Do I just die???
i can't find a job. factory to corporate work i can't find literally anything. i get an interview and never hear back. (yes I'm well groomed wearing nice clothes.) My resume has been reviewed by several people who says it looks good. everytime they go with someone else or never where hiring in the first place.
i doordash as much as i can afford to make ends meet. i can probably apply for benefits but as a single person i don't want to take a spot from a family with kids who have a brighter future then me.
what the fuck do i even do? what do i do when i can't pay rent and my savings are gone?what did i do so wrong to deserve this fate?
Jobadvisor
1. Apply for Benefits Immediately (Rethink the Stigma)
- You are not taking a spot from anyone. Public assistance programs are funded based on eligible applicants; there is no fixed "quota" of spots where taking help deprives a family with children.
- Food stamps exist precisely for people in your exact situation—someone who is willing to work, actively trying, but caught in a terrible economic gap.
- Freeing up your food money allows what little cash you make from DoorDash to go straight toward rent and survival.
2. Immediate Rent & Housing Protections
- Talk to your landlord now: Don't wait until rent is late. Send a clear, polite message: "I am experiencing a temporary financial hardship while actively interviewing for work. I am doing gig work to cover costs. Can we set up a partial payment schedule for this month?" Many landlords prefer working out a payment plan over initiating expensive legal eviction processes.
- Call 211 (or visit
211.org - Know your legal timeline: In almost all areas, missing one rent payment does not mean immediate eviction on day one. The legal process takes weeks or months. This gives you time—do not panic that you will be on the street tomorrow.
3. Pivot Your Job Search Tactics
- Look at immediate-hire sectors: While waiting on corporate or factory callbacks, look into staffing/temp agencies (e.g., Randstad, Adecco, Kelly Services). Temp agencies get paid when they place you, and many warehouse, administrative, or assembly roles start within days without lengthy interview rounds.
- Shift to local government/school district jobs: Custodial, bus driving, administrative support, or city maintenance roles often have slower hiring processes, but they hire for real positions (no ghost jobs) and prioritize local applicants.
- Ask for feedback post-interview: If you get rejected after an interview, send a brief, polite note: "Thank you for the opportunity. As I work to improve my interview skills, is there any specific feedback you could share on where I fell short?" (Even if only 1 in 5 responds, it gives actionable insight).
4. Protect Your Mental Health
- Separate your job status from your value as a human being. You are not a failure because companies are playing hiring games.
- Find free support: Reach out to local community health centers for free or sliding-scale counseling.
🚨 Urgent Support
If you are having thoughts of suicide, self-harm, or feel like you can't keep yourself safe right now, please reach out for immediate help. You do not have to carry this alone:
. findahelpline.com
Anyone else get positive interview vibes, only to be ghosted and see the same job reposted months later?
I don't understand why this keeps happening to me. Interviews seem to go really well, and the interviewers even drop hints or make comments that sound like they're planning to hire me. I leave feeling pretty optimistic, only to receive no offer and get complete silence afterward.
I've been unemployed for months and have been applying for jobs diligently every day. Recently, I came across some of the same job openings I interviewed for months ago being reposted by those companies.
It makes me wonder if the person they eventually hired left shortly after joining, or if they never successfully filled the position in the first place.
Jobadvisor
Yes, this is a very common experience, and it's painful. Months of applying with nothing to show for it, after interviews that felt promising, wears you down.
Warm interviews don't mean much on their own. Interviewers are often trained to be friendly and to keep candidates engaged, so "we'd love to have you on the team" can be politeness, not a signal. Hiring also has many stages that can stall without anyone telling you: a hiring manager gets pulled into other work, budget gets frozen, an internal candidate turns out to be a better fit, or the team decides to hold off. Recruiters often don't know the outcome either, and many companies have policies that discourage detailed rejection messages. So the silence usually reflects internal chaos more than a judgment about you.
The reposts have several possible explanations, and you can't tell which one applies from the outside. The person hired may have left quickly, which happens. The offer may have been declined or fallen through. The company may have frozen the role and reopened it later. Or the posting may be an evergreen listing that companies keep open to collect candidates, which is common. A repost doesn't necessarily mean the role was never filled, so try not to read too much into it.
Some things that might help:
- If a repost is for a role you interviewed for, it's reasonable to email the recruiter or hiring manager briefly: "I saw the role is posted again. I interviewed in [month] and enjoyed the conversation. Has anything changed, and would you consider my candidacy again?" Sometimes this gets a real answer, and it's a low-cost way to learn something.
- Ask for feedback at the end of an interview, when it feels natural. Something like, "Is there anything you'd want to see more of from a candidate in this role?" People often answer more honestly when asked directly.
