The meta for getting jobs rn is through networking. IIRC something like 70% of job positions are not posted. I have worked in the tech industry and food industry and found this to be true in both. For tech, building a strong network is more important than any degree/cert you could get imo. I wouldn’t even bother applying thru websites without a recommendation attached. I think ur time is better spent working on some sort of personal project and attending every conference/event in the area u can find for whatever ur tech domain is. Ideally if ur living in a tech “hub” or adjacent to one there usually is some sort of “areaprogramming language/tech thing club” and joining is free. You can find them on facebook or meetup. Befriend some boomer nerds at them and eventually you’ll get access to their “network” and will have a lot easier time landing a job. U can be upfront too by saying shit like “I am looking to expand my network” and this is an OK way to signal “Let me know about job openings that ur friends have” / “please introduce me to important people”.
It’s a glorified resumé scraping service for corpos. It’s free to use for job seekers right? That means YOUR INFORMATION IS THE PRODUCT. All Indeed does is look at what’s on your resumé, and then delivers that insight to corporations for a fee.
Go handout resumés in person. If the company does not want you to do that, submit them through their career portal on their official website.
I’m so glad that when I applied for my first job 10 years ago, having no experience in any field, applications through websites and apps wasn’t really a big thing and it was mostly done by sending e-mails. Gathered a list of 200 emails and sent those emails one by one, got a call two days later and then kept getting more calls with offers for the next half a year. I do remember registering to a couple big company websites to apply there - and just like the OP mentions, those instantly became ghost accounts :)
I do wonder at times how many of these are just people putting in poor applications.
My experiences are almost 1:1 in terms of applications, interviews and job offers. As someone who recruits others, there is a lot of absolutely trash applications that are completely irrelevant to the role they’re applying for.
Not saying it’s easy, but many people are also not putting their best foot forward.
One of the additional things that sucks is here in Australia if you’re unemployed and/or disabled you can sign up for Centrelink and do Job searching there. But it is just terrible, because not only do you have to look for a certain number of jobs (I think abled-bodied people can do 20 jobs per month, whereas I got to apply for 12 due to disability), but every 2 weeks you have to go in and spend maybe 10minutes or more traveling to the jobseeker place and tell them “no I haven’t heard back from anyone, yes I’ve applied for jobs, etc”.
On top of that, if you’re disabled you’ll get fucked over because you can’t work, you know you can’t work, but Centrelink refuses to put you on the National Disability Scheme because you’re not disabled enough (people who have missing limbs have been told that their missing limb will grow back, or you’ll grow out of it. Some disabilities aren’t even on it, like ADHD isn’t considered a disability and only “high functioning autism” is allowed). But you can be a part of the Disability Employment Scheme (DES) where you still have to apply for jobs, but not as much, but you get some benefits over being a regular Jobseeker.
Generally, the whole thing fucking stinks and I’m so thankful that I’m finally out of it. That and the fact that those receiving Jobseeker payments are being paid below the poverty line because the government refuses to put it up.
I just, ugh. Job seeking sucks, especially when businesses ask for 50million years of experience but it’s entry level. Or the fact to get experience you need to work in this field but to get in this field you need experience. Ugh.
While I do rant about jobseeking, I do appreciate the job provider I’m with (since I’m still in the probation period of this job). Like a previous one I was in honestly made me suicidal because of the things I had to do. And while my current provider still sucks (I am disabled and find walking tough, but they expected people to come back into the office, I couldn’t even do like one week phone call, one week go in like I was doing), but they make me less suicidal. That and they do offer things to me, like vouchers for ubers to work and they’re covering 3 driving lessons (haven’t had a lesson since way before the pandemic).
So yeah, being on Jobseeker is such a poverty trap. It’s made to feel like hell on Earth.
Been a software developer for 15 years. I’ve applied for hundreds of positions this summer and all of them either never call me back or say they are interested in other candidates. I actually fucked up two coding tests this week and I dunno anymore. I’m just so disappointed and money is starting to get tight, and I have a surprise medical bill for a biologic. I’m thinking when I can’t afford rent, I’ll just kill myself.
What’s worse is I did have a job for two months but I fucked it up and botched a production instance. They let me go a couple weeks later, I wasn’t a good fit. I wanted to die then, and the sensation hasn’t gone away either. I lie about it because saying you are suicidal is a great way to be rubber roomed.
Hey friend, I’m sorry that you’ve fucked up a bunch lately. I know the feeling. Just know that you are really valuable to your family and friends, and they’d be extremely hurt if you did do something like that.
Everyone is feeling so stretched right now, and you are not alone. But we will get through this, and things will get easier down the road.
