Job Seekers: Sometimes It Really IS Them, Not You

 December 14, 2021

Scenario: You’ve just been laid off. You’re a little depressed, but you know that you have marketable skills, so you’re also optimistic about being able to get back into the workforce. Even so, you can’t help worrying about being able to pay the bills if your safety cushion runs out. If you don’t have a safety net, you may be frantic.

 

You put your resume online. You sign up on job websites. You read all the (often contradictory) how-to articles on writing and submitting a resume: Use buzzwords, make it long, make it short, blah, blah, blah.

Shortly after you’ve uploaded your resume, you may get contacted by a recruiter. He or she will be very personable, find something in common with you, and build what feels like a bond. Then—Great news: There’s a position available that has your name all over it. Can you be available for an interview? Great, s/he’ll call back with a time.

You hang up, your heart considerably lighter; maybe you even get a spring in your step, because if this pans out, you’ll barely miss a beat in the paycheck department.

So you wait; and you wait; and you wait.

Sometimes the recruiter will call back. That position didn’t work out, but there’s another one. When are you available for an interview with this other company? Sounds plausible, so you bite. And the cycle is repeated. They rarely call a third time, though.

Sometimes they never call back.        

At some point, you may get yourself an interview with a company. Curiously, many HR directors, who have the name “human” in their title, will pull the same inhumane stunt. “We’ll let you know.” And you wait.

It’s a cruel game to play with depressed, desperate people.

And IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT.

One job-seeker told me flat out, “Ignore recruiters when they contact you. Just get on a job website and keep looking and applying. Even if you get an interview, don’t stop applying for other jobs.”

It was sound advice.

One other piece of advice: Your state Department of Labor website really can be helpful. Don’t ignore it when you’re trying the brand-name sites. Good companies post jobs with the DOL as well as on other sites.

 

Best of luck to you.