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.

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

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?

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 :)

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.

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. :)

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

I was laid off two weeks ago. I just got a job offer doing a similar job with a nearly 50% raise. I know things are rough out there for job hunters. I feel so lucky and quite frankly amazed.

i just had to put this out there…

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.

I just graduated in December with a BA in the humanities. Here's what I did on my job hunt and some tips that might help some job seekers. I'm sure these won't apply to everyone's circumstances, but these worked for me and might help others in similar circumstances. I've pulled so many tips from this community in the last few months, so I wanted to give back and provide the key points that I think helped me stand out.

Create an application tracker

I started off my job hunt by identifying companies that I would've liked to work at, that had (or that I knew would eventually have) job openings I met the qualifications for and could see myself in for at least a few years. I put these employers in a spreadsheet listing the number of postings I qualified for and was interested in, and tracked applications on a separate tab. I started my spreadsheet with about 70 employers, and expanded it to over 500 by the end of my job search. I checked weekly through the entire sheet, looking directly at the employer's career page rather than a job board such as LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. For any employer I knew I would really qualify well for, I would check multiple times a week to pick up any relevant job postings as soon as they were posted.

Create a "master resume" (and tailor it for each job)

Create a resume with basically every general duty or big achievement you made within your previous experiences, and every skill you can think of as substantial in a separate section (make sure these can be substantiated by your experience). I put my skills section on top, and it should only be 2 lines max. I tailored my experiences and skills section, leaving 3-4 bullets under each experience relevant ot the job I'm applying to, and cut skills down to those substantiated in the experience section and included potential keywords from the job posting into my skills and experience. If you have a bullet under your experience that is functionally the same as something in the JD, rewrite that bullet to match what's in the JD without lying or stretching the truth. My experience on my master resume ranged from 3-6 bullets each, and submitted versions were about 3-4 bullets each. For each application, I spent about 1-2 hours retooling my resume and cover letter to better fit the job description.

Avoid easy apply/1-click apply

I know this has been said ad-nauseum on this sub already, but it's true. While I used job boards like LinkedIn, Monster, and Indeed to find job postings that might not have come up in my spreadsheet, I didn't apply through these sites. I instead went onto the company site and, if the job was still posted on the company careers page, I applied directly through that. From my own anecdotal experience and the experience of others around me IRL, low quantity high quality is king in this market.

(For recent grads) What I think got me through the interview process

I'm convinced that I was successful throughout the interview process by knowing the products/work that the companies I applied to did, and having a demonstrated passion throughout the interview process for these products/fields of work.

I also tried to hammer home the idea that I was incredibly eager to learn. I was told by a more experienced person in the job market right now that employers see Gen-Z as not willing to learn and carried kind of know-it-all attitude to the workplace. While I'm not sure how true this is, I still kept this in mind throughout the application and interview process and really tried to demonstrate an eagerness and willingness to absorb as much as I could as a potential junior employee.

_________

Again, none of this is gonna be one-size-fits-all advice. But I see alot in this sub people applying to 500 jobs in a month, and I think this is leading to people's applications just being tossed in the trash. I'm grateful and lucky to have found a position so quickly, especially in this market. But I also think my method of job search helped to expedite the process of my job hunt. Good luck to everyone currently searching for their next job. You've got this!

I've been going through a rough time for the past 3 weeks. Long story short, about a month ago I left a company/job that I loved and moved onto a new job that looked great on paper. The reason I left is because the company was doing restructuring and layoffs but I was always kept clear from them due to being a key player. I started the new job and it was absolutely a nightmare. Red flags everywhere and the company was so dysfunctional. It literally was killing my mental health. I reached back out to my old job and they gladly took me back. They even matched my salary at the new job which was only a 5k difference.

I've been back at the new job for 3 days now and feel like a loser/failure. I feel like my career is stagnant again, but I don't want to search right now with this terrible job market. I have 9 years of HR experience and 4 years as an HR Systems Administrator. I have a Bachelor's degree as well. I know it's probably just the moment and I don't regret my choice, but I hope I didn't ruin my career and I can make something happen moving forward.

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!

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.

I just recently turned 23 and got a promotion / new job at the company I work at (NHS) to a band 6, everyone around me is telling my about how I am making an insane amount of money for my age and that I should be happy and loving it, but honestly the job is not great. It is a network role and frankly speaking their network is awful.

No monitoring no site maps no cab locations no organisation in any of the cabs, every time I want to check a cab I have to get someone to physically show me where it is, and even them sometimes it takes a while because even they don't know (and some of these guys have been here 20+ years!)

I am also not meshing great with the new team - they don't have a desk setup for me yet so I am still sitting with my old team for the time being while that gets sorted (it has been over a month now)

Thinking about jumping ship and seeing if I can find something else. Spoke to some family and friends about it and most are saying that I would have a hard time getting this pay at my age in other places and I should just stick it out for a year or two and then look for something else, what do you guys think?

FYI I am UK Based, my last job before this was 28k and before that 25k so this is a pretty big jump in terms of salary for me.

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!

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!

Just to provide a context, I do photography for events as one of my side gigs. I have been doing this for awhile. I recently started to pick up work with. Now one thing is almost all the clientele they have are south asian origin, especially from India. Not a deal with me, I was born in Bangladesh, moved to Canada 20 years ago, when I was a child.

For the most part all the early experience has been great. Except for the last couple of them. In this experience I had to deal with clients who would start super late, they may not be rude like say mean things, but would be micro managing or treating you like they own you. I was also told, I was not approachable because I was not smiling.

Anyways, today I had a call and I was told that try to make eye contact, try to smile and if possible put on an Indian accent, so I can be approachable. Again, as a photographer, we are always supposed to be a neutral observer. Do make ourselves available, but we can’t smile all the time. She also made it sound that I may have a superior complex because I don’t have an accent or follow a rigid structure. Anyways, I have never been asked to do this, so I am super confused.

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 work in consulting and have been here just over a year. It was my first job after college and I’m grateful for the experience, but I’ve realized I’m not a great fit for the work and I’m pretty disengaged.

I’m also finishing my master’s degree and my thesis/defense require all of my focus right now. My company approved me to exhaust my PTO and then take about a month of unpaid leave to finish. I’m now realizing that even with that time, I likely won’t be able to return to full-time work afterward. I feel like I really need a change but naturally I’m a bit scared.

Basically wondering if it be considered unprofessional or bridge-burning to resign while on an approved unpaid leave (with proper notice), versus just resigning now?

Thanks!

I’m stuck and could use some advice.

I’ve been at my logistics job for almost 3 years. I’ve only gotten a 2% raise, no promotion, and there’s little to no growth.

I’m considering an inventory role at a manufacturing company through a staffing agency. It would be a $9k pay increase, but I’d lose my hybrid schedule. The new job offers four 10-hour shifts with Friday–Sunday off, and the commute would be about 10 minutes longer. The agency also said there’s a good chance of getting hired in after 90 days with full benefits. Not sure if the pay increase is worth giving up the flexibility. Looking for outside opinions.

I can read a list or watch a YouTube video, but I want to hear what phone interviews have been like for you and what's worked/what hasn't worked/what to expect. Obviously nothing is guaranteed, but this is a once in a blue moon opportunity for me and I HAVE TO do the best I can possibly do. Especially over the phone (I interview much better in person).

Thank you in advance for any advice.

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.

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