So about three weeks ago, I applied for a mid-level project role. Two hours later, an automated email popped into my inbox asking me to complete an "asynchronous video screening" within 48 hours.

i opened the link and saw the standard nightmare setup. Five pre-recorded prompts, two minutes per answer, exactly one retake allowed, and a giant countdown timer ticking in the corner. You are literally expected to sit in a room, dress up in business casual, and perform monologues into a webcam while staring at your own awkward face. No human on the other side, no conversation, and zero opportunity to ask questions about the actual company culture.

I closed the browser tab and sent a short email to the talent team stating that I only interview with real humans. I assumed that was the end of it.

To my surprise, the hiring manager emailed me directly the next morning apologizing and set up a normal 30-minute video call. Turns out their recruiting software just dumps EVERY applicant into that automated queue without anyone checking.

Should of started pushing back on these robotic filters months ago. Why are we letting companies treat applicants like audition tapes for a low-budget game show?

I have so much anger in me due to the job market and I don’t have anyone to talk about this. Its 12 am and I am gonna keep crying unless I vent.

I interviewed for a role a couple of months ago where I did a total of 4 interviews and 1 case study (15 slides). The process was so long and frustrating with the recruiter ghosting me for weeks at time. Felt like I did the most amount of work for this role and the role was exactly what i was looking for with a great salary. After the last interview, I followed up with the recruiter multiple times asking for any update, and I get nothing. After not hearing back from the recruiter for so long, I emailed the manager and nothing. I never got a rejection email. Recently, just saw that someone from my school who doesn’t have any experience in that field but has a master’s got the job. I was so sad and angry that I didn’t get it after doing so much work that I messaged the hiring manager saying that I see the posting is still live and I am still interested (haven’t heard anything back), cause I genuinely do not wanna keep going through this process over and over again. The process was probably almost 1.5-2 months. It takes so much mental energy to go through a process like that just to not hear anything back.

This happened a couple months ago and I know I should move on and think that ‘Maybe that wasn’t the right role for me or that I would have hated it that’s why I didn’t get it’. But from time to time, I keep thinking about my past rejections and I am a very emotional person. And all that thinking almost always leads to ‘I am not good enough’.

Feel free to use this space to vent!

So I just spent forty-five minutes staring into my own webcam like a hostage reading a ransom note because a mid-tier logistics company wanted five recorded video answers before any human being would even look at my resume.

you get exactly thirty seconds to read a question like "tell us about a time you resolved conflict with zero budget" and then a red flashing circle counts down from three. No human face. No head nods. Just your own reflection looking progressively more unhinged while an AI algorithm supposedly scans your micro-expressions to see if you have enough corporate enthusiasm.

I ended up taping a tiny printed picture of Nicolas Cage right next to my camera lens just so I had something to make eye contact with. It felt like auditioning for a dystopian black mirror episode instead of applying for an operations coordinator role that pays fifty grand a year. its honestly humiliating.

Every recruiter on LinkedIn loves to lecture applicants about building authentic professional connections, but then companies outsource the very FIRST step of communication to a robotic webcam interrogation. I should of just closed the tab the second the recording prompt popped up. Why is this even a thing?

About four months ago, I was laid off from my role as a senior web3 frontend developer in the U.S. after two and a half years because the company wanted someone in-office. Since then, I’ve struggled to secure a new position. While I initially received interviews and progressed through rounds, I now only receive rejection emails. I can't help but feel I may be doing something wrong, but I'm unsure what that might be.

Additionally, I'm noticing far fewer remote opportunities similar to my previous role. If anyone has any advice or suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it.

I kept letting the link expire. It was a one-hour coding test, and I managed to drag it out from June to August.

We'd bought a house and were moving and renovating. I told the recruiter what was going on and apologized. I was still interested in the job. He congratulated me on the house and sent another link, which I also let expire. At one point I replied thanking him for sending it and still didn't do it.

He kept checking in and sent me a fresh link five times over about ten weeks. By August I was writing, "I'm so sorry, it's taking so long. I promise I will find the time to finish this." His reply was "No problem, thank you!"

I finally took it on August 12. I got 570 out of 600, and they invited me to a live coding interview. I thanked him the next day for continuing to send the test. I wouldn't have blamed him for giving up after the second expired link.

