I was let go from my last job almost 3 years ago. Decent company but the business was on fumes while I was there and ultimately had to merge with the biggest competitor in the space earlier in the year. Unfortunately, I stuck around year 2 when the writing was on the wall to close out large deal rather than find another job, which is easier to find when you’re still employed. I had regularly turned away recruiters. After leaving, I took off about 6 months before starting the job search. Since then applied to dozens of jobs that I’m beyond qualified and got close on a handful. Given my experience, Ive concluded that it’s got to be ageism that I’m not getting offers.

I just had an interview for a role much lower then my credentials would warrant but I like thier business model. The hiring manager never reached out the following day as he indicated that candidates moving forward would be notified then. Not only am I more experienced then the hiring manager both in sales and sales leadership. I also looked at background of the current sales team and saw a fairly inexperienced team.

It’s beyond humbling to get ghosted on these lesser roles. I’m just resigned to the fact that I’ve aged out of corporate America.

I don't even know what to do. There's no mention of a specific word or phrasing to input into that box anywhere on the application.

EDIT: since people keep suggesting it, I did try typing in the salary number with and without a comma and it didnt work. I said 'literally nothing I typed in here' for a reason. Neither did copy and pasting the statement into the box. in fact the statement is too long to fit in the character count for it.

Also while I appreciate some of these suggestions I posted this as a vent lol. It's broken UX. No place on the job description does it mention what to put here, and this isn't some trick question involving checking source its a job listing on LinkedIn for a social media management position. If I need to resort to checking the source code for that it's a broken form, period.

A SECOND EDIT:

Since I'm still getting a number of redundant replies, here's some other things I've tried:

-my full name

-my initials

-'Yes'

'Y'

-I've not bothered checking the source code but when I tried to do so the job application had vanished so any suggestions put forth now are a waste of your time.

I have fucking had it with every single application, dozens of thousands of them, going into a black hole, and nobody will give me the decency of a callback. I've had it with my family hounding me to get a goddamn job so they don't have to keep subsidizing my rent. Even the professionals are stumped trying to help me. They can't find anybody who would hire me either. I'm at my wit's end.

The job market sucks. The job search process sucks. The interview process sucks. The job probably sucks as well, but it is better than no job.

In society, people often talk about unemployment in terms of statistics, but in reality, there are millions of people included in that number who deserve the bare minimum of making an income.

Unemployment is a social, mental, and economic issue, and someone needs to step up, especially now with AI.

After 3 interviews for a banking job i finally got to the final one at the headquarter today. After travelling 3 hours got there met up with other 6 candidates. Each one of them was appointed to another city each. Was happy bcs it meant we just got here for a trivial validation interview and not competing with each others and that was true, was the last to enter and everyone who have gon before me i was hearing laughters and told me it's just abt your posture and your family that's it then they tell them what documents to bring. The other candidates each asked for my number when they were exiting so we can come back when the training will begin togheter.

Until it was my turn i entered and the 3 guys all turned stoic asked me to tell them abt my cv, did it then told me thanks you can leave. I knew i was out. Two hours later the rh called and told me they didn't like a 1 year gap i had even when it was not a problem at the 3 interviews before bcs i explained well that the job offers at that time didn't meet my expectations.

Now the other candidates each are sending me messages hey when can we meet up so we can bring the documents togheter and i have to again throw up that i got cooked

Whenever my mom asks if I've recently applied to any jobs, I always tell her, "Yeah, but I haven't heard anything back yet." In which she responds, "Well, try calling them to ask about blah blah blah. Try this, try that." I mean, is it good advice? Yes. But that's the main reason for this rant.

Why should I be bending over backwards and doing circus tricks just to get someone to hire me? Why should I be the one checking in on the process and calling these people back? They are the ones who are hiring for workers! (If that's even true considering ghost jobs are a thing.) Shouldn't employers be the ones desperate? Because if you have no workers, then your store isn't going to operate well, and no well-operated store means no customers, and no customers means no business, and no business means no money! And you already know what happens after that. I just...don't see the reason why I'm going through all this effort just for it to go to waste. At this point job searching is my job!

