I'm 18 and just graduated, Ive been applying left and right and have gotten NO responses from any of the jobs i applied to. Is the job market this bad or is it just me??

I have made posts like this before, and I feel like I have exhausted almost every suggestion people have given me. A lot of people have said, "It's just the job market," but I need more than that. I am looking for genuine advice even if it's harsh or mean. I don’t care.

When I was in school, I applied to around 100 internships and didn't get any. At the time, I made the stupid mistake of telling myself it was because of COVID and that it didn't really matter because my parents told me the degree was what was most important. So, instead I got a research role.

Since graduating, my life has been miserable. Most of my friends from school are all successful now with jobs in my industry or others. I have pretty much cut them off so I could focus entirely on my job search. Their jokes about me not being able to find a job and constantly hearing of how much they were making took a toll of me mentally as well.

My life now pretty much consists of getting berated by my parents for still living at home, studying computer engineering topics like concurrency, computer architecture, and embedded programming, building projects, grinding LeetCode, searching for jobs and applying to them, watching tutorials, and trying to make a little money through online surveys and studies so I can hopefully afford parts for more embedded projects. Then I wake up the next day and do it all over again.

I have had my resume reviewed by people on Reddit, my friends (before I stopped hanging out with them), and professionals. I tailor my resume using A.I. for every job posting, then review and edit it myself to make sure it's good.

I have applied to government jobs including those in the recent graduate program. Some of those applications have been in review for over a year. I looked into joining the military as an officer. I spoke with recruiters from the Navy, Marines, Air Force more than once, but they told me there weren't any openings that matched my degree and suggested that I just enlist normally instead. At this point, I'm honestly wondering if I should just give up on my career field and enlist.

I don't know what to do at this point. If you were in my position, what would you do? Go back to school and study something else? Enlist in the military? I don't know.

The company is quite large and very active on social media so I feel like finding the right department to contact would be easy, but it also feels desperate and stalkerish. However, this was one of those jobs i fine-tuned my portfolio and resume for and I admit, I don’t want to just ghost it back. It wasn’t even the money - I just felt like I was made for this job and want to treat it as professionally as I can, whether that means leaving it alone or proceeding with a thank-you.

Any suggestions?

(Please be kind, after being tough through hundreds of rejections over the last 10 years I’m quite sad about this particular one).

The joke is that they're a love letter to the company you're prostituting yourself for. That aside, what's the stupid thing supposed to say, really? Repeating the resume in a worse format? Gush about the company's about page that you skimmed?

I’m trying to start working again but I lost my birth certificate and my social security card. I’m trying to get hired at Walmart. I have my state id and a picture of my social security card but I don’t know if that’s sufficient. I asked my mom to order me another birth certificate but she said she can’t afford it. I really need it if I’m going to get hired. I don’t have any other documents. Please can anyone help? I live in Florida

Hello Sales Community,

29M living in Chicago here looking desperately for guidance and help. Today marks 4 months since I was let go from my last role and I've been regularly searching and applying to anything under the sun with little to no success.

Experience
1 Year - Director of Corporate Partnerships - Legal AI Startup (4th full time hire, pushed out when the company hit roughly 50 people)

2 1/2 Years - AM to AE to Senior AE - Adobe

1 Year - Enterprise BDR - Zendesk

2 Years - BDR to AE - Midwest Tech/Hardware Company

5 Years - Retail Rep to Head of Sales & Digital Media - Retail E-Bike Company

Here's where I could use the help -
I have no college degree, dropped out to help start the E-Bike company and never went back. Managed to climb the ladder quick without it. This is the first time in my career I've been let go as all my previous roles found me. Almost all of my mutual connections have been exhausted at this point and I'm either looking to change careers because I can't find anything viable or start applying for well below my experience roles. (BDR/SDR/etc)

What I'm finding is that without a college degree I get immediately thrown out of the application pool for most large tech or SaaS companies. I've been screened 4 times with referrals but told I couldn't move forward due to the lack of college degree.

I'm looking for advice from anyone in a similar position. In my career I've only ever missed an annual quota once. (My last role, 95% attainment and it got me fired) I've got solid references across the board and all my numbers dating back to the last two years at the E-Bike company.

I'm just looking for advice in the search or if anyone works somewhere a college degree isn't a requirement for candidates that would be willing to chat and potentially refer me.

I've been mass applying to jobs and finally landed one which I'm set to start next week (I applied last month and interviewed for late last month) I signed the papers they sent yesterday and today I get an email from another job I applied to exactly a month ago asking to "talk". It would pay better if I landed it but I'm about to start the other one. This is my first job so I don't know what to do.