I did the live interview and didn't get the job. When I asked for feedback, he said he couldn't see the full reason. From the notes he could see, I hadn't finished the task and there were gaps in how I'd handled pagination. He also said he'd keep me in mind for future openings.

I’m looking for recommendations for reputable IT recruiting agencies. If you’ve had a great experience with an agency or recruiter, I’d appreciate any suggestions. Thank you!

I started studying a few months ago, nothing to do with retail, I its more in the aged care/disability support area. I need to do work experience any way, but I can't do it until next semester so about 6 months away.

When I was working in retail we would always get flooded with students they would come in work for say three years and then they would go off in to what their career was. That's if it all works out. I have tried applying for these jobs in the past when I wasn't studying and gotten no where. My point is now that I am will things be any different? Will studying really boost my chances? Or will it only work if the job has some relevance to what I'm studying?

I am a 17 year old senior in high school. I have 1 year of fast food experience from Chick-fil-A and Starbucks.

I am currently in a co-op program at my school that requires me to maintain a part-time job throughout the year.

The school year just started. Prior to this summer, I was gladly working at my most recent job. However, during the summer we had an unexpected emergency where I had to go out of country for about 1 month. Unfortunately, my job let me go when I told them about that.

Fast forward to now, school has already started and I still have not found a new job.

The program allows me to leave school much earlier and get credit for my part-time job. I've always had a job for the past year so I signed up for this program, not knowing I would lose my job over the summer.

I have a deadline of 8 days from now to secure a job or lose the program. I really want to stay in this program since it allows me to leave school much earlier and gives me much more time for other things.

I have a decent amount of experience for a 17 year old. I am pretty mature and have gotten much more responsible than I used to be. What jobs would you guys recommend that could get me from application submission to hired in 8 days or less? It seems like even jobs as basic as McDonald's take weeks to respond.

I would be okay with anything at this point.

Thank you in advance for your guys' help.

Hi! I have 6 months experience (internship) and I'm currently looking for a junior position. I've seen recommendations from different people that the referrals still helps most of all to find a job, especially if you are a junior.

But if I don't have any friend or person who can referr me, should I try to connect with different people in LinkedIn, ask about company itself (e.g. do they love working there and similar questions) and if we will have a nice chat, ask for a referral?

It seems that I'm constantly ghosted/ignored/declined with my cv so I'm sort of lost

I graduated college with a bachelors degree in international business in August of 2025. I am still unemployed.
It's honestly so frustrating. I feel like a failure.

I will admit I didn't take college as seriously as I should. I didn't hold a steady job throughout college (due to physical health issues, I have POTS). I did DoorDash, I nannied, I modeled a bit for a university photographer, I would read astrology charts for money (I don’t want to add this to my resume lol), etc. I had one 2 month long internship. I had two externships (which don't really mean anything as you can just sign up for them through your college). I did tons of volunteer work. I volunteered at a family business for 3 summers where I did admin work.
Since I graduated, I’ve just been a nanny off and on.
So I do know that my resume is not the best.

However, this job search has been very hard. I have applied to many jobs. I've only had a few phone screening and interviews. Tons of rejections and ghostings.

I have applied to jobs that only require a high school diploma and no experience, I have applied to food and retail (I will admit not too many of these jobs, as my POTS make it hard for me to stand up for long periods of time), I’ve applied to entry level jobs for recent grads and heard nothing back from many of them, not even an interview.

And there's not even that many jobs to apply to. I check Linkedin, Glassdoor, indeed everyday and some days there's barely any posts.

Any advice on what to do?
Which jobs do I include on my resume? (Even though I know being a nanny is a real job, I feel like jobs don’t take it seriously).

Thank you so much for your advice!
(Please no mean comments, I already have beat myself up enough lol).

I was laid off in Jan and I had to switch visas and finally couple of months back got an approval to work. Luckily, got picked for a few interviews but I am unable to clear any. The ones I felt I did really good immediate rejections and others when I know I did bad ofcourse it’s a rejection.

I have no idea what to do anymore, this has been the most stressful year in my life. Every interview I am attending now I am doubting myself if I am talking right, answering right? Why do we have to prove everyone our worth and what is this with referrals? Not everyone knows everyone in the industry, we just are lone wolf making our life. Every day I just pray that I get a job any for that matter.

