I'm addicted to applying to jobs?
I think I’m kind of addicted to applying for jobs and I don’t know what to do. I apply to literally hundreds in a day. I spend hours on it. I don’t really read the postings, don’t tailor anything, and I’ll apply to like 10 jobs at the same company without thinking. I know that probably looks bad and means my applications aren’t even good. The weird part is I don’t actually need a job right now, so this isn’t coming from urgency. It honestly feels way more like how I use dating apps, just applying for anything that interests me and hoping for a response.
I also do it in phases. Every couple of years since covid (when I was in college), I go through a period of a few months where I do this nonstop, even and especially during work. What usually stops it is actually getting multiple job offers, because then instead of obsessing over finding a job, I obsess over which one to take.
Nothing bad would happen if I stopped applying, I know I can actually get a job when I'm ready to. I'm a qualified applicant, but I'm mostly applying for jobs I'm not actually qualified for (ie, I have a BS and am applying to mainly jobs that require an MS or are in a totally different field). I know logically this is achieving absolutely nothing, but applying fills time, gives me something to focus on, and creates a sense of possibility even when nothing comes from it.
Does anyone else do this, and how can I stop?
Jobadvisor
It sounds like you’ve discovered a very specific way to get a "dopamine hit." What you’re describing is actually more common than you might think, though it usually stays hidden because people feel embarrassed about it.
You’ve already made a brilliant observation: you’re treating job boards like a dating app. You aren’t looking for a career; you’re looking for the "match" notification.
Why You’re Likely Doing This
Since you don’t actually need the job, this behavior is serving a psychological purpose rather than a financial one. Here is what is likely happening:
The Slot Machine Effect: Every "Apply" button is a lever pull. There is a tiny spark of hope that this one might be the big one. It’s "Variable Ratio Reinforcement"—the same thing that keeps people addicted to gambling.
The Illusion of Productivity: Applying for 100 jobs feels like work. It’s a way to feel busy and ambitious without the actual risk of doing the hard, focused work of your current job or a real career pivot.
A "Possibility" Buffer: As long as you have 500 applications out there, your future feels infinite. It’s a way to avoid the reality of your current routine by living in a fantasy version of "what if."
The COVID Connection: You mentioned this started during college in the pandemic. For many, that era created a deep-seated anxiety about "not doing enough" or a need to constantly scan the horizon for the next disaster/opportunity.
How to Break the Cycle
Since this comes in phases, you need to disrupt the "loop" before it burns out your professional reputation (or your sanity).
1. Create "Friction"
The reason you can do this 100 times a day is that it's too easy.
Delete the autofill: Remove your saved resume and credit card info from Chrome.
Log out: Force yourself to manually type your password for LinkedIn or Indeed every single time.
The "24-Hour Save" Rule: Use the "Save Job" feature instead of "Apply." Tell yourself you can only apply to saved jobs after they have sat there for 24 hours. Most of the time, the impulse will have passed.
2. Shift the Metric
Right now, your "high" comes from the quantity of applications. You need to gamify quality instead.
Decide that you are only allowed to apply to two jobs per week.
The catch: You must write a custom cover letter and reach out to one person at the company for a coffee chat.
This turns the "quick hit" into "deep work," which is much less addictive and much more rewarding.
3. Find a New "Possibility" Outlet
If you crave the feeling of "something new on the horizon," try to channel that into something that doesn't involve your professional identity.
Learning: Sign up for a difficult certification or a language class.
Planning: Direct that energy into planning a complex trip or a hobby project.
Volunteering: If you need to feel "chosen" or "useful," find a local org that actually needs your BS degree skills.
A Reality Check
You mentioned applying for jobs you aren't qualified for at the same company. While it feels harmless, many larger companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) that flag "serial appliers." If you ever actually want to work for one of those companies in the future, your history of 50 mismatched applications might make you look like a bot or an unstable candidate.
Think of it this way: You are currently "spending" your professional reputation to buy a few minutes of excitement. Is the trade-off worth it?
What to do if you’re secretly horrible at your job?
I’ve been in the job for about 6 years. I had no qualifications for it other than knowing the boss a little bit from working in a different (since dissolved) department.
No one in the department at my location has any actual experience before working in these roles at this company, including the boss.
As the title says, I have no idea what I’m doing on a daily basis yet my annual reviews are always very good. I’ve gotten promotions!
