20 years of military service, an MBA, and zero responses: Reddit tells federal contractor the market isn't making sense for anyone
A post on Reddit’s r/jobs from a former military officer with two decades of experience, multiple advanced certifications, and four years on a federal contract talked about spending months proactively searching before their contract ended.
They did everything they could: updating their resume, using AI tools, researching companies, trying LinkedIn, Indeed, and direct applications, and even writing a script to surface job postings from social media.
Nothing. Not one response across any channel, any application, any tactic.
The contract has now been cancelled. They have 30 days.
“I cannot understand where I’m failing or what I’m doing wrong,” they wrote. “I’ve worked my entire adult life to obtain the right experience, education, certifications, and done everything ‘right’, but suddenly none of that seems to matter. You can only get ignored and rejected so many times without starting to feel worthless.”
What Reddit said
One commenter pointed to the current economic context: “It’s the economy hitting a recession and the fact most company management is run by people who know how to run a business, but not how to run a specific business they’ve ended up in a C-suite at. None of it makes sense. Some recruiters I’ve spoken with are bewildered at how bad things have been, too.”
Another offered an immediately actionable resume advice in the thread: “Revise your resume to only show about 10 years of experience. Take out some of your accomplishments if they don’t help the job title, or if an incompetent person wouldn’t be able to see how it helps.”
One commenter focused on the core of the current job market: “Nothing makes sense. All I understand is that it’s timing. To find that one job that fits that one company that wants you. So all you can do is keep trying. 99% of company portals were auto-rejected or just silence. I had better chances via recruiters.”
The original poster’s credentials, which included 20 years as a military officer, MBA, Six Sigma black belt, PMP, experience spanning project management, AI integration, transformation, logistics, and supply chain, are not the problem. In fact, they are nothing to scoff at; in a functioning market, that profile would be generating conversations.
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However, in the status quo, with the job market as it is, their credentials are generating silence.
The original poster said they are not going to give up because too many people depend on them. That is enough of a reason to keep going. But it should be noted that the market’s silence is not a verdict on their worth, but a reflection of a broken system producing the same outcome for people, regardless of their credentials.