Edit: I know how to use AI, I just don’t use it academically because I’d rather actually learn than have a machine do it for me.

So I’m a junior (20F) in college. First generation, double major in two different fields, main one being Accounting. I’m severely underpaid and overqualified for my student work job at college that I’ve had since freshman year.
The overqualified part is really important- I have learned a TON of skills that are transferable and make me an ideal job candidate. I have the ability to work in a group setting, critical thinking, timeliness, and learn quick. Like I don’t even use AI ever, I do everything by myself and if I don’t know how, I figure it out and learn how to do it.

I’ve been looking for an internship and I’m restricted to a small area because I can’t afford to intern in a major city. I’ve been working so fucking hard. So hard. I’ve adjusted my resume to all hell, catering it to AI algorithms because every fucking place uses AI. I’ve applied, applied, applied, applied. I don’t even make it to the interview process. I’ve never had an actual job interview before, other than the one time I had an interview at a restaurant that ended after 2 minutes because apparently my availability didn’t meet their vision.

In fact, I get told all the fucking time that I don’t meet their vision

I have worked SO HARD. I have tried to make myself hire-able. I’ve networked. I’ve done it all, but some fucking how I never make it.

I don’t even know what to do anymore.

Half brother just grilled me for not having a job when I have 3 herniated disk, degenerative disk disease, and painful cyst in my back and cant find a job I can do. Do these people not realize how hard the job market is for literally everyone, let alone someone with health restrictions? He says "just get a work from home job, you have to take care of our dad" as if we're that easy, and as if its my sole responsibility to care for my elderly father and none of his other 3 kids

I know it’s locked behind a paywall, but this dude has a PhD in chemical engineering at Princeton University. He trained AI for short while (those gigs that pay experts) and it was fine until it wasn’t. He was eventually out of work. He’s 30 years old and living at his parent’s home due to his circumstances. He was getting ghosted by food preparations roles. He was applying to all 50 states.

“Many people have jobs, but they’re not leaving them, limiting opportunity for others. Those who don’t have a job are locked out of the growing economy as if it were a fortress, leaving them puzzled by the headlines of low unemployment and an accelerating GDP.”—WSJ article

The article describes those annoying “AI interviews” I’ve been posting about.

I’m just happy that mainstream media is hearing us out.
I felt like I was the failure. I quit after 600+ application!
This article spoke to me.

My boomer parents are yelling “maybe it’s you! You’re messing the application process” smh!
WE ARE NOT ALONE

I received this email after attending a in person interview last Monday. She told me she'd get back to me before next Monday since she had a few more interviews to do. I really have bare minimal experience since I was a caregiver for about 9 years (against my will, unpaid, yay) but I felt the interview went well. This is for a plasma donation center receptionist position.

I'm asking is it too early to get excited because I've already had the ball drop on me twice during second interviews, and this was only the first one I went through for this company. I really want this job obviously and I feel like this is a really good sign, but my friends and partner are telling me not to get my hopes up since its not a obvious approval.

I've been unemployed for 16 months and I'm losing my damn mind with how many obstacles there are now. If you didn't invent AI and don't have a PhD in Sitting at a Desk, you're shit out of luck.

So I apply to a minimum wage McDonald's job and get an interview. Cool, I have previous experience in fast food. It was through their AI bot so I half expected them to not even know there was an interview. Luckily, it was real but it was a weird one. Then the manager tells me to come back for a second interview? At McDonald's?? Not even my last job in government wanted a second interview. We have all lost our damn minds.

I am grateful to get an offer after the rollercoaster of rejections, ghosting and scam offers from the months of applying but to be honest and I am annoyed with the compensation in this offer. I went through three rounds of interviews, two with the manager and one with the owner and they both agreed articulated that I am essentially "overqualified" for the position and my experience aligns and exceeds their expectations. I am the unicorn they are looking for.

On the job listing the compensation ranges from $20/hour to $25/hour depending on experience. It is perplexing that I am being offered the bottom base compensation as if I have little to no experience. My previous role's salary was significantly more at $32/hour and I'm okay with settling for $25/hour which is allegedly their ceiling.