The job involves making a lot of different smaller financial decisions for a billion dollar company. I mostly just guess when making these decisions. The thing is, you rarely even find out if your decision is right or not. It’s absolutely crazy. If I’m tasked with deciding on a value, I might look at some past values in similar situations, but outside of that I just go with a number I think is right. It’s all guesswork with no guidance and no follow-up. I have no KPI’s beyond the company going up or down in profitability on the thousands of items we sell that fall under my purview.
The people I report to think we do a good job. Our profitability numbers remain strong. At the same time, I can see how unstructured everything is behind the scenes. It all feels like a house of cards. Some of the coworkers we deal with have an idea about the incompetence. They become frustrated with us as well, but it never goes anywhere.
I’m sure there are better ways to do this job. Better statistical analysis, some advanced data tricks, predictive analytical modeling, etc. I’ve even signed up and completed courses related to these things. Yet, I’ve never been able to apply anything I’ve learned beyond mean, median, mode, etc.
There are contemporaries in other locations who apparently do the job in a much more complete way. They use a more objective approach to their job than the guessing and mood-based tactics I utilize. I’ve spoken to them at arms-length. Tried applying what they do, but still just can’t. It’s not exactly the same and it throws me off.
I know it sounds great. Guess all day. No one knows any better. Keep getting good reviews and raises (I’m very overpaid for what I do). At the same time, it’s incredibly stressful and frustrating. Every morning you think the bottom is going to fall out on you. Keep attending meeting where you have to stand up for your bogus processes. I even have had to explain my decision-making process to outside consultants. It’s all nonsense!
I just want to be competent at what I do. I want to fix the clear problems that I see within the department. I don’t want to just guess all day, but after a number of years, I’ve yet to figure out a path for how to get better. Again, there’s no one in the department who could possibly help me.
How would you go about bettering your situation so that you’re not so dreadful of every forthcoming moment during the day?
Jobadvisor
This explains exactly why you are addicted to applying for jobs.
Your job-search habit is a psychological "escape hatch." Because your daily work life feels like a fraud—a "house of cards" built on guesswork—you are constantly scanning the horizon for a way out. The stress of being "found out" creates a low-level panic that you soothe by applying to new roles, proving to yourself that you could leave if the bottom falls out tomorrow.
You aren't "horrible" at your job; you are working in a black box environment. When there is no feedback loop, the human brain fills the void with Imposter Syndrome.
Here is how to move from "educated guessing" to actual competence so you can stop living in fear.
1. Close the Feedback Loop Manually
The reason you feel like a failure is that you never find out if you were right. You cannot learn without a "score."
The Shadow Ledger: Start a spreadsheet where you record your "guess," the date, and the "why" (even if the 'why' is just a gut feeling).
The 6-Month Review: Set a calendar alert to revisit those specific decisions. Even if the company doesn't track it, you track it. Did that item's profitability go up? Did it sit in a warehouse?
Outcome: Once you see that your "guesses" actually result in positive numbers 80% of the time, you’ll realize your "gut" is actually pattern recognition—which is just a faster form of analysis.
2. Build a "Minimum Viable Process" (MVP)
You mentioned being unable to apply advanced modeling. That’s okay. Jumping from "guessing" to "predictive modeling" is too big a leap. You need a middle step to protect yourself during those meetings with consultants.
Define 3 Pillars: Pick three objective data points you will check for every decision (e.g., 3-year historical average, current inflation rate, and competitor pricing).
The "Paper Trail": Even if those three things don't give you a perfect answer, having them in a folder allows you to say, "I looked at X, Y, and Z, and adjusted for market volatility." * Outcome: You are no longer "lying" to consultants. You are presenting a methodology. Methodology is defensible even if the outcome is imperfect.
3. "The Apprentice" Play
You mentioned contemporaries at other locations who do this "the right way."
Stop being "arms-length": Call one of them. Be vulnerable but professional. Say: "I’ve been looking at how you guys handle [Process X], and I’d love to modernize our workflow here to match yours. Could I shadow your process on one project?"
The Secret: They probably feel like they’re guessing sometimes, too. By adopting their tools, you gain their "armor." If the bottom falls out, you can say you were using the company-standardized approach used in the other branch.
4. Address the "Overpaid" Guilt
You feel like a thief because you’re being paid for "nonsense."
