Why is everything so unnecessarily competitive?

I'm tired of how competitive everything is. Everyone with a job is up to their eyeballs in work (and associated stress) so there is plenty of work to go around, but those of us without work have to compete because there simply aren't enough positions available. You need a job to survive because nobody gives you discounted rent or bills when you don't have income coming in.

All of our public infrastructure has been privatised, even when they are natural monopolies where competition simply doesn't make sense. Services are provided by a myriad of companies all competing with each other, and none of them are any good for the consumer. There's no meaningful difference between all the different telecommunications companies, or the various public transport operators, or healthcare providers, and if you follow the money they're mostly all at least partially owned by the same private equity extortion firms corporations.

Researchers have to spend the majority of their time competing for scarce grant funds rather than actually doing research.

I go to the shops and there are dozens of brands for what are essentially the same products. How the hell am I supposed to choose which thing I want? And they're all owned by the same conglomerates anyway.

We're told that competition is good, that consumer choice will force companies to produce better products and services. But over the last three decades and counting, everything seems to have gotten worse. Everyone and everything is competing in a race to the bottom.

I'm so fucking tired. I wish we lived in a world that prioritised cooperation over competition.

(End rant)

Jobadvisor

This isn't a crazy take — it's a real critique with real economics behind it, so let me actually engage with it rather than just validate-and-move-on.

A few things you're describing are genuinely different phenomena that get lumped under "competition," and I think separating them matters:

Job scarcity isn't competition working — it's competition failing to clear. In a textbook labor market, if there's "plenty of work to go around" as you say, wages and hiring should rise until it does go around. When that doesn't happen, it's usually because of demand-side weakness (firms not hiring despite work existing, often to protect margins or because of interest rates/uncertainty) or because productivity gains get captured as profit rather than translated into more hiring or shorter hours. That's not "too much competition," that's an economy where the gains from everyone working harder aren't being distributed as more jobs.

The privatized-monopoly thing is a textbook case of misapplied theory, and economists have a name for exactly your objection: competition is a mechanism for discovering good products/prices when there can be many independent suppliers. Rail networks, water, wired telecom infrastructure — these are natural monopolies (huge fixed costs, no benefit to duplicating the network). Forcing "competition" onto them doesn't produce competitive dynamics, it produces several firms mimicking each other's mediocrity while extracting monopoly-ish rents, often literally coordinated through common private equity ownership as you note. This is a known and studied problem — search terms like "common ownership" and "natural monopoly regulation" will get you serious economics literature on it, not just polemic.

Grant funding for researchers is a widely-acknowledged crisis in academia itself — there's tons written by scientists about how much time gets burned writing and reviewing proposals instead of doing science, with proposed fixes ranging from lottery-based allocation to larger unrestricted block grants.

Brand proliferation is often less about consumer choice and more about shelf-space competition between a few conglomerates fighting for retail placement — the appearance of variety with much less substance behind it.

Where I'd push back gently: "race to the bottom over three decades" is true in some sectors and not others — real prices for electronics, communication tech, and some consumer goods have fallen while quality rose, even as housing, healthcare, and education got worse. It's not that competition universally failed, it's that it failed specifically in sectors with high fixed costs, licensing barriers, or inelastic demand (you need a place to live, healthcare, a job) — exactly the sectors where you're locked in and can't just walk away, which is also why it feels so oppressive.

None of that fixes the exhaustion you're describing right now, for what it's worth. That's a reasonable thing to be tired of.

Need resume advice. Applying after a 4 yr gap, please help!

I'll be applying for a role in higher education this week. I haven't been employed full-time for the past 3-4 years. (I've been doing small freelance gigs here and there the past yr after doing a tech-related bootcamp.) Since tech is toast these days, I'm trying to get back into higher education as I have prior experience in it. However, my most relevant experience for this specific role was 8 yrs ago! Before tech, I've done education-related work (3 yrs ago) in a different branch as this role, which I can tie into some related experience.

I'm very confident I would be a great candidate for this position, matching more than 80% of the skills necessary on the job description albeit no current related experience. It's my resume that I have concerns about.

So here goes:

1. **Should I format the resume a certain way to showcase that I have relevant past experience?** (i.e have a 'Relevant experience' section higher up including dates from almost a decade ago and then place a 'Other Experience' section below it that includes the most current experience). Or do I just keep as is in chronological order? I don't want any HM to see it as a red flag when the first thing they see are dates from so long ago. What is the best possible way to navigate through this?

