Job Hunting Struggles Perfectly Captured in These Relatable Memes
More than ever before, you have to work hard to find your next job. No longer can you send a handful of applications and take a seat and await a callback. Job seekers now have to send more applications, and cope with impossible demands and lengthy silence.
It took an average of 254 applications to get a job offer in 2023, but that has increased to 294 applications in 2024. The other big problem is the insane job requirements employers add.
This makes it even harder for qualified candidates to stand out, as many want people with excessive experience or unnecessary skills. Then you have ghosting—or in other words, what happens when a job seeker applies for a position, goes through interview rounds, and hears nothing at all from a recruiter. Seem like they are nothing but wasting their time.
I’ve found another area where their line items to my paycheck could use an improvement, which is the lowball salary offers that have accompanied many of the positions. Sometimes job seekers with decades of experience are offered wages that are not commensurate with the work they are expected to do. While employers like to tout the positions as “good for experience,” that doesn’t justify the substandard wage.
On the Recruiting Hell subreddit, job seekers exchange stories about the absurdity that they encounter. They range from spending hours on entry-level jobs to finding out they were offered a job with a salary much lower than the requested. Here are the craziest situations its members have endured.
Crazy job requirements are shutting out qualified candidates.
“No Idea If This Will Work, But Hey – Worth The Try”
“This Is Your Only Means Of Interview” – So I Simply Refused”
“I Am So Sick Of These Ridiculous Screening Questions”
“Goddamn This Felt Good”
“Reminder: You Are Good Enough”
“I Had To Take A Walk After This”
“I Would Watch That”
“A Linkedin Laugh”
“At 58, A Recruiter Says ‘Too Old To Code’—heartbreaking 😭”
“Interviewer Cancelled An Hour Before The Meeting. I Know My Worth”
“The Only Acceptable Application. 2 Seconds If You’re Slow”
“I Cant Do This Anymore”
“The Companies vs. Me”
“I See Why Recruiters Ask Stupid Questions Now. I Apologize”
“Well!”
“Naming And Shaming Done Right”
“Gap In My Employment History, In 2017 I Was Fourteen”
“The State Of The 2024 Job Market”
“Just Going To Leave This Here”
“I’m Flipping The Script On Employers”
“Um…no?!?”
“Yep…”
“Recruiter: No One Wants To Work!!!”
“Girl- What?”
“Sick Of People Who Think Like This. Do You Live Under A Rock?”
“Got Hired To The Local Taco Bell, Did All The On-Boarding Paperwork Then Got This Message From Them A Few Days Later”
“Your Linkedin Job Application – The Real Numbers”
“After 6 Months Of Unemployment And Hundreds Of Rejections, This Is How I Started Seeing Other People. I’m Not Ok”
“Hiring Manager Accidental Reply All”
Searching for a job nowadays is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, only the haystack is made of never-ending applications and ghosted emails. Unrealistic expectations, responses taking ages, offers that don’t even cover your coffee addiction; no wonder loads are ready to pack it in.
But on the bright side, we’re all in this boat together, right? With the increase in people speaking out about their experiences, let’s hope the madness opens some eyes. In the meantime, it is a bumpy ride for job applicants; the only thing certain is that the struggle is real, and so is the coffee tab.
