Nothing is more depressing than a dragged-out job search

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What movie is this from?

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Three Men and a Little Lady

Sorry, wrong board

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I'm trying to be honest about my marketable skills and prospects (hence the curated applications).

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Lie next time

Is this a pitch for Office Space 2?

Truckers are in big demand.

Good luck. Its easy to forget how many people are suffering. I would try to exercise every day. It relieves stress and why not get in great shape while you keep trying.

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A couple months ago I was skiing at Vail and told the lady on the chair lift next to me that I was about to re enter the job market and she said "Oh honey you are the wrong race and gender these days"

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My aunt is relatively high up in management for Progressive Insurance. During my spell she got me an interview here in Dallas as a claims adjuster and I revived all similar feedback to what you have experienced. A few days later got a call from the Dallas office that I didn’t get it. Called my aunt up to see what the deal was because she had followed up on the interview and was told I did great and that with her referral it was almost certain.

She calls to see what the deal was and tells me that they said I was the best candidate even without the referral, but that a minority who asked for $7k less than I did was chosen because it checked off a diversity box and saved them money.

Progressive Insurance, a nationwide company, choosing supposed lesser candidates over $7k, lmao.

After that I stopped applying to large companies.

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My aunt is relatively high up in management for Progressive Insurance.

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I have a cousin who works as a recruiter for a company in my field and she couldn't even get me a damn interview with the hiring manager because they were only looking for "the right" candidates, aka candidates to check off boxes. My own cousin.

The whole process of recruiting candidates sucks. No sense of urgency at all. It is so slow and inefficient. No wonder its so stressful for people.

I also hate how companies look too hard for the "perfect" candidates. I've had some techincal interviews the last month where I did well on 99% of the interview but slipped up on one question and that was enough to disqualify me.

I've been a hiring manager myself before and potential/upside is what I looked for most, because you're never going to find someone who checks off every box.

I also was extremely transparent with my candidates. I always followed up with them and let them know where they stood. My last job we were hiring data analysts and a candidate decided to come in and fly on his own dime to interview in person from Atlanta to San Diego, thinking that would be enough to get him the job because it showed how much he wanted it. However this guy was 40 years old, over qualified and his interview was HORRIBLE. All he talked about was how he had always wanted to live in San Diego. That is what he spent his focus on. I told him with what we are paying for the position, the appeal of living in San Diego was going to wear off in a few weeks for him and then he'd be stuck trying to make it in his 40s with a salary that might be good enough for Atlanta, but would be tough in San Diego, and he'd be filled with regret.

I could write a whole book on horrible interview stories I've had. In 2018 I applied for a company in Boise, I talked to the recruiter over the phone and we came to an agreement on a $90k-$100k salary range, and then they fly me out there for a 3 day on site interview and the entire first day they took me around the city, telling me how great Boise was, how awesome it is, as if they were trying to sell me on moving there instead of taking their job. Then Day 2 they put me in the literal hot seat and grilled me over various questions pertaining to the role and even though I thought I did fine I swear the hiring manager spent the entire time trying to poke holes into my answers.

I figured out later why he did that - we sit down at a restaurant in the afternoon and they give me an offer, but said I was too "rusty" and needed a lot of training and coaching to get up to the level I needed to be. They offered me $30k. I was insulted. But I realize the whole purpose of the interview was to get me to fall in love with the city and the opportunity to where I would not turn it down no matter what, then beat me like a pinata in the hot seat to justify paying me a low starting salary. I told them no way, and then they made me get my own ride back to my hotel and then my own ride to the airport the next day. I had to sit in a Boise hotel room all night and for most of the next day since my flight didn't go back to Texas until 8pm the next night.

I am guessing this was a scheme to try and recruit talent at a very low cost because I had a former colleague at Raycom who also went through the same interview process and she told me it turned out the same way - they tell her $90k-$100k on the phone screen, fly her out there, sell her on the city, then tear her down in the hot seat and then gave her a lowball offer.

Could try drywall or flooring. I have it on good authority that they are hiring inexperienced people like crazy.

Sorry man. I've been through it after a layoff and know that helpless feeling. It's hard not to get down on yourself.

The way companies hire today is severely broken. Job searches shouldn't be as soul crushing as they are.