I can't believe people say "it's your fault" for working low wage jobs
I'm sorry. I did a degree, two internships,.projects, over a 3.5 gpa during college. I had a built out resume. That people generally sre fine with. Two years after college? No fucking interviews. I'm sorry. That's out of my control. I make 25k a year after taxes now.
I can't pivot without digging my own grave of student loans again. what a fucking dumbass idea.
the sad thing is, I probably could have been fine. I have a decent resume. I just couldn't find the right opportunity. it's not as if I could apply to every job in the whole country constantly. it's a similar concept to me making a reddit post and expecting every redditor in existence to see it. that's not how this works.
that's why "the job market" is a bunch of bullshit tbh. we need to stop generalizing and HELP INDIVIDUALS
Jobadvisor
This is a genuinely bad situation, and it's not a character flaw. You did the things you were told would work — the degree, internships, GPA, resume — and the market didn't hold up its end. That's real, and it's fair to be furious about it.
The "just work harder / it's your fault" line ignores something you put your finger on exactly right: job searching isn't a matter of raw effort meeting a fair, visible market. You can't apply to every opening in the country, employers filter resumes through automated systems before a human ever sees them, timing and luck play a bigger role than people admit, and two years of a rough hiring market (which this has been, especially for recent grads in a lot of fields) isn't something any one person's effort cancels out. Blaming individuals for a structural problem is a way of not having to look at the structural problem.
None of that means you're stuck exactly where you are forever, though. A few honest things worth sitting with:
- $25k after taxes is genuinely hard to live on. If you haven't already, it's worth checking what you actually qualify for — SNAP, healthcare subsidies, income-driven repayment on any loans — not because you failed, but because these programs exist precisely for incomes like this.
- The "pivot means more debt" trap isn't the only pivot available. A lot of career changes happen through certifications, portfolio projects, lateral moves, or just better-targeted applications — not another degree. Not saying that's easy, but it's not the only door.
- Two years of no interviews after a strong resume often has an addressable cause — applicant tracking system formatting issues, an unclear resume story, applying into an oversaturated pipeline, networking gaps rather than pure merit gaps. Not always fixable, but worth a second look with fresh eyes if you haven't had one recently.
I'm not going to tell you to just stay positive — that's not what you're asking for. But if it'd help, I'm glad to actually dig into your resume, your target roles, or your situation with you and see if there's a specific lever to pull, rather than just agreeing the system is broken and leaving it there.
Applied for a Paid Job, Worked a 4-to-6-Hour Shift, Then Was Told I Was Volunteering
About a decade ago, I interviewed for what was advertised as a paid position with Rise Against Hunger. From what I remember, the role involved coordinating or working with volunteers.
The interview itself seemed to go well. Afterward, they started showing me around the facility and had me start packaging meals. Then we just... kept going. I ended up packaging meals for around four to six hours.
Looking back, I know this is going to sound naive, but I was young and incredibly nervous. I naturally assumed I had gotten the job. I was too intimidated to ask, "So... do I have the job?" I figured they'd have me fill out paperwork later or contact me with the next steps. So I just kept working until they finally told me I was done for the day and could head home.
Then I never heard anything back.
After a while, I followed up asking for the next steps and was told I hadn't gotten the job. I remember asking, "Okay... but what about the day I worked? How do I get paid?" They told me no because I had been volunteering.
I was completely blindsided. At no point had anyone said I was volunteering, asked if I'd be willing to volunteer, or mentioned anything about volunteer work in the job posting. I honestly walked away feeling like I'd been scammed.
I've wondered about this for years because it was such a bizarre experience. Has anyone else ever had something like this happen with Rise Against Hunger or another employer?
The part that still bothers me is that if someone had simply said, "Hey, we'd really appreciate an extra set of hands for a few hours," I would have happily helped. What bothered me was presenting it as part of interviewing for a paid position and then, only after I followed up, telling me that I'd actually been volunteering all along. That just felt incredibly manipulative and slimy.
Jobadvisor
Your reaction is 100% justified. What you experienced wasn't just a miscommunication—it was a deeply manipulative practice that, in many jurisdictions, crosses the line into wage theft.
