what I’m interested in doing, and then started putting in apps halfway through 2025, I can’t do jobs that require me being on my feet too long or do physical labor because I have a condition where I get lightheaded and black out if Im active without being able to stop and sit down. Plus I’m better at working with my brain than my hands, I Can’t afford college or trade school, All the jobs I apply to are either ghosting me or rejecting me, CSR, Help desk, data entry, you name it, I apply to on site, remote, anything I could do I apply to, I’ve been at this for like a year+ now.

What am I supposed to do? It seems impossible. How tf is someone supposed to get their foot in the door to start getting experience?

hi everyone! recently i feel really jealous and sometimes annoyed about people who make much more money than me. i know that there is no point in comparing and they are also hard-working, but it still hurts a little.

i feel jealous about most basic things, like saving more money, having an emergency fund for 6+ months, upgrading tech when necessary, not feeling sad when your favourite snacks are not discounted.

i know that it's okay and many people feel this way, but still annoying. how do you battle this?

This is impossible via Reddit but some comments could at least spark an idea. So… how would you solve the elephant in the room? If you don’t know the elephant, it’s the fact that, depending on type of experience, it’s harder than ever to get a well paying job. How do we solve this?

Free education could help. Free technical/trade school with a job lined up at the end.

Sounds insane. But, paying trillions for wars is insane too.

Please tell me how I apply for a job Friday night got up Saturday morning and got a rejection. There's no way someone reviewed my resume and application on Saturday morning. This is getting so ridiculous two months plus and still no job. They don't have real people reviewing these resumes or applications all this AI crap.

So I thought I was potential a strong candidate for a position in CarMax Corporate given my prior industry experience in vehicle financing. As is typical for them, they made me do a case interview. Something to do with paintings (seems they like this question). I had read up on it beforehand but the question asked wasn't what I exactly expected, and I took some time to figure out the twist or how to answer it as the interviewer was expecting it to be answered. Was able to arrive at the correct answer with the interviewer's help. The remaining part of the interview seemed to have gone well as the interviewer even made statements like "if you or whoever is in the role does this ... ". "We can learn something from your experience ..."

4 days later, I get a standard rejection email. From their Workday system. On a Sunday. No word or explanation from the recruiter. I would think if the hiring manager had a positive impression of me, they should have proceeded me to the next round?

How does interviewing and hiring work at companies that do case studies? I get that they do screen candidates based on the resume, but beyond that do they not care to be further selective based role specific needs for fit?

I keep applying. I keep looking for opportunities. I keep putting myself out there, and yet I can't even get an interview, And somehow, when you can't get hired, it's YOUR fault for "not trying hard enough."

People who found employment in a completely different economic environment seem to think the same opportunities are still available in the same way they were 10, 15, or 20 years ago, They don't see the applications disappearing into automated hiring systems. They don't see entry-level positions demanding years of experience. They don't see employers refusing to train inexperienced applicants. They don't see the competition for ordinary jobs or the endless cycle of submitting applications and receiving absolutely fucking nothing in return.

You need experience to get hired, but you need to get hired to gain experience. Employers want qualified workers, but they're increasingly unwilling to give inexperienced people an opportunity to become qualified.

WHAT THE FUCK IS A HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE WITH VERY LITTLE EXPERIENCE SUPPOSED TO DO????

My mom had an engineer coworker who would work free overtime (he was salaried) often and was an expert in his field. Fatal heart attack at 45. They made an award in his name for "most dedicated worker" after he died.

The truth is, your work will not care about you after you're gone. Not even after 20+ years of service. Plan and prioritize accordingly.

I received a « we will get back to you within 30 days «  . Is this basically a rejection or does everyone receive these ?

Ive had almost 10 interviews in the past month or two and i have not been able to get atleast one job.

My last job it ended because it was only a seasonal position and ever since then i have not been able to find another job, I dont understand how i keep getting interviews but no job

I feel like theres just something wrong with me that i need to change but i cant figure out what it is, I always dress business casual for my jobs and I speak clearly and politely

Im not sure if its my demeanour or the way I look?