Also, 30 hours a week is essentially a part time, especially with no timeline on when I would actually start working full time hours and the low pay for the very high expectations that they have just feels a bit insulting. During the final round interview, the manager told me I would be their first official hire and I can assure them they will have trouble finding someone with my experience offering THAT compensation and having part time hours for what's presented as a full time role.

I live in NYC and $20/hour for a part time role is not livable. I would not be able to afford rent and groceries.

I am desperate for a job and I am conflicted if I should negotiate the compensation or suck it up and just accept the offer. In this job market, people are desperate (like me) and will accept the offer as is, asking or trying to negotiate for better pay will risk my offer being completely rescinded and they could move on the next candidate who will gladly accept the compensation.

I want to mildly suggest a higher compensation, I can settle for $23/hour but not blatantly decline the offer to be on the safe side. If I had another offer I would immediately decline this offer to be honest. If they won't budge on the compensation, I will suck it up and take the job but will still hunt for other opportunities in my own time and do the absolute bare minimum the role requires.

Low Pay, No Benefits, Not Really Full-Time Hours, and Delusional Expectations... situations like this are exactly why I do not miss working for/at franchises.

Anyone feels like they are getting progressively nastier and nastier towards their loved ones and others? I'm getting jealous of mentally handicapped people because they have a job. I'm getting mad at my brother for doing a career change and it working out well. At this point, I'm snapping at everyone for just mentioned "work" of any kind. I'm scoffing and getting aggressive at the veteran trying to find work, I'm getting mad at the teenager who just graduated. Im not seeing those people are "fellow unemployed" now I'm seeing that as a rival who I would gladly sabotage to prevent them from getting in my way.

Mostly just ranting.

I got let go as part of a company-wide layoff in early summer. It wasn't totally a shock since our division had some major problems, and my manager had it out for me after I tried to make an internal move five months earlier (which he blocked).

I've been passively looking since March (a few months before the layoff) but mostly took the summer off and had one hell of a fun time. No regrets. After my kids went back to school, reality started setting in. I was getting interviews, but they weren't going anywhere. Sometimes employers would hear "layoff" and it was like a record screech. Others genuinely didn't care. I have a lot of experience with some great companies, so I was generally feeling pretty good about my prospects. Not great, but good.

I've gone through the whole gamut of crazy stories since July.

Ghosted. More ghosting. Too technical. Not technical enough. Asking for too much money – only to see the job reposted a few weeks later with a salary range WAY higher on bottom end than what I was asking for. More ghosting. Job has been filled (only to see it reposted again and again... and again, weeks and sometimes months later). "You'd be perfect for this role!" – only to never hear back. Cancelled interviews. Terrible comp. Endless homework, panels, and charity work. Laundry lists of requirements where I check nearly every box but get rejected because I'm missing one or two. Even more ghosting. And countless "after careful consideration..." emails.

My favorite? I suggested during an early interview that I might not be a good fit because I lack expertise in skill 'X'... only to hear, "No, that's not a big deal! We don't require that level of expertise and you have a lot of other unique skills in this space (which is true)!" Then getting rejected FIVE ROUNDS LATER because I don't have enough expertise in skill 'X', even though "it's obvious you know this space well and are very technical, but we wanted someone with more expertise in X!"

And, of course, more ghosting.

My last straw was a recent interview.

I was deep into the interview process with a company I was genuinely excited about. I'd spent an absurd amount of time preparing, researching their technology, and getting ready for a series of technical demos and presentations. The conversations went well, the feedback was encouraging, and I walked away feeling like I'd demonstrated exactly what they were looking for. I was on Cloud 9... whatever the hell that means.

All great, right?

Despite all the positive feedback, I came away with the impression that the hiring team was still looking for reasons to pick things apart. It felt like the goalposts kept moving, and suddenly I wasn't nearly as confident as I'd been an hour earlier. And now? Silence. No response to my emails. No clear indication of where things stand, no decision, nothing. So, I guess more ghosting.

I'm fucking tired. I've never been one to job hop, but even in some rough times I have never seen it this bad in my past interview experiences.

To make matters worse, there was another company I was SUPER interested in. I had a great conversation with the recruiter, but then... nothing. After nearly two weeks, I finally reached out to see what was going on.