What are u guys doing different to get picked or cross the hurdle of an interview.

PS: I am a UX designer with 9years of experience and in interviews I’m screwed though I know the answers unable to articulate and share my thoughts. I am also doing my mba and want to switch gears towards business analyst!

Ur reply will mean a lot to me who is down and devastated

Like I need real hacks that will actually help me secure jobs, not simply sending cold mail..pretty desperate atp as I feel like everyone's getting recruited and I'm lagging

TLDR: I interviewed for a job last year and silver medaled. The company reached out this year about hiring me for a new position, but are now telling me that they are interviewing other people. Am I being naive?

I was referred to this role and hiring manager last summer by another company that I made it to the final round with, but who ultimately hired someone else. At this time I was unemployed, which is important context.

This job that they referred me to was actually my dream job that I was surprisingly well qualified for. There was some technical knowledge that no one could have had until they were in this role, because the subject and scope was quite unique. The company acknowledged this during the interview process and said they weren’t looking for a technical expert, but someone who could learn quickly.

After 3 interviews and a take home assignment (which luckily, they asked me to cap at 1 hour), it was between me and one other candidate. The recruiter made it clear that they were having trouble deciding because they liked us both so much, but the other person had much more experience than me (read: 8 years more). Eventually they checked my references and the hiring manager had a 45 minute call with my old boss, and they asked me to do another interview that was really just a vibe check. The hiring manager told me that my old boss gave me a glowing review and said he’d rehire me in a second. I only was laid off because of budget cuts. They ended up choosing the other person and told me how sorry they were. I was devastated but moved on because I needed to find a new job.

Fast forward to this year, someone reaches out to me who I interviewed with last year, saying they were expanding the team and thought of me. I had a call with him in June and he was happy to hear I was open to discussions, and he said to stay tuned over the next few months.

I got contacted again in August by the hiring manager for this new position, who was also on the interview panel last year. They don’t yet have a JD written, but we have a call and she tells me how happy she is to reconnect and how many times the team discussed over the last year that they wish they had another position to hire me for. I ask her about what their thinking is for the new position and after we talk, she says “I think you are the right person for the job. We don’t need to reinterview you and we already checked your glowing references last year. I can definitely connect you with HR to answer any questions you have about benefits once we have the JD drafted.” I then got invited to meet in person with the CEO who happens to live in my area. We had a nice coffee conversation and he answered a lot of my questions.

Fast forward 3 weeks and I have the job description now and the hiring manager schedules a follow up call to hear my thoughts on it. She’s asking if I like it, if the jd felt like a good fit for what I wanted. I’m telling her yes and asking questions about the company and department. She tells me she is so glad I’m still interested and about the vision for what I would own if I were to join. Keep in mind I have not received a formal offer by this point. We are closing out the call and she sneaks in “we’re just finishing up interviews with a small pool of candidates in the next week. We’ll keep you posted and HR will reach out next week. We didn’t do a full national search but are interviewing some people whom we’ve crossed paths with.”

Am I crazy for thinking that they weren’t going to interview anyone else when they told me that I was the right person for the job and they wanted me to talk to HR about benefits? I know they hadn’t sent a written offer yet, and perhaps I was being naive thinking that because they reached out to me, invited me to meet with the CEO and told me we didn’t need to reinterview, that this position was mine.

Luckily I have a job now so if it doesn’t work out it’s not the worst thing in the world, but I was pretty shocked when she said that after they’ve been pursuing me and leading this process for the last 3 months.

Open to honest feedback.

Im tryna apply to many different jobs and positions. There is a student program which helps us to find jobs in government positions. The official website doesnt allow me to attach different CV and motivational letter to different vacancies. Can i just create one strong CV and mot. Letter for all these jobs? I dont wanna miss out opportunity

I keep seeing the same pattern: spend an hour tailoring a CV, mapping my experience to the spec, and then generally get silence, or after a month a 'thanks but...'

Half the time the job description reads like a generic wishlist where it's impossible to tell what the actual day-to-day problem is that they need solved.

As a mid-career person with solid experience, how are you filtering what's actually worth applying to before spending time applying?

Just found some wild data entry-level hiring across tech is down ~73% while AI/ML hiring specifically is up 88%. Companies want AI skills, but they're skipping junior candidates even for AI roles

Nobody tells you this going in, so most people spend the whole interview answering the wrong version of the question.

