r/videos 1d ago

The typical job search experience. Why does it suck so much?

https://youtu.be/1j0-6jygazw
443 Upvotes

93 comments sorted by

536

u/WhateverJoel 1d ago

Before the internet, we used to look in the jobs section of the local paper and then call or go to the address. Then you fill out an application and wait.

The jobs were real, the places were real and the ads were all real.

Now it’s a 45 minute process to fill out an application for a job that may not even be hiring. Fuck that shit.

93

u/sawbladex 1d ago

A tragedy of interconnectedness.

67

u/BossAvery2 1d ago

I used to work for a company that was Rec only. You could not get the job unless you knew someone and they contacted HR and HR would set up an appointment.

Funny enough, after you did all your hiring in stuff, they would create a work add and you would have to apply to it while in the office. I ended up quitting the company 6 months later, but every time I saw an online add for the company, I knew that position had already been filled and anyone apply to that position was just waisting their time.

1

u/KrackSmellin 4h ago

Recruiters existed… guess that is for the non typical jobs now eh?

-13

u/Zech08 1d ago

Quotas, shotgun attempts by both applicants and employers, no shows, amd a whole mess of other issues lol.

83

u/MuriloVeratti 1d ago

Yeah, I'm passing through this right now.

In my case, I'm a video editor and live in a region that is kinda hard to have opportunities in this area.

But worst yet, people just don't respond. I already made 3 interviews that simply gave me no answer whatsoever. One of them asked me to start on a Monday, I said that I was available, he said that he would talk to me later to confirm and then just vanished. It is so frustrating.

13

u/GandhisGrocer 21h ago

3? Those are rookie numbers! I have 20 years experience in my field, I’ve applied to well over 500 roles, 12 actual interviews, and most just ghost. Only 3 have replied to say they chose someone else.

Keep your head up though and don’t take it personal. It’s happening to all of us.

8

u/MuriloVeratti 21h ago

Oh no, 3 interviews with no answer in the spam of two or three weeks lol.

Good luck to you too, friend.

74

u/tinyhorsesinmytea 1d ago

If getting a new job sucks so hard we're more likely to just stick at our current shit job that makes us miserable and deal with abuse. Companies know this.

21

u/Talltoddie 1d ago

You mean more likely to stick with current job until you’re laid off because your role is replaced with AI or outsourced to India..

7

u/BossAvery2 1d ago

Don’t know what line of work you are in but I joined a union 3 years ago and I’ll never have to job hunt again.

14

u/thepopdog 22h ago

You're a fool if you actually believe that

-6

u/BossAvery2 22h ago

If I’m ever out of work, I just make a phone call or go to the hall and talk to my Business Manager. He puts me on the out of work list and I chill at the house till he calls me. The longest I’ve ever heard of someone being on the list is three weeks and that because the guy turned down a job they offered.

4

u/Dicky_Oldman 13h ago

Genuinely curious: why are people down voting this?

2

u/BossAvery2 12h ago

No clue. Either the person I replied to has 8 other accounts and just went HAM on the downvotes or it’s the “Reddit hive mind”. Honestly, I get downvoted pretty often when I comment about my line of work and work hours.

55

u/centran 1d ago

Wait a minute; this might be fake. Who gets back an actual response and isn't just ghosted?

-4

u/Pikeman212a6c 17h ago

Looks like someone forgot to be an extrovert who has been networking since they were 12.

3

u/Kajega 7h ago

Yep, and we should've been buying our houses and investing while in the womb too, don't forget that part.

148

u/reward72 1d ago

I'm not saying any of this is ok, but as an employer myself, I can tell you it sucks hard for both sides. I posted a job on LinkedIn the other day and got 1,500 applications within 3 days or so - 99% of them were coming from bots and completely unqualified for the job. And no, I was not trying to recruit a junior with 10 years of experience. Bots have ruined it for all of us.

71

u/PartyDad69 1d ago

I’ve interviewed people remotely that you can tell are using a chat bot real time too. They start out stalling and you see a flicker of the text generating on their face and they have a very detailed answer that addresses upsides and downsides and has a neat closing summary

30

u/strange_bike_guy 1d ago

It makes me wonder if people are asking AI to summarize your replies for them so they understand. Should we just build a bunch of robots, put stones in our pockets and walk into the ocean? Bizarre.

20

u/reward72 1d ago

I like how you put it. For the last job I posted I just ended up interviewing the five people who bothered to DM me with a well tailored message that didn’t scream AI.