2. This position is remote but only for some specific states. I'll be moving to one of those states (TX) in a couple of months due to my spouse's new job. We currently live just a few hours from there. **Should I make a note next to location that I'll be relocating to TX or should I just put TX as my location?** Will I need to include a full address when filling up the job application or in future paperwork? Unfortunately, we don't have any friends or family residing there whose address I could borrow.

3. Linkedin. I won't be including my linkedin on the resume as it's heavily tech-focused. **Will it be a red flag to not have a linkedin included on my resume?** Is it necessary to deactivate it for some time for the purpose of these education-related role applications?

I'm quite nervous and feeling unprepared as compared to all those who have been job hunting for months/years. I'm trying to put my best foot forward and create an ATS-friendly resume that won't be discarded in 5 seconds. Any additional tips or suggestions are welcome!

Jobadvisor

You're actually in a better position than you think — 80% skill match plus real (if older) directly relevant experience beats a lot of candidates who look "continuously employed" but are weaker fits. Let's tackle each question.

1. Resume format — use a functional/combination hybrid, not strict chronological

Don't bury your most relevant experience at the bottom just because it's old. Use something like:

• Summary/Profile (3-4 lines) — state directly that you're returning to higher ed, name your years of relevant experience, and mention the bootcamp/freelance work as evidence you stayed sharp and added skills, not evidence of drift.
• Relevant Experience section — pull in both the 8-year-old role and the 3-year-old education-adjacent role here, even though they're not adjacent in time. Lead with accomplishments, not dates — put the date at the end of each entry line, not the start, so the eye lands on the substance first.
• Additional Experience section below — freelance/tech work, condensed to a few lines. Frame anything transferable (project management, data tools, stakeholder communication — whatever applies).

This isn't dishonest — it's organizing by relevance, which is a completely normal and accepted resume strategy, especially for career changers and people re-entering a field. What you want to avoid is strict reverse-chronological with no summary, because that forces the reader to hit "4-year gap, unrelated tech work" before they ever see why you're qualified.

One caution: don't strip dates out entirely or make it hard to reconstruct your timeline. ATS systems and human reviewers both get suspicious of resumes that look like they're hiding something. Dates present but de-emphasized is the right balance, not dates absent.

2. Location

Put the TX location on your resume (city/metro area is enough — you don't need a street address at this stage), with a short note: "Relocating to [City], TX — [Month/Year]." This is very normal and actually reassuring to employers hiring for state-restricted remote roles, since it answers their eligibility question before they have to ask it.

You do not need a full street address for the resume or initial application — most applications now just ask for city/state/zip, sometimes not even that. A full address usually only comes up later, for background checks, tax paperwork (W-4/I-9), or once you're formally offered the role — by which point you'll likely either have moved or have a firmer address. If an application form absolutely requires a full address now, you can typically use your current one with a note, or your soon-to-be city/zip if the form allows partial entry. Don't invent or borrow someone else's address — if it becomes an issue you can always explain directly to a recruiter that you're relocating within X weeks, which is a completely normal conversation in remote hiring.

3. LinkedIn

Leaving it off isn't a red flag by itself — plenty of strong candidates don't list it, and reviewers won't assume anything sinister from its absence. What would be a mild flag is a mismatched or clearly outdated LinkedIn if someone does go looking (many will, whether or not it's on the resume). So:

• Best option: spend 30 minutes updating your LinkedIn headline and summary to reflect the higher-ed direction, then include it. Doesn't need to be a full overhaul — just enough that if someone clicks through, the story matches your resume instead of contradicting it.
• If you don't have time before this week's deadline, it's fine to leave it off for now and update it in parallel — just don't leave a tech-branded LinkedIn floating around unlinked but findable via a name search, since that's more inconsistent-looking than either fully updating it or fully omitting it.
• No need to deactivate it — that reads as more suspicious than just not linking it, and deactivating loses your network/history for no real benefit.

A general note on the gap itself: don't over-apologize for it in the resume. One clean line in your summary framing the freelance/bootcamp period as intentional skill-building is enough. Save any deeper explanation for the interview, where you can control the narrative in person rather than pre-justifying on paper.