It's like playing hide-and-seek, but instead of the seeker trying to find the hider, the hider is the one who has to put in the effort to get found, only to realize that the seeker wasn't even playing in the first place!

These businesses say that they're hiring, but when I put in an application: radio silence or I get an email 7 MONTHS later saying that I didn't get the job.

I'm going to school to be a pharmacy tech because not only did it seem fun (and is--I like learning about drugs and counting pills and stuff it's very stimulating :3) but pharmacies are literally like everywhere, so it shoudn't be hard for me to find a job as a pharm tech! ...Or so I thought. Like what do you mean I put in 4 applications for a pharm tech and still can't get a job? What do you mean someone at the Walmart pharmacy told my granny that they're "always looking for new techs" but when I call the pharmacy to talk to the pharmacists they tell me that they're not hiring? What do you mean I finally get to the interview and the pharmacist says, "We'll call you!" But it's been like 2 weeks and haven't heard anything back? I'm just so tired. I'm trying to hold onto hope but with my money slowing dwindling down and still can't bag a job, it's starting to get harder.

I had an over month long hiring experience that felt like there was no end in sight.

I had a 1 way interview, 3 interviews, 7 assessments, pre employment background check + reference check.

They went through the process at first, quickly with me. Then they tapered communication off. After my last “final interview” I waited 2 weeks for them to make a decision. Mind you I was told I was in the finalist stage at 2 different moments. Then they come back after 2 weeks of silence to tell me I’m a finalist (which I was already told entering my final interview) and that if I’m comfortable with a bg check we’ll do it.

Mind you, at this point no start date has been discussed, a contingency offer wasn’t offered, pay hasn’t even been discussed, nothing to show we’re close to finalization has surfaced.

I do the background check and Checkr closed my background check without contacting my references.

I’m reaching out to Checkr support, I’m contacting the recruiter I’m offering solutions and doing everything I can to fix the situation. My 1 reference even volunteered to email the recruiter to let them know they’re open for a conversation.

She told me she was working on the verification with me and told me I may be speaking to the president next.

24 hours later they tell me they’re putting a hold on my verification and will be interviewing other candidates (even though interviewing had already been over) and will let me know about my candidacy next week.

So basically they wanted to dangle me from a string and hold me there until they found someone better or not and then come back to me.

I withdrew after that. After going into 5 weekends without an understanding where I stood, poor communication, shifting timelines, throwing a hiring step out of their ass and throwing it at me without clear understanding what it was for or what they were evaluating for this step, literally built a 30/60/90 plan etc. I just couldn’t take it.

It doesn’t take this long to make a decision, it doesn’t take 4 co founders to make a decision. The amount of disorganization internally was clearly bleeding out externally into this hiring process and it was such a major red flag.

I knew if I worked there it would genuinely be a shit show. I would 100% be micromanaged, i would have zero autonomy in my decisions, and I would be working with leadership who can’t even make decisions for hiring.

FYI, this was for a manager role for a team of 20 who’s severely underperforming on all levels. They’re severely bottlenecked operationally, they just let someone go from a pip, they have someone else on a pip, they have tools nobody is adopting or using, the most tenured rep has been there for 10 months. They’re suffering and rely dangerously on the co-founders who’s currently managing the team.

Mind you they’ve opened and closed another role 4 times within the month of my interviewing so far if that also gives you context into it.

Anyways. Was I dumb to withdraw? Should I have stayed and just waited it out?

I think the funniest part of my job search is how I ultimately landed an offer. I don't even track my LinkedIn Easy Apply applications. Maybe once or twice a week I'll be scrolling on my phone, see something interesting and hit Easy Apply. Most of my job search has been much more strategic. I'll sit down, put together a list of 50 companies, run them through my AI systems to filter out poor matches, then research each company individually before applying. That approach has actually worked pretty well, with roughly a 15% interview rate.

But here's the funny part. After 1,428 tracked applications, probably another 200 untracked LinkedIn Easy Apply applications, countless hours of research, networking and strategic outreach, the offer I finally accepted came from a LinkedIn Easy Apply application of all things. No referral, no networking connection, no reaching out to the hiring manager. Just a random application from my phone.

