What can I do differently to find employment?

7 points by javajosh 300 days ago | 12 comments

I've been actively looking for a job for the last 18 months, and having no luck. I've applied for many roles, both directly and, occasionally, through recruiters. All of these roles were very close to my existing skillset (webapps with Java, React or Angular, microservices, k8s, distributed messaging, ETL, etc), but recieved no response.

I've signed up for various job boards (indeed, ziprecruiter, jobboutique, jobhire.ai, etc) and I only get misleading "X is interested in you!" spam email from them. I'm not sure where or how they get their data, but it seems very low quality. I've taken to only applying directly or, on occasion, through LinkedIn.

Not that long ago I would have 10 recruiters with offers in a week of showing availability on LinkedIn. Now this. I'm not averse to working harder to find a role, but now I can't even get an interview for a heads-down corporate job, let alone anything more interesting.

Any help or advice appreciated.

mindfulhacker 300 days ago |

my way of going about this (worked 3x already) - irl community engagement. and i don't mean just partiicpating community events, but finding your niche and becoming a local community organizer. connecting to people irl in general, but putting yourself in a position where your the "spider in the middle of the web" seems to be a particularly effective way. with the nice side effect that apart from the job situation, if you define your niche precisely, you'll meet a lot of people you are really resonant with.

kradeelav 300 days ago |

What level are you/years of experience do you have? Advice for Manager+ is pretty different from somebody with 2 years of being an independent contributor, or none.

I've heard from several people the one somewhat reliable in is knowing somebody on the inside of the place you're applying to. At this point having somebody being able to vouch for you is helpful to separate your resume from the slosh pile.

It's rough out there. Wishing you luck.

javajosh 300 days ago | |

I have 25 years of experience, including at prestigious places like Blizzard and JPL. However I've worked for a variety of startups, none of which succeeded.

brudgers 300 days ago | | |

Talk to the people you worked over under and beside.

scarface_74 300 days ago |

Let me tell you my experience in both 2023 and again last year.

For context, I had 25+ years of development experience at the time, a decade leading projects, 7 years of AWS experience and 3.5 years of experience at AWS ProServe with major open source contributions to a popular open source official “AWS solution”…

Plan A: reach out to my network. Results within two weeks - two offers for full time jobs and one short term contract.

Plan B: targeted outreach based on a niche in AWS where I was at the time considered one of the industry subject matter experts (ie third highest contributor to the popular open source AWS solution along with my own decently known projects I did while I was there). Two interviews one offer.

Plan C: where you are - randomly applying for jobs via an ATS. Every job had hundreds of applicants. I applied for over one hundred jobs mostly via LinkedIn Easy apply and a couple through LinkedIn. My application wasn’t even viewed. Let alone was my resume downloaded LinkedIn shows you both.

Lesson? If you are applying for a job blindly via an ATS with a generic skillset, it’s almost impossible to stand out above the noise.

taurath 300 days ago |

I just finished a multi-year career break and was able to navigate the market and land 2 offers - every company is dealing with a massive deluge of fake applicants. The front door is poisoned right now - do not funnel your job search through it.

You need to prove you're a real person now - the first way is to get a referral from someone you worked with in the past. Literally anyone - if you're not reaching out to everyone at any company that even may be hiring for a role you want, you should be.

Another way is to be posting somewhat regularly, having some online presence, showing your looking for work, are a person, and have a positive mindset.

Your resume should be tailored for the role, but not generated by AI (it'll get flagged) - spend less time messing with your resume though and more time networking. If you as you say have been in the industry 25 years, there absolutely will be someone who will give you referrals.

Companies are hiring, but the way you and I have gotten roles in the last decade+ is mostly shut.

wmeredith 299 days ago | |

> The front door is poisoned right now

This is so true. Automation and LLMs have made trying to hire right now a total shitshow and getting hired is even worse due to the above factors + the unstable economic climate. Referrals are 10x more important than they have ever been, and they were already pretty important. It's always been mostly about who you know. Now it is even more so.

*Anecdotal Data*

I (18 YOE) just went through a 14 month job search after being laid off in 2024. I applied for 176 roles. Of those, I estimate 60% were a great fit, 40% were good and the rest were throwing stuff at the wall. I got 6 interviews, 6 follow ups, 2 completions of the entire interview process, and 1 job offer which I took and is thankfully amazing.

All interviews landed, excepting one, I had referrals for. The cliff to get the interview is the steepest it's ever been. Past that stage things seem to be about the same.

gus_massa 300 days ago |

I can't help, but have you looked/posted in the whoishiring threads? Last editions: https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=whoishiring They are probably read only now. Nest edition is on August 1st.

muzani 300 days ago |

Job boards suck. Once, a company rejected me on a job board but had actually contacted me via HN - they quickly changed the status from failed to in interviews to avoid confusion. Another time, the job board rejected me half a month after I had been working at the place.

LinkedIn is a little better, but it's just flooded by busy recruiters who message literally everyone then remember two weeks later about that job they were talking to you about.

I tried scraping job postings but there's literally 0% response rate because I guess everyone else does this too.

Got my current job from HN's who wants a job. Just started this month, so it works.

Unfortunately with the AI spam you might have to go old school and cold DM/email people on LinkedIn or something.

bruce511 300 days ago |

I (fortunately) haven't had to look for a job in 30 years. So I'm not sure this advice will work in your context.

I have employed people though, so maybe that makes this a valuable point of view.

At the moment the market is crowded with available people. So traditional paths are flooded. Some people are getting hired but supply is vastly exceeding supply.

I would recommend an alternative approach to meeting prospective employers. Be creative. Try and stand out from the crowd by doing something different.

(Hopefully 95% of job seekers will ignore this advice leaving the field open for the 5% who prove that problem-solving employees are attractive. )

YMMV. Good luck.

adrianwaj 300 days ago |

Crypto comment coming (sorry)..

If you're out of work, why not find a coin, write a killer app for it (use your domain knowledge) distribute it for free (including to people in your industry) but make sure you hold some of that crypto and even send some free to your users?

Work with a few other jobseekers. For example, the new rofl.app. Cheap coin, hyped platform ( https://x.com/search?q=rofl.app ) but can't you use AI code tools to make the whole development thing an easier job, eg prototyping or demo'ing?

What to write if still perplexed... how about something in localized prediction markets and go to a local sports game to show it off? Speak to the guy at the ticketing booth about it or even before you start developing. They'll likely do anything to get more people to the game.

Another idea, go to a record/CD/DVD store (they're so quiet) and create a rental service for their unsold items. People place a deposit in crypto and get most back when the item returns safe. Shop takes a commission, so do you. Old items sell cheaply. Site shows what's available at any time and items can be booked in advance. Use barcodes to easily populate the database. Pitch it as a way to get people to come into the store. Long held or new items - the renter pays more. High demand items - renter pays more - or make pricing dynamic.

Replicate the concept for hiring businesses - eg hardware and construction (tools and equipment.) The biggest industry. Just roll up at a store and show them how it works. People today rent trailers from third-party gas stations and book online. People should be able to rent so much more today - ownership can be overrated. The new Access Economy.

AirBnB unlocked homestays, this can unlock equipment and useful items - crypto keeps complexity and costs lower (hopefully) with the upside of holding a valuable currency.

add: The other thing to note is that large stores and retailers regularly throw out perfectly good items. Eg bicycles, jackets, white goods ... you name it. Tell them to give it to you instead and promise them a cut of the rental proceeds. Make everything transparent. The problem here is warehousing and managing the items. The goal is really for pre-existing employees to do the interactions.

bavarianbob 300 days ago |

Post your resume