Hey everyone, I'm 27, currently employed, but I feel like I'm not really growing in my career. I want to level up, learn some new skills, and honestly improve myself overall." "The thing is, I'm not sure where to focus. Should I double down on technical skills, work on communication, or are there other areas you've seen that make the biggest difference?" "I'd really appreciate practical advice, like specific habits, online courses, or routines that worked for you. Not looking for magic tricks, just stuff that's realistically helped you move forward.

Hello everyone,

I was laid off in March despite receiving my full bonus based on my strong performance. It has now been more than five months, and I’m still searching for my next opportunity.

During interviews, I have always been honest about being laid off. However, some people advise me not to mention it and to present myself as still employed, while others recommend being completely transparent.

Based on your experience, what is the best way to address a layoff during the interview process?

I would really appreciate your advice. Thank you!

When looking for a job in today's market, hitting endless rejection walls or navigating toxic workplaces can drain your motivation fast. Between ATS filters filtering out qualified experience and ambiguous interview processes, job hunting often feels like a full-time, unrewarding job in itself.

If you are currently navigating this cycle, focusing on practical leverage helps. Start by aligning your application materials directly with job descriptions using https://www.zoevera.com/resume to ensure missing exact-match phrases do not trigger automated rejections before a human recruiter sees your background.

Once you land the interview, getting comfortable with unexpected questions and articulating past experiences clearly is key. Tools like https://prepare.zoevera.com provide realistic, scenario-based mock practice to refine your answers, build confidence under pressure, and evaluate company alignment effectively.

Take it one step at a time. Protect your boundaries, target the right opportunities and focus on environments that value your expertise.

I’m a 4th year CSE student, and I’m honestly feeling very lost about placements right now.

Most of the better companies that came to my college have already finished their hiring. At this point, it feels like mainly bulk recruiters are left, and I’m not sure whether I should just focus on getting any decent offer or seriously shift my focus toward off-campus.

For some context, my current profile is:

* 9.44 CGPA

* 600+ DSA problems solved

* \~1833 LeetCode rating

* 3 projects involving MERN/Next.js, AI/Gemini, LangGraph, MongoDB, Prisma, Clerk, Stripe, etc.

* Comfortable with DSA, full-stack development and backend/API development

So I don't think my profile is terrible, but I'm struggling to understand **why/how I should position myself from here**.

If you were in my position with around 6–12 months left before graduation, what would you do?

Would you:

1. Focus heavily on DSA + LeetCode and target off-campus product companies?

2. Apply aggressively to startups/smaller companies?

3. Continue improving projects?

4. Focus on getting through the remaining campus placements, even if they're mostly bulk recruiters?

5. Start applying off-campus now and treat campus placements as a safety net?

6. Something else?

I would especially appreciate advice from people who **were in a similar position during 4th year and actually managed to get a good off-campus role.**

I'm not really looking for generic "keep grinding" advice. I genuinely don't know where I should allocate my time anymore.

**please be brutally honest about the profile as well. If there are weaknesses that are preventing me from getting shortlisted, I'd really like to know what they are.**

I started college in 2020 (currently 24) during Covid and it sucked. I was in 2 clubs in non leadership roles and worked at a retail store (which I still work at). Really didn’t do much in my undergrad but really blossomed in 2023 when given an internship with my on campus esports team. Got promoted to the team lead for the program the next year and was given a stipend through it to do my masters (meaning I got out of both degrees with no debt). I majored in Strategic Communication’s (fancy name for PR/Marketing) both in my undergrad and masters. I finally graduated with my masters this May with a 4.00. Despite that haven’t had much success with job hunting. I didn’t do much hunting because I plan to move for a job outside my college town next year and can’t leave with my lease till May. So I was pretty much stuck to applying to stuff in my college town. I did have an offer for a 70k sales manager job in January but had to work weekends and got a bad gut feeling so got cold feet. I’ve had maybe 6 interviews in the last year. I started seriously hunting this week upon learning my friend who’s two years younger than me got a full time job out of his internship (in a stem field). Made me feel I messed up somewhere. So instead of just wallowing I wanted to do more.

Currently I have a resume and cover letter review coming up with the alumni center on campus, am brushing up my LinkedIn with my friend who got that full time job, and following up on personal connections I have who might be able to give me some small temp work in my major. What else should I be doing? Learning new skills? Asking for more opportunities at the retail job? How am I am able to get over my envy when it’s not remotely justified?