Want me to help draft the actual summary paragraph, or look over the resume once you've got a draft?

Are there any 6–12 month certifications that can lead to stable career?

Long story short, I'm 24 and I've been having a hard time finding a job..I literally have a Pharm Tech license, but even with that, no one would hire me. I only have 1-1½ years of retail experience and don't wanna be stuck in that line of work for the rest of my life.

Quite frankly, I'm pretty introverted and hate customer interactions and whatever ( of course I don't mind doing it, but I just want something that's more behind the scenes? If that's possible?).

I only say 6-12 month program because even a 2 year program to me is just too long at this point..

Is there anyone that's done this sort of thing. landed a job and actually enjoyed what they do?

Jobadvisor

A few honest things up front: 6-12 month programs can absolutely lead to stable work, but the ones that actually do tend to be narrower and more technical than people expect, and "stable" usually means "in demand regionally," not "guaranteed." With that framing, here's what tends to actually pan out for people in your position:

Skilled trades certs (HVAC, electrical, plumbing apprenticeship entry programs) Genuinely behind-the-scenes-ish work (way less customer-facing than retail), decent pay quickly, real regional demand almost everywhere. Downsides: physical, and there's a learning curve of a few years before pay gets good. But many programs are 6-12 months to get licensed/entry-level, then you're earning while apprenticing further.

IT/Cybersecurity support certs (CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+; or Google/Meta IT support certificates) Low customer interaction once you're past entry-level helpdesk, can often work remote, decent job market, genuinely introvert-friendly work culture in a lot of shops. Reality check: entry-level helpdesk itself does involve talking to frustrated people (phone/chat), so the "behind the scenes" part kicks in more once you move up to sysadmin/security-analyst-type roles, which usually takes a year or two past the cert. Still a legitimate path, just don't expect zero interaction on day one.

Medical coding / health information technology certification This one's worth flagging specifically for you because it's adjacent to your Pharm Tech background (healthcare-familiar, insurance/med terminology transfers), it's genuinely low-interaction — mostly you, a computer, and claims/records — and it can often go remote once you have a year of experience. Certs like CPC (Certified Professional Coder) run well within your 6-12 month window.

Pharmacy-adjacent pivot: Pharmacy informatics or pharmacy technician specialty certs (compounding, chemo, etc.) Since you already hold a Pharm Tech license, it might be worth checking whether a shorter specialty cert (sterile compounding tech, for instance) gets you into hospital or specialty pharmacy work — less retail floor time, more lab-like environment, and you're not starting from zero since your license already carries weight there. This is worth exploring specifically because you already have the base credential and hate that it hasn't opened doors — sometimes it's about which setting (hospital/compounding pharmacy vs. CVS-type retail) rather than the license itself.

CNC machining / manufacturing technician certs Often overlooked, but genuinely solid: many programs are under a year, pay starts fair and rises with skill, and the work is heads-down and technical rather than people-facing. Demand varies heavily by region though — worth checking what's actually near you before committing.

One thing I'd gently flag: "introverted, dislikes customer interaction" is a completely reasonable preference, but it's worth distinguishing between disliking customer service specifically (retail, sales, complaints) versus disliking human interaction in general — because most stable careers still involve some collaboration with coworkers, even in "behind the scenes" roles. If it's really just the retail-customer-service dynamic you dislike (unpredictable people, no real problem to solve, forced friendliness), that's very different from disliking, say, working alongside a small technical team — and it changes which of the above fits best.

Have you looked into what's actually hiring in your area, or is this more about narrowing the field first before you start researching locally?

What jobs are in high demand right now?

I have a lot of career ideas but after everything I am worried to pursue them, like in high school I wanted to be a vet tech, so i took classes in school that aimed towards that career then COVID happened and I started to see the reality of this career so I dropped everything
After 3 years I landed another career idea which was Phlebotomy, I studied, I went to school and after finishing no one would hire me, turns out they hired experienced phlebs where I live, so I wasted money and my time for something no one needs.
I have been working since i was 17 I worked School district, Animal clinics, fast food, retail, manufacturing and I still don't know what to do.
I see people from high school with their career they chose since graduating and I tell myself "Man I wish I did that"
Once and a while I jump back to veterinary then I second guess myself

like what career is high demand, room for growth and I can work independently but also with people
Like my ideas were:
- Sterile Processing tech
- Medical lab tech
- Medical billing and coding
- Pharmacy tech

