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

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

Recently, I cleared all the technical, managerial, and HR rounds. The HR representative verbally informed me that I had been selected, but I did not receive a written offer letter.

After two days, I followed up with HR regarding the offer letter, and I was told that it was in the approval phase. A week later, HR informed me that all approvals had been completed except for the CTO’s final approval, which was rejected.

HR also mentioned that both the hiring manager and the hiring manager’s manager had requested the CTO to reconsider the decision. HR specifically clarified that budget constraints were not the reason for the rejection but did not provide any specific reason.

Do I still have a chance of receiving the offer letter in this situation?

Months of studying, hundreds of $$ on the AAPC membership, books, and test fee... And I still can't get a job in the field, over half a year later. Still stuck in an underpaid, overworked billing role, which I've wanted to leave for even longer.

The fun thing is that to keep this certification, you're required to pay an annual membership fee to the AAPC, and also get continuing education credits - by spending additional money, of course.

I've been applying locally, to in-person roles, and to remote ones as well. No luck anywhere. And then these same medical orgs repost their listings over and over - like, what sort of unicorn are they looking for? 😮‍💨

I'm so tired of this hiring hellscape, and wishing I did not go after the cert. So much for passing a challenging exam, with no career benefit to show for it. 😢

We are cooked gang. Blue and white collars aren't safe.

This one surprised me. A company sought me out because of my experience and education in the AML and fraud space, which was exciting because the requisition wasn’t even open yet. Someone asked for my resume and forwarded it to HR. Within 13 minutes, HR emailed me asking to schedule an interview. They said they weren’t sure how soon the requisition would open but they definitely wanted me to meet with the VP. They scheduled that conversation, it turned out they were opening a role and the interview went well. Afterward HR let me know I was moving forward to the assignment round.

I started working on the assignment and asked a clarifying question about the data. It turned out they wanted me to evaluate everything as of April rather than the current date, which changed my approach enough that I needed to restart. There wasn’t a deadline but I still let them know I would need one additional day. Instead of submitting it the next day, I submitted it the following day. I also had a few people review my work to see whether my reasoning and conclusions made sense to them before turning it in.

Then late on a Saturday, I received an automated rejection. That was the entire follow-up after a company had proactively sought me out, quickly arranged an interview with its VP and asked me to complete an assignment. I have substantial experience with the work the assignment covered, completed it quickly even with the clarification and have done roughly 25 interview assignments over the last two years. Until this one I had never been rejected immediately after the assignment round.

I’m not saying that means my work couldn’t have missed the mark or that I was entitled to move forward. But the sequence feels strange, and I’m left wondering what happened. Did the assignment change their assessment? Had they already decided against moving forward while I was still working on it? Did something change internally? I don’t know, and an automated rejection gives me nothing to work with. Going from being actively recruited before a role was even open to receiving a Saturday rejection after completing their assignment feels like a pretty abrupt shift. This one honestly feels fishy, even though I don’t have enough information to say why.

Has anyone gotten these kinds of emails lately? They are becoming more and more regular in my inbox

I have been looking for a PT internship in NYC in the proptech startup field this past month. A lot of time spend on LinkedIn got me absolutely nowhere. I ended up reaching out to a family member who put me in contact with somebody they know at a startup I would have been interested in interning by.

This contact and I spoke over the phone and really hit it off and he asked that I’d prepare some example work. I did so and I got very positive feedback and then he connected me with the head of the company who is in charge of making the final say.

This CEO, who is very busy took some time to respond and had to reschedule nearly 3 times before we actually had our time to talk over zoom. However while we were emailing it seemed that he was interested in an intern (I mean hey, who doesn’t want free labor from somebody hungry for work). He even told me that he was looking forward to talk and that he apologized for postponing our meeting.

I join the meeting and he is looking down at his keyboard the entire time clearly working on something else. It didn’t feel like an interview, more like a confrontation. I felt like I was at my principals office in elementary school where he guilted me into confessing to what I did.

After explaining the role I’m looking for, he took two steps back and looked around the office and turned to me and said: unfortunately, we currently don’t have the resources to have an intern at the moment.

Like… ugh. I totally understand that this is reality but damn, I really thought I had this in the bag.

So now I’m back to square 1, reaching out via LinkedIn and cold emailing.

I then decided I’d use another resource I had by being in the city and I printed the attached flyer and mamilla envelopes and decided to go around the city to some startups and drop it off by them.

The first startup I went to, the doorman let me in and I went up to the HQ. And omg it was insane. Just a huge space full of people working. I felt like I was intruding on something, I mean I was.

I walked into the office and see a guy coming out of the restroom and I ask him if there’s a secretary I could drop off my envelope by and he told me to give it to a person he pointed to.

I went up to her and very nicely I said “excuse me, sorry to bother but I have some mail to deliver. I was told you would be the one I could hand this off to.” She was very kind back and took it and I went back downstairs and left the building.

I never have ever had the confidence to do such a thing but I don’t think I’ve ever felt more alive before in my life.

Happens to be I also emailed a somebody there today and they responded that they aren’t hiring for PT/internship roles.

But I’m still proud of myself for doing something extremely ambitious.