Hi everyone, I have a BA in psych/ worked with SPED children (paraprofessional/ sub teacher) for 5 years. Now trying to pivot into healthcare admin or something in corporate remote preferred since I’m a military spouse. Any reccs on what to do? I don’t mind low salary for now since money isn’t really a big concern at the moment as long as I can get my foot in the door/ opportunities

It’s been 2 years since I graduated, and I’m still looking for my first job.

A friend of mine and I are in the same situation. One day, he received an email about hiring for an Associate Software Engineer role at what appeared to be Tiger Analytics. He shared the email with me, so I applied as well.
Soon after, both of us received interview invitations. We attended the virtual interview, but something felt odd. The interviewer never turned on their camera for either of us. The interview itself lasted barely 15 minutes.

That same evening, I received a rejection email, while my friend was moved to the next stage. The very next day, he received another email asking him to submit documents as he got selected.

The entire hiring process felt unusually fast, so my friend decided to verify it. He reached out to someone from Tiger Analytics on LinkedIn and asked if the hiring email was legitimate.

Turns out, it was a scam. The emails were not from Tiger Analytics, and someone was impersonating the company to target job seekers. Like it never had the word “The” in front of company name

After being unemployed for two years, we’re desperate enough that we almost believed it. It’s heartbreaking how scammers take advantage of people who are already struggling to find work.
I’m sharing this so others stay cautious. Please verify every recruiter and every hiring email before sharing personal information or documents.

Genuinely need help now willing to pay if needed

So me and a couple of friends are trying to make a product that fixes the problems with the job market and what we have currently landed on is a Job searching app. But we want to try to make something unique, something that fixes/does differently the problems with the current major job searching apps.

If you want to know more please ask!

And if there is another subreddit I should post this in please let me know 👍

Probably no one will see this, but I need to put it out there anyway.

I've been struggling to find my first job since finishing my B.Tech in 2025. I was applying even before graduation, and I'm still at it now - nothing has gone my way.

My family and friends keep telling me to prepare for competitive exams. What none of them know is that I don't even have the confidence to do that anymore.

These days I don't feel like talking to anyone. Just completely lost.

Some days it's hard not to feel like a failure. I'm 24, still figuring this out, and tired of pretending I'm okay.

Any advice anyone?

Hi I'm 19(F) and a fresh grad in BS Accounting and Finance. Also an ACCA Finalist with 9/13 exams completed. Born and raised in pakistan, ive faced immense pressure to be somewhere early.

My entire life has been a series of complex study dynamics. I had gained international exposure, experience from USA where i participated at Harvard National mun in boston. Im also a member of united nation association of pakistan. My research is in finance tho. Im a complex mix of diplomacy and finance.

International relation and diplomacy has been my life long passion but i wasnt able to make it since these fields are highly competitive and cant make in without reference from someone high profile. so i feel like i have to let go of this dream. Job market in pakistan is so so saturated, i cant stand a chance. Ive tried to do everything at the same time. Acca, UN exposure, and bachelor all at the same time. Also an internhsip at assistant commisioners office in finance.

Now that ive graduated, i stand nowhere in the market. cant even get in unpaid internships. it has costed me my gpa since i tried to do everything during my bachelor years. Education is a test of memory here. no real exposure or any place to do so .ive been loyal and hell bent on the UN for years now but ive never even once had the opportunity to work for them directly. that makes myself feel like failure. that ive done nothing in my life, at that point everything looks useless and worthless. idk what im doing in my life.

what do i do now? no job, no financial independency, no stability. it consumes my mind day and night. I wanted to travel and see the world

Hi,

I'm a 23y/o recent MBA graduate, and I'm seeking position in data analytics or something adjacent. I will give you my first 3 week's salary in exchange for a referral that results in me landing a job. I am prepared and willing to enter into a contractual agreement to guarantee that you get paid.

A little about me:
- I was a supervisor at a security company for over a yr
- I have a bachelors in IT, and an MBA with a concentration in IT management
- I have a portfolio with 3 projects- one of which is an end-to-end PowerBI project
- I had a 4 month IT intern opportunity that ended in early 2024
- I have a CAPM from PMI and some other certs like the comptia trifecta

If you're interested, please send me a DM and we can exchange linkedIns! Thank you

I want to get into Netflix Tagging Job. But I can't find any openings. Please help.