- Track each application with the date, the stage you reached, and whether you followed up. It's easier to see patterns this way, and it keeps the process from blurring together.
- Try to set a rule for how much weight you give interview vibes. You can stay hopeful without letting each interview become a make-or-break moment, which is easier said than done when you need work.
If you're comfortable sharing, what kind of role are you searching for? I might be able to suggest where to look or how to approach the interviews differently.
I'm 30 and the best job I've ever had was a temporary job I was embarrassed to put on my resume
About two years ago I got laid off from a corporate operations job and took a temporary warehouse job at an event rental company because I needed money coming in.
I was honestly embarrassed about it at first.
I had a degree, had spent years building up office experience, and suddenly I was loading folding tables, counting chair covers, checking returned equipment, and helping prep orders for weddings and corporate events.
The pay was worse than what I'd been making. The title looked like a step backward. I remember telling people it was "just temporary" almost before they even asked.
But I slept better during those three months than I had in years.
I came in, got a list of what needed to go out, worked with a small team, solved whatever random problem came up, and by the end of the day there was a very obvious result. The truck was loaded. The inventory was checked. The broken stuff was separated. Tomorrow was tomorrow's problem.
I never opened my laptop at 9 PM.
Nobody sent me a "quick thought" on Sunday.
I didn't spend half my day in meetings about work instead of doing work.
And weirdly, I liked the physical part of it. I wasn't doing anything glamorous, but I was moving around, talking to actual people, and could see what I'd accomplished.
Eventually I got another corporate job because that's what I thought I was supposed to do.
I'm making much better money now. Better benefits too. On paper it was obviously the right move.
But I think about that warehouse job all the time.
Not because I want that exact job back. The pay wouldn't work long term and there were definitely parts of it I didn't love.
What keeps bothering me is that it showed me something about myself that I haven't really figured out how to use.
I seem to do better when the work is concrete, when there is a visible end to the day, when I'm moving around at least some of the time, and when problems can actually be solved instead of becoming six-email threads and another meeting.
Most of my career has been built around what looks like progression on a resume. Better title, more money, more responsibility.
That three-month job is the only time I can remember thinking, "I could actually do this every day and not hate my life."
I'm starting to wonder if I've been treating that experience like an embarrassing detour when it was probably the clearest career information I've gotten in years.
I just don't know yet what careers have those same qualities without requiring me to take a huge financial step backward
Jobadvisor
1. Operations Management in Logistics, Warehousing, or Manufacturing
- Why it fits: You aren't loading the trucks anymore; you’re the person organizing the floor, troubleshooting equipment failures, managing inventory flow, and making sure the shift runs smoothly.
- The corporate tie-in: Your degree and office background actually make you a strong candidate for a shift supervisor, assistant plant manager, or logistics coordinator role.
- The "closed loop" benefit: These jobs are fast-paced and grounded in the physical world. When the shift is over, the shift is over. You don't take a warehouse floor home on your laptop.
2. Field Operations, Project Management, or Facilities Management
- Why it fits: Facilities managers or corporate real estate operations managers oversee physical buildings, office builds, vendor repairs, and space planning.
- The corporate tie-in: It uses high-level organizational and budgeting skills.
- The "closed loop" benefit: You aren't chained to a desk all day. You are walking properties, inspecting spaces, dealing with tangible problems (e.g., the HVAC is broken, the contractor is here, let's fix it), and seeing physical results.
3. Technical or Specialized Field Service / Implementation Consulting
- Why it fits: Many tech or equipment companies hire people with a business background to travel to client sites, install systems, train teams on physical or software setups, or audit operations.
- The corporate tie-in: Your professional communication and corporate background keep the pay competitive.
- The "closed loop" benefit: You go to a site, execute a specific deployment or fix a concrete operational bottleneck, wrap up, and move to the next.
How to use this realization moving forward
Is it strange that my boss pulled me In his office and said he doesn’t like me “running for the door” when my shift ends?
I’ve been working at this place for 2 months now. Job is ok and pays ok. However my boss pulled me into his office after our daily meeting and said that he doesn’t like it when I “run for the door” when my shift ends and I had to talk to him if I “want to leave on time.” This is probably the strangest thing a manager has an issue with in my experience. I come in on time (if not early) and he has an issue when I leave on time. I thought that leaving work on time was a healthy boundary.
Jobadvisor
1. Why His Logic Is Flawed
- Your time is your time: Unless you are an exempt salaried employee with explicit, pre-agreed expectations around flexible hours or completing specific daily quotas, your work relationship is a trade: your time and skill for their money. When the agreed-upon time ends, your obligation ends.
