Frustrations with interviewing in this wild job market

Looping back around to being hyperfrustrated in this market. 

- I've applied to over 100 jobs from the beginning of May until now and not even had an interview. 

- Fields in cybersecurity I've applied to have ranged from VP and manager level down to entry level for the cybersecurity policy/information side. 

- I've also applied to cyber incident response and network defense positions which I have experience with.

- Even the blue collar jobs of turning wrenches again or construction, I've had no success with. The responses back from those are "dude why do you want to do this again with this kind of resume?"

- Even with friends helping out, referring me to jobs, putting my resume in front of people, I still have had no luck. 

I've worked and reworked my resume, hired a resume writer, and recruited the assistance of a head hunter. It's brutal out there. My guess is that I don't have 700 certifications because I don't believe in that self licking ice cream cone of a pyramid scheme that the cyber and IT world has induced upon itself is taking it's toll on me and I'll have to go acquire a few more to "stand out" despite having a masters and working towards a doctorate in this E36 M3. 

I still get messages almost daily from recruiters now that I'm in a stable role and happy. I was getting the same messages last year when I was actively looking, but I found it almost impossible to either get an interview or a follow up if I did have an interview. I still don't understand how so many companies and industries are begging for people but don't seem to know how to actually hire someone. 

Scotty Con Queso said:

I still get messages almost daily from recruiters now that I'm in a stable role and happy. I was getting the same messages last year when I was actively looking, but I found it almost impossible to either get an interview or a follow up if I did have an interview. I still don't understand how so many companies and industries are begging for people but don't seem to know how to actually hire someone. 

Because recruiters use AI to filter resumes and seemingly only look for unicorns. Couple that with their inability to actually understand the requirements for the positions they are recruiting for and you get stovepipes.

I get messages from recruiters fairly frequently. But many are 1 or both of the following things:

1. Contract position........sometimes with the option of being hired full-time later down the road (yeah right). Sorry, not giving up great insurance, PTO, 401k, etc for a temporary position. Don't you see who my current employer is from my resume?

2. I have nearly 16 years of experience in my career, in multiple industries that most Technical Writers don't.........but they want to offer me pay like I have 5 years of experience. 

z31maniac said:

I get messages from recruiters fairly frequently. But many are 1 or both of the following things:

1. Contract position........sometimes with the option of being hired full-time later down the road (yeah right). Sorry, not giving up great insurance, PTO, 401k, etc for a temporary position. Don't you see who my current employer is from my resume?

2. I have nearly 16 years of experience in my career, in multiple industries that most Technical Writers don't.........but they want to offer me pay like I have 5 years of experience. 

So true! I had 6 different recruiters reach out to me for the exact same contract position (no benefits), at 1/3 of my current pay.

I have applied to a number of jobs over the last year or so, and really haven't heard back from any of them - other than a few rejections. In the last month I've had 2 cold calls, one directly from a company HR and another from a headhunter. Both are roles I have a lot of good qualifications for, but would have felt like a stretch if I ran across them. I am also much earlier in my career, so maybe they think it's good "growth" opportunity for lower cost than a more qualified candidate - who knows.

Will have a first round interview with each company within 2 weeks of being contacted. Not sure either will go anywhere, but it's wild and a little exciting to have more luck being cold-called than applying to jobs that I felt more qualified for.

Yeah regarding pay. That's another problem. Companies seem to want a unicorn to pay a mini-horse salary. I can't tell you how many bottom feeder recruiters have called me to take a $30k/year pay cut and are appalled when I tell them there's no way I can do that. 

I think half the battle is drafting a resume that can get through ATS and parse your information correctly so that it's at least reviewed by a human at the next step. Workday is probably the worst system. 

In reply to DirtyBird222 :

I have to think the recent rapid proliferation of AI is causing havoc in the HR hiring departments trying to sift through what was already a pretty hard to define process (finding appropriate candidates based on a resume).  Theoretically it should now be far easier to create a resume that satisfies the process, that might normally not get through, thus clogging up the system.

P.S. I will keep a look out for cyber security type IT jobs at my company, they are pretty accepting of remote workers.  Having an inside referal is very likely a huge help.  I have had some association with the higher ups in IT, so they might actually take me seriously(!)

P.S. P.S.   Would Cyber Security Engineer, or Cyber Security Analyst be in your zone?  I am going to send you a PM.

(I did ask if they hire outside the country Gameboy, and they do not )

classicJackets (FS) said:

In the last month I've had 2 cold calls, one directly from a company HR and another from a headhunter.

Will have a first round interview with each company within 2 weeks of being contacted. Not sure either will go anywhere, but it's wild and a little exciting to have more luck being cold-called than applying to jobs that I felt more qualified for.

Head hunter job I got a second interview that clarified it wasn't the position I wanted. 
 

Today was first round with the other company, one of the top consulting firms. Was pretty intimidating but I found out this evening I made it through to the next round. Few more weeks to prepare but I'm feeling confident

In reply to DirtyBird222 :

Are you looking for cybersecurity positions in a corporate network environment or at the device/product level in a development environment?

I'm up to about 50 applications now, all carefully targeted at jobs I'm mostly or fully (sometimes excessively) qualified for, no interviews yet. One I applied for was a landscaping/snow plow driving job, fully qualified, got rejected within 24hrs anyway.