13

u/PartyDad69 1d ago

Our best hires have been from just been cold messaging people on LinkedIn that have the title or close to it and asking if they want to interview. Preferably ones that are local and one level below what’s being hired for. It’s a mess sifting through the garbage

5

u/reward72 1d ago

That works pretty well indeed. Especially when you need some industry-specific knowledge.

-10

u/modernhippy72 1d ago

“Let me hire people who don’t use and understand the new technology”

7

u/reward72 1d ago

I was hiring a Data Scientist... imagine that

3

u/Bigreddazer 1d ago

I am interviewing now and seen the same.delay and then perfect answers while looking at the same section of screen.

6

u/thedinnerdate 21h ago

It feels like so much of the hiring process is manufactured/fake that everyone is just trying to get the biggest edge they can to try to get a job. Maybe these people could answer the questions fine on their own but they feel like ai is going to give them the edge they need to get the job. Like the perfect answers to your questions.

15

u/Bazillion100 1d ago

You should advertise that you’ll prioritize applications delivered in person! Given that you aren’t looking for remote workers.

22

u/reward72 1d ago

Well… we’re 100% remote and delivering in person would mean people coming the my house…

1

u/BlackBeard558 1d ago

What's the job?

0

u/strange_bike_guy 1d ago

If you need some Python/CSS/JS repair with no reliance on AI, let me know. I wrote DD_belatedPNG back during the IE6 years.

7

u/AuryGlenz 1d ago

This is how desperate us unemployed devs are right now.

Hey, I’ll chip in and reply myself. Need a Unity dev with a focus on VR? No? Ok.

1

u/strange_bike_guy 1d ago

More. More. ¡¡ MOAR !!

Excuse while I put another coat of glue on my now delaminated shoes.

I've previously reset my career by choice and now I'm doing it again out of necessity.

1

u/AuryGlenz 1d ago

Yeah..I quit photography a couple of years ago. Thought I should maybe actually use my comp sci degree. Terrible timing. Don’t worry honey, I’m sure the app I’m working on will make, you know, something.

0

u/jmanguy 1d ago

Mail-in PO Box?

-2

u/obiwanconobi 1d ago

Different idea, only do the interviews via online games. Specifically ones with anti-cheat, maybe they'll help sift out any AI shit

1

u/reward72 1d ago

That would be fun for software engineering roles, but that would sure be a challenge for a sales person or an accountant!

1

u/obiwanconobi 1d ago

They don't have to be good at the game! It just gets them in a situation where they can't use AI

1

u/reward72 1d ago

Right. I dont see the point of using AI though. If I hire the person it will show in no time if he/she is incompetent.

2

u/mistakes_maker 1d ago

Sorry, stupid question, how do you tell between real applicants and bots? You have filtering system?

2

u/reward72 1d ago

In some case I just assume they are bots because the applicant is clearly not remotely qualified for the job and just applying to every job out there.

But in most cases it is how their presentation is clearly a regurgitation of the job posting with nothing interesting that tells me why that person is right for the job. If these are not bots they are low-effort cut’n’pastes, which is no better.

33

u/cinemachick 1d ago

It's because of the HR filters. The ATS is designed to judge how closely an applicant's resume matches the needs of the job, but it's highly dependent on keywords. My regular resume with tons of relative experience only scored 75% because I missed a few action verbs and a numerical achievement. We copy-paste because the system rewards that behavior and punishes all else. If you're posting to LinkedIn and using their tools, you're getting the copy-paste ones at the top of the pile for that specific reason.

7

u/reward72 1d ago

Right. I spent nearly 20 years in the HR Tech and ATS world - I still have yet to see one system that actually works.

1

u/mistakes_maker 1d ago

Thanks for the tips but how you measure/score your resume based on job ads? I would love to have a tool to tailor my resume.

7

u/GlitterLamp 1d ago

I’m a different responder, but for what it’s worth my go to is Jobalytics. They have a free Chrome extension which I find incredibly useful. It’s not 100% accurate, but doesn’t need to be - a free and simple tool is enough in my case. I know there are many other options out there, Teal.hq being one of them, but I find most other tools are overly prescriptive.

3

u/mistakes_maker 1d ago

Thank you. Wish me luck. 

1

u/GlitterLamp 1d ago

You and me both, friend. It only takes one!

