What’s up with the job market?
Why is it that someone with two degrees, and decent work experience, can’t even score a job interview, much less get a job?
I’ve applied to, literally, dozens of places for over a year now and have not heard a thing from any of those places, apart from the occasional rejection email.
I have written, rewritten, designed, and resigned my resume and cover letter. I apply to any place I can think to submit my resume to. I’ve gotten to the point where I wonder if those jobs even exist, that the listings are nothing more than resume phishing expeditions.
Case in point: I posted my resume on one website (that I won’t name), and as soon as it was online, I was getting spam in my inbox … at an email that wasn’t even on the resume.
Then I started getting scammers calling me asking for all kinds of personal information. It wasn’t until I took my resume off the website that the spam and calls stopped.
And all the time my resume was on that website, I got not one job offer.
Before anyone cackles about how I believe I’m better than your average applicant because I have college degrees: While there are certain jobs I’m not cut out nor qualified for, I have applied to just about every industry I can think of:
Supermarkets, big box stores (both of whom are phasing out cashiers, anyway), doctors’ offices, lawyers’ offices, crime scene cleaning companies, remote jobs of all kinds, government jobs – local, state, and federal (then I saw the part where the military and their spouses have preference over me, qualifications be damned), etc., etc.
I even emailed a local news station to offer my services as a proofreader because nearly every one of the articles on their website contains grammatical errors and … you guessed it, nothing.
Some of the industries I applied to were in line with my degree, while most weren’t. I didn’t care where I worked, so long as I had a full-time, permanent job. I certainly wasn’t above making sandwiches.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf), the June 2023 unemployment rate is at 3.6% nationwide. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also reports that there were 9.8 million jobs open as of May 31st. (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm).
So, if that’s the case, why can’t I find permanent work? Quite frankly, I’m getting a bit tired of hearing about how there are so many jobs out there, but no one wants to work. Yet, here I am, ready, willing, able, anxious, dare I say desperate, to work, and I keep getting ignored or outright turned down, and I’m far from alone.
Yet, despite all the above, there are “We’re Hiring!” signs plastered everywhere. Make all of that make sense.
Explain how I’ve been looking for a permanent position for over a year, and the only job I could get was a temp job. I’m an adult woman with adult responsibilities who needs an adult job with an adult salary. Jobs here and there don’t pay the bills. Period.
So, with my options exhausted regarding the job search, what should I do now? Should I keep watching resume videos online, hoping something will eventually work? Should I keep attending resume and cover letter workshops hoping the same? What’s the point when none of it can score me an interview, much less get me a job? And all these seminars, workshops, videos, etc., fail to work for plenty of other people.
Meanwhile, bills keep coming in. And try getting help from these social aid organizations. If you don’t have a criminal record, never been in an abusive situation (“domestic violence” always sounded so … blameless), nor ever been in a drug or alcohol recovery program, you’re out of luck.
Imagine being penalized for doing the right thing in life.
Oh, and gig jobs? They amount to long-term summer jobs teenagers used to have. They were never meant to be a primary source of income for even a single person, much less a family.
I made the choice to go back to school and finish my degree because I figured if I wasn’t working, at least I was doing something productive while job hunting.
My degrees now make me overqualified for service jobs, but I’m also underqualified for jobs allegedly befitting my degrees due to lack of recent work experience. And then I’ve gotten advice to not list my degrees on my resume. Is that same advice dispensed to men?
In the job search, the general advice doesn’t even fit some. Prep interviews don’t mirror what people face in actual interviews. Not even close.
I’ve gotten to the point where I really believe I’m better off dead. If I have no money to pay the bills, what else is there to do?
donnad1976 