#JobSearchStruggles #CareerFrustration #MentalHealthMatters
Hey there, friends! 🌟
I recently came across someone who’s feeling really down about their current job search situation, and I thought it might resonate with a lot of us here. They shared that they’ve been searching for over a year since graduating with their master’s, applying to twenty jobs a day, and still haven’t had an interview since January. 😞
It’s tough, right? Here are some feelings they mentioned that might hit home for you:
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Disappointment: It’s hard to shake off that feeling when things don’t go as planned. Imagine graduating with dreams in your head and then facing radio silence!
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Bitterness and Envy: Watching friends land jobs can turn that hopeful excitement into a feeling of resentment. It’s like, why them and not you?
- Desperation: When faced with the reality of possible minimum wage job offers, it’s easy to feel like you’re settling. It feels like the dream you had after grad school is slipping away.
So, what’s going on here? Well, many of us have faced a job market that seems daunting, especially during a pandemic and economic instability. This can lead to a cycle of:
- Low Self-Esteem: You start questioning your worth and abilities when you’re constantly faced with rejection.
- Mental Exhaustion: The application grind can leave anyone drained, making it hard to stay positive.
But there’s hope! Here are a few strategies to regain a sense of control and positivity:
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Connect with Others: Sharing your stories can lighten the load. Don’t hesitate to engage with others in similar situations. You never know what advice might come from someone else’s experiences! 💬
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Set Small Goals: Instead of a large number of applications, aim for a reasonable daily goal. This can make the process feel less overwhelming.
- Mindfulness and Self-Care: Sometimes, stepping back to focus on mental health can help you recharge and approach the job search with fresh eyes.
Have any of you experienced similar feelings during your job search? What tips or tricks do you have to stay motivated when things get tough? I’d love to hear your stories and strategies! Let’s support one another in this journey! 🚀
Hunting for jobs is demoralizing and humiliating. I feel your pain. You have to keep pushing though. Accept what you need to stabilize for now but don’t give up on getting the job you deserve. If you have the strength to get your masters degree then you definitely have the strength to preserve through this incredibly annoying job market. Good luck.
Totally feeling similar to what you describe here.
I’m having good academic and professional experiences with solid evidence to back up for those. And yet no luck getting good offers despite applying constantly every day with well tailored CV, reaching out to relevant networks, etc. All I faced were a lot of hideous practices from the recruiters/hiring managers like ghosting, bait and switch, ghost jobs, hiring internal exclusively and yet still spreading out job ads into the public, lying through their teeth about stuff I could easily check, roles on hold after many rounds of interview, rejection with BS excuses, you name it…
Like you said, I also started off as a really passionate and eager person to learn and work. It hurts so much seeing some peeps who I saw through their lack of work ethics, and how they cut corners, and yet still got the fucking job…
I stopped listening whenever someone said “it’ll get better”… Those words coming out of people who got their job easily are pretty much meaningless to me now…
It’s a fucking hell now for sure…
I had been in your position for nearly 1 year and that was exactly how I felt. I hope what I’ll be writing here will give you some comfort that you are not alone.
Getting up everyday to apply for jobs with scraps of hope that things will get better, only to get rejected by automated messages on a Friday night or the weekends. Have no energy to even enjoy doing what you love.
Lying in bed all day, looking forward to sleeping so you can temporarily stop feeling the seemingly never-ending hopelessness for some time – only to be kept awake by the overwhelming dread that the next day will come eventually – and you will have to do it all over again.
However, the worst thing is that I started getting bitter – even at my family who have done nothing but loved and supported me. Especially when they talked about how things are going well at work, I only felt angry, envious and bitter – when I should be happy for them, like I always have been. “Shut the fuck up and stop boasting. Are you mocking me?”, I just couldn’t help thinking like that.
So I started avoiding them, the people who I know would always love and support me, because I couldn’t bear to feel that way any longer. All I had left was depression, self-hatred and the desperate, but ultimately futile wish to return to a time when things were better.
I know it’s very difficult, but try to talk about your struggles and your feelings with people you love. Don’t let your thoughts consume you like I did.
I know I can’t really help you more, I just want to sympathise and share my experience. I won’t tell you that things will get better, but you will just have to keep pushing through, because it’s 100% over when you give up. Sometimes that’s all we can do.
Yeah I think this is the worst part of it all, I just wanna be a naive kid again sometimes
I’m sorry to hear this. Remember, it’s okay to feel this way. Keep pushing forward.
I feel this so hard. It sucks and sometimes I think about taking a handful of prescription
Man, I don’t know about everyone else, but the older I get, the more I realize that I don’t want this shit anymore. I don’t want to struggle to pay rent, work to make other people rich, grind, hustle, rat race to not even get the lifestyle my parents had?
I would be perfectly fine living in a monastery or living in a commune where we all worked together to survive and then enjoyed our leisure. I don’t want this shit anymore, I don’t, and I am finding it harder every year to justify staying in the rat race.
OP this really resonates. I miss grad school too. I had some money. I thought I was going places. I was hopeful. I feel that massive chip on my shoulder too, I can feel it when friends talk about normal life things and I’m just here like paying the minimum to the goddamn electric company so they don’t shut off my lights. Like. FUCK?!? How did I get here??? I worked my whole damn adult life in dumb offices, stuff happened, life happened, the pandemic happened, and here I am STRUGGLING on the biggest struggle bus that EVER struggled at 40 years old. I try so fucking hard to Keep Going and find little moments of happiness every day. But sometimes I just want to fucking SCREAM.
Go back to grad school, again. Honestly. I’m finishing my masters this fall and will just sign up for something else after because my professional equity has evaporated over the past year.
I don’t get interviews anymore, hardly even get recruiters messaging me for any kind of opportunity, bullshit or otherwise. I don’t have a cent to my name anymore, and the 7 years experience I accumulated in my field is worth absolutely nothing, apparently. I’m just going to go hide in academics where I can get loans to keep myself fed with a roof over my head.
Fuck this godforsaken year+, and each and every one of the recruiting tech startups, temp agencies, business owners, VC’s, *and* recruiters that contributed to this. You have ruined it, and inadvertently shot yourselves in the dick at the same time. We’ll be taking you down with us. Good riddance.