I had a job. The company didn’t realize that they actually had to sell product to stay in business. Almost all of the workforce was let go or furloughed. I’ve been unemployed for over a month now.

I’ve filled out dozens upon dozens of job apps, starting even before I lost my job. I have my resume public on job listings sites for employers and hiring agencies to find, and I’ve sent my resume to employers and hiring agencies directly. I look through the listings on job boards for each day, mostly limiting my search to a wage that would allow me to make ends meet at home. I’ve solicited and implemented advice from resume design experts. I’ve had one in-person interview, a few preliminary phone interviews, and a couple of message conversations between recruiters and myself. The one in-person interview I had would not have paid enough for my monthly expenses and I was overqualified for the position; they decided against hiring me. I had another interview scheduled and confirmed via a hiring agency’s AI text bot and a human agent’s text; I drove to the scheduled interview place and time and they had no idea that I was supposed to be interviewed. All other communication has either been flat-out rejection or just left me hanging.

I have a Bachelor’s of Science degree from a top 25 ranked university in the US. I have no criminal record. I do have multiple disabilities but they are generally mitigable enough to not affect my work. I have references of my (now) former boss and a (now) former coworker who both praise my impact and aptitude in the factory and office workplace. I’m evidently overqualified for positions that don’t require higher experiences and I’m underqualified for nearly everything else; I can’t get experience in most niche or broad fields because nearly every position requires these experiences to have already been met. I try to follow all the invisible rules of applying and social etiquette. I am too physically ugly to sell my body. It feels like there’s always been a magical aura about me that makes people dislike me no matter how much I try to do the ethically or socially right thing. How am I supposed to get an income to survive?

    • rumba@lemmy.zip
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      25 days ago

      Don’t put anything on your resume that you’re not prepared to talk about

      Don’t leave anything off your resume because you know something about it but aren’t an expert at it.

      9 out of 10 times the person picking your resume out of a stack has less subject matter expertise than you do.

      If you can fumble your way through it, it goes on the resume. You don’t have to put you’re a god but you also don’t have to put that you only have cursory knowledge.

    • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      27 days ago

      Unless you are apply for a government job, that could get you in legal trouble.

      But non-government employers are all fair game, even if they catch your lie, they probably won’t fire you if you’ve been doing good.

        • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          27 days ago

          Well, at this point you might as well:

          Run for office.

          Lie all the way.

          Who knows, maybe you become the first Lemming to become elected to office. 😉

          Or if your polling is low and the odds are not good, you can just illegally spend all your campaign funds for vacations.

          YOLO

          • Squorlple@lemmy.worldOP
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            27 days ago

            Who knows, maybe you become the first Lemming to become elected to office

            My recently re-elected county clerk is an active Wikipedia editor and Redditor; I wouldn’t be surprised if he has also partially migrated to Lemmy.

            • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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              27 days ago

              Huh…I just realized I know so little about my local county clerk, that I didn’t even know that was a thing, or what they do.

              Wait. Are YOU the local county clerk? Are YOU migrating to Lemmy from reddit?

              • Squorlple@lemmy.worldOP
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                27 days ago

                A county clerk does the sort of stuff that a Wikipedia nerd is best equipped to do.

                He’s not me; I moved to this district this summer and came across his public accounts while researching the candidates new to me on my ballot this year. And I’ve already comfortably made the move to Lemmy.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        25 days ago

        So many people don’t realize government positions have hard and soft requirements. Usually the hard requirement is the degree unless there’s profession specific stuff, (like Computer Security requiring the certification). Everything after that is generally how well you can convince them that you do actually have experience or how badly they need bodies. You might start at a lower pay level if it’s the latter but it’s a job and it promotes on time if you stay on top of it.

    • Lazycog@sopuli.xyz
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      27 days ago

      I prefer to say “stretch the truth”. This is more common than a lot of people realize.

      There is always someone getting paid more who doesn’t exactly qualify - or worse, doesn’t even try anymore.

      As many people have said in the thread, it’s all about who you know. “Networking” is more important than skills in many industries.

    • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      26 days ago

      Multiple folks at my work who have been hired after me lied so hard on their resumes. Their lies? They they have basic computer skills. My supervisor doesn’t have a real computer at home. It’s maddening.

