I went through something similar recently. The only job qualifications I have are education and really old work experience in a technical field. Couldn’t get an interview with anyone. Even Domino’s wouldn’t call me back even though they are hiring for every position.

I just got a job at UPS with no resume or hiring process at all, but it’s definitely not for everyone. Most of the union positions open to the public are part time and difficult hours, plus it’s really physical work. Great benefits, though, and eventually seniority will allow you to get in to bid on much better jobs. Drivers make $70k+ a year, feeder drivers make even more.

If you do try to find a position there, don’t rely on the job alerts thing on their website. Check it every Wednesday. I’ve been signed up for alerts for 6 months and never got an email. Just happened to check it on a Wednesday and got the job offer in like 20 minutes.

I worked in tech for a decade before losing my last job 2 years ago.

By dumb luck, my partner knows that I say “fuck the tech sector, its got the worst people in it and serves mobody.” She stumbled across a job with an anti-homelessness org in my city and passed it along.

Its a one year contract through Americorps - tons of others on the site have worked with them, and the application to hire process took 4 days (applied on monday, accepted the offer Thursday).

Straight up, the pay is trash because nonprofits, but im able to make it work. Might be worth checking out Americorps and seeing what they have in your area!

Not to be a broken record and it definitely isn’t an ideal job for everyone, but:

If you live in the US and are anywhere with a significant population, not even a major city, the Postal Service is most likely hiring and they basically don’t care about your work history or education or anything.

It will be very physical and you will be working with a lot of people who are not educated like you are and many are likely to be old CHUDS, but it’s unionized, it’s decent money and the benefits are still okay.

They take applications (last I checked) through their own hiring website, no resume needed you just plug in your information. But expect to be given an absurd amount of work for your time as a non career employee.

I can go on but that’s one option. Sorry about your situation, job hunting sucks and is humiliating. Best of luck comrade.

Sorry to hear it. Its been years since i looked and i had less education but it was soul crushing and took me 2 years… The thing that finally got me in was lying about job experience.

A friend of a friend had a small bussinesses and let me put on my resume that i did 3 years of work in my field for him. Had another friend whose older and in my field woek with him from home and quiz me on jargon so i could fake jt better in interviews.

Way I see it is I don’t owe anyone who wants to exploit my labor the truth anyhow.

Once I got in I was devastated to see how incompetent the older people in my field are. I was being turned down in favor of people who were less able to do the job and I’m sure you are too stranger.

Anyway lying about experience is my recommendation. Best of luck

I’ve gotten jobs by contacting recruiters directly on Linkdin, and through the website USAJobs.gov. USAJobs, being an official job board run by the government, avoids a lot of bullshit like fake postings and AI application review that plague other job websites, although the pool of applicants is still massive so you’ll still face a lot of rejection I will say I seemed to get a higher proportion of in-person interviews from this site than others.

As for linkdin… I guess it’s about luck as much as it is anything else. My last job came from there after I spent an assload of time applying to everything remotely related to my industry.

The whole system sucks and I hate it, but now that I’ve done gig work for a month I’m back on the job search grind cuz that system is somehow even worse.

Make sure your resume is machine readable (ATS Friendly)

I would use chat gpt now to tailor the resume and write cover letters and just spam applications. It’s a numbers game

Are there any seasonal jobs available with your city/county? I’d never go back to the private sector but it’s difficult to get in with my city. The main route people take is getting a seasonal job in the department and then applying internally for permanent positions in whatever department you want. Right now they’re still hiring on an ongoing basis. While the pay sucks, it’s a stop-gap that can get you additional certifications while providing a good work/life balance. If you have a local workforce development centre, here run by the county, they know all of the municipal/county hiring managers.

I’ve never successfully got a job by applying on indeed or any other website the only methods that have worked for me are

• Applying for a scheme, mine was an apprenticeship scheme but graduate schemes also work the entrance requirements are low cos they usually want to get as many people as possible and the scheme has to find you something. This is limited to being young and or a recent graduate unfortunately.
• A good recruiter, I once had a machine of a recruiter who in the background was doing hundreds of applications for me and got me an interview in like 24 hours, got the job and bought me coffee then asked if i wanted to apply for another job she found with an even higher salary before I’d even started the one i just got. I feel like if i took her up on the offer I’d probably have been a CEO by the end of the week
• Nepotism. Absolutely nothing works better than plain old nepotism. Its almost always a guaranteed interview and the bonus of having someone put a good word in gives you a huge advantage. Some companies even have referral schemes where the person referring gets cash

Job market is absolutely trash atm though. I’m largely trapped where i am all my applications have been falling through for months usually i would get a hit on something.

Have you looked into your state or city government? They have very long hiring processes and industry-bottom pay, but generally great benefits, pensions, and days off.

The positions in my state sound right up your alley given your background, including social services programs, communication roles, and if nothing else, you could start as an admin clerk/assistant and work your way up.

Private industry job availability is gonna be tough in your field, but you don’t need me to tell you that. To be constructive: try reaching out to faculty members you were close with at your university. They will have many industry connections and might refer you.

Also consider admin roles outside your field where you can use your soft skills - entry level customer/ops support in the supply chain field (warehousing, trucking, industrial factories, tradie fields, etc.).

Finally, take a deep breath and have a cup of tea or something. I’ve been there as well, laid off in a freezing cold job market. It’s not just you, every single position that opens up sees literally dozens of overqualified applicants to cherry pick from. The market is that bad right now. But the only way out is to keep looking and keep applying every day. There is a light at the end, even if it seems impossible now.

What’s your field?

If youre in the same as me and live near me my place is hiring

Most recruiters are useless but I’ve worked with one for a couple of years that has been great.

It can be easier to have a conversation with a recruiter than a company, and you may be more likely to get a role if they like you.

My last 3 jobs came from recruiters for jobs I didn’t even put in for. I haven’t heard from two of them since, but this one guy has come in and saved me a few times after things fell through

If you have a degree you could do online tutoring.

I did it on the side a few years ago to help save for my wedding and while it doesn’t pay the greatest unless it’s for high demand subjects, you do get to set your hours and it’s pretty chill.

I wish I knew. In the same boat… DataAnnotation is working out alright for me, and I’m doing the “sweepstakes farming” gig while looking for other ways to make extra money. Can’t elaborate on that though (the post I wrote was deleted).

Applying for full-time work has been nothing but endless rejection. There’s too many people and not enough jobs. That or I’m not good enough for work anymore 🙃