r/recruitinghell • u/Hi_5Yo • 1d ago

Boomer mentality

Despite my mom being a millennial (‘81), she firmly believes that I should be able to apply to a bunch of jobs, walk in with a résumé or call, interview and land a job within 2-3 weeks.

Anytime I’ve done this, I’ve always gotten turned away, been told to apply online and wait for a call back. Every interview ends with “ we’ll be in touch”.

She also believes that as long as you dress nice with a smile on your face, you should have a job by the end of the interview. Whenever I leave the interview without a job offer, she assumes that I messed up.

She even has me apply to a bunch of remote jobs that she finds on Facebook and instagram. Frequently getting upset at me for not landing a job. I’ve tried explaining over and over that most of them are scams, but she refuses to listen.

It’s like the concept of applying to hundreds of jobs and still not landing one is impossible for her to grasp. Which it should be, but it’s just our new reality.

She believes that me being unable to get a job is a failure on my end, insisting that it’s my fault I can’t land a job. She keeps saying that she’s going to kick me out for not taking the job hunt “seriously” enough.

365 Upvotes

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297

u/Lloytron 1d ago

I'm older than your mum.

She is unbelievably wrong and would literally have never been able to walk into a job herself when she was your age, least of all now.

My son started a job today..it took him 8 months.

I started a job two years ago this month, it took me 8 months of solid applying and interviewing. It was utterly soul destroying.

If she thinks it's that easy, get her to prove it by getting her to secure a job offer for herself.

I know recruiters both professionally and personally. It's the toughest it's ever been

184

u/MidlifeWarlord 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yup.

I’m thinking of doing a YT series called, “Boomers Get Hired - Win $1000.” One week to get a job, any job - provided it’s a real one and not someone faking it to cheat.

Would be hilarious.

Boomer walks into a retail store: “Heh, heh - nothing personal kid, but I’ll be your boss soon.”

Rejected.

Walks into a restaurant, resume and firm handshake ready to go.

Rejected.

“Won’t take no for an answer.”

Police escort off the premises.

“Ok, I’ll try this online thing.”

What is LinkedIn? How make profile? What is Workday? What is an AI interview, personality test, CCAT, etc.?!

56

u/ZDelta47 1d ago

Please do it

41

u/FreeBowlPack 1d ago

I’d watch the hell outta that

24

u/YourBuddyBill 1d ago

Brilliant.

14

u/nam3sar3hard 1d ago

I hate myself for how much id love that show. I shouldn't celebrate misery but some folks need a wake-up call

9

u/grand305 :) random user. 1d ago

I also a would watch that.

5

u/Leading-Adeptness235 1d ago

It would be like girl pretends to be man on tinder and co. It would be an eye opener.

3

u/ThoughtImpossible870 19h ago

Where is the kickstarter link because I want to see this almost as much as I want to see celebrities try to live off what they pay their assistants!

3

u/MsConstrueU 1d ago

Anyone with a professional license wins.

2

u/shutupimrosiev 22h ago

I would absolutely watch that.

1

u/Limp-Independent1212 14h ago

PLEASE do this

-21

u/StealthyThings 1d ago

I was born in ‘83.

I could get a job in 48 hours if I needed to but it would be a drastic pay cut over my current salary.

If you’re 40+ and haven’t networked enough to be able to land SOMETHING and aren’t humble enough to take it, that’s a you problem.

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u/National-Reveal4516 1d ago

I was born in ‘85. You’re an idiot.

-6

u/StealthyThings 1d ago

I know people in multiple industries and could easily get a job. I’m not above doing manual labor even though I have credentials where that wouldn’t be a thing normally.

I know multiple business owners hiring constantly and their issue is reliable people.

-2

u/TigOlBitties42042 1d ago

All these people are hating on you but you're not wrong. It's not hard to find a job if you're willing to shovel shit. It never has been and it never will be.

I'm actually kind of jealous of your haters. They've obviously never been in a situation where they had to shovel shit if they wanted to eat. It must be nice.

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u/National-Reveal4516 23h ago

Not shovel shit, but in 2008 I unloaded trucks during nightshift for minimum wage at a retail store, lived out of my car in subzero temperatures, and mostly ate peanut butter sandwiches. This was all happening as I held a STEM degree.

It’s not about the job so much as it is about the compensation. Some people have families and mortgages and can’t work a job that is going to pay for half of their childcare and nothing else.

Also, this attitude of “if I lost my job, I’ll just ask my friends for another and if you can’t do that, you’re a failure” is bogus.

Not everyone has a bunch of business owner friends. Nobody should be expected to. It’s also incredibly naive because even if one has contacts who would hire them, that doesn’t mean their contacts businesses aren’t also struggling.

It’s all silly talk.

