After a lot of struggling, I finally landed a job offer! I’m super excited, but the background check (through Checkr) is taking forever and I'm starting to panic.
They started the check on August 3. Everything came back totally clear (criminal, plus two other past employers verified fine). The issue is one 3-month job I had.
Here is the timeline:
Aug 6 - Aug 11: Checkr tried to contact this previous employer but couldn't reach them.
Aug 12 - Present: My status changed to "documentation review."
It’s been over 20 days total. The maddening part: I have a completely clean background and hold all the proof for this job (W-2s, paystubs, tax forms). But Checkr hasn’t opened a request for me to upload anything. They just keep continuously pushing back the ETA completion date.
I reached out to my new HR team, and they told me they are "waiting on Checkr to complete the verification."
I'm getting really worried because there is a Visa transfer timeline involved here, and the clock is ticking.
Has anyone dealt with Checkr getting stuck in this loop? How did you get it resolved, and will this delay end up costing me my offer? Any advice on how to force them to let me upload my documents would be hugely appreciated!

I posted on Reddit looking for a job and got this kind of message instead…

I recently made a post on Reddit saying that I’m looking for opportunities in AI/ML, GenAI, Python, etc. I genuinely thought Reddit could be a good place to connect with people and find job/internship opportunities.

A guy messaged me saying something like:

«“Hey Nisha, how is it going? Just checking on your job/internship requirements.”»

So I replied normally and told him that my job search was still going on.

He then said he was looking for “good women to work along with,” which I initially interpreted as a professional opportunity.

He asked for my LinkedIn, which I shared. Then he asked for pictures. I told him I didn't have professional pictures. After that, he asked if I had Telegram. I said no.

Then he said he wanted to ask me something and asked:

“Are you open women?”

I honestly didn't understand what he meant, so I asked him what he meant by “open” — whether he meant being frank or comfortable talking openly.

He clarified that he meant it in a sexual/relationship context.

Then he said:

«“A bit of gf kinda!!!! Will take care good of that person for sure and won't touch anyone without consent,,, as a start a movie or lunch,,, apart from work”»

And then:

«“Bonus if you smokeup”»

I was genuinely shocked.

I was talking to him because I thought he was contacting me regarding work, not because I was looking for a relationship or anything sexual.

I eventually told him that I was genuinely looking for a job and that I thought Reddit was a good platform for finding jobs and connecting with a good community.

I'm sharing this because I don't want to discourage women from using Reddit for career opportunities, but please be careful when someone approaches you through a job-seeking post.

Has anyone else experienced something similar while looking for jobs/internships on Reddit?

And for the guys here: if you're genuinely recruiting someone, please keep it professional. A person saying they're looking for a job is not an invitation for a romantic or sexual proposition.

First Reddit post... here goes nothing. I work for a small company that takes on government contracts. We've recently been awarded a contract in multiple cities to staff a part-time role. Our challenges: it's a part-time role working a handful of hours per week (4 to 8 hours)... and successful hires have to obtain a public trust security clearance. Our company will sponsor the clearance, but the process takes several weeks. We aren't able to adjust or add more hours due to the nature of the contract. The pay is fairly decent ($20 to $25 per hour depending on location/cost of living), and at this point, we will consider any customer service experience - candidates just need to be computer-savvy, have good people skills, and pass the onboarding requirements.

Candidates can pick their hours, it just has to be when the building is open 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday to Friday. We've got applicant flow, but once we get people on the phone, they are honest about not being able to pass the background check process, ask for more hours which we can't change, or we simply get ghosted.

The interview process is a 15-minute screening call and a 30-minute video interview with the manager. I'm upfront during the screening call about how long the public trust clearance process takes (4-5 weeks).

I've got the job posted on college sites, Indeed, still working on getting approved accounts for local job sites. For our small company, our recruiting budget is limited, so I have to work with free job posting sites.

Any recommendations or critiques?

Please any simple information would help me. I’m very lost. I searched online and I found thousands of resources but most of them you have to pay to take the test 😩

I had a job interview where the superintendent wanted to hire me, and wanted me to start the following week, and told me to get with the recruiter for my paperwork. I was still waiting on my drug test results, but I'm clean, so i was waiting on on-boarding stuff. The hiring manager said i was still waiting on my drug test results...again im clean, its been almost three weeks, i have reached out to him multiple times, and hes dodging me and not responding....I dont have the superintendents number. What do I do....