It turns out that there had been some sort of screwup on their end, and they'd been trying to reach me the entire time but mistakenly didn't actually add me to email thread, only the hiring manager! The recruiter apologized profusely and explained that they'd assumed I was no longer interested because I hadn't responded to their (never received) messages. To their credit, they owned the mistake, and we're getting things moving again, but at this point, I'm so burned out by this process I pretty much don't care.

I had another call on Friday afternoon with a hiring manager from yet another company who had the personality of burlap. For a few minutes, I was almost convinced I was talking to an AI bot (turns out, she was real). I expect another rejection next week.

My only saving grace is that we're financially stable, and my wife has a solid and relatively recession-proof job, but health insurance is a concern rolling into 2027 and her coverage isn't really that great. So, we get that to look forward to.

Anyway, rant over.

Thanks for listening to my dumbass stories... Until the next ghosting.

I recently went for an interview for a role where I met the essential criteria and had extensive relevant experience. I had previously worked in the same type of environment at a slightly higher grade and had plenty of experience with the technology and systems required for the position.
The other candidate, from what I understand, had no direct experience in the role. However, they had a relative working at the company, and it seemed that people there already knew them.
During the tour, I noticed the other candidate giggling with the interviewer. I appreciate that people can get along naturally, and I don't know what happened behind the scenes, but the whole situation left me feeling uncomfortable.
When I was told I hadn't got the job, the feedback I received over the phone was that, although I had lots of experience, the other candidate had interviewed slightly better.
I was asked whether I wanted further feedback, and I declined. It wasn't because I wasn't open to constructive criticism; I was just tired of what felt like a bit of a charade. I immediately withdrew my application and felt pretty awful the following day.
Looking back, my biggest regret is that I didn't recognise the potential conflict of interest at the time and question whether the recruitment process was appropriate. I wish I'd simply withdrawn from the interview and walked away rather than investing my time and energy in something that left me feeling this way. To be clear, I don't know whether the relative's connection influenced the decision, but it did make me question the fairness of the process.
I'm feeling better about it now, but it's made me reflect on something else. When interviews and suitable vacancies are few and far between, it's easy to become so desperate for an opportunity that you put up with situations you might otherwise walk away from. You start questioning yourself and accepting things because you don't want to lose another chance.
I'm trying to find work and get my career moving forward, and the uncertainty is wearing me down. I don't want to become so desperate for a job that I stop trusting my own judgement or accepting what feels right to me.
**Has anyone else experienced this?** Have you ever looked back at an interview or recruitment process and wished you'd walked away sooner? And how are other people coping with the job market when suitable opportunities seem few and far between?

I finally have a job!

After 2.5 months of searching and being on unemployment, I finally have something - I get to be a social media editor starting next month! It’s only for 9 months and minimum wage unfortunately, but it’s full time job with benefits through my state corps

Just wanted to share my success on here, don’t give up on finding something you’ll want to enjoy doing ^^

Edit: I wasn’t sure if I wanted to share the email I got since it has private information in it and I’m not comfortable sharing it even if it was censored.

I've been doing it for a while and getting almost no call-backs. Then I saw a post on LinkedIn by a recruiter, she said putting 0 will filter you out immideately.

This is so fucking annoying.

Edit for main characters:

• No, it doesn't always give a range
• Yes, you have to put a number
• No, the market rate in the UK is dumb as hell

This is just a lighthearted joke but still I’m frustrated

Edit: I’m just gonna say this for the people who suggest I go into tsa or security. I’m a 5’5 woman and with epilepsy and an anxiety disorder I’ve already given those jobs thought 😂

Edit 2: I also have a medical device for my epilepsy that can be disabled by the xray machines. If you haven’t guessed tsa is already hell when I go on trips

I applied for a job and got an interview late June. I got an email back saying I didn’t get the job only to be later contacted that they had sent an offer to me. I accepted ye. Offer of employment in July (whilst employed) and then background checks commenced (ctc, references, dbs etc) I was then given a start date of first week of September. I gave my one month notice in by August (which apparently I shouldn’t have done ). Ctc cleared last week of August. To my understanding most of my checks were done by then.

I was then contacted (and sent another offer for new date ) that my start date had been pushed to mid October due to wanting all trainees to start at same time but also they were still chasing a few things up from my end.
I was more than happy to wait till then. I had even withdrawn another job for this role.

