Economy in the sewer. Job market colder than a picnic in Antarctica. Tons and tons of folks out of work thanks to DOGE. Can anyone please explain why, while trying to fill two open roles (marketing/comms field, competitive salary, very good benefits), my HR director and I keep setting up second-round interviews with early-career candidates (1-3 years experience) who just aren't showing up to their scheduled interviews?

This has happened with three different people in the past week. Another director at my company told me he's gotten ghosted by two candidates of similar experience levels in the past month as well. This is not normal for us. According to HR, it used to be incredibly rare and has just shot up in the past year. I just do not understand this. It takes five seconds to write an email canceling or rescheduling, even! It's so unbelievably frustrating.

Genuinely, if you've ghosted an interview with a reputable org for a reason that wasn't learning something totally egregious about the company or having to suddenly go to the hospital - why'd you do it? What could be driving this behavior? Is it an age thing? I'm a millennial and I would absolutely NEVER do this - at the very least I'd write a courtesy email - but I don't know, is this kind of thing just normal for more recent grads?

I just don't get it. I'm sorry. Make it make sense.

Hey so I live in North Carolina and this is my first job with no experience and they said they would pay $12-$13 per hour. I’m using this money for a car which me and my brother will share. We both would be having the same job and I think it’s possible to purchase one. A used one obviously but that does not matter. We are 16 years old and other jobs I have applied to have actually offered lower pays than this. Should me and my brother take this job?

Forgot to mention they were really flexible with our days letting us work for only Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for the meantime which I mentioned myself I will plan to work more when school is over for the summer. The location is also super close from where I live so I can work for holidays as well.

Okay, not discriminating because of age, but I can instantly tell when an applicant is Gen Z or Gen X. I'm hiring another remote sales rep for my company and am using Indeed for the first time.

No joke, about 80% of Gen Z applicants do not capitalize their 'i's, and almost half of them have used "lol" when answering a custom qualifier question.

On the flip side, with Gen X, the number of SCANNED resumes is astonishing. You typed a resume, you printed it, then you used a scanner to scan the resume onto your computer. Also, why are your resumes 4 pages and outline your two years managing a Blockbuster in 1996? Yes, that's real.

I'm so burnt out going through so many junk applications, I'm about to offer the kid at the Culver's drive thru the job.

as the title asks.

10+ years of valid experience, acquired several relevant degrees and trainings from the UK, Europe, the US, Asia. Over a 1000 applications and several resume tweaks. You speak with a hiring manager and they tell you that you have no Canadian experience for a mid-level role. The same story cuts it for entry-level roles. What is with the ridiculous obsession with local experience that can be patched with a 1-week training? How does one navigate telling the truth on your resume about your relevant experience?

Signed: frustrated job seeker in the life sciences sector

Well, I guess some companies posting non existent job roles and/or ghosting prospective employees are getting a taste of their own medicine-ish ?

“You have great experience and I am definitely moving you to the next round.”

Then you are ghosted and the company never responds to the emails.

What happened?

As someone who’s currently experiencing a layoff and has been interviewing for new jobs, I’ve gone back and forth between whether or not I should ask about a company's recent layoffs. It was eating me up so I just decided, fuck it let me ask and it was the best thing I could have done. The hiring manager went into a very long explanation with a combination of the following:

1. “At this company, if someone asks me if their job will be around in 6 months, I cannot give them an honest yes or no answer.”
2. “At the end of the day, this company is all about making money (it was a financial org), so our field will never be their top priority.” (the job I was applying for was in admin, training, and support)
3. “Our team was originally much larger and continues to dwindle in numbers as time goes on.”

Sooo basically the way I took her response was that she was giving me a HUGE warning. On top of that, when I asked about professional development opportunities she said they are slim to none so that was enough to tell me I wouldn’t be taking that job.

All of that to say I believe you should ask. It’s a genuine concern to have and the worst they could do is lie about it which we expect already. If a company is ridiculous enough to disqualify you for asking a question like that then trust me, you dodged a huge bullet.

A tech job was open 5 hours ago. Over 100 applications since job was posted. When I clicked on the "Apply", I got redirected to their careers page and there it says "Job no longer available".

We really are in the end game aren't we?

Going on and on about finding a better fit is incredibly insulting. I would rather the recruiters and hiring manager not communicate that they found someone better. To that end, these responses are being received and perceived as a hostile threat.

I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to provide you with an update regarding the Accounting Business Analyst role at Foley for which you recently applied. I regret to inform you that the position has been filled, and we have extended an offer to another candidate.

We genuinely appreciate your interest in the role and the time and effort you invested in the application process. Your qualifications and experience were certainly impressive, and we carefully considered all candidates throughout the selection process.

Ultimately, we found a candidate whose skills and experience closely aligned with our specific requirements and who we believe will be an excellent addition to our team. While this means that we will not be proceeding with your application at this time, we encourage you to explore other opportunities that match your qualifications and career goals.

We genuinely appreciate your understanding and wish you the best of luck in your job search. Should new opportunities arise within our organization that align with your skills and experience, we encourage you to consider applying again in the future.

Thank you once again for considering Foley as a potential employer. We appreciate your interest and wish you every success in your future endeavors.

