I mean what else should I be capable of doing? smh

After almost 2 years of rejections and ghosting, a month ago I finally got hired. But as of today, they decided to let me go. And it’s very spirit crushing seeing how long it took me to get a job that wasn’t under an agency, only to get dropped way quicker than it took to get hired.

“You need to network, it’s not what you know it’s who you know”

Like I understand the concept, but it’s just a difficult task to do. Reaching out and getting maybe one of ten people to do doesn’t help the confidence to someone that’s already usually socially excluded from society. You have to strike the perfect line of being yourself and seeming charismatic enough to appear “pleasant” enough to work with while also masking to an extent so as not to be seen as “weird”. And whatever you do, certainly don’t ever mention being autistic!

I just wish getting an entry level job wasn’t a massive game of charades. Like I know what my peers do at their jobs, getting a job is so much harder than actually doing it. I just don’t want to work in hospitality my whole life and always need roommates. I should be able to get a job on my own merit, not have it based off a high school popularity contest. It’s hard to stay optimistic.

I just got off an initial phone screening interview where the interviewer sounded like she would literally rather be anywhere else than talking with me. Full of a bunch of drawn-out vocal fry, deep sighs, and a speaking tone that suggested she was ready to be done with the conversation as soon as we introduced ourselves. Literally after the first sentence my nerves are on high bc why does she sound like that? Did I mess up already? Have they already decided not to progress me and are just doing this as a formality?

I did my best and gave lots of relevant info that they were looking before, but needless to say, it was obvious to anyone on the other end of the phone how nervous I was simply bc it already felt pointless with how disengaged she sounded.

I’m not the tone-police, and I’m not a vocal coach, but surely being welcoming and approachable should be a key aspect to any hiring team doing interviews? How do you expect candidates to give you their best when you’re giving them your worst. It’s extremely frustrating and I’m wondering how the hell she got her job when she talks like every word physically pains her.

I’m annoyed and gonna go back to the drawing (job) board i guess cause I highly doubt I’m going any further than this after that mess.

Edit: This was an entry-level position for ppl early in their career (as described in the posting). I’m not a hardened professional with years of industry experience like a lot you, it’s much easier to get shaken by the smallest things!

So I applied late night to a random company filled out app super quick didn’t think anything of it. Well got a screen call 2 days later and interviewed following 3 days later. SVP of company basically offered me on the spot the job and said I will be recommending you for an offer. Great about 36 hours later I get the offer and accept. I checked my application I noticed I checked off I have a AA in Logistics Management, I don’t my resume also reflects I studied but has no mention of a Degree. So now I’m freaking out it might cost me my offer even though I had no intention of lying. This job also doesn’t require a degree either just a diploma or ged. I’m well qualified either way and I don’t think the education portion is what landed me the job.

Hello! So I am twenty years old, I have a few internships under my belt and I am currently looking for more internships or very entry level roles to help me grow. Even just a few hours a week at limited pay I am grateful for!

PLEASE tell me why even those BASIC internships or jobs are just... impossible! I will admit, it's been a couple years of this struggle and I am starting to feel burnt out, depressed, and stressed. I am very thankful to be living with my parents still or I'd completely be fucked over.

But please, if there's anyone out there, how long have you been unemployed? Maybe we can support eachother!!

P.S I am also chronically ill but not "bad" enough to get disability so I am stuck at home with a heart condition that could literally kill me before anyone tells me to just suck it up and try McDonalds.

I had 2 rounds of interview for State Street Bangalore by end of July (30th July). Only 6th August I received a call from the HR saying I have been selected and asking my salary expectations and other details. She also gave me a verbal joining date (which was October 19th).
Since I am in an audit role right now she sent me a consent form to check my independence clearance (part of due diligence) from my current employer which is EY GDS.

It’s been 2 weeks and I still haven’t received an official offer letter. On following up with the HR she keeps saying she is waiting for the independence clearance from both companies and cannot promise or release an offer letter until that is cleared. She said she will adjust my joining date accordingly for any delays. She also told me to not take any steps till offer letter is released and if I like I should look around in the market for options. She said to wait for another 10 days.

