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When the job search becomes impossible

jeffwofford.com

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Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#201

Post by dmoy »

mythrwy wrote: post #186
Traubenfuchs wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A lot of countries are talking about raising their retirement age This is solely done to reduce/delay pension payments by pushing the old unemployed into lower social security / forcing them to live off of their savings. No one in any industry is looking for geratric 70 year olds.

The politician industry seems to love 70+ year olds! (But I think you have to get in at a younger age).

Oh you mean for literally being a politician. Lol yea, just a very small industry. And the interview loop really sucks.

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#202

Post by mythrwy »

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.

100% I love middle age (54).

It's not that things get easier, they don't and I realize I can't do what I could at 28 but my attitude about life has changed. Less chasing sex, less impulsive actions, less neuroticism. More contentment and acceptance. Also I have seen a lot of ways to be screwed over by now and zillion personality types and I can smell potential problems a mile away.

On the downside I took what would have been a very minor fall in my 20's a few weeks ago and my shoulder still hurts. I'm not "old" like fallen and broke a hip but I would have been fully recovered after a few days 20 years ago I think.

One piece of advice for young whippersnappers: Age comes up on you a lot faster than you think when you are young. Take good care of your body, your teeth, your gut and your mind and don't put off eating and sleeping right and losing those extra pounds. Solid, lasting relationships are worth more than possessions and status too in my opinion. Those are easier to build when you are young.

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#203

Post by hansvm »

jofer wrote: post #148

As someone who's recently been hiring (sorry folks, position was filled just a few days ago), it's wild to me how distorted things have become. We had 1200 applications for an extremely niche role. A huge amount were clearly faked resumes that far too closely matched the job description to be realistic. Another huge portion were just unqualified. The irony is that there actually _are_ a ton of exceptionally qualified…

I must be missing something. 1200 real applications are hard to sort through. 1200 mostly fake applications are much easier. Hiring is a high-leverage activity, and it's absolutely worth spending a couple hours going through those by hand.

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#204

Post by kstrauser »

friendly_deer wrote: post #149
kstrauser wrote: post #122

My most recent job search had 30 interviews with 21 companies (you read that right) in 24 days. Rent was due and there were mouths to feed. Unemployment simply was not an option. I consider myself exceptionally lucky to land where I did, and yet still would not care to do that process again.

Can you share a little more? Because this is outside the norm I’m hearing and I’d like to know more.

I'm not a PM, but I PMed it very aggressively. I made a Notes.app personal wiki tracking every company I spoke to, with a timeline in reverse chronological order of every contact I'd had with them, like:

  Foo Corp

  Recruiter: [Jane Smith]

  * 2025-09-15 On-site prep call with [Joe Brown]

  * 2025-09-13 Coding screen with [Pat Doe]
I kept a "pipeline" note with companies in each stage, like:

  # Leads

  * [Adam Albert] at [Bar Corp]

  # Initial Contact

  * [Brenda Baker] at [Qux, Inc.]

  # Recruiter call

  ...


  # Phone Screen

  # Tech screen

  # Onsite

  # Rejected

  * [Shifty Corp] (they gave me the heebie-jeebies)
And then there was a separate Interviews note, which was a lot of the content from the Pipeline doc, but ordered chronologically and with more detail:

  # 2025-09-15

  * On-site prep call with [Joe Brown] from [Foo Corp]
  * Recruiter screen with [Chris Carter] at [Deluxe Pinkies]

  # 2025-09-14

  * Reference check with [Arctic Drilling and Waste]
And I replied to every recruiter I talked to, even if just to say "thanks for reaching out, but I'm looking for something more like ... right now", which often led to followups like "ooh, I have another client looking for that! Want to talk to them?"

Hyperorganization is one of my superpowers, and I leaned into it. Every morning I'd review the pipeline and timeline docs and ping every recruiter or company who I should've heard from but hadn't yet: "hey, it's me! Thanks for the chat the other day. Hope your Maltese, Mr. Pickles, feels better! Here's a picture of my cat waving to Mr. Pickles!" A lot of times that'd nudge them to respond and move things along.