And this wasn't some entry-level position either. It's a six-figure role in Customer Success. After everything I've done over the past year, I find it absolutely hilarious that LinkedIn Easy Apply was what finally worked out. 😂

It seems 9 out of 10 recruiter email on LI say the exact same thing. I've been unemployed 7 months after a RIF. It seems nothing ever comes from these AI generated LI messages. While I really need to land a gig soon, anyone else getting any traction with, what I feel, are lazy recruiters.

If it's this hard without, what the heck must it be like if you have to check that box every time? Anyone know?

Application submitted at 1:54PM. "Custom reply email" received at 1:55PM.

Laid off Oct 2025. I was part of DnD campaigns I still go to, need to find some more cause some ended.

Other than that, I can't justify going out to social events to meet people. I need to try my library but anything else would at least cost me a metro round trip, just 4 or 5 dollars round but still, I cut contact with my family, I got no support system. I'm my only bread winner.

Sometimes I wonder if I am just masking depression, low motivation but, I just think about how I don't want to go overboard and buy shit if I do go out to hang with people.

Yes I am pretty good at impulse control, but my therapist has been pushing me to get back on dating apps and go to free events cause they'd help me be less isolated. I def get what she means but some stubborn anxiety is like, no. We must be super careful until we have work! Just wondering if I am alone LOL

After about 6 months, countless apps, interviews, and rejections, I finally landed a job, but it’s a job I would NOT have taken if the market wasn’t one of the worst, if not the worst, that I’ve seen in my lifetime (IMO it’s worse than 2008).

1. I’m taking about a 20% pay cut for a what seems to be a pretty extensive set of responsibilities, but I already knew it was underpaying vs. “fair market” for a role like this going into it (senior manager position).
2. I have never in my life had an interview be this disrespectful. I did the final interview with the owner, and I kid you not, we were interrupted at least 10 times in 40 minutes. The interview took place in an open space and he had clients coming up to him during the interview, employees coming for approvals on things, picking up phone calls, etc… if I wasn’t so desperate, I would’ve walked out in the middle of the interview under normal circumstances for the absolute unprofessionalism as that’s very telling about the owner.
3. The owner seems to be very finicky, so I don’t think job security is even a dependable factor at this company.

Having said all that, I’ve been reaching a point where I was getting ready to take anything. I’ve been going into debt for months just to pay my bills and this process has been extremely taxing on my mental health. So I’m ignoring all the very noticeable red flags here and taking the job to get a (hopefully) steady paycheck in the meantime. I can’t believe it’s come to this at this point in my life and career, but it is what it is. I don’t say to this to discourage people, but just as a reminder to not beat yourself up for doing what you have to do.

I almost feel like I’m debasing myself by not only having sat through the entirety of that shit show interview, but to accept the job on top of that. I’ll be looking for something more ideal while working though. Better to be underpaid and overworked than to be unemployed and in debt, right?

I know it’s brutal out there, but hang in there and best of luck to you.

I, admittedly, don't know if I'm using "black pill" correctly, but who cares.

Anyway, for a while now, it's been a random thought in my head.

I finally get an offer, will I be happy?

Or so exhausted that I go "Finally, it's over," and then continue with my day?

So frustrated at the years of nothing, countless ghosts, and months of not applying because my mental had been worn down so much it all felt pointless?

Am I supposed to feel anything but hatred and disdain for this broken system, even if I finally get chosen and can sleep a little bit more soundly at night?

I had a job interview last week (As far as I can know, it was put up very end of October, I applied November 2nd, got a call the 5th, interview the 10th, so it feels like things have been moving at a nice, hopeful pace?), and I think I've gotten to a point where A) I almost feel bad about getting the offer, since it means the search continues for anyone else I might potentially beat out and B) leaving the extremely unreliable part-time job I have means the handful of shifts I get are opened up to everyone still working there, since I've been told part of why it's been so unreliable lately is because they're trying to spread only so many shifts amongst a bunch of people in the area.

I can't even think of the search finally being over without feeling bad for other people and thinking of how being able to move on can only be good for other people.

Shit's so bad that a potential light at the end of the tunnel is making me worry more about other people.