    • cheese_greater@lemmy.world
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      25 days ago

      Its liegal advice

      Lad liebertum.

      Just make sure you have backup lies if anything gets scrutunized more

      Lies must be collateraliezed

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    27 days ago

    I will say in advance that I’m sorry this won’t help you and it might make you feel worse, so don’t read on… when I was in high school back in the 90s, we had a regular substitute teacher. Dr. Bronk. Dr. Bronk had a PhD in some very obscure area of botany and couldn’t get a job in his field, so he was a substitute teacher. Even back then I felt bad for him.

  • sunbrrnslapper@lemmy.world
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    26 days ago

    It has taken me, on average, 6 months to find new work each time I do it and I send hundreds of resumes. So I think you are doing the right things. It just sucks. Sometimes you can get a lead from someone you know and that gets your foot in the door.

    Remember, you are reviewing them as an employer too. If they have a shitty applicant experience, that should play into your decision process (easier said than done when you just want to make rent).

    Feel free to message me if you would like resume or other search help.

  • nek0d3r@lemmy.world
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    25 days ago

    This year in particular has just been a fucking awful job market. I lost my job in January and had severance last a couple months, but even after spending every day reading job boards and filing job applications until I was emotionally exhausted, I had zero callbacks for seven months. It was only a few months ago that I got two interviews, and I got offers from both. As soon as I accepted, I had some other companies suddenly crawling to me with offers. I’m still recovering from my debts accrued in that time, but I’m finally in a much better place now. Keep going at it, and I promise something will crack.

  • Toes♀@ani.social
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    27 days ago

    In my experience unless you’re friends with someone at the company. You need to be a unicorn candidate when applying on your own.

    Entry level is an illusion they want people to take entry level pay with 10+ years of experience.

    I was able to get my first industry job through the career services department at my school. So if your university is as good as they claim they’ll have something akin to that.

  • scarabic@lemmy.world
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    26 days ago

    It’s a really tough job market. Don’t be afraid to take something shorter term if it moves your income from zero to something. Even if that something is not enough for the long term, it will buy you time. And should this continue on and on, you can look at what options you have to lower your living costs. No one wants to make such sacrifices, but they too can buy you time.

    Best of luck with the search.

  • Shardikprime@lemmy.world
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    25 days ago

    So I don’t know if you tried looking for state jobs.

    I see you are in Michigan so, apply for something that you’re overqualified for and then work the job until you’re past the probation period.

    Then, apply for the job you want. They hire internally first for pretty much every position. This is how several people’s experience go about how they got into their current position with the state at DHHS.

    A popular position for getting your foot in the door is processing food stamp applications. It’s remote and doesn’t require a bachelor’s degree, so having a bachelor’s degree will likely get you an interview.

    Also, this applies in general:

    Applicant recruiting software usually looks for key words.

    Look at the ad & attached position description and highlight the words and phrases used.

    Include them in your resume, cover letter, application. You have to tailor your application to each position. It’s a royal pain, but that’s how most recruiting software works.

    I would also urge you to call the respective departments/agencies HR departments and ask about the position. A current employee may be able to flag your application depending on whom you speak to.

    Either that or try MDOC as some say it is the easiest way into the State. Its not for everyone but its an option. They always look for people.

    So to summarize

    Use exact words and terms from the job description on your application. The software will search and grade your application by these hits.

    Keep it short. Use only one font. The software diagnoses the beginning font and can’t read anything that deviates from the font.

    Apply for an entry level position and work your way up to the position you actually want.

    Other options

    Check the community college job postings near where you live! When they are about to start a new semester, they usually have openings

    On that note, The schools are always hiring. It varies depending on the district, but Livonia school for example is looking for the following:

    https://www.applitrack.com/livoniapublicschools/onlineapp/default.aspx?all=1

    Manufacturing is ALWAYS hiring. Drive by just about any plant in the Metro Detroit area and probably there will be ‘now hiring’ signs all over the place.

    No experience will probably start around $15/hr, but if you learn fast & want to advance, there are usually ways to move up pretty quickly.

    Check out mml.org’s classifieds if you haven’t already. Again, people often overlook city government jobs but the pay is often decent and have good benefits. Some also tend to browse governmentjobs.com.

