I had a weird realization…I talk with my hands too much.
Trust me, I know that title seems strange, but could there be some truth to it?
Let me answer some questions first…yes, I have always talked with my hands, for as long as I can remember. I would like to say it’s because I was a trained ballet/competitive dancer.
But also, I am biracial and was raised around black people 🤣 which could be the true reason for why it is so natural to me.
I ask this because I was explaining something during an interview, and I noticed one of the interviewers (who was at least 4 feet away across the table), seemed startled everytime i moved my hands when i spoke. So i tried to stop moving them and failed horribly at that 😩. Damn.
Jobadvisor
Why Do We Talk with Our Hands?
- The Brain-Body Connection: Gesturing isn't just an afterthought; it’s an integral part of thinking. Studies show that when we gesture, we actually help our own brains lighten the cognitive load. It helps retrieve words and organize complex thoughts.
- Your Background Matters: You hit the nail on the head. Cultural background, upbringing, and artistic training (like dance) shape our nonverbal communication style immensely. Expressive gesturing is a hallmark of many cultures and art forms. It’s part of your personal storytelling toolkit—it means you communicate with passion, rhythm, and spatial awareness!
Why Is It So Hard to Stop?
What About the Interviewer?
How to Channel It (Instead of Fighting It)
- Scale it down, don't shut it down: Keep your gestures closer to your torso rather than sweeping across a wide 4-foot arc. Think "elbows in" rather than "conducting an orchestra."
- Give your hands a job: Hold a pen (loosely!), keep your hands resting gently on the table, or fold them naturally. Having a light physical anchor can absorb some of that nervous, expressive energy without trapping it completely.
- Lean into your superpower: Authentic, expressive body language actually conveys enthusiasm, confidence, and warmth. A little bit of hand movement shows you care about what you're talking about!
Job searching suggestions for engineering new grad
Hello everyone, I am struggling with a mildly specific problem rn, I am a new grad multidisciplinary engineer(means my I have a degree in two engineering fields and additionally have certifications in other fields). During my Bachelor(Electrical and Mechanical) I got bored and racked up certifications for AI (Machine learning, LLM, Gen AI, etc), Data Science (R, SQL, Python, Cloud, etc), and general programming. All of these fields pay a good bit, the problem is that they are all vastly different, so I am having trouble with applying to jobs(idk which discipline to choose bc they all interest me). The discussion is about how someone like me could make a plan that fits a multidisciplinary resume and not jump around from random company A to random company Y. Any advice would be great. Thank you :)
Jobadvisor
Your background is an asset, but only if you present it as one story instead of a list of everything you know. Recruiters skim quickly, and a resume that reads "Electrical, Mechanical, ML, data science, and cloud" can look like someone who hasn't decided what they want.
Pick one primary lane and one secondary lane. Choose the discipline where your engineering degree gives you an edge, then pair it with the software skill that makes you useful in that lane. A few examples:
- Electrical + embedded/Python: embedded systems, controls, firmware, or test automation.
- Mechanical + data/ML: reliability, predictive maintenance, simulation analysis, or manufacturing data.
- Electrical or Mechanical + ML: robotics, autonomous systems, computer vision for hardware, or edge AI.
- Any engineering + data engineering: industrial data platforms, IoT analytics, or engineering data tooling.
Your primary lane goes at the top of the resume and in your summary. Your secondary lane supports it. Apply mainly to your primary lane and only stretch into the other when a role clearly needs both.
Turn the certifications into proof. Hiring managers care much more about one project than a stack of certificates. Build one or two projects that combine your fields, such as a sensor-data pipeline with an ML model that flags equipment failures, or a robot or motor controller with a computer vision component. Put them on GitHub with a short write-up of the problem, what you built, and the result. That one project tells the "multidisciplinary" story better than any list.
Write a one-sentence positioning statement. For example: "Electrical engineer with a background in embedded systems and machine learning, focused on building data-driven control and monitoring for hardware." Use the same framing in your LinkedIn headline, cover letters, and interview answers. Consistency is what stops you from looking like you're jumping around.
Tailor each application. Adjust your resume's top bullets to match the job description. A role focused on firmware should emphasize your embedded work, and a role focused on data should highlight your pipelines and models. This takes more time than mass applying, but it's far more effective.
Target companies where mixed backgrounds are valued. Robotics, EV and battery companies, energy, medical devices, industrial automation, aerospace, and AI hardware companies often hire people who bridge hardware and software. Large companies also have internal rotation programs and "engineering data" or "applied AI" teams that suit your profile.
Think long-term about "jumping around." A first job in one lane, even if it isn't perfect, gives you a credible base. After one or two years of relevant experience, moving into an adjacent field is much easier, and your background then looks like a deliberate path rather than indecision. Many people with mixed backgrounds end up in roles that didn't exist when they started, like applied AI for engineering systems or data roles inside hardware companies.
