The job hunt is really frustrating me right now.

[Foxhound3857]

It's holiday season so places are hiring in bulk. I have a good resume. I have excellent experience in Stocking and Receiving, two areas that a lot of stores need help in. I have reliable transportation. I have open availability, I can cover nights, weekends, holidays, any day, any shift. I have no criminal background. I haven't taken cannabis gummies in months so any drug test I take will come up clean. I have an excellent employee record with my former company with perfect scores in Attendance, Safety, Quality, and consistently exceeded production expectations. I'm not trying to brag, but I do consider myself to be the very essence of a model employee and someone who can consistently be depended on to show up and perform.

Yet interview after interview (ten now) I get passed up or completely ghosted, and I'm really starting to lose hope at this point. Why? What is getting me denied from being given a chance?

 

[gottalovepluto]

Ghost Jobs CNBC link

You’ll never know. It’s a crappy thing a lot of companies do “just in case”. Don’t beat yourself up as there is literally nothing you can do to get these jobs since they don’t even exist. There is no way to know if you’re interviewing for one.

 

[Foxhound3857]

Ghost Jobs CNBC link

You’ll never know. It’s a crappy thing a lot of companies do “just in case”. Don’t beat yourself up as there is literally nothing you can do to get these jobs since they don’t even exist. There is no way to know if you’re interviewing for one.

I just want to know that I will eventually get an offer if I keep trying, but I'm just not so confident about it anymore. You'd think there'd be more openings than applicants during holiday season.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I totally feel you. It's why I never want to see "nO oNE wANTS tO wORK aNYMORE!!!!111!!1!1!1!" ever again.

 

[Foxhound3857]

I totally feel you. It's why I never want to see "nO oNE wANTS tO wORK aNYMORE!!!!111!!1!1!1!" ever again.

I feel bad for my sister too. She has a bachelors in human resources and can't find a job anywhere either. Fortunately her husband is a supervisor for Aflack, so he does more than well enough for both of them, but even just to occupy her time and give her some secondary income she can't find anything.

I don't understand how our unemployment rate is at an all-time low, only 4%, when so many people who want to work can't find anything...

 

[greeneyedchick]

I feel bad for my sister too. She has a bachelors in human resources and can't find a job anywhere either. Fortunately her husband is a supervisor for Aflack, so he does more than well enough for both of them, but even just to occupy her time and give her some secondary income she can't find anything.

I don't understand how our unemployment rate is at an all-time low, only 4%, when so many people who want to work can't find anything...

I think after a certain amount of time being unemployed, the government stops counting those people. Therefore, it looks like unemployment is lower than it really is.

 

[barkley]

I think after a certain amount of time being unemployed, the government stops counting those people. Therefore, it looks like unemployment is lower than it really is.

once your unemployment benefits are exhausted (or your claim is denied) you are no longer counted as unemployed for statistical purposes. we used the same technique in dshs-we would say that the number of people on 'welfare' had decreased when in reality we had the same number of people (actualy more) receiving it under a differently named program

 

[Foxhound3857]

And not even an hour ago I check my email and have been turned down by both Lowes and Target.

And so I keep going...

 

[Foxhound3857]

Some employers may perceive you as overqualified for certain roles in Stocking and Receiving, especially if your experience and performance metrics exceed what they typically expect.

Why is that a problem though if I've also answered in the application that I'm fine with whatever the starting wage is for the position?

 

[MICKIMINI]

Go to the location with resume in hand. Ask to speak to the manager. Charm the manager into hiring you. That was that was the way we did it in the old days.

Make sure you are neatly dressed (not overly) and in a positive mood. You need a job. You are willing to do what it takes to move up the ladder. You have one minute to impress the manager.

Practice your short, one minute introduction. Everything you say, how you present yourself, counts. You can do it! Do it in person!

GOOD LUCK!

 

[CynBeth]

I know this is not the case here but I hate the awful offshore taking jobs away from people in the US. They are horrid.

If you have not done so I would reach out to the places you have not head from to check on the status of your application and the ones who turned you down to find out the reason to see if there is an issue you need to work on. Is this just for seasonal work or do you want a year round full time job? If the latter I would look on Linked In and Indeed to see other things you might be qualified for. Good luck!

 

[leebee]

Maybe try scaling back your resume and see what happens? Around here, most seasonal retail positions are entry-level, and only for a few months. Employers aren't looking for long-term, dedicated employees, they are looking for warm bodies to do part-time, rote work for 10 weeks. Maybe they sense that you are looking for a real job, a permanent job and that's not the pool they are trying to build? That's another thing: They might not actually be hiring, just seeing what's out there and keeping the top X% of applications in a pool, just in case they do need anyone.