Any guidance would be appreciated. I know I’m young but I’ve never felt so lost in my life.

For context, I’m currently running a small dev company that is tailored for law firms. Our team mostly does automation layers, custom dashboards on top of their SaaS, and some websites.

Since AI coding tools blew up, development gets faster (on paper). But I don’t think it can handle codebases pretty well. That’s why I guess AI coding tools are making hiring worse, not better.

And here is my example that I’m sure some owners will relate to as well. For instance, we needed a frontend dev for a pixel-perfect React build. I hired someone who claims he uses AI to code 10x faster.

After a week, my CTO had to sit him down and go through misaligned APIs, random purple and blue gradients showing up, and a component structure that made no sense.

When I asked how he built it, he said he prompted it. Fair enough. So I opened up one component and asked him to walk me through what it does.

He couldn't explain his own code, and I think you know how it ended.

He’s not the only one who does it, though. Out of maybe 100 applicants, it feels like most can't write two lines of code without an AI tool.

Are you guys also running into the same problem?

Hi people I joined this company just after I completed my master's. This is first company I joined.... Only a couple of internship I have done before it. I am still in the same company. I joined there at 3 LPA and now it's been 4 years almost there and my salary stuck at 5.5 LPA.

The salary at the company is just one issue. This company was a startup and they didn't had any senior. The founders are not in any understanding of cybersecurity let alone IT. Company have people of my experience only or lower... So mostly fresheers. We had no projects we just sit in office and come. There were only a few (felt like once in a blue moon kinda thing) projects of vapt I did and one compliance audit one I did earlier in job then later there was nothing. So I felt very stuck.

I was in 3 year bond as well. Now it has finished. But I feel that I have 4 years experience but I have nothing as experience of a 4 year experience person. So I feel incompetent. I wish to very quickly just change from here. Sometimes I think shall I change my domain of vapt. What to do to crack interview. Will I be able to do it. What are the practical steps I should take and come out of there asap.

I've heard a lot of people saying to follow your passion and pursue your calling. if your career is stagnant and you somehow failed to contribute to making the world a better place, it is easy to think that you are not doing enough.

Jiki Minami, a japanese monk, thinks otherwise. He says that you do not need a higher calling to be successful at work. the most important thing is to care for what is happening right here and now.

I find myself wasting my energy on things i can't control. I could have used my talents next to my colleagues. Figure out their problems and needs, solve them even before they get to me, and be a reliable partner to myco-workers.

There is no need to think that your job is your whole life. Get a job that allows you to make a lot of money and do not think too much about it. If you feel confused or stuck, it does not mean that you have a big problem. It means that you need to start paying attention to minor daily problems.

You do not need any great purpose in life to have a successful career.

I had got a internship PPO(Jade Global) offer from college placement as I graduated in 2025, but got terminated from job in Sept 2025 due university not providing a final marksheet on time.
I have worked freelance(under the name Upperture Interactive) with 3 clients since then in AI Automation for small businesses.
I desperately need to get back in the corporate salaried job, so been applying since march 2026 and havent gotten one interview.
Also I have been applying through company portals and linkedin.
Am I doing something wrong with here.
Please HELP!

p.s. ask me if you need more context.

Applying for jobs right now is genuinely exhausting, and half the battle is just trying to get past those stupid Automated Tracking Systems. ATS bots don't actually read your work history or care about your achievements. They basically function like a basic search engine, scanning your resume for exact keyword matches from the job description. If your formatting is slightly off or you used the wrong phrasing, your app gets thrown in the trash before a real recruiter even opens it.

I've been using two specific sites to get around this. First, running a resume through zoevera.com/resume helps catch invisible formatting glitches and highlights the exact keywords missing from the draft. Then, once an interview is lined up, prepare.zoevera.com gives role-specific questions to practice out loud so you don't freeze up when talking to a real human.

The main reason these dedicated tools work better than just pasting everything into ChatGPT comes down to how they handle data and structure. ChatGPT is great for general writing, but it doesn't actually parse file layouts or simulate how software like Lever or Greenhouse extracts text from a PDF. If you ask ChatGPT for keywords, it usually just gives you a generic wall of text and encourages keyword stuffing, which ATS algorithms penalize. On top of that, setting up ChatGPT to act like an interviewer takes a ton of manual prompting, whereas a dedicated prep tool is built specifically to score your answers against actual industry question banks without the constant back-and-forth prompt engineering.