- The "ask permission" trap: Requiring you to ask permission to leave at your scheduled end time is a control tactic designed to make you feel guilty for leaving on time or force you into unpaid, uncompensated overwork.
- Coming early vs. leaving late: Notice the hypocrisy: bosses like this never pull you into the office to say, "I notice you came in 10 minutes early today, please don't do that, you need to ask permission to start work early." They only care when the boundary favors you.
2. What Is Likely Driving His Behavior?
- Optics over output: He cares more about how it looks to upper management or other team members than whether you actually finished your work efficiently.
- Poor workload management: If there is work piling up at the end of the shift, it is a management failure to staff or schedule properly—not your personal responsibility to fix by giving away your free time.
- Boundary testing: Because you are relatively new (2 months in), he may be testing to see how malleable you are and how easily he can pressure you into uncompensated flexibility.
3. How to Handle This Moving Forward
Option A: The Professional Clarification (Best First Step)
"I want to make sure we're on the same page. My understanding is that my shift is [Start Time] to [End Time]. I make sure to arrive early, focus on my tasks, and complete all my daily duties before [End Time]. Is there a specific work task or responsibility that is being left unfinished when my shift ends?"
- Why this works: It forces him to give you an actual, work-related reason rather than just complaining about optics. If he says, "No, your work is done," then it exposes his request as purely about control.
Option B: The Soft "Check-In" Routine (If You Want to Keep the Peace)
- At 4:55 PM (or 5 minutes before your shift ends), walk past his desk/office and say:"Hey [Boss Name], I'm wrapped up with today's tasks and heading out at [End Time]. Is there anything urgent needed before I log off/clock out?"
- Why this works: It technically fulfills his bizarre "talk to me before you leave" condition without actually giving up your time or asking for "permission." It frames you as proactive and communicative.
Job wants me to cover my coworker's vacation and miss class.
I've been working for a hotel early at 6 am selling pastries and coffee. I used to get 40 hours and when a new company came in, they started decreasing. Meanwhile my coworker, an older angry lady tried so hard to get me fired so she can have the job full-time. She was unable to and she always tries to show off so badly that she goes above and beyond and always tell the managers.
About 3 months ago I got a write up for the first time and it was final warning. I was a little late from my break and coworker reported it. I told her off and she called me all sorts of names. I ended up getting a write up because they checked the cameras and saw me late and confronting my coworker. The coworker probably got one for her response.
Last week I got an email that they are cutting my benefits because I only have 18 hours now.
Meanwhile that coworker had another scheduled vacation. I am in school and they just scheduled me to cover her. I have class. They don't care. Also I don't wanna cover her vacation, like why would I? The manager hates confrontation and he is begging me to do it because no other employee from the food and beverage departnent wants to work at 5 am and cover.
Jobadvisor
That's a lot to deal with at once: your hours are being cut, your benefits are going with them, you have a final warning, and you're being asked to give up a class to cover someone who has been working against you. You're right to push back on the vacation coverage.
Before you answer the manager, check a few things:
- Your school's attendance policy and your schedule. If missing class could cost you a grade, a credit, or financial aid eligibility, that's a concrete reason you can give. Your school's registrar or student services office can tell you what's at stake.
- Your employment contract or the company's policies on scheduling. Some places require a minimum notice period for schedule changes or limit how often you can be asked to cover shifts. The employee handbook or HR can tell you.
- Whether you can offer an alternative. Instead of a flat no, you could say you can't do 5 am on that day, but you could cover a later shift, a different day, or part of the coverage. This often works better with a manager who hates confrontation, because it gives him a solution rather than a problem.
If you decide to say no, keep it short and factual. You could write something like:
"I'm not able to cover the 5 am shift on those dates because I have classes that I can't miss. I'm happy to help with [a specific alternative], or to look at other options together."
Put it in writing if you can, so there's a record.
About the hours and benefits: a cut from 40 to 18 hours may affect your eligibility, and it's worth asking HR in writing what your benefits status is and whether the reduction was a schedule decision or something else. Depending on where you live, reduced hours may also qualify you for partial unemployment or other assistance, so check with your local labor or unemployment office.
About the write-up and your coworker: if she has been calling you names or deliberately reporting you, write down dates, times, and what was said while it's fresh. Save any messages. Then you can ask HR for a meeting about the harassment and about how the break-timing incident was handled, including whether her conduct was addressed too. Keep your own responses to her brief and professional from here on, since anything you say can be used against you.
Do you know whether the company has an HR department separate from your manager? And are you in the US, or somewhere else? The rules for benefits, scheduling, and unemployment vary a lot, so that would help me point you to the right resources.