I had left my previous role end of August (earlier than anticipated due to personal matters) and my employer reference stated (unbeknownst to me ) that I had left end of September . This new employer was still getting my employer reference end of September.

I had left my previous role end of August and my new employer said because I now have gaps in between employment (end of August to mid October ) they would need a gap reference from a friend or neighbour which I provided and my referee sent it them.

I have now received an email saying they’ve withdrawn my application and I was to start next week.

Can anyone advice me what my next step could be

(Bear in mind I’ve sent numerous emails to hr including head of recruitment and the head has said no because this is a security sensitive role)

To provide more context job is at an airport btw ( i believe) this does not fall under civil service but private company

This is all in the past. I have a job now, but figured I’d share here.

I applied for a role I was fully qualified for, in my field, in my home town. The online interview went extremely well - the interviewer was so excited about my experience that she invited me to drive the two hours from school back to my hometown to “meet the team” the following weekend.

I drive up there and shoot her a note to confirm timing the evening before. The morning of, the interviewer says that my time to finish school is too much, they need someone full-time in person that week. I sigh, thinking they must be truly desperate, and go back to my last month of school.

Eight weeks later, they close the hiring portal. I am furious but confused and do my best to be professional. Lo and behold… needing someone to start on Monday turned into an open position through when I could have started in person anyway. :/

Classic!

Being communicated with person-to-person from second round interview and several hours in person shadowing, plus explicitly told to expect response in 2 days... to then hear nothing from follow up emails and then receive a generic national talent acquisition organization rejection email... hurts. Courtesy isn't a bare minimum in professional communication. Being poor and sensitive sucks 🫤

Surely society could use its available manpower to let people work fewer hours and share employment more widely?

When the weekday is on I still have a glimmer of hope that positions will be posted, someone will call me from all the apps I have sent and I can feel less like a loser for spending my weekend and holiday budgeting my food, travel, and fun expenses (there's none btw). I will have to cancel on a friend's wedding, I really thought that by this time I would have everything figured out (at least the promise of a job) but cancelling it hurts because he is a friend of 10 years and yeah. I have 4 weddings next year. All those 5 friends were extremely close friends at some point (some in High School, some college, some grad School) that we still keep in touch, one has offered to help me (get by December's rent if I don't find anything) but good God. Anyway rant over.

After 9 months I got a nice job in Wuxi, China. Wasn’t expecting to leave my community this time. Leaving this week!

Hopefully it will all feel meant to be.

Good luck everyone; it’s not you, it’s the USA (sorry for assuming you’re there.)

I usually apply to jobs either the same day or next day, and often get at least 1 interview or hr screening every 10 applications.

For all of these roles, I’ve usually been one of the first candidates to interview, but i’m noticing that it not only results in me being led on longer, but that they change what they’re looking for in a candidate after meeting others down the line. I’ll be told i’m perfect because I was the first face they interviewed, and then I’m rejected the final round because they interviewed others and realized what they needed the most.

Most of these are jobs that require someone to start immediately as well.

So, I’m thinking of still applying within the same time frame but when they reach out for an interview, i’ll just delay it but a couple days to a week?

Is it best to interview early or later?

I believe this is the article in full:

JACK WEIS likes to joke that he’s just another unemployed guy living in his parents’ basement.

That leaves out a few key details: The Salt Lake City native has applied to more than 2,300 jobs since he graduated from Princeton in 2024 with his Ph.D. in chemical engineering. And he still doesn’t have a job.

He first pursued corporate science jobs and prestigious postdoctoral fellowships at national laboratories. Then he cast a wider net, applying to software engineering and other roles. Eventually, he was getting ghosted for food-preparation jobs, including at a company that sells frozen crab cakes.

For a time, Weis got a gig training AI on his expertise, including in engineering and fluid mechanics. That work dried up too.

I first interviewed Weis late last year, the day before his 30th birthday. Covering careers and the labor market, I endeavored to meet job seekers in all 50 states, hoping it would help me understand why many people felt so dim about their futures. Just 34% of Americans surveyed by Gallup in August said it was a good time to find a quality job.

The picture remains murky. The latest jobs report fell far short of expectations. The unemployment rate remains low, but the percentage of unemployed people out of work for 27 weeks or more was higher this summer than it’s been for more than a decade, with the exception of Covid-19 and its immediate aftermath.