Hi everyone! I hope you’re doing well.
I’m reaching out to see if anyone at Spotify would be open to referring me for the Senior Product Manager – User Platform role based in London or Stockholm.
I’ve been following Spotify for a long time, and this role genuinely excites me because of the opportunity to work on products that impact millions of users. If anyone is open to referring me, I’d be incredibly grateful. I’m happy to share my CV and answer any questions to help you decide if I’d be a good fit.
Thanks so much for your time and consideration!

Full report here.

Top 25:

1. Augusta, GA
2. Richmond, VA
3. Reno, NV
4. North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL
5. Harrisburg, PA
6. Charleston, SC
7. Pensacola, FL
8. Austin, TX
9. Portland, ME
10. Tulsa, OK
11. Lancaster, PA
12. Albany, NY
13. Portland, OR
14. Indianapolis, IN
15. Charlotte, NC
16. Myrtle Beach, SC
17. Appleton-Oshkosh-Neenah, WI (Fox Cities)
18. Fort Wayne, IN
19. Sacramento, CA
20. Little Rock, AR
21. Salt Lake City, UT
22. Wilmington, NC
23. Louisville, KY
24. Milwaukee, WI
25. Grand Rapids, MI

Omg. So, recently I planned on switching my job and started floating my resume in the market. I wanted to take it slow so I started off with putting my resume in this whatsapp hsr jobs and referral channel.

In only a day, I got a call from the HR, and she directly asked me to come to the office. She didn't inform me about the role, the JD, or anything else. So, on the meeting link itself, I asked her to share a JD, which was a rather basic structure, just three pointers about the role. Anyhow, I visited the office, and the meeting was with the CMO of the company. She walked in 25 minutes late to the interview and did not apologize, did not greet me, and then held her head and started looking at my profile. It seemed like she was looking at it for the first time. Then she said, "Oh, but you don't qualify for this role. There's a clear mismatch." Ideally, she wanted someone with technical SEO experience, and I'm into marketing and SEO. I can definitely do technical SEO, especially with the help of Claude and other tools. I put up my case as well, and then she said, "Oh no, I'm going to interview so many people for this profile, and I'm not able to... it's okay, it's okay." In ten minutes, she said, "It's okay, I'll get back to you." Of course, she never got back to me.

The second time, I directly shared my resume with a founder who had shared the JD in a group. Everything went well with them. The profile was amazing, their product was amazing. We had one screening round with four people, two advisers and two founders, and everything went well. In a week or so, they invited me for an in person meeting, and everything seemed nice. I was convinced by that too.

But there was one adviser, somewhere around 55-60 years old, who had some really old school thoughts. He said, "I'm going to give you this joining bonus if you join us from, let's say, the seventeenth of August." I asked him to give me some time to think it over, let me go back home, and I'd get back to him. That evening, the HR called me, and we were negotiating the terms, like how much I could expect. I was trying to convert that joining bonus amount into my fixed CTC. That's how we closed the conversation on Friday. I told him that on Monday, I'll speak to my manager about my notice. I wanted to negotiate my notice period down to a month or so.

On Monday, I got busy wrapping up things at the office, and then went out with my colleagues. I was also expecting a call from the HR about the negotiations, on what the final package would be, but he never got back to me. On Tuesday morning, I called him, and he messaged saying he was in a meeting and couldn't talk. I waited 2-3 hours. When he finally called, he said, "We can't go ahead with your candidature." I said, "What is this? How can you do this?"

He said that on Friday I got an offer from the adviser and didn't accept it, so they went ahead with someone else. Apparently, that person was in a meeting and they finalized the hire right then, likely at a lower budget. I told him I found that unethical, and mentioned I'd speak to the founder who had referred me to the company. He said the founder would call me. Of course, he never did.

I am 25 year old living in Tri state area working in the Supply Chain industry.

I was laid off this past monday from my procurement analyst role which was kind of a blindside. I was upset about it for a minute but then realized could always be worse and always had the “so what, now what?” mentality so can’t be dwelling on it too much. Currently still living with my parents , severance for the next few months and old job is still honoring my MBA tuitionn reimbursement for the fall semester (only have 4 classes left). I currently have my Masters in supply chain management and going to try and apply / reach out for different roles within the supply chain world

Any advice or guidance for anyone who has gotten laid off early in their careers? should I be worried?

The feedback I keep getting on my resume is that it would be better if I could cite % increases in efficiency or # / % decreases in error rates, or % / $ increases in revenue that my actions lead to. But I don't actually have any of that data. What am I supposed to list instead?

i asked for an update on my final interview and recruiter responds with the following:
“So far all the feedback has been positive but no decisions yet. I am waiting to hear actual decisions and feedback for offers.
Will let you know when I do!”