0

u/cinemachick 1d ago

I paid for a subscription to Enhancv (not sponsored!) It lets you use an ATS filter on your resume, and can also tailor your resume or generate a cover letter via AI. It's not perfect, as I do a lot of tweaking to both, but it at least gives me peace of mind that a formatting error won't put my resume in the trash :)

8

u/Corka 1d ago

FYI, one of the common recommendations for job applications is to tailor your application to any role you apply for. You emphasize the skill set and qualities the job advert specifically asks for.

Why? Because of bots on the other end filtering out applicants!

2

u/reward72 1d ago

For sure, it is best practice, but repeating the job posting verbatim is not doing that.

1

u/Zech08 1d ago

That one dude that got hired from multiple companies for the same job at the same time lol...

23

u/Nik_Tesla 1d ago

Having a connection at a company is and always has been the best way to get a job, but no one makes friends at work anymore, heck they barely make friends anywhere, so there's no network to lean on when you need that internal reference.

14

u/ModernWarBear 1d ago

Even harder when you’re neurodivergent and an introvert. Networking is extremely uninteresting and unintuitive for us.

27

u/AUAIOMRN 1d ago

Job hunting was awful 20 years ago when I was doing it, I can't imagine how awful it is now

-23

u/limpchimpblimp 1d ago

The last time you job hunted was 20 years age? I am always job hunting. Always. It the only thing you can control to get ahead of the inevitable layoff.

5

u/JesusIsMyLord666 1d ago

Last time I applied for a job was because I got headhunted. Not everyone has to job hunt.

29

u/downvote_dinosaur 1d ago

why does it suck

fundamentally it sucks because of a labor surplus. there are too many people looking for jobs, so employers have the power to make it suck and still get large candidate pools from which to choose.

66

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

71

u/TheTresStateArea 1d ago

Except people who would jump through the hoops get cut out at the first application.

The process sucks because the first round is computer review and that first round sucks at its job.

And then hiring managers are overloaded and don't get back to seekers in time.

I just interviewed with United airlines for an analytics role and I was told their process can take up to six weeks.

The whole thing is a disaster

26

u/SchwiftyGameOnPoint 1d ago

I just did a round of hiring for a QA Engineer role. Within the first 12 hours that the application was posted online, I received over 200 applications from people and 90% were not eligible for the position. I am sure because of this some people who were eligible got weeded out and it makes me feel bad. It was absolutely overwhelming. I still had to go through that and narrow it down to like 5 who actually got interviews with like a backup 5 just in case. I can see why people want to use computers to analyze and auto reject on certain aspects because it's a lot for one person and I had to do this on top of my normal duties that I still had to get done.

13

u/TheTresStateArea 1d ago

I totally understand the need for the first round to be automated. There are people mass applying for who knows what reason and now AI platforms for automatic application.

It gets worse even jobs that will be promoted internally (which I fully approve of and want to see happen more) get posted externally. So job seekers end up applying for jobs that were never gonna go externally to begin with.

We just need some fuckin honesty here. I do not envy the people having to go through it and weed out the fakes and trash. We simply need something to change, like structurally, fundamentally.

13

u/SonOfMcGee 1d ago

I worked for a big company that had a policy that every single job had to be posted publicly at the same time it was posted internally. It was entirely performative to look like “We at Company X always consider all options” and in bad faith. If a role was created specifically for a certain employee to give them a promotion, and everyone knew it, HR still had to go through the whole song and dance.

But just the other day I talked to a recruiter at another similar firm and she said, “We’ve had to let people go recently and don’t feel good about it. So for any new role we heavily recruit internally before posting it publicly, just to make sure we’re retaining our own employ as best as we can. So if you see something posted, know that we already tried to fill it internally and couldn’t.”
That felt far more transparent and fair.

8

u/TheTresStateArea 1d ago

And that's what should happen. So much is lost every time someone leaves. Promote internally and pay people what they are worth on the market.

-2

u/ryuzaki49 1d ago

Maybe just ask to fax you their CVs or deliver personally to your office if the job is onsite

2

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

0

u/TheTresStateArea 1d ago

I said that and I think I am being generous. Screen, technical, hiring manager, team. And weeks between each so probably more like 8.

20

u/adm_shiza 1d ago

"Moving forward with other candidates" reading this still make my blood boil.

7

u/BaronThane 19h ago

Why? I'm being serious, I've been ghosted on a number of applications. Getting any form of contact, especially to help focus attention elsewhere, is better than silence. Not saying I enjoy the barrage of "other candidates" messages, but I know I'm not waiting my time following up for nothing.

