Why is looking for a job so miserable? - Who do we blame? Recruiters, lazy HR, millenials, boomers, zoomers?

[Raoul_Duke]

Hmm, thinking about this, I wonder if it'd be possible to be self-employed as a writer.

 

[Catgirl Enthusiast]

I was referring to something that's useful to society, and hopefully is not both weird and degenerate

Alfred Nobel invented

and he felt so bad about it that he started a peace prize. Maybe I could become the cub porn billionaire and save the bears? Who am I kidding. I'd blow it on hookers and blow.

 

[Catgirl Enthusiast]

Hmm, thinking about this, I wonder if it'd be possible to be self-employed as a writer.

Possibly if you hadn't already committed sudoku.

 

[Tetragrammaton]

i'll try not to go on too much of an autistic rant here but the way people get jobs nowadays is fucking stupid. so many people get overlooked or just outright ignored just because they might not have a long enough resume or even something as simple as a high school degree. there used to be a time where if you wanted a job all you had to do was either reply to a help wanted ad or just apply at whatever job you were interested in. its so much more overly complex now for reasons i have yet to figure out.

in my case many of the jobs i actually want have insane requirements or want me to be experienced in things i cant possibly have experience in unless they hired me in the first place. it honestly gets pretty disheartening that so many jobs seem to be impossible to get unless you get lucky or know a guy who knows a guy.

in my opinion the best thing that could happen as far as looking for jobs is concerned is if more jobs were willing to do apprenticeship type things or if places were just more clear about what it is they are looking for. i get that some places like to make the job look more demanding that it is to scare away people but i think that also tends to make it hard for everyone else to figure out what exactly those places want.

 

[Dylan]

I have seen HR work from the inside. It's a bunch of dumb cunts who treat linkedin like tinder. You need to meet male HR to get anything going, but men usually don't waste their time being HR managers.

 

[Grundlejungle]

I love how all entry-level jobs in my field now require a goddamned masters degree, and pay less per hour than I was when I was working at the grocery store stoned as fuck. People always act shocked when forensics Labs have years long backlogs, but they don't try to think about why those backlogs exist. Maybe shit would get analyzed if people were paid more than $19 an hour (with no benefits of course), and mandatory overtime.

The only surefire way I have found to get a job, is to flat out lie on your resume and to the interviewer. If you show up dressed for an interview with a copy of your resume, and then lie and tell them "someone told me to be here today", you actually have a decent shot at getting an interview. If they ask who told you to be there, just say they did not give you their name.

 

[glow]

I don't wanna rant, but don't go down the code monkey path.

What will end up, you will spend most of your time locked in an office with three managers yelling at you about deadlines, while business types will be patted on the back for going on "business trips" 3 times a month. Our business person spent 3 hours on that last powerpoint, so you better be productive during the meeting today!

Don't go down the software path at all unless you like having to memorize dozens of answers to complex algo questions, enjoy inane brain teasers, like doing multiple rounds of interviews with techies that have an ego to safeguard, noname companies who think they can make the same demands as google, HR that has literally no clue what they're hiring for or what you do, etc.

Hiring for dev roles is an absolute disaster that makes no sense to any sane human being. It used to be okay, but that's not the case anymore.

You are highlighting the very worst of this career path and ignoring the very best: It is one of the highest paying jobs available, and you can get it without a college degree in almost every company. Software engineers are always in demand and in most markets the demand considerably outstrips the supply.

It is true that at top tier companies the interviews are very hard, often because the corporate culture makes it challenging to fire people and they don't want to tolerate dead weight. I propose looking at smaller companies who tend to be less demanding, although sometimes this does also speak of the quality of your future coworkers.

It is also true that at lesser companies, interviews can be very hard also. However, is this a company that is permanently hiring perhaps? If someone can get past their crazy fucking gauntlet then they've probably got something to assign them to, versus a company that needs staff because they don't have the capacity to deliver. I find recruiters as opposed to applying direct is a much stronger way to find a new position.