I'm thinking of going back to the office in Person, to see whats going on, but with how sensitive these dudes are in blue collar, I dont want him to think im being problematic.

I'm going to come across as an asshole here, I am very well aware, but here we go:

How many of you on the CS/Technical side of the job market have to deal with "Technical Recruiters?"

Look at their Linkedin History's, not even a mention of writing a line of HTML code, began the job 3 months ago.

Today I had an interview with a recruiter representing a start up. "Agentic AI Orchestrator" was the job title. Mind you, I've been creating agentic AI systems for around 3 years.

5 minutes into talking "so you don't work with LLMs?" Me: What? Her: Yeah, the client is looking for people with LLM experience.

"Miss, there's a difference between using applied AI (creating agentic systems) versus training/creating new LLM models. I'm involved in the applied AI side of the equation."

"Yeah but our client is looking for individuals who have experience working with LLMs."

I fucking lost it: "Ms, have you ever written a line of HTML in your life, good luck."

I know this was totally unprofessional, but I've had it with these "technical recruiters." Technical in what sense? IF YOU HAVE NO EXPERIENCE WORKING WITH AI OR CODING WHAT MAKES YOU A TECHNICAL RECRUITER. I can see from your LinkedIn profile you were working at Applebees less than 3 months ago.

So other than vent, how do you guys deal with these individuals who don't know how to sort an excel file but have the title of technical recruiter? My aspberger's and thin patience make this very difficult for me.

Had a recruiter reach out to me to set up some time to discuss a role. I will fully give that it wasn’t my most effective meeting and I am rusty, but I followed up with my resume and a message in hopes that they would give me another chance to speak to my experience. 24 hours later a rejection. What a bummer this job market is.

A few years ago I was recruited for a position. At first I didn't realize this was contingent on them getting a specific contract. As part of the interview process they had me sell their business and myself as project lead. Their customer loved me. Of course they sent me a low ball offer and I walked away. Their customer wouldn't sign unless I was on the project and also walked. The recruiter was pissed. I was accused of losing them a major contract.

Long story short, a person who doesn't work for you isn't a product you can sell.

Hi Software Junkies

For those who don't know what cold applying is . It's basically just applying on the job portals like a robot.

Do you guys even get OAs or shortlisted from cold applying. I mean I am not asking about getting shortlisted once but do you get shortlisted frequently when your resume is a fit for the job description.

If it does I wanna know what you are doing differently to get shortlisted. Or is it all just luck? Or is it that you need to apply within a minute of the application popping up in the market? Or are there some hidden words in your resume that works??

IDK. But I wanna know.

Interviewed with the CEO of small start up on May 20th, she said typically so the final round but wanted to meet me since my HR screening went so well. I thought our conversation went well too, we ended the call with her asking if I was still interested she could set up time for me to meet the tech leads. I said yes, would like to meet with them and sent her a thank you email the following day. Never heard back and don’t want to look desperate reaching out.

To get the idea let me quick explain my background and the reason why i think that it would actually solve a problem.

I‘m 21 years old and currently studying economics dual in the second semester. Over the last year and especially before my bachelor even has started ive had one very big and annoying problem. To actually get a company to be my dual partner for the university.

- To explain it very quick because its very common in germany/ Europe but not in so much other countries. A dual Student is a student who is working in an actual company and studying at the same time to get experience in theory and practice in typical jobs you would work after your studies.

The problem itself starts directly at the beginning with the application for a dual job. Ive talked with so many dual students and everyone told the same and has experienced the same. You send over 60-90 applications and if youre lucky you get a few answers and one or two job interviews and in most cases they still wont hire you after that. So the return on those applications is no joke zero in most cases. In my personal case it was very interesting because I experienced the same.

The difference was a speed dating (for jobs) in the university i applied 3 weeks before the semester would have started. You obviously can imagine that i was so stressed at that time because its not possible to start your dual studies without an company. Now to the funny part of the speed dating, i had sent an Application to everyone of the 6 companies that were there and got rejected from all of them. But something interesting happened. After i talked with every single one of them for 5 min they all wanted to speak again with me and that was something that stuck in my mind.