I don't know what to tell you, except keep stepping up to the plate. Good luck... I know it's hard.

 

[Rogue1677x]

A lot of these jobs are screened through algorithms and never seen by a person for consideration. I hope you have better luck.

 

[tony67]

Yeah this is just the way things are right now.

I've applied for jobs that I am 100% fit. One company was creating the exact system integration that I had already done before. I updated my resume to highlight that specifically and I was rejected almost immediately. At a minimum you would think they would speak to me just to pick my brain. Finding someone who had designed and implemented from the ground up the exact system your are looking to integrate with is a rare thing.

I've also applied for very basic jobs just for something to do for a year or so, more often than not when I show up the job they lured me in with is already filled but they have this crappy position they can offer me - for less money and really bad hours.

I've done wide variety of jobs and stayed at most for at least 5 to 10 years - but its just a tough market right now - especially of your over 40. Many of the folks I worked with also struggled for quite a while to find a job doing what they did previously. The good thing is once they did find a job - it was way better atmosphere than they previous place.

As for impressing the manager - that's not all that important in many jobs anymore. Often the first interview is with the manager to see if they like you - and I've had multiple really great interviews with the manager. The second interview is usually with the team and they are often all half my age (or more). So they really don't see me as a fit for the team regardless of how well it goes.

Someone else mentioned scaling back you resume - that is a good idea in many cases - I did get many more bites when I did that.
The other thing - and I've not done it yet - there are sites where you can upload a job post and your resume and it uses "AI" to tell you what changes to make to the resume to at least get past the AI that process the resumes and into someone's hands.

 

[tony67]

I don't understand how our unemployment rate is at an all-time low, only 4%, when so many people who want to work can't find anything...

So from what I know unemployment only counts people who are collecting unemployment benefits.
Once you fall off the end you are no longer unemployed - this was always been the way - so its not like its something new.
I wont go further into this as it starts to get into controversial territory

Its probably more nuanced than what I said above - but I am no expert.

 

[sam_gordon]

Why is that a problem though if I've also answered in the application that I'm fine with whatever the starting wage is for the position?

This is just a guess, but the folks making the hiring decision might not even see that answer (or pay attention to it). They see your history and just automatically think "we can't afford them" and hire someone fresh out of (or still in) school.

I wish you luck!

 

[HopperFan]

Why is that a problem though if I've also answered in the application that I'm fine with whatever the starting wage is for the position?

Because they think you are only taking the job temporarily while you look for a better job you are qualified for.

Have you looked at contract/temp companies. I worked for one placing employees in engineering field. Many highly qualified employees were hired by good firms via us (we paid benefits not them). Over time some of these led to permanent employment. Had a friend do it this way as well.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I don't understand how our unemployment rate is at an all-time low, only 4%, when so many people who want to work can't find anything...

Do not put ANY stock in the jobs numbers. They are published, hailed and then revised, revised, revised for up to 18 months. And recently the trend has been revised down, by a lot. You think Powell dropped the interest rate because it’s rainbows and unicorns out here? Even he knows the employment picture is not as it appears on paper.

 

[whiteness]

Do not put ANY stock in the jobs numbers. They are published, hailed and then revised, revised, revised for up to 18 months. And recently the trend has been revised down, by a lot. You think Powell dropped the interest rate because it’s rainbows and unicorns out here? Even he knows the employment picture is not as it appears on paper.

If we were truly in a 4% employment economy, we'd know it.

Besides, "being employed" just isn't what it used to be. I've got a pretty solid, middle class job with benefits, and I'm still worrying about my finances, savings and future. Not to mention my kid's future.

Everything is more expensive, and prices are still going up. Every time I check, the cost of goods and (especially) services is higher. It almost feels unreal. Our salaries are not going up at nearly the same rate. And our savings are stuck in neutral.

Policy makers just don't get it: even if the inflation rate goes down now, our savings were still hammered. That's was our future. That's how we were planning to pay for our kid's education, invest in our homes and maybe retire, someday. It's been decimated (literally, a 20% increase in prices is worse than decimation.) People are facing the need to rebuild their nest eggs. If you cannot get a high paying job, that's going to be really hard to do. People that are close to retirement are especially endangered by this.

No wonder people are worried. Even people that seem to be "well off" (like my family) are worried. We need to have honest discussions about the best way forward. We need to stop the identity politics, name calling and empty platitudes and actually have those honest discussions.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Back in the ‘60s, people already knew that manufacturing jobs were in decline. Not seeing the sense of pretending the world hasn’t changed.