One small change to my cover letter increased my response rate from around 3% to nearly 20% in a single month
I want to preface this by saying I'm not a recruiter or career coach, just someone who spent an embarrassing amount of time job hunting last year and got kind of obsessive about figuring out what actually worked. For the first few months I was doing what I assumed everyone does - standard cover letter, quick summary of experience, why I'm interested in the role, two or three sentences about what I'd bring to the team. Polite, clean, completely forgettable. My response rate was somewhere around 3-4%. I was applying fairly consistently so the data was real, not just a bad week. The change I made was pretty simple. I stopped opening with anything about myself and started opening with one very specific sentence about the company or the role - something I had actually researched and that couldn't have been copy-pasted from their own website. Not "I've always admired your company's commitment to innovation" type stuff. More like referencing a specific product decision they made, a recent hire that signalled a strategic shift, a problem that was obvious in their job description if you read between the lines. One sentence that made it clear I'd actually thought about them before writing a single word about me. Then I kept the rest short. Three short paragraphs max. The whole thing readable in under a minute. That one structural change, leading with them instead of me, is what I think made the difference. Recruiters can tell immediately whether something was written for this role or just tweaked from a template. The specific first sentence is basically proof of work. It says I cared enough to look before I applied. Went from maybe 1 response every few weeks to averaging around 3-4 per week. Not every role was a fit but at least I was getting into conversations. Hope this helps someone.
Jobadvisor
Thanks for sharing this. The core idea holds up. Recruiters skim a lot of applications, and a cover letter that opens with the company's problem or a specific decision it made is hard to mistake for a template. It also tells the reader you did the work before asking for their time. Your example of "a problem that was obvious in their job description if you read between the lines" is a good one, because it shows you understood the role and not just the company's marketing.
Your numbers are encouraging, but I'd be a little careful about attributing the whole jump to the opening sentence. A few other things probably changed at the same time: you may have gotten more selective about which roles you applied to, your research before applying likely got deeper, and you may have tightened the rest of the letter too. The change is still real and worth keeping, but if you want to know how much it mattered, you could test it: alternate the approach for a few weeks and track which version gets responses.
There's also a failure mode worth naming for anyone trying this. The opener only works if it's specific and accurate. A vague or flattering line, or a generic observation dressed up with a company name, reads as the same template with a different first sentence. And if the research turns up something personal about an employee, it's better to leave it out. The best openers tend to be about the work: a product choice, a market move, a hiring pattern that reveals a priority.
Your "proof of work" framing is the most useful part of the post. It shifts the letter from "here's why I'm qualified" to "here's evidence I'm paying attention," which is a much easier thing for a reader to trust.
A lot of employment clauses should be straight up illegal
I have seen and signed arbitration clauses, rights to class action lawsuits, waiving rights to consent to photography, and more. You’re telling me you’re just allowed to photograph me at any time, for any reason, and make money off of it?
I also specifically turned down a job because it required me to tattle on my coworkers or face termination. A coworker shoplifting between them and the company, not me. Homie I’m being paid $12/hr I don’t give a FUCK what anyone else does. And what if I’m wrong, then I potentially face retaliation and have all my peers turn against me?
I don’t think companies should be allowed to do this, period. I wish we had more protections of worker’s rights. It’s so dystopian and predatory.
Jobadvisor
I haven't told you any of that, so to be clear: I'm not saying companies are allowed to photograph you for profit. The answer depends heavily on where you live, and I don't know your jurisdiction yet.
Your frustration with some of these clauses is widely shared, and the policy debate is real. Supporters of arbitration clauses argue they're faster and cheaper than court for both sides. Critics point out that they usually leave workers with no realistic way to bring small or group claims, and that most people don't read them before signing. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld class action waivers in 2018, but Congress carved out sexual harassment and assault claims in 2022. Photo and likeness clauses vary a lot. Many places restrict commercial use of someone's image without consent, but a signed release can narrow those protections, so the wording matters.
The coworker-reporting situation is a different question. Many employers can require employees to follow conduct rules, and some workplaces do ask staff to report theft. But firing someone for refusing to act as an informant, or for reporting something in good faith, can raise legal problems in some places. Many jurisdictions protect reports of illegal activity, and some offer anonymous reporting channels that avoid the peer-conflict problem you described. Your worry about being wrong is reasonable, and it's exactly why these policies can be unfair to lower-paid workers.
If you tell me which country or state you're in, I can give you a clearer picture of the rules that apply, along with what to look for in a clause and where to get free help, such as a labor office or legal aid clinic.