‘They don’t even give me an answer’: Job seekers struggle to get responses from employers
A post on Reddit from someone who recently relocated and has been applying for jobs across their new area in Pittsburgh talked about their experience while trying to apply for jobs. They say that they do what they can to give a good impression, even wearing nice clothes to interviews. They have the qualifications and experience. They have no criminal record. They follow up repeatedly.
Companies with hiring signs in their windows, who are visibly struggling to staff up, simply do not respond.
“They don’t even give me an answer. At least say no or something,” they wrote. “You have to apply to 200 places before you even get an interview sometimes.”
A response in the thread came from someone who apparently has 25 years of experience as a hiring manager. “We are in a recession, despite what you may be hearing. The job market is as bad as I’ve seen it in my 25 years. The last role I opened had 600 applicants in two days. Most weren’t qualified, but probably 100 or so could have done the job. So even a qualified applicant had a 10% chance of getting a callback, a 3% chance of meeting with me, and a 1% chance of getting the job.”
The numbers may seem arbitrary, but if someone who has the amount of hiring experience as the commenter is saying that it’s bad, chances are it’s true.
What the other comments said
One commenter described being rejected as a grocery clerk despite five-plus years of retail experience and multilingual ability. They even said that they deliberately left their degree off the resume because it wasn’t relevant.
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Another netizen pointed to the reality of how the current market is looking:”Corporations want one person to fill six positions. They have no desire to hire six people for a six-person job because that would require money.”
A useful piece of advice in the thread also popped up, but it also brought up a very frustrating point: “You need to know someone in the company and have them vouch for you. A personal referral goes a long way.”
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