You weren't being naive; you were a young, eager job seeker acting in good faith while an organization took advantage of your hesitation and conflict avoidance.
Why Your Intuition Was Right: What Actually Happened
What they did was wrong on multiple levels, both ethically and legally:
The "Working Interview" Trap: Some organizations try to pass off a full shift of manual labor as a "trial shift," "assessment," or "working interview." However, labor laws (such as the US Fair Labor Standards Act) generally dictate that if a candidate performs productive work that directly benefits the business, they must be paid at least minimum wage—regardless of whether they get the job.
Lack of Informed Consent: Volunteering requires explicit consent. You cannot retroactively classify an applicant's labor as "volunteer work" simply because you decided not to hire them or didn't want to process payroll.
Exploiting the Power Dynamic: Employers know candidates are nervous, eager to impress, and unlikely to interrupt a shift to ask, "Wait, am I getting paid for this?" They counted on your silence to get hours of free labor.
Is This Common?
Unfortunately, yes. While Rise Against Hunger is a massive global non-profit that relies heavily on legitimate, willing volunteers for meal-packing events, your experience points to a serious failure (or deliberate abuse) by the local staff running that hiring process.
This dynamic pops up frequently across several sectors:
| Industry / Setting | Common Unpaid Labor Scenarios |
| Non-Profits | Blurring the line between paid staff roles and volunteer duties during the interview process. |
| Restaurants & Hospitality | "Staging" or uncompensated multi-hour shifts to "test speed and skill." |
| Retail & Warehousing | Unpaid "training hours" or "orientation shifts" before officially entering the system. |
Why It Leaves Such a Bad Taste
You nailed the core issue in your final thought: it’s about transparency and respect.
If they had asked, "As part of our interview, we like candidates to participate in a 30-minute volunteer demonstration," or "Would you mind lending a hand while we chat?", you could have made an informed choice.
Instead, they:
Watched you work a 4 to 6-hour shift without clarifying your status.
Let you walk away thinking you were entering an onboarding phase.
Only slapped the "volunteer" label on your work after you followed up weeks later asking to be paid.
Bottom Line: You were duped into providing free labor under the guise of a job interview. It felt slimy and manipulative because it was slimy and manipulative. You have every right to still be annoyed by it, but take comfort in knowing your instincts today are spot-on.
HR Answered “Yes”… Then Immediately Hung Up
I finally decided to call HR today to ask if the position was still open. They simply answered, “Yes,” and ended the call.
I didn’t even get the chance to say that I’m very interested in the role, willing to work for the company, or ask about the next steps.
I get that HR can be busy, but that honestly caught me off guard. It felt so dismissive. A few extra seconds to let an applicant speak wouldn’t have hurt.
Has anyone else experienced something like this? Is this normal, or was that just incredibly unprofessional?
Jobadvisor
That's a pretty jarring way to be treated, and I get why it stung. You worked up the nerve to call, had things you wanted to say, and didn't even get the chance.
A few honest thoughts:
Is it normal? Not really "normal," but also not unheard of. Some possibilities that don't involve anyone being deliberately rude:
- They were mid-call-chaos (back-to-back interviews, a hiring freeze meeting, whatever) and answered on autopilot
- They misheard the question or thought you were confirming something they already knew you knew
- The call dropped or got fumbled on their end (weird cuts happen more than people admit)
- It's a large company where HR fields dozens of "is this still open" calls a day and has gotten clipped about it, fairly or not
Is it unprofessional? By most standards of how a company should treat a candidate, yes, it fell short. Even a rushed "Yes, still open — feel free to apply/follow up by email" would've taken five extra seconds. So your reaction isn't oversensitive.
What I'd actually do with it: Don't read too much into it as a signal about your candidacy. A short phone call doesn't usually reflect the actual hiring decision-makers' opinion of you — it's more likely to just reflect whoever picked up the HR line that day. I'd follow up in writing instead: a short email reiterating your interest, restating your qualifications briefly, and asking about next steps. Email gives you the space that the phone call didn't, and it leaves a clean paper trail that the awkward call doesn't affect at all.
Want help drafting that follow-up email?