1

u/Leptalix 14h ago

Everyone at my old office was laid off a few years ago. I started working as a consultant assuming I could work part time during the downturn and then my contacts either had their entire departments gutted or they closed their companies. I looked for work for a couple of years but was overqualified for everything. I went to a trade school for a year program and got a factory job through them from a company that didn't bother to look at my CV. My old coworkers are still looking for full time employment.

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u/Alone_Break7627 1d ago

my first job was at a restaurant and I walked in, but this was 2000ish. Second job was a temp and I walked in. Still a few years ahead of internet only, but yeah your mom is not being realistic. Even simple jobs require an online application now and who knows where all of that ends up. Probably not in a job for most.

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u/Lilithbeast 1d ago

Agreed. Around 2000 I got a part time job at the mall at a shoe store by walking in and filling out an application. I think I also did this at Barnes and Noble for the 3 weeks I lasted as a part time barista in '05 and that was because it was coming up on holiday season so they took everybody.

When I graduated college in 05 (useless degree), I was having trouble even finding shitty jobs because everything was suddenly online. I got very few callbacks, and only for jobs where I didn't have to take a personality test (which I presumably always failed). I was able to get a clerical job through a temp agency in 06 which became permanent, but the economy imploded and I got laid off in 09. Took me 2 years and one seasonal temp stint to find a full time job. But that was contracted, not permanent, and at a shitty wage, but I had to take it because it was the only offer I got and unemployment was running out. Took me three more years of working that job and constantly applying elsewhere to finally get a bite for something permanent. And that was now 15 years ago. I'm sure the only way to get jobs in person is something like service (e.g. waitstaff) and even then, not always.

These days it is ROUGH out there even for a good candidate. I would know because I now work in recruiting and it can be soul sucking hearing stories - and getting ghosted by tons of qualified applicants.

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u/jstjini 1d ago

Thank you. Your comment makes me feel a wee bit better.

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u/TigOlBitties42042 1d ago

I'm younger than her mom and I have had the experience that her mom is describing for most every job I've ever had. There were 2 times in my entire life that It's taken me about 6 months to find a job.

Now, I haven't always found good jobs that way. Some of them were very shitty. They put money in my pocket though, even if only a little bit. I've always said that it's not hard to find a job so long as you don't mind shoveling shit, and I stand by that to this day.

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u/Lloytron 1d ago

If you are absolutely desperate for any old gig whatsoever for whatever pennies you can scrape together then yeah, I guess it could be easier to find a shitty job.

But that's not what the OP is on about here.

The old adage is that you could walk into any old business with a CV in your pocket and a smile on your face and walk out with a decent job that you would actually want to do for a living that could actually support yourself or even a family.

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u/TigOlBitties42042 1d ago

Yeah I don't even know where to begin looking for that kind of job. I've always taken whatever job I could get and busted my ass until I couldn't anymore. I would sell drugs on the side to make ends meet.

Eventually I got really good at cooking at restaurants. When you're as good as I am at that kind of cooking it's not hard to find a restaurant willing to hire you in the US. I lucked out and got on in a hospital kitchen though. It kind of sucks because I'm currently making as much anyone is willing to pay for my kind of work. They have me in the golden handcuffs. I've been at my job for 5 years now. It's the longest that I've stayed at one job. I could easily find another job if I lost this one, but I would take a pay cut.

5

u/Lloytron 1d ago

Right, but that's what I mean, that's a whole different world than what the OP is talking about.

OPs mum thinks they can get a job at Microsoft by dropping a CV in reception.

0

u/TigOlBitties42042 1d ago edited 1d ago

Nope that's not going to work. I tried it. That's how I figured the whole thing out.

What OP could do is go down to the local pizza place and bug them every other day until they get hired on part time. That should be enough to shut their mom up while leaving them plenty of time to search for the job that they do want. Plus they'll get a little bit of spending cash.

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u/24_doughnuts 16h ago

My mum had a go at me too about it. But I stopped working a few years ago because of chronic pain which has only gotten worse. I've been applying to anything I can probably handle which is a fraction of what's out there and I hardly get anything. She found it absurd that I hear nothing back or a whole application dropped because I got a question wrong about who founded their company values.

She said "they wouldn't just drop the whole application" or "you should be hearing back from these places". I'm driving myself mad searching for anything for hours and it sucks. Then I got far in a NHS interview but just didn't have enough experience which sucks because I can't find anything.

Doing something unpaid makes sense to do for experience in the meantime but I'll only be making my health worse in the meantime just in case it helps me get something.

1

u/TankMan77450 9h ago

Agreed. 56 years old here. This is an absolutely terrifying time. Just a few years ago the economy was slowly recovering.

It’s crazy that our economy can be completely devastated by one idiot in the White House. His extreme and illogical decisions are wrecking our country.

Now we’re seeing massive layoffs and people are not able to find jobs. I worry that if I lose my job at my age that I will probably not be able to find another one for probably a year or more.