And indeed, the corporate culture at some companies is self destructive, and you will have to find a better company. Sometimes you join a great company and it becomes shit.

However, if you can get past the negative aspects, it is a great career path, and rewarding intellectually and financially.

 

[Catler]

It is one of the highest paying jobs available

If you're an American.

often because the corporate culture makes it challenging to fire people and they don't want to tolerate dead weight.

Top tier companies regularly fire people because they're American and American laws allow for this. The real reason is they get so many applicants they risk nothing by excluding potentially good workers and indeed need to filter people out.

It is also true that at lesser companies, interviews can be very hard also.

Yep, because a lot of small companies for some reason think they're Google and thus they get to ask such nonsense. If their interview is a gauntlet they need to pay up or fuck off with that bullshit, but too many want to have their cake and eat it too.

However, if you can get past the negative aspects, it is a great career path, and rewarding intellectually and financially.

I don't find it rewarding while the pay is slightly better than average, the only part of this line of work I actually like is the flexibility that comes with it, most people don't get it to the same degree.

 

[TexasRanger]

LinkedIn for me personally is a waste of time. I haven't gotten a message from someone who WASN'T a bot of some sort.

The pajeets are the fucking worst. Anytime I see a name that sounds retarded I just stick it in my spam folder. Last week I gave it a good cleaning, but this is what it looks like this week.
View attachment 3922161

"Job oppurtunity"

 

[glow]

If you're an American.

This is true to an extend. I am not American but I have made a good living working for them. I understand an average starting salary in the USA is $80,000 for example, and it took me years to earn at that sort of level. I am not as wealthy as Americans for sure but I also enjoy things such as socialised healthcare, generous paid time off and workers rights.

I don't find it rewarding

Probably this is the difference then: I love software development and if I didn't need money I'd still do it.

 

[The Bovinian Derivative]

If you live in the west you're essentially competing against the entire planet. For shitty jobs particularly companies like visa thirdies since they can't make too much of a fuss or they'll lose their visa so they can abuse the shit out of them in ways they couldn't with actual nationals. They also generally don't want to bother with training, so they'll hire already trained thirdies who come from countries where companies have to train people due to not being able to rely on migrant labour. To the majority of internationalist businesses locals serve next to no purpose in their grand scheme.

This situation is worse if you work in IT. I live in an undisclosed Eastern European potato field and me and a couple of people from around the Bloc are working on a Burger project. I am 99% certain that the team's combined salary is smaller than a single American or even Western European senior's paycheck. I don't even have to leave comfort of my mud hut to work for people half way across the globe for a fraction of what people there would get for the same work. Now obviously, I wish I'd get that kind of money but then they'd just hire someone else more eastward.

And just to write something on topic, the way I got this job was though a referral from a friend, so if you're still in school, and a socially retarded autist like me, start making some friends who can refer you later. And speaking of school I was talking with some older software engineers about the usefulness of a degree and they all told me that if it was up to them they'd just give a problem for candidates to solve and filter people though that, but the hard requirement of the degree always comes from upper management, so whatever fuckery is going on with job hunting it is a pretty widespread problem caused by people who have no idea how the work actually... works.

 

[Norbert the Tiger]

 

[TexasRanger]

I love how all entry-level jobs in my field now require a goddamned masters degree, and pay less per hour than I was when I was working at the grocery store stoned as fuck. People always act shocked when forensics Labs have years long backlogs, but they don't try to think about why those backlogs exist. Maybe shit would get analyzed if people were paid more than $19 an hour (with no benefits of course), and mandatory overtime.

The only surefire way I have found to get a job, is to flat out lie on your resume and to the interviewer. If you show up dressed for an interview with a copy of your resume, and then lie and tell them "someone told me to be here today", you actually have a decent shot at getting an interview. If they ask who told you to be there, just say they did not give you their name.

Is this why rapist can frolic around because rape kits don't get tested and matched to COTIS asap?

