I have been unemployed since age 18 (now 20). I have applied constantly for jobs since then and have had no success, while all my friends have and tbh it's starting to feel personal. One week last year I applied to 35 jobs in one day (i counted) and not a single one even told me I didn't have the job. This is humiliating and stressful and it just makes me feel depressed
I just wanted to rant. I hate this fucking hamster wheel of society we live in. I am a good worker and no one will fucking hire me
What can I do to even get a job in this fuckin hellscape
it's not you comrade, it's literally designed to be a demoralizing and dehumanizing process. My partner went through this shit and felt the same way.
I always think about seeing those "dataisbeautiful" posts on reddit about job searches where even labor aristocrat white collar dudes send out 300 applications and end up with like 3 interviews and one job offer.
Unfortunately it's just part of the process, just try to let it roll off you as best you can. I know it's easier said than done but it's not your fault this society is diseased.
It's incredibly depressing to try and sell yourself as a commodity, and further depressing to be rejected as though you are an unsuitable one.
The important thing through all of it is to remember that your worth as a person largely lies outside of your 'commodifiable' self
what also depresses me is it doesn't have to be this way. Like 90% of the workforce (i'm being hyperbolic but go with me on this) in the us are performing fake ass demeaning, inconsequential jobs that are basically designed to make rich people feel superior in a lot of cases.
We absolutely could subsidize the education of our people and put them to work doing something more meaningful to their community than the dumb shit we have tons of people doing if we organized our society and economy around improving it and not around profit for a teensy minority of capialists.
So many people feel so aimless and burned out doing shit that doesn't benefit anyone but the owners of their company and it literally doesn't have to be that way. shit's whack.
Like 90% of the workforce (i’m being hyperbolic but go with me on this)
I work white collar, you don't have to sell me on this lmao. I and most all of the coworkers I know maybe 'work' a grand total of 20 hours in any given week, outside of a few hectic points during the year where we actually work a full 40. But that happens maybe 4 weeks a year. Being able to use that time to instead better myself, my residence, bond more with friends and such, help out community...
i feel you, i'm mostly preaching to the choir here. just venting more than anything lol
privileged STEM grad tech worker here
300 applications and end up with like 3 interviews and one job offer
has been exactly my experience I can only imagine how much harder it is applying without a supposedly "coveted" degree,
It feels like they hate me, they want me to starve for some reason, because I'm disabled or something
the only bit of practical advice i can give (other than that its not you, its them, and your worth is not defined by some hr shitbag), is to have someone else have a look over your resume
part of the whole dehumanising process is that they absolutely have a very specific set of expectations about what should be in there and how it should be worded etc etc, and they wont tell you what those expectations actually are but they will absolutely still judge you on them
its very possible that theres something in your resume that youre not aware of that is causing them to instantly bin it cos it doesnt meet their criteria of exactly how they want you to beg for it. it may not be that, the whole process sucks even if youve got a perfect resume, but its one relatively easy thing to try
oh and of course make sure you lie and exaggerate on your resume as well, but that probably goes without saying
Yes definitely lie, say you're doing gig work right now and for the last year. There is no one to call to confirm your "employment " super easy to bullshit and has the benefit of making you seem like you are self motivated and actually work
I used self employment a few times historically. You can literally make up whatever the hell you want and employers, especially small companies, will eat that shit up because they are self employed themselves and probably are only a few years away from the time when they were just a 1 person business themselves.
part of the whole dehumanising process is that they absolutely have a very specific set of expectations about what should be in there and how it should be worded etc etc, and they wont tell you what those expectations actually are but they will absolutely still judge you on them
As part of this, make sure you restate the job description- using as many of the specific words they use as possible- in the resume. I even know some people who put the entire job description in unreadable text on their resumes because the first round of sorting out resumes is typically having a word filter that filters out resumes that don't seem "relevant" enough, which usually boils down to "did you use the specific words we flagged in our job description?" The word filter will still work on that unreadable text
my impression is that most places have caught on to the invisible-text trick and now have measures to get around it (the crudest of which is the whole ridiculous thing of making you also paste your whole resume into a bunch of text boxes on their application form)
OK here's actionable advice: lie a bit on your application. Say you've done food service before (if it's a restaurant). If it's a warehouse, be like "ya I've driven a forklift". I've literally never not lied on a job app.
I'm not going to pretend that I personally know what's up, but this guy has some good advice.
Edit: around 4:20 in the video, he talks about getting around an actual license. Again, this isn't my thing, so I can't really argue it.
Yeah I had a recruiter give me shit for no showing an interview but didn't feel bad at all because every interview I actually went to that was set up by that recruiter, the companies ended up ghosting me. Fuck them, I don't owe them more respect than they show me
I've used fake references before to help out. Get a friend, or your dads buddy, or your burnout neighbour. Ask them if they want to be a reference, and give em a rundown on what it was. I've "worked" at everywhere from scrapyards to tow-truck driver to medical clerk according to my buddies dad. Just make sure you can "prove" the skills you have by having general knowledge of the jobs.
You know people, that's how you get a job. The next best thing is pretending or implying you know people.
Don't waste your time with those job search sites that list places that are hiring. The only places that actually hire through those are scams, those sites mainly exist so employers can pretend they are "equal opportunity".
I recommend looking up local businesses you think you wanna work at, and try to figure out if they are hiring. Apply directly on their website. Warehouse jobs are always hiring night shift, so they are a decent place to start if you really need a job.
If it's a small business, email or phone call may also work. But I generally don't recommend small business if you can help it. The pay sucks and you are more likely to have a boss that openly acts like a psychopath.
walk in and ask if there is an opening, that how i afforded my house at langley
I'm psychically disabled (dyspraxia) which I suspect also plays a big role in why I cant land a job (even for jobs that my disability wont affect)
nepotism hasn't helped, I had a friend put in good words with his employer but they didnt even contact me even after I applied (which is illegal in my country but who gives a shit)
I'm not sure if they exist here but I'll look. Thanks for helping comrade
Staffing agencies are basically scab factories lol, better than nothing, but that role really should be held by a union. Especially because the cut they take is insane. Like $4/hr out of an $18/hr position.
stretch the truth A LOT, often in ways that seem extreme. however even this does not guarantee an interview.
Also recognize where you're applying - if you're applying to a huge company that is probably getting hundreds of applications, unless you are in the top echelon of people qualified for the job, your resume is probably being filtered out by some automated system before a real person has a chance to look at it. And some places will put out advertisements for jobs they don't actually need - they're just testing the waters, seeing who's out there.
So try to figure out who is actually urgently hiring and where your application has the best chance to be read. Often the smaller the business the less applications and they'll also have a real person read your application. And often employers will reduce their minimum qualifications on an ad if they really need someone. But don't refuse to apply to larger businesses or ads with more qualifications if you are well qualified and meet the minimum requirements - just recognize where your application will make the greatest impact.
stretch the truth A LOT
Lmao, this seems to be the theme in this thread
It'd hard when I can barely afford food and my gf is the breadwinner (not like in some chauvinistic way but she literally pays for most of our dates because 90% of the time I'm broke)
It was a million times easier when I was your age. I used to get hired after the first interview. It's really not your fault.
I mostly don't even get to the interview stage. And ive compared CV's with my friends and mine literally looks no different
Having to sell myself for job interviews is so fucking gross. I've been at my current job for years, in part to avoid having ever to do that again.
