Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

When the job search becomes impossible

jeffwofford.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 469 posts

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#91

Post by pmg101 »

raffael_de wrote: post #42
TrackerFF wrote: post #12

I've been thinking about job searching lately, maybe a bit too much. I'm employed, so it is not any immediate concern for me, but one has to think ahead. Between age discrimination that starts after 50, and how difficult the job search seemingly is...some people will have to work at least until they're 70. That's a solid 15-20 years more, after the job hunting is an uphill battle. If the work search is hard while you…

> If the work search is hard while you're at your peak, professionally speaking, how are you supposed to be stay positive after that? Life never gets easier with age. I guess that's just something we all have to come to terms with eventually.

I wouldn't say that at all. When I think back to all the store I set by ephemeral status things like worrying what was cool or if girls liked me in my twenties .. life is definitely a lot easier now I get to just be myself.

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#92

Post by _dain_ »

Jobs are aggregated into gigantic boards like Indeed and LinkedIn, and the market is national or international. You can choose among thousands of companies, but you're also just one potential applicant among millions. The cost of applying tends to zero -> number of applications increases. The only way to succeed is by sending out an absurd number of CVs. Numbers that would have seemed inconceivable a generation ago before everything moved online and globalized. It's normal to send out hundreds or thousands before getting hired.

Economists look at this and see only an improvement in market efficiency, but they're ignoring the emotional toll. Reject, reject, reject, reject, drip drip drip every day like water torture. It's the same thing on dating apps. No wonder people give up.

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#93

Post by lovich »

_dain_ wrote: post #92

Jobs are aggregated into gigantic boards like Indeed and LinkedIn, and the market is national or international. You can choose among thousands of companies, but you're also just one potential applicant among millions. The cost of applying tends to zero -> number of applications increases. The only way to succeed is by sending out an absurd number of CVs. Numbers that would have seemed inconceivable a generation ago b…

That’s before getting into the jobs that are functionally not real, even if the employer in question believes they are honestly looking.

Seeing bog standard senior engineer positions still advertising for the places that ghosted me 5 months ago means the job posting is fake for one of the n-teen reasons companies paste fake postings or the company has gotten unreasonably picky with how much labor is on the market

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#94

Post by formerphotoj »

pmg101 wrote: post #91
raffael_de wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If the work search is hard while you're at your peak, professionally speaking, how are you supposed to be stay positive after that? Life never gets easier with age. I guess that's just something we all have to come to terms with eventually.

I wouldn't say that at all. When I think back to all the store I set by ephemeral status things like worrying what was cool or if girls liked me in my twenties .. life is definitely a lot easier now I get to just be myself.

I don't mean to rain on your parade...just want to say enjoy it now, and remember it later. Good luck.

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#95

Post by insane_dreamer »

DaveZale wrote: post #88
insane_dreamer wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right that works too. But only if a single income is high enough to keep the boat afloat for a while.

Yes but the flip side, is that we lived in Indiana for a while. Very cheap living there. So, keep your expenses low, with no debt. Freedom.

Very key point.

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#97

Post by lovich »

pizzathyme wrote: post #13

> "You’ve spent several months sending out scores of carefully tailored resumes and cover letters for jobs you know you are fully qualified for and would excel at." People should not do this. It is causing so much suffering. In my 6 jobs in my career from college internship to startups to Big Tech, I have never gotten a job from sending an application into a site. It's always been through (somehow) tracking down a pe…

Referrals by hiring managers who I have previously worked with and want to hire me aren’t even getting me a phone screen from their recruiters.

The majority of employment in tech is with large, corporate firms, and unless you are in the executive tier they all have implemented a massive amount of process to prevent bias in hiring which means that even networking has low impact on getting a job, beyond letting you know the positions even exist

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#99

Post by basscomm »

bigolnik wrote: post #98
hiring-manager wrote: post #96

How do you reconcile your experience with the common narrative that there is a huge shortage of tech workers in the US and, hence, the H1B/H4 programs?

Is there actually a huge shortage of tech workers in the US?

I don't think there's actually a shortage of tech workers in the US. I think there is probably a shortage of tech workers in the US that are willing to work for the wages that companies want to pay.

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#100

Post by [deleted] »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #23
SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #6

This essay just makes me feel so hopeless about our society. I don’t feel it’s right that employment has such weight in people’s lives that the search causes psychological damage.

I think a lot of people simply don't know what to do with themselves when they don't have a job. There are many psychological needs that jobs often provide for you that you have to sort out yourself when you don't have traditional employement. This is a problem you face through unemployement, but also self-employment and early retirement. At least in part, it's not so much not having a job as not having daily structu…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN