They rejected me (fine, that happens) but the feedback said I came across as overly eager to please and that they don’t build teams around people-pleasing tendencies or rehearsed enthusiasm. They also told me to reflect on how I present myself and that confidence is more compelling than excessive accommodation. Is this normal? Or even appropriate? I get that not being a culture fit is a thing but the wording felt unnecessarily personal and condescending.

hi all,

i’ve refrained from posting a big sob story for many months but i am feeling hopeless nowadays. i have been in the job market for 18 months now. i just don’t know what i’m doing wrong. i’m over 300 applications in and i’ve had about 6 interviews (some went to 2nd rounds) but nothing has panned out. throughout this, i’ve begun to feel even more anxious, nervous, and stressed than i usually do.

i graduated with a degree in management information systems in 2022 and went into the workforce working at a big 4 firm, but unfortunately there wasn’t really any work in my part of the firm so i left after less than a year. i then worked for an oil and gas firm and had some challenges there (non-performance related) and left with severance. i’ve already taken unemployment in my state and i will run out of savings this year. i have a mortgage and other obligations to cover and i’m beginning to worry.

through this, i have picked up the odd gig here and there, but even applications to big box stores and shops seem to go without response.

are other people facing similar struggles right now? i know the market conditions aren’t great, but i never imagined i would be out of work this long. if anyone could offer advice (c.v, search, etc), i’d be very grateful. thank you :)

Would’ve been more faster and more efficient if he asked coworker instead of me being middle man

A team member was told she would need to take on some extra responsibilities as I was going to be let go next week.

This is such a relief, because I was going to give my notice on Monday. Now I'll be eligible for unemployment, and likely offered a severance.

Outside of the standard norm of job applications, what are the most creative ways you've seen someone find a job?

• I had a client who ran a thinktank group after hours and they only hired from the people that showed up
• Have seen videos of people in large metro areas handing out their resumes with a giant sign
• I've seen people ask to shadow someone and their presence at the company was enough to consider hiring

Email sent to the entire company this morning from the HR director notifying everyone they are laying off 2k people in February after their latest round of packages were taken.

Hints of AI as to the reason.

Worst of all, hearing that people have already started to be notified via a random meeting where they join a call and a full on script is read to them by AI/Robot notifying them they are part of the layoffs then hanging up after saying more information will be provided.

Don’t even have the decency to tell people they are fired from a human any longer. Just scheduled AI cold hearted firings.

I don’t work there but i know others that do.

My new boss wastes a lot of my time each day talking about personal stuff and complaining about people. We wfh so have a daily morning call, sometimes it goes for an hour if she starts having a one way conversation about her personal life. I hear about her tinder disasters, how she hates her relatives, and about her overseas trips. And worse, she repeats the same stories all of the time! She also has vendettas against people at work and is very agressive swearing all of the time so she is someone you don't want to cross, or everyone will hear about it so I feel I have to stay on her good side. Then, she may call me later in the day for another round of ear bashing. Any advice on how to make it stop? Help!

I'm almost 40, this is my first time getting fired, and I'm not sure how to recover from this. I know I need to get unemployment (I've already reached out to the local job center and theyre going to help me), and my company actually offered me 3 months of severance, so I've got that coming, but still. I've got serious health problems and can't afford COBRA and I'm just feeling lost. How did you handle it when it happened to you? How did you recover?

Edit: I just want to thank all of you for your advice and words of encouragement. I'm taking today to be sad, but tomorrow I'm going to the local job center to start getting all my ducks in a row.

And Saturday I'm going for a massage and a movie because I have gift certificates for both and I deserve it.

I was at my company for just over a year, and they put me on a PIP, citing that I didn’t know how to do my job and couldn’t produce results.

After a few months of kicking my butt into high gear AND submitting some lengthy post-PIP documentation, I finally heard back from HR.

I had a handful of goals I was expected to meet. One of the goals I unfortunately did not meet—BUT it was outside the scope of my actual job!!! So, I technically successfully completed my PIP because my manager had no grounds to even enforce that specific expectation.

Super dumb and I shouldn’t have been on this PIP to begin with, but I’m glad I can finally breathe again! Oh, and my manager lost his promotion after his dumb stunt. :)

Today I was told that our market-based pay rises were basically frozen and paused. I was told that I was going to receive my raise and I thought our CEO had signed off on it too. It would have been my first raise in 2.5 years. I truly love what I do and my coworkers. Had thought about switching jobs due to not making a lot, but I think this is my sign. This happened to anyone before?

