Support thread for job hunters...anyone else losing their mind?!

[Wiggle975]

As the title says, is anyone else worn out, and starting to lose their mind through job applications and interviews?

I am exhausted and starting to get very fed up with it all. The wasting of time.

Hopefully will improve in the spring.
I have seen more jobs available for me the past 2 weeks.

I hope things pick up for you OP, the market is slowly starting to bounce back. I manage recruitment for a large corporate and the last 18 months have been really tough financially, us as well as our closest competitors have gone into cost saving mode so new positions or taking on contractors has been very limited. Even now, the budgets are very tightly controlled although we're seeing the markets recovering.

That is exactly what I have done. I'm trying to mask my age so other than the date I started my current position there are no other dates on my CV, and I was self-employed for 18 years before that I only have 2 roles on my CV. I have put my self employed role as 10+ years to mask my age a bit. I've taken of management skills and added in customer service and administration instead.

Doing this has meant I've had more interest, a couple of phone calls and an interview yesterday but no offers as yet. Unfortunately I didn't like the place I interviewed for.

I’ll try taking the dates off and see if that makes a difference. As op mentions, On roles that I have not made it through the interview process, they claim to have found a candidate with marginally more experience in a certain area, so I question what is possible in terms of of sidestep or the industry I was in before software. I don’t doubt the assertive make thing and have had so many agents tell me that women tend to undersell their talents, including me. Good luck for the week ahead.

All gone quiet again. Hoping one is just slow, as they only got in touch in Feb for something I applied for last November (waiting budget approval)

Fingers crossed @InfoComet
I had two interviews today. I have another two next week so let's see.
Hopefully new budgets bring new roles!

Good luck everyone. I'm still on the bench.
Keep going. I might revamp my CV tomorrow if nothing comes up....I keep adding keywords... it's like key word central 🤣

Just a reminder to everyone to triple check applications before you send them.

I applied for a great opportunity on Wednesday. Updated my CV, wrote a great letter. Sent it off. Then yesterday I looked at the letter to check the name of the company only to find that I hadn't changed the name of the company at the top of my letter. (Face slap)

It is hard enough to find a job without me sabotaging myself!

I'll join the thread with well wishes to everyone on the search.

I was made redundant 4 weeks ago, completely out of the blue - I'd only been there 6 months. I'm still astonished they'd bothered recruiting for the role in the first place! It was a toxic culture and I was planning to leave sooner rather than later myself, but to be pushed as I have been was a huge shock. I've never been made redundant.

I'm viewing job searching as a sales process - the top of the funnel is wide, you need to apply to loads of places before it narrows down to a job offer.

I have been lucky enough to be getting interviews, and am in the 3rd round for one opportunity- a presentation etc. It's really hard to feel enthusiastic about it all at the moment, though. Because who knows how it'll pan out, and all that energy I've expended might come to nothing.

I'm learning to guard my energy a bit more carefully. Spend time outdoors. Exercise. Just being gentle with myself, because none of this is my fault.

How is everyone getting on, seeing any changes in the market? I am gutted that I made it to the final 2 last week and didn’t get the job. A few meetings this week but don’t see anything new on LinkedIn or any of the job sites this morning

I’ve just been made redundant this morning. Can’t face applying for jobs yet. I’m in my 50’s and feel I’ve already been thrown on the scrap heap.

Ps I’ve never been made redundant before

3 rejections so far today. 2 of them I only sent yesterday, but they were both long shots and both asked for a photo.

@lissie123 that must have been a shock. Give yourself time to process, but at the same time let your network know that you are available for work.

thats bad news @lissie123 , no advice but sending support.

@lissie123 sorry to hear that.

I've got two interviews tomorrow.

I've not heard anything back yet from the two I did last week.

Sorry to hear this @lissie123 , give yourself time to process the news. You aren't in the scrapheap, though. It'll turn out OK.

I have a busy week of interviews suddenly. A first round interview today invited me back for a second round on Thursday. Having no job at present myself, the speed at which they are moving gets my hopes up...!

My people! I am so mentally exhausted from doing applications.

I'll join! I had another thread about cv advice for over 50s. Rewrote my cv, had a flurry of interest, recruiters telling me how great my cv was, but still no-one wants to interview me.

I've got one interview on Thursday, so will try and be positive about that one.

But other than that, nothing really in the pipeline.

I have a recruiter friend who's going to help me with my LinkedIn profile, and also proof read my application letters.

It's so hard not to feel dejected though.

15 applications. Not even a sniff of an interview. I've been looking since September.

One role came up last month, I had the usual confidential phone call prior to applying. I was encouraged to apply, a reasonably niche role that I did seem a good fit for. Rejected, no interview yet again. Why?

I've not applied for a new role for over 10 years, first time applying aged 50+. Not sure if that is the issue.

Have sent my CV to recruitment agents, they say it looks good. I'm deflated.

I am sick of having to craft an application every bloody time. Each application takes 4+ hours. It is exhausting.

Thank you for all your support. Newly redundant and it feels very raw. Going to meet with an old boss tomorrow to see if they have any openings.

Sorry if this sounds stupid, but why does it take 4+ hours to craft an application if you have a good cv already?

Two interviews today.
One rejection for a role I interviewed for last week.

Will be spending the evening checking various job boards and applying.

I've not applied for anything the past few days as I'm feeling demoralised.

I wondered this too, as I'm not doing this and wondered if I should be?

I suppose it depends on the profession? I can update my cv for the role, using ChatGPT to help me identify and add key words into it to pass ATS and get it in front of a real person. This doesn't take me long at all.

I've probably applied to about 70 jobs in the past month, resulting in 7 interviews. I view applying to jobs as a numbers game and don't expect a high return on any effort in the early stages. I will scan a job description, tweak my CV to add key words, and apply. If invited to interview, I prep by reading the company website, reviewing the JD again, identifying skills they are looking for and how I fit with my experience. If I progress to the second stage I spend much more time researching the organisation and preparing, especially if there's a presentation element.

I don't doubt this approach wouldn't work for other professions, though. I work in an HR adjacent role. Sometimes sales, too. All very corporate.