 

[Gender: Xenomorph]

What's the deal with recruiters refusing to state the company they recruit for?

I think they just want you to not bypass them and go straight to the company. But sounds like a scam more often than not.

 

[Eydallur]

>walk in
>ask for a job
>be offered one on the spot

I have no idea what you nerds are struggling with but maybe try talking to people? Networking with business owners and managers is always the best way to be considered for any position, credentialed or not and if you're able to present yourself as someone with confidence and relevant experience it doesn't even matter if you show up covered in shit, as I did. Wear the right shirt and you could get hired on that basis alone however, I always get a kick out of that one.
Every so often I'll apply for a job irrespective of my actual intent to accept an offer, it's really helpful to have a sound understanding of your own worth.

 

[Angry Alt Right Nerd]

If you hate looking for a job so much just start your own business become a youtube streamer and stop complaining, this is completely practical and sustainable advice and society is working perfectly fine, it's a wonder why society doesn't immediately realize how wise our lolbertarian boomer advice is and simply allow us to handle all economic matters.

 

[Astro Loafo]

As a person who lived in god forsaken California. I know exactly what it's like to go job hunting and I can tell you why no one is hiring you.

1. Attitude- your attitude really affects whether you're hired or not. If the job is entry level and no extremely hard you'll be surprised how ppl will disregard "qualifications" for a more upbeat environment

2. Appearance- its not just if you look dirty or sad or incel. Ppl for some reason are more prone to hire ppl they like than they need. Usually most women are hired for tits ass and a single mom crybaby story. But I've also found being the right race or skin color can be a plus and looking fit can help too.

3. Friends and Family- for some reason beyond my mortal understanding. Ppl really like hiring their friends and family members, even if they suck. Gee I wonder why.

And thats it. Unless your job is reliant on some skill you had to learn in school. These are the three things that circle back as to why they didn't hire you.


As for job hunting services. If you need a job fast. Or want to gain experience fast. You can use job staffing services. And yes I know they suck and so do the jobs, but you'll be surprised how a long list of jobs with none of them saying fired looks good on a resume.

 

[Friend of Dorothy Parker]

My observations are focused on white-collar work or situated in company /corporate-type organizations, but certain things are, I think, transferable to all but things like uber/lyft/doordash, where operators are essentially independent.

Frequent theme in the posts in this thread (aside from the seething resentment and butthurt male fragility on display here and there; be better and/or bootstrap yourself, and quit screaming into the wind, Lear) is complaining about employers' overly high expectations of hires without recognizing your own overly high expectations of what you "should" be entitled to job-wise.

What I mean are these things:

An entry-level job may not be or seem like what you want to do or what you think you want to do. But if you're actually or relatively new to working, you don't necessarily know what all the jobs are actually like. And the big thing many seem not to understand is mobility. You go somewhere, do a good job at whatever it is, get known, get to know people. You buy into "teamwork" and meet your deadlines and don't editorialize. You look for things to improve about how work gets done. You develop mutually helpful relationships across teams. You're crisp and clear and prepare for meetings and are engaged all day. Aka you are learning professionalism. Get a game face. You do that and deliver, and you'll get other responsibilities and start to develop a rep as good at x or just generally an asset*. You'll get moved to new projects or teams. These might be lateral in pay but often you'll get a title change and maybe a bump. Either way, now you've held two positions and advanced and that counts as a promotion on your resume & now you're experienced, not strictly entry level. Eventually this means more money and more opportunities (and therefore more choice about what you do, and that you can shape your work/aim toward the types of roles you are interested in, now that you are also informed about what people actually do) - and a stronger case both inside and outside, so get busy networking outside the office too.

*in most places. Some places are, of course, toxic cauldrons filled with a soup of vipers, acid, and festering, rotted toes, but 9/10 if you're hitting walls at every turn, it's you. If it's that bad, stay pro but plan your exit. If it's actionably bad, document everything (disclaimer: not your lawyer/not legal advice).