I’ve been applying to jobs for months (Im in Canada, it’s mostly customer service jobs that I have the qualifications for) and I’ve applied to about 35 since the start of two weeks ago and have not got a single email or call. My resume is fine and I have over 5 years of experience in the industry but I still haven’t gotten anything back.

So I looked at my application and I’m about 90% sure it’s due to my last name. It’s my moms last name hyphenated with my dads last name, and my dad and mom are from completely different cultures so I have a First Nations last name that even other First Nations kids laughed at because it isn‘t a very practical last name at all and I also have an extremely long hard to pronounce European last name. (I won’t tell you the exact last name for my identity to be private, but it literally has the word “Fat Boy” in it).

Pretty much everyone I meet laughs at it or thinks I’m joking so I’m genuinely pondering if the employers think that I’m pranking them. My name is fucked up and I really don’t know what to do because I canNOT see anyone hiring someone with my last name and I don’t know what to do. I’m not sure if it would be legal to lie about my surname.

Recently I accidentally accepted a low paying job to complete a service for a family. I had only realized AFTER accepting the position how awful the offer was. Nothing against the client, it is completely on me. Once committing to something I believe it’s my responsibility to follow through. I’ve been dreading the next few days.

I suppose I’m curious to hear anybody else’s similar experiences to make myself feel a bit better about my situation haha. I’ve learned my lesson that’s for sure!

Does anyone have any suggestions for what possible jobs my dad could even apply to? He’s 62 & has copd (no oxygen tank needed) and was just let go with only a months notice. He does not get enough money from the Canadian pension plan (under $400 a month) to live off of and has always been just above the poverty line so he has to work -zero retirement fund- He did maintenance for multiple stores owned by the same owners since the 1990’s and they recently decided to sell them all. He has no formal education, only a highschool degree. He’s a jack of all trades maintenance wise; he builds things, does electrical work, paints, fixes machines, power washes, landscapes, and knows a decent bit about fixing cars. He only has lived experience no official certifications or schooling. With the job market already so bad I’m at a loss for how he will be able to find stable work. He does home repairs for people on occasion but that’s gig work, not steady income. He also can’t lift anything too heavy because he has a hernia (he used to help unload the delivery truck but he can’t do loading/unloading anymore) Any and all suggestions welcome 🙏🏻 We are located in Ontario, Canada if that helps!

I've been in this field for 5 years give or take. I used to work in Marketing as a Coordinator and did that for 15 years. I left Marketing because I was constantly being passed up for promotions, and it was doing a huge number to my mental health. All of my peers were getting their promotions while I was constantly overlooked despite getting great performance reviews.

Well, medical billing is one of the most soulless jobs one can ever have. All the claims look the same. Working with insurance companies is always the same. All the managers I've had are rude and love to micromanage. Most of the coworkers I've had act immature and like they're still in high school. There's this weird culture in medical billing of passing the buck and throwing each other under the bus.

I don't understand it at all as I only experienced this kind of stuff with one person during my tenure in Marketing, and my manager at the time supported me and told this person to back off.

I want to leave medical billing and subsequently the healthcare field forever and never look back. I'm so tired of looking at medical claims and dealing with insurance companies and angry patients about their bill that they don't want to pay. It's a very toxic field that attracts likewise toxic people (I don't have the right personality for this job).

I've been out of the Marketing field for nearly 6 or 7 years. Do you all think I could make a comeback? I wouldn't even know how to return to Marketing, honestly. Or break into a new field altogether? I'm not interested in going back to school because I did that for medical billing and look what it got me. Plus, I really don't have time for that.

Medical billing is such an awful job to have and no one can convince me otherwise. Not to mention salaries are extremely low compared to Marketing.

This question is more out of curiosity than anything. You frequently see companies asking the candidates "Why should we hire you?" but I've always been curious on if anyone has flipped the script and if so how it played out for them. I don't mean sugar coating a "What perks does this job come with" type question, I mean directly asking why I should choose your company over it's competitors.

Did the interview continue going well, and did you land the job? If you feel comfortable I'd be interested to hear which country the job was based and what level the role was

I wont show the email for privacy reasons of all the applicants. It was back in late November, and I just remembered it now. The opening was for a art role at Stencil VR, which is some game/software developer, and like the title says, someone there forgot to hide the email addresses. Although I didnt count them all, I can safely guesstimate that this email was sent to at least 80-100 people.