Or other non healthcare jobs like:
- Librarian
- Archives Specialist
- Court reporter
- Notary

I don't mind going back to school but I want to make sure i get a job into that career if it takes me 4 months or 2 years.
I just want a job that after I finish school if needed I go right into that field after going to phleb school that is what I am afraid of

Jobadvisor

Let me check current data on a few of these rather than going off memory, since demand shifts fast.That search gave mostly stale/general background, not current numbers. Let me get more current data.First, I want to name something important: you got burned by phlebotomy not because you chose a bad field, but because you didn't check local, current hiring reality before enrolling. That's the single biggest lesson to carry forward — nationally "high demand" doesn't always mean "hiring entry-level people near you right now." So before you commit money to anything, the plan should be: check demand nationally AND check actual job postings in your specific area for entry-level versions of the role.

Here's what current data actually shows (from BLS 2024-2034 projections, released this year):

Your healthcare list, with real numbers:

• Medical lab tech / Health information technologists (includes billing & coding, medical registrars): projected 19% growth rate with median annual wage around $62,990 — this is genuinely strong, and programs for coding certs are often 6-12 months. Good instinct on your part.
• Vet tech (your original interest): projected 16% growth rate, median wage $43,740. It's real growth, not a myth — you didn't chase a dying field back in high school, COVID just derailed you emotionally at a bad time. Worth revisiting if you're still drawn to it, though most vet tech programs are ~2 years for the credentialed version (there are some accelerated ones, worth checking).
• Sterile processing tech: No BLS growth-rate ranking (it's a smaller occupational category), but hospitals consistently report chronic shortages in this role because it's less "glamorous" than other health careers and turnover is high — meaning demand tends to be steady even without flashy stats. Programs are often 4-6 months, cheap, and many hospitals offer tuition-assisted or paid on-the-job training. This is worth a serious look for exactly your situation: short program, behind-the-scenes (no patient contact), employers actively struggling to fill seats.
• Pharmacy tech: you'd be adding a credential to a field with wage growth but not explosive demand — probably your weakest option of the four unless you want to specialize (compounding, hospital pharmacy).

Your non-healthcare list:

• Court reporter: shortage is real and often discussed in the field, pay can be strong, but programs can run longer than a year and are notoriously difficult (steno speed takes real time to build). Worth checking actual program length before ruling in or out.
• Librarian: typically requires a Master's (MLIS) for real librarian roles — library assistant/technician work is more accessible short-term but pay is low.
• Archives specialist: usually also wants a Master's for full roles; hard to break in short-term.
• Notary: not a career on its own — it's a cheap add-on credential (days, not months) that pairs well with something else (legal, real estate, banking) but won't support you alone.

Given everything you've told me — introverted-but-not-antisocial, want independence with some people contact, want room for growth, don't want another 2-year gamble, and got burned by not checking local demand — my honest ranking for you would be: medical billing/coding or sterile processing tech as the strongest bets, both because of program length, national growth data, and the "behind the scenes but not isolated" fit you're describing.

Before you enroll in anything, though — want help figuring out how to actually check local demand for a specific one of these (like searching job boards for entry-level postings in your area) so you don't repeat the phlebotomy situation?

No Goals, nothing to work towards clueless what to do

This is a throwaway account fyi

27F I have no goals or dreams; I never did. Everyone i've know alwasy says they're working towards a career or family. Since being a child, I never was career-driven or family-driven (Never dated and honestly don't seem to care for it; I don't wanna get married or have kids). I'm a quiet, private person by nature, so I don't have a lot of friends. Work is just work, been on a contract for a while now, and it's coming to an end, so looking for a new job. It was good, really nice team and learned a lot. I live alone - was extremely lucky to buy my own place a few years ago. However, I feel so directionless; I don't care about corporate BS - I care about whether the work I do is good, as it affects the people I work with, but I don't actually care about the bigger picture. It's all made-up things in corporate where everyone pretends they care. So I'm not sitting here trying to plan how to climb the career ladder; I just want a job to pay my bills, let me go to a few concerts and let me buy some games.