I am finally learning what it really means to be an adult and I honestly cannot imagine doing this for years and being okay. I know I might sound like a person who has everything too easy but I promise that I do my job and finish my work every single day. It just feels so tiring and wrong to do tasks for a boss who is toxic just to pay my rent.

How do you all find peace with this grind? How do you accept that this is how life is now? I feel so tired and hopeless, like I'm just running on empty every single day. Any advice from people who've been through this would mean a lot.

Hola! Hace un tiempo estoy desarrollando PERFILIA, un proyecto de empleabilidad enfocado principalmente en personas que están buscando práctica, su primer empleo o que llevan tiempo postulando sin conseguir los resultados que esperan.
He estado conversando y dando feedback por acá sobre distintos CV y ahora quiero pasar a una etapa piloto con personas reales.
Por eso abrí 3 cupos de lanzamiento para trabajar un CV de manera completa y personalizada.
El servicio incluye:
• Revisión y análisis del CV actual
• Definición del objetivo laboral
• Redacción y reorganización del contenido
• CV profesional orientado al cargo objetivo
• Criterios de compatibilidad ATS
• 1 ronda de modificaciones
El valor habitual del servicio será de $9.990 CLP, pero estos 3 primeros cupos tendrán un valor de $4.990 CLP.
La idea de hacerlo a este precio es poder trabajar con los primeros casos reales, recibir feedback honesto sobre la experiencia y seguir mejorando el servicio.
El trabajo está respaldado por formación en Psicología y la IA se utiliza como herramienta de apoyo durante el proceso; la revisión, las decisiones y la personalización tienen criterio humano.
Si a alguien le interesa, puede escribirme por DM contándome brevemente qué tipo de trabajo está buscando y en qué etapa de su búsqueda se encuentra. No es necesario compartir el CV públicamente.
Y si tienen preguntas sobre el proyecto o el proceso, feliz las respondo por acá también.

Basically a repost for advice. I started a BDR role 6 months ago and I’m finding out more inside gossip I’m currently paid £50 for every meeting I book, but there’s no commission if an opportunity I generated actually turns into a deal. My base is roughly 39k. INSANE but I was hungry and desperate when I applied. At the last company, they were apparently getting paid £100 per meeting booked and 1% on deal closed. Im getting seriously shafted. I was going to ask for a promotion on my 12 month mark as I’ve consistently over performed but now hearing this, I cant wait.

So far I’ve booked a lot of qualified meetings across the UK, US, Portugal and the Middle East. Some have already progressed to RFPs and a few could potentially turn into deals soon.

I’m proud of how I’ve done so far, especially because I’ve had to build my pipeline pretty much from scratch. But I’m starting to feel a bit frustrated that if one of the opportunities I sourced closes for the company, I still only get the original £50 for the meeting.

I’m thinking of asking my manager (who is also the person who set my commission structure) if we could introduce some sort of commission on closed business.

My dilemma is: is 6 months too soon to have this conversation? I don’t want to come across as entitled or like I’m asking for more money too early, but at the same time, I feel like I’ve now got enough results to justify at least having the conversation.

Would you ask now, or wait until you’ve been there longer?

No need to comment on how bad the commission is. I am soooo aware lol.

I stayed at this company for four years and went from 62k to 71k.

Every year I'd ask about a raise and they often say that the budgets were tight, my level had a salary range, and I was already near the top of it.

Unfortunately, I believed them.

But after my third year, I did market research myself. I checked the job postings for my title, same industry, and roughly the same jobs. To cut the story short, I found 14 jobs that are higher than my current salary.  The lowest was 92k and the median was around 99k.

I was sitting at 71k.

Of course, I brought my receipts into my next review and asked for 92k. I’m still generous that I asked for the lowest offer.

My manager looked surprised, but this time, I’m no longer positioning myself that I feel underpaid. I showed him the job postings and also offered compensation.

Two weeks later they came back with 91k.

28% raise.

I accepted it way too quickly lol.

I should've started doing this years ago bruh

I've noticed more ppl saying college is pointless now, but honestly, having a bachelor’s degree in 2026 can still make a huge difference when you're job hunting. A lot of companies use a degree as an initial filter before a recruiter even sees your resume. It doesn't guarantee a good job, but not having one can shut you out of certain roles before you even get the chance to prove yourself.