I know it sounds stupid, but money is just… money. Yes we need it to survive in this day, but your life is worth so much more than a bit of cash or debt… and it sounds like you’re a smart person. So just know that those mistakes are a part of your journey, and a part of moulding you into the person you will be in a few years.
New guy botching a production instance, for a developer…isn’t your problem.
Sorry but that’s on them. You shouldn’t be able to deploy bad code to prod. Whoever approved the MR fucked up and you caught the blame. You’re better off without them.
Infra guys like me (networking) yeah, sure, because our test environment happens to also be our prod environment.
Almost never representative of the actual work and usually far more restrictive than the actual work too. (In that you can’t search, might be watched, etc)
I agree. It pains me that I have to ask them. The ones my company does are very restrictive and high pressure. I personally try to choose reasonable problems with realistic scenarios (especially when interviewing entry level folks). I also have lots of follow up questions that I like to think are well grounded on realism.
I personally give a complete pass for stuff like standard library functions and will outright tell the candidate about an available function if they’re unsure what it’s called or how its used. I’m testing problem solving and an understanding of language , fundamentals not their ability to memorize a standard library. I mean, heck, I can’t begin to count how many times I’ve had to google “[language] sort list”.
Honestly, it sucks to have to watch a candidate struggle. It’s awkward and not fun. I want to see the candidate do well. And heck, if they can’t do well, I want them to at least be able to make progress, because I know it would feel bad to feel like you bombed the interview. Sadly, the environment of tech interviews isn’t conductive to that. They’re stressful and sometimes perfectly qualified candidates do poorly simply because of nerves.
I feel like for software, the big barrier is getting past HR/recruiters. Once you get to talk to someone technical, it’s a lot easier. But hell if I know how the heck the non technical staff decides how to progress people.
I’ve done tech interviews. They’re leetcode, which isn’t great, but at least it’s fair. There’s no magic words there. I just want to know if you can reasonably approach a problem (and I don’t pick anything I couldn’t get hired on), can show problem solving skills, and show an understanding of algorithms and data structures. You don’t even need to solve the problem if you can come close and your thinking out loud shows good skills. And most definitely don’t need to be an optimal solution (though it helps).
But getting to the tech screen, I don’t even know. I’ve made internal referrals that never even get assigned to anyone, despite a glowing referral. Maybe it’s just super competitive. Maybe there’s a scarcity of low level positions (though I know many teams that are top heavy and only need low level positions). I really know nothing about what it takes to get to the tech screen level. But once you’re there, I really do think it’s a lot more reasonable (not at all perfect, but better).
I am so glad I am a Union member. I would probably be homeless if i had to deal with this shit. I mean, I have almost been homeless with my union, but without it I’d be screwed.
A tip for anyone in the situation: when looking for a job on any website, if it has a ridiculous pay range, like 30k-140k, stay away. Usually some pyramid scheme, or scammy commission only sales job that you’ll never make anything from.
I’m sure some of these work out for some people, it has to. But realistically it doesn’t ever work out.
I’ve found jobs with good hourly salaries after bonuses, but the catch was that those bonuses were nearly impossible to reach. Keep an eye out for those, too!
I have probably sent out a good 100 resumés over the past few months and have only gotten responses within the past few weeks. A good chunk of them did not bother notifying me that I was not being considered and I would only find out if I logged into their shitty portal.
I am no longer applying to jobs that do not lost their salary range. I had an interview the other day that was a complete fucking waste of time because at the end there was my salary was nowhere near what they could afford. They have been looking for months. They definitely need a reality check if they think they can pay next to nothing in the locations they are hiring in which are all high cost of living areas.
This is exactly what I’ve encountered. I only opened Indeed to see what ppl in my profession are being offered in other places. Places with affordable houses. I’m worried my living situation will become a problem in the area I live, it’s only getting higher.
Like you, I find employers are completely unaware of this and aren’t offering enough.
They are also asking for more qualifications than they are willing to pay for, so far I’ll bide my time.
The other annoyance is I can’t ask for any feedback on why my application was passed over.
You apply for 20 jobs on Indeed. “Do you want to fill out the application manually, or upload your resume?” You select the latter and upload your resume. Indeed loads the next page: “Please fill out your work history manually.” You scream 20 times
Pro tip: for the workday applications with the manual forms, I have a separate file I upload without formatting that perfectly fills out the forms in the fields they want, then I upload a formatted resume.
Filter to “jobs that I can apply for/to from my phone”
I agree with the core of this post, just trying to help anyone frustrated with entering the same information over and over, or making single use accounts for applications, can’t stand that shit and it makes the whole process shittier. Plus, you can apply to much more stuff without fatigue, strengthening the chance you’ll hear back from somebody