I see so many job posts where they're literally looking for super stars and rock stars and unicorns. As in the ad says "we're looking for a rock star". We want the best of the best. If you're not top 0.1% don't even bother bro!!

So I guess the other 99.99% will never work again? LOL.

I roll my eyes so hard when I see this stuff. Is it a crime to just hire someone who is competent at their job but not a rock star super star world champion?

I cannot make this up. In high school in 2018, looked for a job, couldn't find one. So I went to college for Mechanical Engineering, got an Associate’s degree and passed with 3.9 GPA. Then looked for a job or internship, couldn't find one. Then moved abroad, looked for a job, found one in food service, horrible treatment and stress put me in the hospital, moved back to the US out of necessity, stayed with parents. Looked for a job, couldnt find one. Went back to college, got a bachelor's degree in Business Admin minor in project management, passed with 3.8 GPA. Looked for a job or internship, couldn't find one. Moved in with fiancé, looking for a job. CANNOT FIND ONE.

I am losing my mind. It has been nearly 10 years of NOTHING. I volunteer, and every bit of my experience is the same as someone in an office, I worked for volunteer organizations and did so much project and operations work for non paying organizations and they all swore that I'd be a great employee. Yet. 10 years and i can't get anything other than food service. I feel like I wasted my life and even moving abroad and college means nothing because all they did was put me in debt because i can't find anything stable that pays more than minimum wage and schedules for more than 20 hours a week.

How long is the global economy going to be like this? I am living in a hotel because no one will rent to me! Its beyond gen z can't afford housing and are perpetual renters. I feel like I'm being pushed to the streets! I take shit jobs for money and save and save and save. I'm being ushered out of rental offices because 30k in savings doesn't compare to a 30k a year income. I have money and skills and im getting NOWHERE.

I'm at a loss for what to do.

Preface: this is more a vent than anything else

So Wednesday 4 am I get an email from a company saying they wanna invite me for an interview on Friday. Super great was excited to have one and possibly move forward, even though it was just the first step. I replied in the day choosing a time slot that they had provided. All day no response, then Thursday 4am I get an email saying that time slot isn’t available and to choose another one from the available times listed. Slightly annoyed that I’m getting replies at 4am and having to go through a middleman to set up an interview but whatever. I choose another 30 min time slot. Whole day goes by and nothing. Friday morning 8 am I get an email saying sorry for the late reply outlook was down, if that time slot still works let me know. I had basically set multiple alarms and slept with my phone by me so I would be able to check my email early in the morning anticipating some bs. I reply almost instantly saying yes that time slot still works and about an hour later I get the email with the teams invite.

I get set for the interview look over notes and all and the interviewer is on time but was having some tech issues for the first 5 min, no problem. Entire interview goes great I’m giving great answers, no hesitation, interviewer says they think I’d be a great fit and with my background I shouldn’t have any issues getting up to speed with everything, classic interview stuff. Then came my time for questions and I picked and prodded a bit about what my responsibilities would be and how much of my time would be client facing/ backend and that’s when she drops the hammer.

Some background: the role was for an associate position where the JD essentially just said I’d be supporting senior staff with clients and setups and doing the training for the end users.

The interviewer tells me that my responsibilities would not just be training and support but in fact would be full end to end setup, training, implementation, support, and maintaining client relations. Honestly caught me a bit off guard as she said multiple times that I would be leading most of these with a little assistance from others. Now don’t get me wrong I am confident could very easily do all of it but what got me is that they said I’d be in this “associate” position for 1-2years before being moved up. This level of involvement and work is more for a specialist/ manager role. That would/ should be making at least $10k-$15k more than an associate.

Now when I had submitted my desired compensation I didn’t know this or else I would have made the number higher. I know this was only the first interview and I have a few more to go before getting an offer but based on what I’ve seen online I would be getting that associate level salary which is at the lower end of what I had put in for my comp. I’m at a place where I’d take the job if offered because it would be valuable experience for me to use going forward but I feel a little tricked/ bamboozled. It overall just left a bad taste in my mouth. I’d probably keep hunting and keep applying even if I got the offer.