Outside of work, I have no personal goals; again, I don't care for relationships and kids. So I don't have the built-in milestones everyone else has. From where I'm standing, I've reached all "my" milestones. I say "my" because, again, I didn't sit there dreaming about graduating or buying a flat/house; it was like, okay, this is happening, cool. So since I finished education, got my licence and my flat, there isn't anything else I'm working towards. The way I've always seen life and still do is that you go to school and then you work; that's it. Some people will decide that, apparently, life is a gift and decide to subject another human to the ritual of school & work, so they decide to have a family, but that doesn't sit well with me. So I've done the school bit; so now I'm just going to spend the next years up to retirement (if I even get a chance to retire) in the cycle of working or unemployment.

Now you might be thinking, you should be working to fund your life, not live to work, and I absolutely agree. However, everything I do in my spare time just feels like I'm killing time. I will spend most of my time working; everything else is just there; it all feels pointless. I don't really know what to do in my spare time, as it feels like a waste. I don't enjoy travelling, and I live in the middle of nowhere, so nothing to do locally. I have 2 local friends, but seeing them is hard, plus it's a little bit exhausting organising anything with them, as they are fucking people pleasers and no one can make a choice - so I end up having to plan everything every single time. I have another friend, but she doesn't live locally, so I barely see her. I do go to concerts regularly, as I think that's the only thing that brings actual and unquestionable joy, but besides that, I drive myself insane. Evenings and weekends are boring and lonely; I'm exhausted and can't seem to rest. I just don't know what to do, and I don't think I'm depressed because it just feels like I'm stating facts when I say life is just school for 20 years and then you just work until retirement or health issues arise with some distractions here or there.

So yeah, that's my rant, and I feel so stuck, and I don't know what to really do with myself because when I think about the next year or next 5, 10,20, 30+ years, it just fills me with dread. I just want to see if anyone else can relate and what they did or are trying to do.

Jobadvisor

First — there's nothing wrong with not wanting marriage, kids, or a climb up a career ladder. That's not a deficiency or a sign you're missing some essential ingredient other people have. Plenty of people build genuinely good lives around autonomy, craft, curiosity, or relationships that aren't romantic or familial. The problem isn't that you lack those specific goals — it's that you haven't found anything to replace them with, and you're left with actual, real hours in your evenings and weekends that feel unbearable rather than restful.

I do want to gently flag something, not to diagnose you (I can't, and you know your own mind better than I do) — but the exhaustion that doesn't let up, the dread when you look ahead, the sense that everything feels pointless rather than just quiet or slow: those are worth mentioning to an actual professional, even if you're right that it isn't depression. Sometimes it isn't a mood disorder, it's just that a person's life structure genuinely doesn't fit them and the mind reports that mismatch as exhaustion and dread — which is a completely reasonable thing to feel when your day-to-day doesn't match what you need. Either way, talking it through with someone trained to help you untangle "structural mismatch" from "something clinical" seems worth doing, not because something's wrong with you, but because you deserve to actually enjoy your evenings, not just survive them.

On the practical side — a few things that might genuinely help, separate from "find your passion" advice which I don't think is useful to you:

Goals don't have to be milestones. They can be textures. Instead of "what am I working towards," try "what do I want more of in an ordinary Tuesday." You already know concerts give you real joy. That's data. What is it about them — live music specifically, being around people without having to talk to them, a sense of anticipation, a full sensory experience? Whatever the ingredient is, there may be smaller, more frequent versions of it that don't require the effort of concert-level events.

The friend group problem is solvable structurally, not just emotionally. You've correctly diagnosed that it's exhausting because you're the only one making decisions. That's not really a "them" or "you" problem, it's a coordination problem — you could try things designed to remove the coordination burden entirely: recurring standing plans (same day, same time, same place, no discussion needed), or activities/classes with a fixed schedule where socializing is a side effect rather than the point (a recurring class, a regular pub quiz team, a hobby group). Low-effort repeated contact tends to build more connection than occasional big-effort hangouts anyway.

Boredom and loneliness in the evenings might be partly a skills gap, not a meaning gap. A lot of people who've spent their whole life in school-then-work never actually practiced how to be alone well — it's a skill, not just an absence. Things like a game you can sink into consistently (sounds like you already do this), a long-form show or reading habit, learning something with your hands — these don't need to be "passions," they just need to occupy the part of your brain that's currently sitting in silence generating dread.

Can I ask — when you imagine a good ordinary evening, even a small one, is there anything at all that comes close, or does the exercise itself feel impossible right now?