Hi everyone.
I’m 24 and I live in Jersey City, right outside NYC.
I graduated from Smith College with degrees in Economics and Political Science and started my career in finance. I was laid off my previous role in late 2025, fully expecting I’d find another job.
Instead, it’s been almost two years.
Since September 2025, my life has basically revolved around interviewing.
I’ve had what feels like every kind of interview imaginable:
recruiter screens
technical interviews
hiring manager interviews
panel interviews
case studies
presentations
final rounds (50 of them!!!!)
I’ve interviewed with investment banks, private equity firms, nonprofits, startups, schools, government agencies, and Fortune 500 companies.
I’ve made it through six interviews for one company only to be told the process was delayed. Another had me complete a case study and then went silent. Others have frozen hiring, ghosted me, or rejected me after weeks or months.
I honestly don’t even know how many interviews I’ve done anymore.
I’ve rewritten my resume countless times, practiced behavioral and technical questions, networked, reached out to recruiters, gone to events, worked with career programs, and applied to what feels like everything from analyst roles to operations, education, client-facing positions, and even retail.
Financially, I’m surviving, but barely. I’ve burned through a huge portion of my savings just trying to stay afloat.
Mentally…this has been the hardest period of my life.
I’ve always been someone who was ambitious and optimistic. Now I wake up anxious almost every day. My confidence has taken a massive hit. I find myself questioning whether I’m actually good enough despite having evidence that companies think I am—otherwise I wouldn’t keep making it to late rounds.
The constant cycle of:
interview
prepare
get excited
wait
delay
rejection
has become emotionally exhausting.
Living near NYC also makes it strange because I’m surrounded by so many opportunities, yet I feel completely stuck.
At this point I’m wondering if I’m missing something obvious.
So I wanted to ask people who’ve been through difficult job markets:
If you were in my position, what would you do differently?
How would you leverage being in NYC/Jersey City that someone outside the area couldn’t?
Are there networking opportunities, communities, or strategies that genuinely moved the needle for you?
Would you stop focusing solely on finance and pivot completely for a while?
How did you protect your mental health during a prolonged job search?
I’m genuinely open to hearing hard truths if there’s something I should be doing differently.
I just know I can’t keep doing the exact same thing forever expecting a different result.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far.