Another was a local computer shop that does on-site work, pay was low (but at least reviews suggested a lowish workload at the company), I was more than qualified but not too excessively, I had a good feeling about that one.

THE SAME THING HAPPENED. Got rejected within 24hrs. I was floored, confounded, dumbstruck. I had discovered a new low in the apparent amount of sense the job market had. This was right inside the pigeonhole this job market had apparently decided I should spend the rest of my life in, and it made no difference.

The 1yr anniversary of losing my last full-time job had passed, and it's been over 4 months since I went full-throttle on sending in job applications, a job in itself that can take as much work as you can throw at it. I don't see how a person this skilled having this much trouble finding a job, even after applying for basic jobs, could be described as anything but dystopian. This should formally qualify as a dystopian situation.

I just saw a TikTok a few days ago where a head of a corporate hr dept applied to a job that needed filled 3 or 4 months ago but everyone remotely qualified was rejected. Long story short most of hr got fired because they set a trigger in the resume scanning AI for a program they don't even use anymore and was last used 14 yrs prior anywhere... 

On the flip side I can't find a dental assistant.  A few applicants, some don't even respond to a request to come in for an interview, others respond but then don't show up for the interview.  I can train anyone to do the job, but I need someone personable and responsible.  Show up to work everyday, on time.  I'm offering good pay/benefits.

You also need to find someone who wants to stick their fingers in someone's mouth all day long.

Try posting on Fetlife instead. 

Ranger50 said:

I just saw a TikTok a few days ago where a head of a corporate hr dept applied to a job that needed filled 3 or 4 months ago but everyone remotely qualified was rejected. Long story short most of hr got fired because they set a trigger in the resume scanning AI for a program they don't even use anymore and was last used 14 yrs prior anywhere... 

https://www.yourtango.com/self/manager-proves-hr-system-auto-rejecting-candidates-using-own-resume

Also in googling for the article, I saw a Cali court case was being brought/argued that AI is a sue-able entity as it relates to discrimination. I think in the first few lines it made mention of the almost instant rejection as cause.

Got your welding certs yet?

https://ca.indeed.com/q-welder-l-toronto,-on-jobs.html?vjk=1d7704b20ba86fc9

In reply to 93gsxturbo :

I wasn't working on welding certs and only have a hint of high school shop class welding experience. Looks like training costs are about $2.2kCAD:

https://www.conestogac.on.ca/fulltime/welding-techniques

It also seems like a job with pretty high vulnerability to automation, preprogrammed welding robots acting on standardized work in jigs are already a well-established technology, and welding custom pieces via 3D scanning and computer vision doesn't seem too far off now.

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Welder isn't "A" job.  It's hundreds of different kinds of jobs, all with different needs and characteristics. Structural welding, production welding, farm welding, mobile welding, aviation welding, underwater welding, the list goes on and on...

Some of them are easy to replace with automation and robotics. Some are definitely not.

In reply to GameboyRMH :

I think you need a fresh start. What you are doing isn't working. 
 

May I suggest an approach that is VERY old school?  Look for a book called "What Color is Your Parachute?"  It will help you focus on priorities that work for YOU and fit YOU well.

It used to be a fantastic tool. I realize the world has changed a lot, and it may not be relevant any more, but it sure couldn't hurt.

You are taking random shots in every direction hoping something will hit an invisible target. You need a more focused approach.

If you can't walk into a business and be able to communicate in detail why they need you and why you are a good fit, then you don't know enough about the company, or about yourself.

I'm sorry you are struggling. 

In reply to GameboyRMH :

That's a pre-apprenticeship program, but it would probably get you an interview and a weld test as a production welder. There's a shortage of welders, and not much chance of those jobs going away any time soon. 

GameboyRMH said:

In reply to 93gsxturbo :

I wasn't working on welding certs and only have a hint of high school shop class welding experience. Looks like training costs are about $2.2kCAD:

https://www.conestogac.on.ca/fulltime/welding-techniques

It also seems like a job with pretty high vulnerability to automation, preprogrammed welding robots acting on standardized work in jigs are already a well-established technology, and welding custom pieces via 3D scanning and computer vision doesn't seem too far off now.

0% chance of going hungry as a welder with certs.  Automation is already fairly maxed out and you can't automate any of the 1-offs beause of the amount of variables involved.  By the time you dig out the robot, set it up, test it, program it, run it, tear it down, move to the next job, the pipeliner has already welded 3 joints and is off at the 7-11 buying a chili dog, a can of monster, and 2 packs of smokes.  

In reply to 93gsxturbo :

If thats the diet of an average pipeliner, there will be a lot of opening positions soon lol

In reply to yupididit :

Its a bit tongue-in-cheek but not far from the truth.

I work for a major heavy equipment manufacturer. Our plant builds the frames for a few of our many machines. It's essentially a large fab shop. We have a half dozen robotic weld cells and at least 200 welders. Right now business is dead, but when we were selling machines they were hiring kids out of high school if they could pass, or even do reasonably well, on a weld test in the hopes they were trainable. The production welders max out around $30/hr plus shift premiums, and they don't work too hard. It's not a bad gig.