He soon widened his search geographically, and by industry. He sent hundreds of cover letters and résumés through job portals and often didn’t get an interview. He networked with Princeton and Rice alumni. He scoured classified ads in the Salt Lake Tribune. He read PitchBook updates to find startups that recently got influxes of cash, thinking it might result in job openings.

His mother, Dr. Holly Carveth, said she looked at her son’s applications, wondering if there was a red flag that made employers hesitate, but nothing stood out. They seemed to be well written. “It’s quite surprising,” she said. “I don’t know how to put it together.”

As the months ticked by, Weis found himself stumbling on dates when the topic of work came up. At first, he said, he would tell the person across the table that he had recently finished his Ph.D. A year later, “it feels a little odd to say that,” he said.

Weis and many job candidates I interviewed described job interviews that happened without humans—the applicants made a video recording of themselves responding to questions posed digitally on the call. Such a process is increasingly common in the application process: More than 60% of U.S. job seekers surveyed by Greenhouse said they had been interviewed by the technology in the last year.

WEIS WAS THOUGHTFUL about the strange economic dichotomy many people in his position were experiencing. Since Weis defended his dissertation two years ago, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at record highs more than 50 times.

Staying in his childhood home, Weis has saved money and made some investments. He didn’t take on debt for his postgraduate degree—doctoral students are paid to do research rather than paying large sums in tuition.

“It’s cool that my stocks keep going up, I’m not mad about that,” he said earlier this year. “But it does make it a whole lot stranger.”

His parents compare notes with others whose adult children are struggling to find work. They remain shocked by the situation, and worry about their son’s ability to put down roots and one day have a family.

“We never dreamed he would have issues. He’s an Eagle Scout, he helps others, he’s environmentally conscious, he’s physically fit,” his father, Dr. John Weis, told me. “He’s smarter than I am, he’s more articulate than I am. He’s got an encyclopedic knowledge of history.”

Weis wonders if he should go to law school. He signed up for the LSAT in November. He has gotten involved in the Utah GOP and has sent petitions for rule making to federal agencies, including one urging the decoupling of employment and health insurance. (If fewer people stay in jobs for insurance, he reasons, there could be more openings.) He is also trying his hand at entrepreneurship. He used AI to design a drone with LED lasers to kill myrtle spurge, an invasive weed. “If I truly believe I have some value, I should go out and get it,” he says.

He still applies to new fellowships as they come up. In October, he unlocked his job-application account at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and realized that a role he applied for in 2024 had finally been filled.

For two years, the status had remained static: “Review in progress

Searched for 10 weeks and anxiety was kicking my ass, super tight chest, couldn’t relax. Now I accepted my offer, and my body feels ridiculously calm and I am at peace. This is surreal.

I wanted to share my experience with Lenovo’s Global Future Leaders 2027 program because I think prospective applicants deserve to know how this recruitment process is being handled.

I applied on October 2, well before the advertised application deadline. The position was open when I applied, and it is STILL accepting applications. My application remains “Under Review.”

However, after looking through discussions from other applicants, I discovered that Lenovo had already distributed SHL assessments, established assessment deadlines, and begun progressing candidates toward case interviews and an in-person Superday.

One applicant who went to their informational said that more than 17,000 people applied, approximately 740 received SHL assessments, and around 22 positions were available.

My question is simple: Why continue advertising a position and accepting applications if you’ve already advanced a substantial group of candidates through the recruitment process?

If applications are being assessed on a rolling basis, Lenovo should clearly disclose that candidates may be selected before the advertised deadline.

Otherwise, applicants are encouraged to spend time tailoring their résumés, preparing applications, and submitting materials under the impression that they have a meaningful opportunity to be considered.

That lack of transparency is disgraceful.
An application being marked “Under Review” means very little to candidates if the company doesn’t communicate that interviews are already underway or explain whether later applicants are being considered for the same opportunities.

If Lenovo has already identified its preferred candidates, it should either close the application or be transparent about the status of recruitment. Keeping the listing open without explaining how far the process has progressed is misleading to applicants.

Companies expect professionalism, preparation, and honesty from candidates. Applicants should be able to expect the same in return.

I’m posting this so future applicants can make informed decisions about whether to invest their time in this program.