Anyways I’m still on the hunt for an internship in NYC. DM me if y’all have any leads. Curious to know what yall think of my story 🙃

It's been 7 months. I applied to everything that pops up on Indeed. I am 42 and have decades of retail and warehouse experience. Nobody would hire me. I had not a single call back. I finally got hired. I start October 25th. All the paperwork is in and it's official. It's not the best job but it pays well. And at least I have something. It's a crazy job market. It's been hell. I hear the people out there who have been unemployed for years. I don't want to jinx myself so I am literally knocking on wood. Wish me luck

Some of the assessment questions were weird, for example:

Do you work too fast without thinking about safety more, or do you miss deadlines more? WHAAAAAAAAT. I DONT DO EITHER.

27k in student loan debt, homeless, no job, no savings, two SWE internships on my resume, useless cs bachelor's degree from 2025.

My parents kicked me out when I approached a year post graduation with no job. I wasn't getting any interviews, at all. I was working as a part time barista for $16/hour to bide my time but I abandoned that job when I was kicked out. I'm in a city where rents are 2000+ for closets. No reason to stay at that place.

My loans have obviously been defaulted on by now, I don't even have an active phone number for then to contact me with. No money.

I've been staggering, stumbling around gagging on nothing like a drug addict in the last week or so. I had a bike but someone broke the lock on it while I was sleeping outside one night.

Idk what I can do now. I can't get a tech job or use my degree for much of anything. I've been diving into trash cans for plastic bottles. I feel uncomfortable in my skin, I have no pride in myself, in my existence. I have no confidence anymore.

I'm sitting near a Starbucks curled up on a bench just watching the night go by. My life is over. I have no control but my future any longer. I want to end this.

I was emailed a soft offer by the person in charge of onboarding at the company I've been interviewing with. I was told that they would be sending my actual offer documentation yesterday, "later on in the day" (Friday), but I never received anything.

This is a startup company, and they do not have an HR department, so the CFO is the one doing the offer letters and the onboarding/sending the PEO links. Should I be concerned, or is it possible that he just had entirely too much on his plate and wasn't able to get to creating/finishing the offer?

Keep in mind, when I was interviewed for my first round (Oct 5th), I didn't hear back about my invite for my second round until 11pm on Oct. 11th. My recruiter who got me connected with the company in the first place told me that I should expect the official offer letter sometime this weekend or by Monday morning. She also said that for the last person she got hired at this job that she called their references for them, but she told me she wasn't able to get around to it and that she would have to call mine this upcoming Monday/Tuesday. So I am also trying to consider if that is also what is delaying the official offer letter being sent to me.

I am in a very tight window financially, due to months of unemployment and living off my savings and I am at the very end of my savings at this point. If I don't start this job within the next 3 weeks, I'm screwed.

i’ve literally been without a job for the past 5-6 months because nobody is hiring me. I’ll do countless interviews and applications and nothing ever comes of it. u genuinely have to beg for a job nowadays or know someone in the company to get the job. i’m basically homeless right now and sleeping at friends houses because i lost everything. this is genuinely horrible. i am able to do gigs every here and there but i dont make enough to survive on my own at ALL.

Having passed the recruiter interview I've lined up an in-person interview for a position that I'd be well suited to, and honestly was excited about. However my due diligence has thrown up some unsavoury information about the guy I'd be directly working for, the CEO. I now absolutely do not want to work there and feel genuinely disappointed.

Should I just attend the interview anyway? I'm in two minds, that it's good practice, but then it's the general hassle of getting ready and doing the dame interview! To add, the CEO won't be attending at this stage. Also, I'm mid 40s, it's not my first or even third rodeo.

Throwaway account for obvious reasons.

I applied for a job here in the Philippines and things are moving along really well — I already have a job offer, I've completed my PEME, and I've submitted all the necessary documents. I'm now under the background checking status with HireRight.

What's making me anxious about this whole process is that I previously had an issue with my former manager and the operations manager. During the last meeting, the HR person was the one speaking on behalf of the OM. The issue revolved around the workplace, and I just couldn't bear not speaking up. Of course, I also had a fault in that, but I won't disclose further details.

I fully rendered my 30-day resignation and did everything I was supposed to do before my last day. I believed we already settled it during that last meeting.

My question is: in terms of background checking, do they really go that deep or personal? How does the usual background check with HireRight work here in the Philippines? Should I be worried about what my former manager might say? I really need this job and I just can’t help overthinking.

Am I just never going to ever get a job? How often do companies even keep the results of these checks?

I came across the job opening on LinkedIn. It was a fairly established company with international offices.

“(Tea, please!)” ruined my day I can’t lie.

Interviewed for a great job and was super excited about it, but didn’t get the position. During the interview the manager asked me “did you pay for your university?” I was a bit thrown off but replied with “no, I was fortunate enough that my parents saved up and help me out”.

She then went on about how they ask that as it’s very telling about someone’s work ethic and drive. That someone that had to put in the hours to pay for their education has a different work ethic. Someone who had to pay for their classes didn’t wanna fail so they gave it their all etc.

I’m wondering if maybe my parents paying for my education was an issue to her? And she seemed very judgmental and has this weird standard. Can an employer really ask that ? Seems wrong and very strange!