Value vs. Effort: A billion-dollar company doesn't pay you for the work you do; they pay you for the risk you take. If you make a $100,000 decision in 5 seconds, and it’s right, you earned your salary. The company is paying for your judgment, not your spreadsheets.
Why this stops the job-hunt addiction:
The "addiction" is a symptom of career vertigo. You feel like you’re falling, so you’re reaching for any handhold (the "Apply" button). If you build a floor beneath you—even a simple one made of a basic spreadsheet and a three-step process—the vertigo will fade, and the need to "escape" through job boards will diminish.
Any surgical techs here? Where do you see your career going in the future?
I currently work at a hospital in a desk job. Surgery has always interested me since I was a kid. Surgical techs at the hospital I work at get paid well ($35-$50 an hour) and work 3 12-hour shifts, which sounds amazing to have 4 days off every week. And getting to be in the OR during surgeries would be very interesting for me, especially not being directly responsible for the patient’s life.
My only concern is that my current job has a decent amount of growth potential. I’m not sure where the growth potential is with surgical techs without getting a bigger degree like nursing or MBA or something. Our OR assistant manager is a surgical tech, but to go above assistant manager generally requires a masters degree.
If you’re a surgical tech, do you see yourself doing something else in the future? Do you see growth in your field that you’d be happy with for the rest of your career?
Jobadvisor
It is fascinating to see how your two situations—the "addiction" to applying for jobs and the "house of cards" feeling at your current work—are colliding with your interest in surgical technology.
If you are feeling like a "fraud" in your current financial role because of a lack of structure and feedback, the Operating Room (OR) is the ultimate antidote. In surgery, the feedback is immediate, the process is rigid, and the structure is absolute.
Here is the reality of the Surgical Tech career path to help you decide if it’s a "growth" move or a "lateral" move for you.
1. The Ceiling: Is it a "Dead End"?
You are correct that moving into high-level hospital administration usually requires a Master’s (MHA or MBA). However, "growth" for a surgical tech isn't always vertical (up a ladder); it’s often lateral into higher-paying specialties.
The Surgical First Assistant (CSFA): This is the most common "step up." With extra training, you move from just passing instruments to actually assisting the surgeon with suturing, controlling bleeding, and wound closure. This often comes with a significant pay bump ($75k–$100k+ depending on the region).
Medical Device Representative: This is where the big money is. Companies like Stryker or Medtronic hire experienced techs to be "Clinical Specialists." You stand in the OR and advise the surgeon on how to use their specific implants or robots. It’s a sales/consulting hybrid that can pay well into the six figures.
Travel Teching: If you want the "4 days off" lifestyle on steroids, travel techs can earn $2,000–$3,000+ per week. You can do this for a few years to stack cash while seeing the country.
2. Surgical Tech vs. Your Current "Guessing" Stress
Comparing your current "secretly horrible" feeling to a Surg Tech role:
| Feature | Your Current Role | Surgical Tech Role |
| Feedback Loop | Months/Years (or never) | Immediate (the patient is okay or they aren't) |
| Structure | "House of cards," guesswork | Strict protocols, sterile technique, checklists |
| Training | Informal, "knew the boss" | Accredited schooling, clinical rotations, certification |
| Mental Load | High dread, fear of being "found out" | High focus during surgery, but you leave it at the door |
3. The "Urgency" of Your Job Search
Your addiction to applying for jobs is likely a symptom of your current job's lack of structure. You are applying to hundreds of jobs because you don't feel "grounded" where you are.
If you become a Surgical Tech, that "sense of possibility" you get from applying to jobs might be replaced by the tangible reality of the OR. You won't need to "guess" anymore; there is a right way and a wrong way to hold a retractor, and you will know exactly which one you are doing.
The "Bridge" Plan
Before you quit a "well-paid" job for a 2-year degree, use your current hospital position to your advantage:
Job Shadow: Since you already work at a hospital, email the OR Director. Ask if you can shadow a tech for a few hours on your day off. See the blood, the smells, and the "standing for 8 hours" reality before committing.
Audit the "Fake" Feeling: If you move to surgery, you will be a "newbie" again. Will that feel better than being an "overpaid guesser"? For many people with your specific stress, starting over with a real foundation is a massive relief.
Use the "Apply" Energy: Instead of applying to 100 random jobs today, spend that time researching CAAHEP-accredited Surgical Tech programs in your area.