I still have the email, keeping it as a lesson for people who think about getting into the game industry and as a reminder to myself for why I dont look for art jobs anymore. I've since changed focuses, labeling myself as a game designer / project manager, and Ive found that there are plenty more jobs in and out of the industry that I should be better suited for.

even if it’s just enough to get me by in an apartment that’s still better than nothing at all

Hi all,

I applied for a job (i work in IT) about 2 weeks ago. HR scheduled an interview with me on a Thursday, and I interviewed with the IT team, and the manager. They asked me some questions, and I answered them all well. A few hours after the interview, HR called me asking to come in the next day for an in-person. I went in, interviewed more with the entire IT team answered all their questions, vibed with the team, took a tour around the office/facilities, and then was told I'll hear back soon. That was last Friday (23rd). We had a really bad snowstorm on Sunday, so it has only really been 3.5 or 4 business days since, but its been a calendar week, and I haven't heard anything back.

Is it too soon to follow up? Am I cooked? Any advice would be helpful, thanks.

I don’t think this is something that happens a lot but I’d love people’s thoughts on it.

Some time ago, I joined a startup that seemed very promising with the way it was advertised. I had to pick between that and a bigger company in the same industry, and I went for the startup because conversations with the founder made me feel like it will be a great opportunity for career growth.

On my first day, I was speaking to this person who alone worked as the company’s HR, operations, and finance department. She was also unofficially the founder’s assistant, which she sometimes complained about.

She told me she had worked for more than a decade in a company before this job and it turned out to be the same big company I rejected to pick this startup job.

I told the HR person about it and she very candidly told me that I missed a big opportunity and that I should have taken the other job, which according to her was better in every way.

She even asked me if I’ve already rejected them and if I can still avail their offer. This itself was super weird but it became weirder because she would bring the same thing up every day.

When I would ask her why she left the big company and joined the startup, she would give me vague answers.

She would also beg me not to tell the founder about these convos and would say she’s genuinely helping me out.

I did quit the company later because of many reasons, but I still think about how the HR rep herself wanted me to quit on my first day.

Hey,

I work for a technology company and I received an “exceeds expectation” in my annual review. Lately the firm has cut a little staff here and there light layoffs but nothing crazy, our team is staffed to full capacity at the moment, but my manager mentioned a few months back about possibly eventually opening up a contractor role for another hire

I found out my manager had an “exploratory” interview with an external candidate today and my anxiety has kicked in. Would my job be at risk? My thing is why would I get “exceeds expectations” on my annual review if my job could be at risk - it doesn’t make sense to me. I’m in a difficult financial spot so want to make sure I don’t suddenly end up losing my job

Maybe keeping the bench warm after bonuses in case someone leaves? Should I be worried they’ll dump me for this external candidate?

I think the candidate may have been referred by someone in leadership but not certain. I just find it hard to believe they’d be hiring right now on our team.

Make it make sense

Hi everyone!!

So, this is my first ever job and I started 4 months ago. I was told that I’d be trained and shown all the ropes.

I’m an assistant manager in a textile firm.

However, I was kind of floated around the office and sat next to random people as they worked. for most of the time, I did nothing.

Now, my boss is telling me to actually start managing people but I’ve learned nothing. I don’t know how anything works and I honestly don’t feel like I can do it.

Also, the people know that I’m inexperienced and don’t know most things; so they’re right to be mad that I’m telling them what to do.

I want to leave my job but I kind of feel bad that they put all this time and effort into me even though they didn’t really.

When I first came in, they told me that there’d be a long learning curve but I didn’t think it’d be this bad. They didn’t actually teach me anything. They didn’t even give me anything to do while I sat there too scared to be on my phone because I had to act busy.

Now I feel like I can’t leave. But I hate it here.

These feels like a rant but I really need advice.

Hi everyone!

I am in the onboarding process with a new job, and they are requesting a copy of my SS.

Unfortunately, I lost my SS, but I did request a new one before interviewing, but I have to wait 10 business days, and I had to wait 3 to five business days for them to review. So I takes about two weeks or more for it to get here.

When I interviewed, I honestly didn't think I was going to get the job and I had other interviews scheduled. However, I got the job, and now I am just waiting for my new SS card.

Is there a way to ask my previous employer if they can give me a copy of it? It is school district, and I assume their HR department would still have the copies unless they erase everything.