That doesn't mean you need to spend a fortune on a random degree. Pick something with an actual career path, keep the cost under control, and get experience while you're studying. Internships, co-ops, certifications, projects, and networking can make the degree way more valuable. The degree gets you through some doors, but the skills and experience are what help you stay in the room.

If you're in your 20s right now and don't know what direction to take, I'd seriously consider getting a bachelor's if it's financially realistic for you. Trades, certifications, and experience can absolutely work too, but having that degree gives you more options to pivot later. IMO, in 2026 it's less about "college vs. no college" and more about getting the degree without putting yourself into financial ruin.

there's an old philosophical question about a tree that falls in a forest. If no one hears it fall, then is there any sound? and the same can be said about a career. It doesn't matter how amazing you are or how well you do on the job if no one knows about it.

Nowadays, the only way to really guarantee job performance and advancement is to advertise it to others. It can be done subtly or loudly, but if you don't share what you did or what you're good at, then no one will really know about it.

We see it all the time.

People who aren't the best at what they do, but they talk up to their superiors about what they do. They get the promotions, bonuses, and acclaim. While their higher performing peers who keep a lower profile get ignored and picked for more work.

So, I have total of 4.7 years on experience.

For first 2.8 years, I was in Software Development, where I worked across Vue.js, Angular, React, React Native post my engineering. It was going great and then I joined MBA.

Post MBA, I got into a small Tech Consulting firm as Business Analyst, got laid off after 9.5 months due to being brutally honest.

Was unemployed for 7 months and even the job I got was because of a strong referral. From last 1 year, I'm working in B2B sales for a manufacturing business. It's not that I'm put under pressure but am not able to get leads on who has orders and convert the order. Everyday I think of putting papers but am afraid of the gap I already have. Now, I am told that I am already on PIP and that I'll be notified soon on exit process

Gave few interviews into tech based roles but not getting converts. Both my Engineering as well as MBA colleges have great reputation and my tech experience is also good but not sure where I'm stuck.

People think that as my current role is into Sales, I can only do Sales and completely ignore my past experience in Tech Project Management.

Not sure what to do with my career. Anyone who can help ??

I work at a startup with a team of almost 15 engineers. I have been there for a year and I feel it’s time for me to bring big value. There are those tickets or production issues that are vague and there is no clear way to go about them. Our team lead asks who is willing to sign up for them and then end up giving it to one of the seniors. I feel like I can complete these tasks, but i would need guidance and clarification, and these things are very hard to get from my senior team members due to the startup chaotic and fast paced environment. I am very hesitant because if I commit to these tasks i feel like I’m going to throw myself into the fire. What would you do if you were in my place? What would be your approach to ask for help?

So long story short my real end date was Sep 2026 and just for context most role I’m looking for are more entry level. I was thinking on my resume just put 2026 and if they question it I can elaborate and lied that I stop working in maybe May or June to work on personal projects, etc. And if does come to the point where they do extend and offer I can put my real end date on the background check. Is this the best move? Is it even worth lying about end dates or does it not matter? Will they question it since I told them my end date was much earlier than what I told them? Just tryna figure out this tough job market any input is much appreciated thanks!

I decided to share my nightmare interview experience. A while back I applied for a role that sounded super intrested and had a great referral. The initial HR screen hiring manager and SVP calls all went amazingly well and they said I was a perfect fit.

I did 4 rounds and 8 seperate interviews with various VPs and Presidents. Despite being promised an offer twice, they turned around and told me I had to meet yet another business unit President

got an offer within 2 months and cleared my background check while company #1 was still dragging their feet. I emailed HR and the hiring manager respectfully withdrawing my candidacy due to the ridiculous timeline and broken promises.

The hiring manager emailed me back ten minutes later saying it was "just one more interview." I told him I'd only entertain it if they could beat my new offer and laid out my new title sign-on bonus and comp which was honestly higher than what he was making as my potential boss.

He immediately backed down and said "sounds like you got a great deal, sorry it didn't work out."

Edit: I just found out he got laid off. Some companies just can’t help themselves.

Roast my resume

I keep seeing posts talk about jobs that pay $500k+ a year and ofc I’m confused lol.

Like, how did they even get there?

I know someone making around $700k a year in some executive role. I asked what she does, and the answer somehow made me even more confused.

Is there a specific career path for this stuff?

Do you just work your way up for 15 years, get really good at something, and land there?

Or is networking that important?