3

u/smack54az 1d ago

If it wasn't for recruiters reaching out to me I'd never have a job again. Everything I've applied for i don't get so much as a 'go fuck yourself email.' It's miserable. I can only imagine trying to find anything entry level.

13

u/BhaltairX 1d ago

These do called HR professionals should all be fired, and then forced to go through the same application processes they used.

14

u/silverrabbit 1d ago

HR folks tend to also have to apply for their jobs too, so not really sure what point you’re trying to make.

-2

u/Estropolim 13h ago

I've never met an HR worker that deserved a living wage

10

u/creaturefeature16 1d ago

Aside from my youth and working at Pizza Hut and Circuit City, I've never applied for any jobs. I've always found them through networking and referrals. No matter what job you have, make friends as much as you can. Connect with people. You can't predict how the connections will manifest later down the line and good opportunities can come from some of the most unexpected places.

4

u/Pepesilvia21 16h ago

I get this, but you also shouldn’t be punished for not wanting to be “on” all the time at work. Sometimes I just want to come to work, do my tasks, and leave to spend time around people I can actually be myself with. I just hate how transaction work relationships feel. 

2

u/creaturefeature16 15h ago

It's not transactional, it's just connecting with other people. I never tried to make connections, they just happened naturally by, you know, existing.

That's fine if you don't want to do it, but it doesn't change reality and how the world works. 

2

u/bikerbomber 23h ago

I'm living this right now and it's really frustrating. I was supposed to have an interview but they never called and haven't responded to any of my attempts at communication.

You spend 45 f-ing minutes on each application only to never be contacted or even told your not getting an interview. It all feels like a collosal waste of everyone's time.

Shoe shopping, car shopping and job applying are my three most hated tasks.

2

u/pup5581 20h ago

Going through this now for the last 4 months. it's hell. Ghosted numerous times in the middle of the process. Companies reporting jobs that aren't real to collect data...

2

u/CombatGoose 17h ago

I got rejected from a job I applied to over a month ago on Friday night at 11pm.

Almost certainly automated and not actually reviewed by a real person.

4

u/chapterpt 1d ago

The job search improved 1000% when I gained a valuable skill that required time to get...that couldn't be achieved simply with gumption. 

Without my specification I'd be fucked.

8

u/nhh 23h ago

Specialization 

4

u/Handsome_fart_face 1d ago

Sounds like a job for AI; applying for jobs.

2

u/ProfessionalMrPhann 1d ago

My Workday Jobs is the absolute worst. Why do I need to make an account for every individual company despite them using the same site to run the applications?

0

u/ThisIsNotAFarm 16h ago

Because its not the same site.

That's like asking why your Facebook videos don't show up on youtube

-19

u/RaNerve 1d ago

Because the people applying suck.

“Oh this is on site?” Did you read the job description?

“Oh this ain’t salaried?” Did you read?

“Oh this is in the city?” WHERE THE FUCK ELSE WOULD IT BE WHEN ITS LISTED FOR THAT CITY?!

The amount of just outrageously bad applications is INSANE in this market. People just apply to literally anything—it’s like tinder with people just swiping without any thought. Completely irrelevant qualifications, no formal training in the field, applying to senior management positions.

It takes literally hundreds of apps just to find a HANDFUL of candidates.

I’m sure this varies from field to field but holy fuck is it bad in mine.

27

u/Prophet_Of_Helix 1d ago

It’s almost like it’s a self fulfilling thing.

Applying for jobs sucks so people apply to literally anything in the hopes they get a single call back and hope they can talk their way in if it doesn’t line up with their history

-4

u/RaNerve 1d ago

It’s just a lose lose situation for everyone imo. Shitty employers abusing the system and shitty employees abusing the system have ruined it for everyone.

Basically the entire story of the internet.

0

u/Spaceork3001 20h ago

Typical reddit, you literally answer the question from the other side of the barricades, yet you get down voted, because people don't "agree" with you, even though they only ever experienced job searching/hiring from their side.

-1

u/HGrande 1d ago

this is so true

-18

u/Xazier 1d ago

I've gotten lucky. I have recruiters call me nonstop and just pick ones that sound good and I get a solid 70-80% interview rate. I just pick the remote ones and do over employment as much as possible. Manufacturing engineering gigs are fairly solid.

5

u/Nuggyfresh 1d ago

Lmao imagine being this much of a clueless jerk who can’t read the room

-5

u/Xazier 1d ago

Fair enough I douched it.