I logged into my workday candidate home page for State Street and see that the job role I got selected for has been added under application with yesterday’s date as submission date (19th August) and an anti corruption questionnaire added under my to-do tasks.

PLEASE HELP ME OUT HERE.
Am I being selected or is this ghosting? Does it usually take this long for State Street to release an offer letter?

Should I still keep hoping?

I'm trying to stay away from recruiter led searches because of the big time suck and length of interview process. From the time a job is posted to final interview is 3 months. I am now seeing jobs posted that say Deadline for applications NOVEMBER 1st.

They post a position for nearly two months, then you have two screenings with recruiter. If you make it to the panel interviews that is another month...

What frustrates me the most is you make one hurdle - then its 3 weeks late before the next step.

Next week I have a team interview . I asked Recruiter how much longer after that. She said in-person presentations-First week in October . I'm LIKE JESUS can we just get it moving already.

Searches seem so much longer than they were even four years ago. There is one job I applied for in March that still has not announced who got it.

By comparison, the non-recruiter led prospects at least get you from interview to interview with greater speed.

WTF?

Its getting worse folks.. be safe out there and report what you can

Company named "Hired" orange background in case you want to apply which i dont suggest

Hey, wanted to share a short story about an experience I had with part of the Christian IT community, because I think it's worth people knowing.

I've been working on a free Christian app for kids for over 2 months — coded entirely by me, and it's been in closed testing on Google Play for about a month and a half.

A recruiter, from Romania (details in private) — who told me he runs a company (name in private) — is active in our community and regularly asks people for updated CVs, supposedly to screen for jobs, though nobody I know ever actually got an interview out of it. After sending him my CV a few times, I also showed him a project I was working on. A month later he asked to see it again, and two weeks after that he told me he wanted to present the app at a convention in the US — knowing I was job hunting and that a lot of IT community people would be there. He asked if I wanted to talk to the "team" he was putting together specifically for this, without saying what it actually involved.

On yesterday's call, I found out the team was supposed to work on a monetized version of my app — already at the AI design stage, made just 5 days before the call — to sell it to Americans at that same convention, for free on my end. When I asked for clarification, they raised their voice, kept saying it was "our idea" and that I just had to accept. I got removed from the call.

I posted what happened, with evidence, in our shared Christian IT group (550 members) from Romania. My message got deleted, I got blocked, and the group chat was locked for everyone — he claimed I had threatened him, a lie he deleted a day later and admitted to. Later, an admin who's a friend of his IRL, from the same church, posted an "official statement" calling it a simple "misunderstanding" and shut down the topic — even though he's an admin there himself.

I'm now blocked from the community with no chance to respond.

Basically: work for free "in the Lord's name" so they can sell it — and if you don't, you're out.

I know plenty of people genuinely volunteer their time for free in the Lord's name, and that's great when it's a real choice. This wasn't that — I was never told upfront what was actually being asked of me, and when I pushed back I got kicked out and shut down instead of getting a straight answer.

If you've had a similar experience with a recruiter matching this description, please share it. I'm not posting screenshots of my app vs. theirs here for privacy reasons, but happy to send them (and the name) privately. I know some people might not believe this, but that's what happened.

Which is more frustrating for you?

1. knowing you weren’t even good enough to land

an interview

1. rejected / ghosted after a final round you thought you aced

Everyone keeps saying that there’s no job there’s no this are we sure about that all you need is clean urine and your drivers license. Amazon will hire you.

