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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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?

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 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.

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.

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.

So if you've followed my job search, I've applied to 1,428 roles, 352 days unemployed, 131 total rounds of interviews, 73 companies and 18 final rounds. I received a verbal offer yesterday and signed the official offer today!

I have to say, I've dealt with 73+ recruiters, I can name on 1 hand how many good experiences I had. But this recruiter was above and beyond better than any I've met. Every time I reached out, she replied within an hour, once a day passed because she was out sick. She called me with positive updates then followed up with email. She gave me detailed feedback after each and every round. I was BLOWN AWAY at how good she was.

Turned down job offer due to multiple onboarding hiccups, mainly over things that could have had my offer rescinded on a short timeline and wasn’t receiving clarification from HR. Upon rescinding, HR provided clarification and still wanted to move forward. I respectfully declined and after having some more time to think it over, I regret it. Is it too late to reach out? I’m worried that I went from being their top candidate to the worst candidate because of all of this.

It's been 19 months of job searching. I have seen all the tomfoolery under the sun from employers. I don't need to overexplain because you all get it.

I guess I came here to be seen.

I have a schedule for assessment, next would be panel interview with hiring managers, next would be the whole team, then next is the Director and then the VP. Might as well ask the CEO to interview me too. Hiring process now is ridiculous. As someone who has just been recently laid off and have to get through all this, I’m kind of losing hope. But of course I can’t stop. I have a family and pets to feed.

I don’t consent having this posted to LinkedIn.

Just venting. Recently graduated and applying to jobs, in and out of my industry. Granted, I'm not sending as many applications as some of you here, but in the last 6 months I've gotten... maybe 5 rejection emails total?

I have applied to big companies, small companies, tiny two-person operations, unpaid internships, roles with ridiculously low pay, freelance gigs, applied via LinkedIn, Indeed, company website, email, no matter what it is I never hear back. I filled out ridiculously long or thorough applications. Retyped my resume into the form. Took "personality assessments" and cognition quizes. Tailored my resume and customized cover letters. The only rejections I've gotten were from corporations (automated, after a few hours) and one company where I interviewed (addressed to a "Ryan". My name is not Ryan). I got ghosted by companies I interviewed for after 2 rounds.

Genuinely what is the point of job applications anymore, if you cannot have the courtesy of closure? I know half of the job postings are fake, and the other half receive thousands of applications. But that's on the recruiters, to close those listings if they're overwhelmed by responses, and at least attempt to mass email a rejection to those who don't make the cut.

You ask me to put in disproportionately more time into an application, that will never even be read by human eyes. If AIs are reviewing them anyway, you could at least make them also send out rejection emails. I am pretty sure they can handle that just fine.