    Oakland County seems to have lots of different jobs available.

    https://careers-oakgov.icims.com/jobs/search?hashed=-625890832&mobile=true&width=412&height=815&bga=true&needsRedirect=false&jan1offset=-180&jun1offset=-180

    Try contacting an agency like kelly or arrow strategies if you’re in tech.

    Remember we are near the end of year. December January February are basically dead time for gigs, they all pick up on march

  • AgentGrimstone@lemmy.world
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    27 days ago

    That last bit about your unlikeable aura, you should get someone to give you honest feedback on what you’re doing wrong.

    • Squorlple@lemmy.worldOP
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      The thing is, once you’ve been stuck in it for so long everywhere, you don’t know how the few people whom you find judicious and honest and whose general input you respect and appreciate can also somehow be sane and in-touch if they are the anomalies who think the same of you. You question if praise and affirmation from them is just an overly polite way of hiding pity and disdain. Even if their analysis says all is good, does that really mean all is good? That’s why I described it as magical, because it’s internally contradictory and independent of social setting. Since I can’t even get to the interview stage, then the text of the resume as approved by others becomes a conduit for the aura to affect the potential employers simply because the resume is mine. That’s the conceit I mean when I say it’s like magic.

      • subignition@fedia.io
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        27 days ago

        Are you autistic? Not meant as an insult, but a genuine question. You write very verbosely and might benefit from working on being more straightforward.

        • Squorlple@lemmy.worldOP
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          27 days ago

          I’ve not been diagnosed but I wouldn’t be surprised if I were. I think the verbosity and run-on sentences are coming out strong right now since I’m stressed over the job stuff, it’s late at night, and Lemmy is a fairly casual forum. As William Shakespeare said, “Brevity”.

      • IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world
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        27 days ago

        Not trying to be a dick. But if this is the way you write and communicate to recruiters this is the issue. I have to read your paragraphs multiple times to just figure out what the hell you are trying to convey.

        It’s overly dense, you sound like you have your first thesaurus, and you write to much unnecessary filler. It’s incredibly hard to digest.

        • Squorlple@lemmy.worldOP
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          27 days ago

          That comment was an explanation of layered figurative language. It was given artistic flourish to convey the emotion and situation in experienced subjective depth rather than the objective and literal point of view of an outsider. I am more succinct and linear in settings for which I have to communicate professionally.

          • foofiepie@lemmy.world
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            27 days ago

            I have to agree here.

            You need a sense check on your comms.

            Possible Autism or not. You alluded to it in another comment about you possibly being mistaken for AI in your letters.

            Sadly, masking may need to be a strategy you play here, for a while.

          • IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world
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            27 days ago

            https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8NJHMJy/

            Respectfully, the above meme is how every single word you’ve typed in this thread sounds and I imagine your conversations go.

            Again, not trying to shit in you. But if this is even remotely how you communicate everyone thinks your autistic. Not in a mean way but your intonation and detail scream autism.

            And I’m not a doctor when any qualifications or trying to diagnose. But I can tell you right now you need to practice how to be less precise and err on the side of brevity.

  • Gork@lemm.ee
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    27 days ago

    I recently ended my job hunt not too long ago. You need throughput in putting out resumes and cover letters. Use ChatGPT and have it generate cover letters for each job posting. Edit it so it doesn’t obviously read like it was generated from an LLM and get rid of any experiences it hallucinates on your behalf. It works better if your template resume is similar to the job posting in wording.

    Generating matching resumes and cover letters used to take up about an hour for me per application before ChatGPT. Now it takes about 15 minutes per application. Use that speed (and decreased mental labor) to your advantage. More jobs applied to means more potential hits.

    Applying for jobs is the suck, so use whatever tools you can to lessen the suck.

    • Squorlple@lemmy.worldOP
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      27 days ago

      Thanks. My natural verbiage is commonly mistaken for an LLM, whether that would be a good thing or a bad thing for that approach.

      • abbadon420@lemm.ee
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        27 days ago

        I don’t think it’s a very big issue anymore. Most modern companies know that you’re using gpt to help you write you letters. If you manage to sound more authentic, that would probably be helpful. But a gpt letter is better than no letter. Quantity over quality in this case.