The Harsh Reality of Job Hunting in Today’s Market

If you've recently been laid off or are contemplating a career change, here's what you're truly facing in today's job market: a demoralizing obstacle course of busywork, digital gatekeeping, and endless hoops that often lead to frustration.

1. Endless Busywork, Minimal Reward

Submitting a resume is no longer enough. Job seekers are now expected to:

• Tailor each cover letter and resume to every job description

• Track every application in a spreadsheet or tracker

• Build a personal brand (create a portfolio or personal website)

• Boost LinkedIn visibility

• Constantly upskill

• Keep networking—even when it feels pointless

—none of which guarantee a response. These tasks often feel like nothing more than unpaid busywork, not a path to meaningful employment.

2. LinkedIn as a Second Job

You're now expected to treat LinkedIn like a full-time branding project: daily posts, constant networking, headline tweaking, and engagement with strangers. While these activities can increase visibility, they rarely land you a job.

3. Unpaid Assignments and Assessments

Some companies don't feel like just applying is enough. Some will want you to take a personality test or skills assesment before even getting to the interview phase (if they haven't deferred to the AI recruiter to start). Others wait until you have that false hope of landing an interview to spring an unpaid assignment, which gives them free work and you more burn out.

4. Prolonged, Dehumanizing Processes

Be prepared for six or more interview rounds, personality tests, and endless waiting—often with zero feedback or closure. But if you're lucky, they'll let you know that they closed the role due to budget constraints.

5. AI Gatekeepers and Black Holes

Resumes are increasingly filtered by algorithms, not humans. If your keywords aren't perfect, your application may vanish without a trace. Or the recruiter has received hundreds of resumes within minutes and will close the applicant pool.

6. Unrealistic Expectations and Shrinking Pay

Employers do seem like they're looking for their unicorns. There is no longer room for learning curves, expect to check every box of what they're looking for. Entry-level roles now require years of experience, advanced degrees, and a portfolio of unpaid work. Salaries are often lowballed, and pay transparency is rare. Even minimum-wage jobs are fiercely competitive.

7. Market Saturation and Fierce Competition

With millions of job seekers flooding the market, competition is fiercer than ever. I had my 30 day free trial of LinkedIn Premium and jobs where I was a top applicant, the lowest number of applications for a role was about 200 and the highest number of applicants was almost 4,000.

As industries become more saturated, employers have the luxury of choosing from a pool of highly qualified candidates (if they're really hiring), making it more difficult to stand out. The rise of remote work has only increased the global applicant pool, compounding this issue. As a result, even highly skilled professionals are struggling to secure roles they’re qualified for.

8. Constant Upskilling and No Guarantees

You're encouraged to take more courses, earn more certificates, and pivot skills—but none of this ensures a job. The market is flooded with equally qualified candidates, making it difficult to stand out. But how much is too much upskilling, if they're not willing to pay you your worth?

9. Mental and Emotional Toll

Einstein's definition of insanity "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" is this job search in a nutshell. The daily repetition of doing the same thing over and over again is maddening but even moreso when you're being told you're not doing enough. Mostly from those who are gainfully employed. The mental and physical burnout is real. But if you don't look for jobs one day, the guilt you feel puts you right back into the negative feedabck loop. And the fact that only those of us who are experiencing this directly can really speak to what's goin on, everyone seems to be in the life's normal bubble.

10. Ghosting

Expect to never hear from a recruiter, a potential connection on LinkedIn or someone in your network who "loves connecting people". This has become the new normal.

Conclusion

If you're newly unemployed or seeking a change, expect a job search defined by wasted effort, endless digital hurdles, and little respect for your time or humanity. This job market isn't just tough—it's dehumanizing, and it's best to be prepared to know what to expect.

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Disclaimer:

The content on this site is for informational and commentary purposes only and reflects the author's personal opinions. It does not constitute financial, legal, or professional advice. All data sources are cited where applicable. Stories shared by users or sourced from public forums are anonymized and presented for illustrative purposes only.