I'm looking at my timeline right now and seeing the day where I had 2 recruiter screens, a tech screen, and an onsite. It was busy. But I was ready and willing to work, and at the end I turned down 3 pending offers to accept the one I most wanted.

Again, I count myself as exceptionally lucky. That said, half of "luck" is putting yourself in the right place, in the right condition, to jump on a good opportunity.

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#205

Post by kstrauser »

ryandrake wrote: post #178
dymk wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s the thing about age discrimination, they don’t care that you’re eager, they care that you’re over 50. How are you supposed to demonstrate you’re not just another ossified old fart if your résumé goes straight in the bin?

Don't put anything on your resume that allows them to guess your age. Don't include dates on your education. Leave out everything except your last 10 years of work experience. Leave out your COBOL skills. And so on...

Hard agree. I used to be really good at Perl, but you won't find that on my LinkedIn anymore. Old certs for obsolete skills? Gone. The job I had 18 years ago? I'd be happy to tell you about it if it comes up, but you'll have to hear about it in person because I'm not advertising it on my resume.

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#206

Post by 8note »

renewiltord wrote: post #165
Avicebron wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might need to get out more, I've lived it, I've been around people who live it every day. I met someone for the first time in like 15 years (old school semi-acquaintance), something like the second thing we started talking about was how rough it was just finding and paying for an apartment in the remote super "LCOL" place we found ourselves. Think about it, I'm guessing the guy welding the beams in your kid's sch…

Getting out more won’t help in this case because I will be walking around SOMA. The fact of the matter is that the stat is made up by a payday loan company and has no bearing on reality. People like to share it because they are LLM like and just repeat things without looking at the data. “Hallucinations” are the common way that humans experience the world. World models born of pure fiction. Also wtf I know journeyman…

whats making the confidence that you are correct, and other people are bots, vs you being the bot?

up until recently, you didnt know the definition of homelessness that is used in the data. how are you making claims about the data? which data? what does it say?

since you know journeymen, you might want to ask them to meet their apprentices. That way, you could visit the apprentices homes that theyve bought, and can definitely pay the mortgage on by themselves.

or, if they dont have any, you could try to meet some CNAs at the local hospital? or the person at the grocery til?

its wild you dont think poor people exist.

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#207

Post by ericdotlee »

I honestly don't know what I would do if I was fresh out of school today or over 40.

That said, grinding through middling startup jobs also sucks.

The ability to get vc attention seems incredibly cliquey - not a game I really want to play again. On top of just wanting a normal / decent salary as a founder.

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#208

Post by prawn »

jofer wrote: post #148

As someone who's recently been hiring (sorry folks, position was filled just a few days ago), it's wild to me how distorted things have become. We had 1200 applications for an extremely niche role. A huge amount were clearly faked resumes that far too closely matched the job description to be realistic. Another huge portion were just unqualified. The irony is that there actually _are_ a ton of exceptionally qualified…

I haven't applied for a job since the 1990s so I'd be out of the loop, but what are the faked resumes trying to achieve? Just get in a role and get paid before being found out? Are they trying to find brief or lazy interviewing processes? Do they only target remote positions?

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#209

Post by azemetre »

ryandrake wrote: post #178
dymk wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s the thing about age discrimination, they don’t care that you’re eager, they care that you’re over 50. How are you supposed to demonstrate you’re not just another ossified old fart if your résumé goes straight in the bin?

Don't put anything on your resume that allows them to guess your age. Don't include dates on your education. Leave out everything except your last 10 years of work experience. Leave out your COBOL skills. And so on...

The second they see and talk to you, they know your age...

Re: When the job search becomes impossible

#210

Post by kstrauser »

azemetre wrote: post #209
ryandrake wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't put anything on your resume that allows them to guess your age. Don't include dates on your education. Leave out everything except your last 10 years of work experience. Leave out your COBOL skills. And so on...

The second they see and talk to you, they know your age...

Yeah, but hopefully you’re face to face by then and can wow them with your expertise and eagerness.
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