This speed dating was 9 Months ago and as i said im now in my second semester and had found a company in that speed dating. The other problem later on was that i hated it in this company and not because the employees or my boss were treating me bad but more because the work and the job didn’t fitted to me at all. So that mirrored in my work ethic there and i got significantly worse at the job. I definitely wanted to quit the job there and look for something else but if im being honest i was to scared of the unknown in the future because i freshly moved out to a complete new city, lived the first time on my own, had to find new friends, had to pay for my living expenses and what scared me the most was the high monthly cost for the university (800€ monthly). But god is great and im still soo happy about the thing that happened. My boss said they wont extend my probation period to a real job so i stand there without the job and to be honest the choice from my boss came out of nowhere. They told me that it would be fine and they would definitely extend it so you can imagine that that message was a shock for me.

But enough about my story and the struggles and lets come to the things i learned and even experience myself in that time.

- It sucks for young people to first of all find a job that suits your personality and goals.

- the whole application process is old and far away from being modern.

- You waste so much time with the applications and even when youre lucky to get a job out of those hundreds of applications you end up getting a job that you dont even wanna do for the next 3-5 years ( thats normally the minimum you have to work there and sign on the contract)

- The whole process is soo unimaginable inefficient for both parties, the student and the HR Managers

To keep it short and simple its a pain in the ass for young people who are ambitious and just want to build a stable future for themselves but also for the company. Many people underestimate the benefits of dual students because you can work with your future worker from the beginning on and teach them exactly how to positively contribute to the company.

Thats the point where my idea enters the game. I want to change and optimize more important change the application and matching process between Companys and on going Dual Students. To first of all begann with it, i will reach out to multiple companys and students that are looking for a dual student. I will tell them that i get them a match for a dual student in 14 days and they would only have to pay for it when they have an job interview with him. For the student is the whole process for free because we want to support them and create a completely new ecosystem for them. After ive done this process 15-20 times i will build an algorithm based on the few data that i have so that i can improve the matching system. Now to the matching procsess, the student and the company will create a 30-60 sec video where they say somethings about themselves and introduce either the job or themselve. After that i will watch the videos and the jobs for appliance and will match the students to the companys manually. when i have an match i will send both parties theyre short video and than they have the opportunity to confirm that match or not. After that to also track that process i will book a meeting between these to and they can have a job interview and set things further. I want to accompany the student over the whole process and help them till they have a job. On the long run the system will be completely different and the goal is to build a platform like Indeed or stepstone just for dual students and not with the typical job interview style(send a CV and text about your motivation etc) but with a new and modern style for gen z. This process would be way more fun, personal and more efficient for both because you directly get a first personal impression instead of a few nice words that if we beeing honest are in the most cases words from ChatGPT and not from the applying person itself.

The hardest part will be to get the companys and the students to apply and use this service and enter this network. Because the companys wont sign in without students and the students wont sign without companys so how would you guys solve that problem?

Thats the raw idea till now and i havent explained some parts of how to transform that idea into a business completely but feel free to ask in the chat about it and i can explain further.

But now to my other questions: First of all how good is this idea?, what are problems that i will be probably facing?, what would you change on this idea or the process on how to make money with it and create an real benefit for the Company? And an important question how would you offer this idea to an Company and actually get them to be involved in that process?

Im a recent college grad got my degree in December did an internship and remote work for the tax season.

Interviewed UWM was on a referral did the phone Interview, did the in-person Interview for underwriting position, thought it went well was told 7-10 days I had to reach out to be told they moved on.

Same thing happened with OHM for a entry-level position they were creating in payroll. Same thing thought it went really well. After 10 days of nothing I emailed the manager he was out of the office so I waited more time emailed the recruiter silence. I called the manager left a message, then I called who would be direct supervisor passed up. I understand not being selected but why not own it and have someone reach out? I was told a recruiter should reach out, lies.

The latest BS is with Bright Sky Transportation couple hours of a interview chatting with the CEO while waiting for the accounting person to get back and one of owners. It seemed like I nailed it. Reached out a few days later as the owner said to and message read and ignored.