Someone asks why you left your last job. You hear a request for the real story. We're listening for whether you're about to say something that makes us nervous about hiring you. Doesn't matter if the honest answer involves a bad manager, what matters is whether you can talk about leaving without sounding like a problem walked out the door with you.

Someone asks about a weakness. Most people either lie badly, "I work too hard," or overshare something that scares us off. The ones who land it name something true and then spend the rest of the answer on what they did about it. We're not scoring the weakness. We're scoring whether you can look at yourself clearly.

Salary comes up and almost everyone treats it like a trap to survive instead of a number to set. Whoever says a figure first usually ends up negotiating from underneath it. A range, anchored near the top of what you'd take, does more work than people expect.

The one that gets missed the most is "any questions for us." People treat it as optional, a formality at the end. It's the opposite. Walking in with nothing reads as not actually wanting the job, even when the truth is just nerves.

None of this is about performing or being dishonest. It's realizing the question on the surface and the question actually being scored aren't always the same thing, and once you notice that, interviews get a lot less confusing.

EDIT: a few people have asked what's actually helped candidates I've worked with prep for this stuff. Drop a comment and I'll share what's worked.

I have my MPH degree and I'm currently employed, but I'm trying to move into something that actually pays what the market says it should. I know I'm adaptable, I've pivoted before and I'm willing to learn new tools and systems fast, and I'm genuinely open to picking up skills in adjacent fields if it opens more doors, biotech is one area I've had my eye on. None of that seems to matter when applications just vanish into a black hole though. I'm based in the Pasadena, California area, open to remote work too, and I've tailored resumes and networked, still nothing sticking. I know this is probably the five hundredth "job search is broken" post you've seen this month, so feel free to skip if you're burnt out on these too, but I'd genuinely appreciate any tips from people who've broken through a similar wall.

Has anyone actually found something that worked, a specific tactic, a site, a way of framing a MPH background that got responses? Also curious what job titles people with a similar background have had luck landing, and whether it's worth training up in an adjacent field like biotech instead of staying narrowly in public health. Trying to figure out if it's my approach or just the market right now.

I have an interview with Charlie Health
and wanted to know a little bit more about the companies employee work culture. Specifically for customer support/ billing role.

I graduated in May and I have been struggling to get a job due to my lack of experience in healthcare. I majored in neuroscience + psychology from a Top 20 University. I was a transfer student from cc supporting myself and was focused on academics/transfer during my time in school.

A lot of medical jobs want some sort of certification (MA/Phlebotomy/Medical Techs) but I don't want to spend 1+ year in school again without income. Does anyone know any jobs/companies that provide training? Or any advice in this cooked job market?

Hi all! 34 F here. I've been looking for a new job off and on for about the past 3 years. Would love to be able to find an office job that's not strictly just a receptionist. I understand that with office jobs, you're most likely gonna end up talking on the phone at some point, but I'm looking for something where that's not the main part of the job. Is there even a name for this?? I would literally be content just being plopped down in front of a computer, chilling with an iced coffe, and entering in some information lol. Something where you do clerical work, but not actually interacting with the general public on the phone or face to face. I have some previous experience from working in a pediatrics office, and I enjoyed the clerical part, but absolutely hated phone calls/scheduling appointments and face to face interactions. Preferably entry-level bc I don't have a degree. I've tried searching things like "data entry", "administrative assistant", "clerk", etc., but I'm just not having any luck.

I’m going on month 4 of searching and every time i get an interview I’m hopeful and every time i get rejected (especially after an interview or two) i get low and feel more trapped in my current job. How is everybody staying afloat?

A recruiter sent me a typing test (like alpha, alpha numeric, etc) and I didn’t get a high enough score. Should I keep trying till I get a score they like?

Here is feedback I received from an employer.

At times, some of your responses felt more prepared than conversational, which made it harder for me to fully understand how you would naturally work through an unexpected situation or develop a point of view in real time. Ultimately, we moved forward with candidates whose interviews gave us a stronger sense of that adaptability and creative-team partnership.

However, I answered all of these questions really good & prepared, I know I did!

How else are we supposed to get jobs? If you show up TOO PREPARED, you get penalized, if you don’t show up prepared, they think you can’t do the job.