I do stuff now I didn't even know was a thing people do when I started. Then, I didn't know about 90% of the jobs that people do professionally. You likely know more than I did straight out of school, but I guarantee you don't know what half the jobs you are looking at actually do (unless you do some thing that everyone in your world literally does from Day 1 to Day million, and there are no bosses ever and no one ever works with other groups doing different things, in which case, ok) or what else you might find once you get the proverbial foot in the door. So focus on getting in somewhere and don't be so snide about the title or immediate work. The path isn't always so literal, or straight, as you might expect.

Same goes for people with experience/ education who are offended that the "entry" position demands too much or that with all you have accomplished you're ignored for higher roles you think you should be considered for, or worse, rejected from what you consider beneath you. You can either

• hang on to that frustration and get demoralized (and cynicism, like desperation, frequently oozes from people and is off-putting), or
• accept that that's what it is, nothing personal or particularly offensively oppressive, keep your ego in check, tend to your mental and physical heath and attitude, and approach each potential opportunity with a broader mindset. Great company/crap job might be worth it if you have and keep to your goals once in.

Part of success is adaptability, which requires humility, flexibility, [Eta: pragmatism,] and imagination. The times I've had the worst career experiences have been when I let my ego, or some personality quirk or stubbornly unresolved self-sabotaging hangup, get ahead of my disciplined plan for world domination advancement. Sort that shit out in your free time, but keep it out of your job search and your work.

And to anyone truly struggling with the process to the point of feeling bad as a person, remember it's not personal or about your personal worth. Chin up.

 

[Kel1 shi1]

Usually most women are hired for tits ass

If it's the men hiring they absolutely do want to add women to the harem. When you are in a management position you get a radar for women that first can do the job (Thus making them a valid hire), and second will open their legs to get ahead. It's true, I've seen it, I've done it. Shit, I worked with a guy that was gay and he openly talked about only hiring twinks he though he could fuck. And he did.

 

[Chromeo]

I'm not white collar, I sometimes wish I was, but I've worked retail and goddamn it do I hate looking for a retail job.

You go to the store and they have a table and balloons and flyers and there's signs in the windows BEGGING for people to apply. So you grab a flyer or talk to a manager and every fucking time it's just "Go to our website lol this isn't the dark ages, are you retarded?"

So then you go to their website, which is either so grossly over-engineered it takes 20 minutes of menuing to find the job listings, or so outdated and broken you physically can't use it. If you actually can use their website and get to the jobs, they have maybe THREE (3) listings total (which is somehow dire enough to justify all the balloons?) and one of them is for a store manager that they're not hiring from outside to begin with.

The other two jobs are something super vague like "Store Associate" and are described solely with vague corporate platitudes that don't mean anything so they can work you to death doing every possible task in the store and you can't ever say it "wasn't in the job description." If you ever hear back and get hired, that's when the REAL fun begins; your hours will be juuust short enough you won't get any overtime BUT long enough (or erratic enough, like 2-11's followed by 7-4's) that you'll feel like you never really get a break from work. Of course that's only until they cut your hours so they can have part-time employees work that shift because part-time employees don't get benefits and are thus cheaper to employ!

But don't think that means they won't expect you to work every Saturday, Sunday, and holiday until you die, because THEY WILL. You never get one off by chance, and if somehow you managed to ask far enough in advance to request one of those days off, they'll un-approve it at the last minute so you still have to come in AND it fucks up whatever plans you had since it'll be too late to get your money back for any ticketed events.

If you're upset about any of this, well, they'll just start retaliating against you in little ways you can't prove are retaliation until the job is so hostile that you have no choice but to quit! And since you quit, you don't get any severance pay! You just get booted out the door and set right back to square zero to look for another retail job, starting the process all over again.

TLDR retail is fucking garbage. Its only saving grace is that it's not fast food, and that now after the pandemic most stores aren't 24/7 anymore and some actually close on a few holidays. What a luxury.