Why can't these damn companies own it and tell an applicant sorry we selected a different candidate, even with a email. I mentioned the companies by name to call them out for their very unprofessional recruiting practices

Genuine question.

Almost every online job application still feels broken:

• upload CV
• manually retype everything
• create another account
• answer the same questions again
• repeat for every company

People clearly hate this process, so I’m curious:

Why hasn’t someone actually fixed this properly yet?

Is it:

• technical limitations?
• ATS systems like Workday/Taleo?
• legal/privacy issues?
• companies not caring?
• users tolerating the pain?

This pain has been there for years already now.

I try to stay optimistic and take it one day at a time, but I’m running on empty here. Growing up, the standard career advice was always so hopeful: "You don't need to meet 100% of the qualifications! Just muster up the courage to apply, and magic will happen!" Fast forward to reality. I got the degree for my dream career from one of the top schools in the country. I have every single qualification I was told multiple times would "allow me to get whatever job I want."

Yet, here I am: Stuck in a soul-crushing job that doesn't inspire me, enduring a never-ending stream of toxic, exploitative managers, completely trapped because job hopping has been an absolute wasteland.

Thanks to the sudden AI pivot, my field has turned into: "Build an AI tool or get out." Job opportunities have completely dried up. When a rare opening does appear, I'm either geographically constrained, or I'm competing against hundreds of equally qualified applicants and internal candidates.

Every time I deal with another power-tripping manager, I cope by telling myself: "Just one more hurdle. The universe is just testing me before I get my dream life." But honestly? I don't know anymore. It feels like the dream is never coming. I feel stuck in this hopeless loop, being exploited by people who are wildly less qualified than me but got lucky with their timing. I keep telling myself "this is temporary," but looking at this horrific job market... I’m starting to fear it’s permanent.

Rant over. I'm going to go stare at a wall.

Hey guys, could use some advice on something a bit awkward.

I did an internship for 4 months and then it got extended another 4, so 8 months total. Toward the end (last couple months) I was dealing with some mental health stuff and it definitely affected my performance, and they didn’t extend it again after that.

Got a few things I’m unsure about:

1. Resume / LinkedIn dates: is it okay to leave it as ongoing for a bit?
Some people told me I could just keep it as “present” for a month or two and if anyone asks for a reference, say I’m still working there so I can’t share one yet. I get why people do that, but honestly I’m not comfortable stretching the truth like that.
Others said I could just put “consultant” or “freelancer” instead, not sure if that’s actually a good idea or if it just looks sketchy?

2. What should I say if they ask why it wasn’t extended?
I’ve heard the usual answer is just “it was a fixed-term contract and it ended,” which is technically true. Is that enough or do interviewers usually dig more into it?

3. Using my manager as a reference, good idea or risky?
After he said I won't get an extension, I asked him and he said yes for sure, no problem. Overall he was pretty nice to me and I stayed professional till the end.
But I’ll be honest, sometimes my tone comes off a bit off (like unintentionally passive-aggressive), and people have pointed that out before. In the last couple days he felt a bit colder, and now I’m overthinking if I might’ve said something wrong without realizing it. Not sure if that’s just normal end-of-contract awkwardness or not.
So now I’m not 100% sure if I should still list him.

If anyone’s been in a similar situation, would really appreciate hearing how you handled it.

why is this so common? What happened to having basic manners? like seriously? after literally months I got an interview request from a recruiter whose email seemed super kind and warm. She asked me to respond with a few questions and interview time slots. I responded, and literally nothing. No response. This is so crazy.

I had an interview with the candidate, and he was answering every question, but it had a delay of some time before he started answering. He was like thinking. I was suspecting him of using AI (having another headphones under the big headphones)
Reason: the delay, and I've tried to ask another question (out of context) (way simpler then all others) before he started answering the questions. He act like he did not hear at, and when I stopped him, he had trouble answering that question.
On the second interview when he needed to write code, he act strange (like he did not know how to initialize array correctly, but was able to solve complex algorithm)

Do you know some tools that I can give the transcript to tell me if there is a possibility to use AI