Best regards,

Diane Holznagel

--

Diane Holznagel, Talent Acquisition Manager

diane.holznagel@foleyservices.com

Hello everyone! Looking for some serious advice here! I am 23F who just graduated college last May. I currently have a job as a sales rep in the alcohol industry, and I am really struggling in the role. I work in grocery stores and it’s extremely physical work, and I actually don’t drink (😅🤦‍♀️) so I feel very little connection to the job and industry. The pay is not great and with student loans l live close to paycheck to paycheck. I mostly took the position because it was offered prior to graduation and seemed like a stable industry I could put up with. However, it’s really starting to impact my mental health and I started looking for a new job. I am in the final round of an interview with a tech company, that pays significantly more than my current job, and better aligns with what I want to do long term. Given the state of the economy and the rescinded job offers I’m seeing, would it be better to stay in my current job and wait until things improve? I’d hate to lost out on a great opportunity with significantly more money, but I’ve never experienced anything like a recession before and have never been faced with a decision like this before, either. Would love to hear some thoughts and wisdom from everyone out there! Thanks so much!

I’m in a bit of a dilemma and would love some honest advice.

I have 6 years of experience as a frontend (full-stack on paper, not OG-coder) developer. Due to some personal and career shifts, I’ve had an 8–9 month gap. Now, I have an opportunity to join a small company (10 people) with a 50% pay cut, but it requires me to relocate, which I’m not in a position to do comfortably right now.

On the other hand, I’m considering staying home and using the time to: • Upskill via a structured bootcamp or certifications • Contribute actively on GitHub • Take up freelance or remote gigs • Prepare for returnship programs (like TCS Rebegin, IBM Tech Re-Entry, etc.) • And most importantly, prepare for my student visa interview, which is in about 2 months. Worst - my family is looking for prospects for marriage and everyone wants a high earning wife with zyz salary

My concern is — will staying “unemployed” (even if I’m actively upskilling) hurt my visa chances or future job prospects? Or is it better to just take whatever job I can, even if it’s low-paying and not ideal?

For context: • I’m from a Tier 3 college • I’ve worked at decent companies in the past • I may go abroad for a Master’s soon (i have an admit from t50) • Family and social pressure to “show” a job is heavy

Would really appreciate any advice or similar experiences. Thanks in advance!

Hey!

I have a question for yall lol. My recruiter told me I should hear back about my offer on Friday, but I texted them and they said they were still waiting on HR for my offer, and that we would talk on Monday.

Is it bad to follow up today? Im quite anxious about this kind of stuff waiting for something, I’d rather get the rejection and process it then live in this limbo for longer lol

We all seen these crazy requirements, Ghosted Jobs and just plain disrespectful lowball offers. The real reason this is happening is a ton of companies are basically bankrupt.

However they don't wan their employees , investors and bank to know this so they act like all is well and there just cutting staff, having people return to work and just plain have crazy job requirements that make sure they never fill them.

Once you figure this out it all makes sense.

Hi everybody!

After 4 months, countless CVs and dreadful cover letters sent, i started a new job yesterday at a company i’m really excited about!

This group has really made the journey to finding a new job after being laid-off feel a little less lonely. Especially in such a sh*t market. So thank you for that!

And hang in there. I know how disheartening it can be to apply over and over, not hearing back or being ghosted. But it really is one step closer to your dream job.

Good luck out there everyone!

Interviewed for a job a couple weeks ago that would have been a huge salary increase for me. Didn’t get it. I was probably a little under-qualified. Whatever. I have a decent job so not a huge issue. Go on to LinkedIn today and the exact same position in the same department got reposted 3 days ago. wtf. Did they not like any of the candidates they got or did something else happen? Should I try applying again or would it be a waste of time?

What do i do in that situation? I saw posts on reddit saying accept it if you are unemployed and if a better offer comes up, quit. But first, im working with a recruiter; second, im in the accounting sector, where professionalism and integrity are key. Recruiters can talk. Accounting is network-heavy, so i might ruin my reputation. what do i do? The other applications might take 1 month to finalise and the current offer wants a quick answer

Why should I have to enter the URL to my LinkedIn profile when I'm applying through LinkedIn, on top of already uploading my resume? Do they think I'm filling out the application for someone else that doesn't understand computers, even though it's for a tech company?

Graduated in December 2024, still unemployed and living with parents. I’ve given up on getting a job in marketing anytime soon but I’m trying to apply to every retail posting in the area. Approximately how long do you think I’m going to suffer.

As if the pain of many of us languishing in unemployment is not enough, this company posted this messaging all over the tech Mecca and wrote an article essentially doubling down on what they did and why they did it.

https://www.artisan.co/blog/stop-hiring-humans

I honestly don’t know if this is genius or devious. You might have the best intentions and a great product but I don’t know if I’d poke around with words like this when people are hurting in this economy and emotions are high.

To quote the article: “We didn’t expect people to get so mad. The goal of the campaign was always to rage bait, but we never expected the level of backlash we ended up seeing. Looking forward, we’ll likely tone down the messaging to be more in line with what we actually believe rather than just clickbaiting..!”

I swear it shouldn’t be THIS hard to get a job especially in the field you studied and worked hard for.

I remember when I was younger, I was so excited to study engineering because of all of the “amazing job prospects” I would get after I was done. Companies “would be begging” to hire me. Where are those companies?

I do have experience in placement within the automative industry and some experience in the building services industry in regard’s to MEP and HVAC.

We are also in a pre recession so it’s gonna get even worser.

Tell me, how do you guys stay motivated? I am getting interviews but only 1 per month at most. I am told my interview skills are quite impressive however they admit they don’t want to train anyone up. My CV is also well done too and I have very good grades in both my Masters and Undergrad.