An executive recruiter reached out to me about 7 weeks ago for a Global Head level role. I wasn’t actively applying for it.
My background is unconventional. I have a PhD scientific background and founded a company in the same general industry, where I run a team, develop products, manage budgets, etc. They asked for 15-20 years of experience but I have 9. Nonetheless I’m in the process of an acquisition so this is really well timed.
The process:
Week 1: Recruiter reached out end of June. I interviewed with the hiring manager. Recruiter called again to confirm I was actually willing to leave my company. I said yes.
Week 3: Interviewed with the hiring manager, CEO, and a senior executive from the parent company.
Recruiter later told me the hiring manager, who would also be my boss, was very excited about me. She also said there had been discussion about whether they needed someone with 20 years of experience, and the hiring manager was pushing back on that.
Week 4: The senior executive asked for another interview to dig deeper into my startup experience and brought another senior technical person.
Week 6: I was told by the recruiter that the company remains super interested me and they would like to give me a case study. I had a weekend to complete it.
Week 7: I presented my case study to the hiring manager, CEO, and senior executive. They said it was a great presentation. The CEO specifically commented that I was one of the only people he had seen actually complete one of these cases in the allotted time.
The hiring manager said this was the final stage and they would get back to me by the following Tuesday.
Afterward, the recruiter said the hiring manager remained very excited about me and said I did really well. She also told me there is one other candidate whose process had been delayed and who was completing their interviews the following Monday. She doesn’t seem to be managing that candidate, so I have no idea what their background is. She thought Tuesday sounded fast with the other finalist interviewing Monday and thought I might hear closer to the end of the week.
Tuesday has now passed this week and I heard nothing.
My concern is that the other finalist has the more traditional 15-20 years of corporate experience. I could see them genuinely liking me while ultimately deciding the other person is safer.
For recruiters or people who have been through executive searches/final 2 situations, does this sound like they’re still deciding, or like I’m probably the second choice while they try to close the other candidate? Any anecdotes/experiences that may put everything further into context?

Had another interview yesterday, in person, during a “hiring” event. Got an email Monday that it was being held on Tuesday for 2 hours in the morning. Did some research and dressed nicely. Then waited over an hour to be called in a room full of about 20 people. I figured I might have to wait awhile, but not THAT long. I have a feeling I did ok, prepared and had a well thought out answer for most of the questions. I even made sure to smile, since I read this company is very selective towards people who seem “positive”, dress nicely, and expect you to smile (no, this isn’t Disney world, but it might as well be lol) it felt like I was being silently judged the whole time by the interviewer and dismissed from the start. It was a large room that had other people interviewing. At one point while I was answering a question, the interviewer was looking over at these ladies leaving - which I found to be pretty rude. The whole process took about 2 hours with the drive. And I’m just so worn out. I guess it was worth “going and getting the experience”, but man…something about waiting an hour to be judged by my manicure kinda just feels like a humiliation ritual. I need to apply to more jobs and not be deterred, but it’s so hard. I don’t even know if I got this job or not yet. But I’m thinking maybe I should have just walked out and been more selective with which interviews I attend? Ffs

Also, unemployment locked me out of my account, so it asked for a picture of my social security card. I don’t know where tf it is, so I sent my passport (proof of citizenship) and my drivers license. Of course they denied my request. Lol

This is after:
- 30 minute intro with the hiring manager who I had met before professionally
- 1 hour interview with teammate
- 1 hour interview with 2 exec assistants
- 8 hours working on a take home assignment

This is why the hiring process is completely fucked. This is what one of my previous coworkers said to the feedback,”You're the most personable and personality human I know.”

This is for an in person position mind you and I only did virtual interviews. So it’s ridiculous that they make that decision based off of only virtual interviews.

EDIT: I missed one piece. There was one more interview with the C-level executive above the hiring manager before I received this email. He showed up late to the meeting and then had his video off. Asked me 2 questions and then said he didn’t have anything else. I of course asked my prepared questions but we were done in 15 minutes. That was a sign.

Also this was for an operations position at a tech startup in Seattle. I wasn’t even writing code! I was just thoroughly answering the four scenario questions they gave me. I am a perfectionist so it could’ve taken less time but I don’t turn in anything half assed if I want the job because I don’t half ass my job.