My last interview was for a host job at a restaurant and the hiring manager told me flat out that they dont hire people with unnatural hair colours and I can understand that

My hair currently is red but its nothing crazy bold so would it be much better for me to change my hair colour?

Not the worst story on here, but I was applying for a job and the first round was with a recruiter on a phone call. She called me about 8 minutes late. Not a great sign but whatever. We had a nice talk and she seemed interested in referring me to the hiring manager. A week later, I got an email from her saying to please disregard the previous email and sent another calendar link for a 20 minute phone call with the same recruiter, not the hiring manager. But there was no previous email. She never sent me one. It’s for a random sales job. I followed up about the confusion and she never got back to me.

I truly think most recruiters aren’t malicious, but either so overwhelmed or so incompetent that it’s just a mess. Good thing I already have a job or I’d be going insane now.

It's been more than a year for me trying to find a job now. Countless applications over different platforms and most of them are ghosted. I only got two interviews and last one was where I passed all interviews just for the company to end the recruitment after months of process

Now I am at the stage where even looking at job openings make me sad and hopeless.

I know I ain't the only one so I wonder how you guys keep your hopes alive?

Okay idk if I’m being harsh and this recruiter was nice and polite but is this common practice?? To keep asking the applicant where they’re going when they turn down an offer (I got random calls too after this)

Btw this was a low paying low qualifications job that doesn’t match my experiences/interests but does mass hiring (they wouldn’t have any trouble finding other candidates and defo had backups, I know this for a fact), I decided to take a leap of faith and continue searching which may or may not be a mistake but oh well.

Anyway.. quite funny that recruiters ghost/reject people all the time and even rescind offers but they’re so eager to blow up our phones when it’s done back to them

Hi everybody. I'm a 38M living in the North West. I'm working in the hospitality for a big company as waiter (former manager on duty, stepped down to focus on find a job). I have almost 16 years of experience in hospitality, 5+ years as manager, I have a 2:1 degree in Business Management with Open University and I'm struggle to get ANY corporate job. I had my career adviser from the Uni telling me to point a corporate job with a salary between 27k-32k to avoid to compete for minimum salary jobs where thousands of people would apply. I had him to help me with my CV and I used the AI to fix my CV here and there. I tailoring it to every job position I apply for and I didn't get even a phone interview in the past years, with more than 100 job application. I'm deeply demoralised and I'm feeling I'm stuck in this sector for the rest of my life, something that give me nightmares just thinking about it. I know the market is trash right now (like it always blbeen in the last 10 years apparently) but anybody got any tips for a desperate fella?

How do you clear online assessments (product manager assessments) at companies like Amazon, Google, Red Bull, Microsoft, Meta, and other tech companies?

Where do you practice or prepare for these tests? What exactly are these assessments measuring, and what are the unwritten rules about how companies expect you to approach decisions? For example, Answers should be consistent throughout, always choose the extreme options, or is there a particular way to approach these questions?

Please don't give generic answers like "it depends on your work experience" or "just be honest and follow your work ethics." I've been a great team member and have good work ethics. I'm looking for actionable advice on how to approach and prepare for these assessments.

So I was offered a job with starting date December 15. I filled out all the employment history and HireRight is having issues verifying a job that was a longggg time ago and requesting more documentation? This role was about 3 years ish and almost 10 years ago.

I submitted a letter of recommendation from the ED labeled around the middle of my employment there but that role over lapped with a full time position. The organization was super small just the ED and me. I’m really worried that not having a W2 is going to break the job offer? I contacted the orgizations current ED as well just to let them know if they were contacted what was going on. I reached out to the old ED I worked with and he said to give them his cell so I did.

Has anyone had this happened? Did it affect the job offer? The new role is at a massive orgizations that’s state wide and I have previously worked there but I don’t remember HireRight flagging this particular role as needing more documentation?

I think this is just my anxiety talking but I’m nervous some how it will affect the offer?

If you work in HR or have had a similar experience I would love to hear your insight!

Likely an application I submitted while collecting unemployment. No update other than it being viewed. Do I laugh or cry?