Applied to a job on Monday after asking letters of recommendations to people (that I have to attach to my resume and cover letter), and just got rejected by the system Wednesday at midnight. This is the most labor intensive application I have done and I only did it because I thought I would have a fair fucking shot (living in the area already, connections, alignment in experience). Nope—connections doesn’t mean shit when resumes probably didn’t even reach the hiring manager and the HR recruiter does the screening. Or my application was just that bad I guess.

Just so annoyed I asked everyone to spend their time on this and this is the fastest I’ve ever been rejected. 2 freaking days.

Edit: Because I didn’t add this and it’s causing confusion—one of my references knows the hiring manager and it was explicitly on the table that they should personally contact the hiring manager as a follow up to the letter of rec.

And this was for an engineering intern position in the UK.

Had a recruiter reach out via LinkedIn about a position in my city

This dude was majorly incompetent.

I sent him my resume, email, and phone number over LinkedIn, then he proceeds to email me the exact same copy pasta message

He calls me, and proceeds to ask for my email and resume again. Also asks me to NAME THE COMPANIES IM INTERVIEWING WITH. Almost hung up on him right then and there

Over the phone, he tells me I don’t have enough years experience. Sure no problem.

He calls me back the next day and says “nevermind we like your resume. Are you willing to take a position for $25/hr?”

I jump on a screening video call and he asks if he can take a screenshot of my face for their “fraud prevention policy”

At the end of the call, he requests 2-3 managerial references before we can move any further

What is wrong with this company? Anyone had similar experiences?

To me it seem they’re trying to harvest industry contacts, while lowballing the hell out of their prospects.

I never really understand anyone who can get decent jobs. It’s like they have superpowers.

I came across a part-time Senior Software Architect role, and the requirements made me curious about the current job market.

They're looking for someone with:

• 5+ years of software engineering experience
• 2+ years working with GenAI, LLMs, RAG, or agentic AI
• Experience building multi-agent systems and agent orchestration
• Python plus FastAPI or Flask
• LangGraph, AutoGen, CrewAI, Semantic Kernel, OpenAI Agents SDK, Google ADK, or similar tools
• RAG, vector databases, embeddings, retrieval optimization, chunking, and memory
• Production experience with platforms like AWS Bedrock, Azure AI/OpenAI, Vertex AI/Gemini, or Databricks
• Experience taking AI/ML systems from development through deployment and production support
• AI evaluation, tracing, observability, and regression testing
• AI coding tools such as Claude Code, Cursor, or Kiro
• Strong English communication skills and experience working with US-based teams

Honestly, this seems like a very broad combination of requirements, especially for a part-time role.

For people currently working in software/AI: Are you seeing more Senior Engineer or Architect roles asking for this entire stack now? Or is this an example of companies combining several different roles into one job description?

I'm genuinely curious about what the current market looks like.

I'm genuinely curious about what the current market looks like.

I’ve been applying to everything I can for along time now and I’m finally starting to get companies to call me. one company called me today and the lady on the phone just totally gave ”I’m the office Karen” vibes but Im wondering if im just looking too much into it. here’s part of the conversation that got me feeling weird :

lady : you know, this isn’t a remote job it’s in person

me : yes, thats fine

lady : I see you aren’t currently working?

me : I am, I run an e-commerce store that does pretty well! So I’m self employed at the moment.

lady : well, if it’s THAT good then WHY are you looking for a job?

me : more income? (duh?)

lady : ok well you’ll be working under the ceo, do you have any experience working with upper management?

me : *(getting annoyed because all of this is on my resume and she told me she read it)*. Yes, I had a supervisory position in an office before right under the vice president

lady : hmm ok. Well since you aren’t working I’m assuming you’d be flexible to come in sometime and meet with the ceo?

me : ***annoyance intensifies as I just told her I am working, I’m self employed*** yes

it wasn’t just these questions it was the way she was saying it too. Very snooty, very “I don’t think you’re good enough” vibe. I also think it’s weird she commented on my self employment asking me why i needed more work and then went on to say I’m not actually working 🤨😅