If you tell me which two areas you're leaning toward and what kind of work you enjoy most (hands-on hardware, building models, or building systems), I can help you draft a positioning statement, outline a project, or pick specific job titles to search for.
Did all the $60k–$80k jobs dry up or leave?
Is it just me, or have jobs paying $60k–$80k gotten a lot harder to find in the USA. Mid- Atlantic
I’m talking about a guaranteed salary—not “up to $80k” with commissions or working nonstop overtime. It feels like there’s a big gap between lower-paying jobs and positions requiring specialized degrees or years of experience.
Are there still employers around here hiring in that range? What kinds of jobs are people finding, and what qualifications do you actually need to get in?
I don’t even know what to pivot to at this point?
Jobadvisor
Your impression is partly right, but the data doesn't show that $60k–$80k jobs have disappeared. Overall hiring has slowed, and employers are more selective, which hits that range hard because it's where many people compete for the same openings. Most of what I found comes from recruiting blogs and aggregators, so treat the specifics as rough.
What the market looks like: Economists describe 2026 as a "low-hire, low-fire" market. Employers aren't laying off much, but they're adding fewer roles. Hiring is continuing, although growth remains uneven across industries and many organizations are becoming more selective about adding new roles. Even entry-level roles are affected, as overall hiring has slowed, creating a tougher market for young workers and career switchers outside high-demand fields. One report also noted that job posting levels in smaller and mid-size metro areas remain strong, while larger coastal cities with slower population growth are seeing weaker demand. That matters for the Mid-Atlantic, where the big metros are expensive and competitive. Smaller cities and suburbs may have more openings in your range.
Where $60k–$80k jobs still exist: Based on what I found, these categories tend to pay in that range and still hire:
- Healthcare: Health care added approximately 22,000 jobs in June 2026, so it's the most reliable sector right now. Look at health IT, clinical operations, lab and imaging technician roles, medical billing and coding, and practice or hospital administration.
- IT support and systems: Help desk, desktop support, and junior systems administrator roles. These often pay $50k–$80k and are a common path into better-paid IT work.
- Data and QA: Entry-level data analyst roles often pay around $60k–$80k, and QA or test analyst roles are similar.
- Skilled trades and technical work: Electricians, HVAC, industrial maintenance, and quality or manufacturing technicians often pay well, and many employers will train you through apprenticeships.
- Government and utilities: State, county, and municipal jobs usually post salary ranges and offer stable pay and benefits. Some states require salary ranges on postings, which makes comparing easier.
- Operations and coordination: Project coordinator, operations analyst, procurement, and compliance roles.
What qualifications actually get you in: Degree requirements are loosening. One analysis found that between 2019 and 2025, the share of US job postings requiring a four-year degree dropped by 33% across mid-skill roles. In practice, employers want a clear, relevant skill and proof you can use it. That usually means one of these:
- A certification that matches the job, such as CompTIA A+, Network+, or Security+ for IT, Google or Microsoft certificates for data, or PMP or CAPM for project coordination.
- A small portfolio or a few concrete examples, even from a class project, volunteer work, or a side job.
- Experience with the tools in the job posting, such as Excel, SQL, a ticketing system, or a specific software platform.
On pivoting: Pick one target role and apply to that first. Look at 10–20 postings for it, note the skills that keep appearing, and fill any gaps with a certification or a small project. Adjacent roles are easier to move into than something completely new. For example, help desk leads to systems admin, and lab technician leads to quality or clinical data roles.
If you tell me your current background (degree, past jobs, and what you enjoy doing), I can suggest two or three specific roles to focus on and what to add to your resume for each.
The Labor Market As A Nihilistic, Dystopian Nightmare
Nothing really matters. No one is qualified to work any jobs at this time, even the ones they've done before. The universe stares blankly upon the youth entering today's job market, unsparing in its disregard for their survival amidst a barrage of fake job postings and millennials, Gen X, and Boomer applicants clamoring for the entry level roles well below their skill levels, all to potentially survive on the salaries offered, but with no guarantee.
A team of hiring managers is hidden away in a secret board room with HR, drafting what they feel will be the perfect hire for their specific role; Someone who knows all the systems by memory without any training and can work autonomously but still be comfortable with surveillance and offensive remarks lobbied at the disabled, minorities, and women. This Uber Worker will not require livable wages, nor need PTO nor breaks throughout the day. They will handle escalations on their own, and train the emerging technologies to replace them while not understanding the role of nuance and irony in the endeavor. They will not have any of the protected characteristics stipulated by DOL/EEOC policy, but never the less the JD language will create a sense of hope to the broader public. The managers twiddle their fingers and laugh in cartoonishly diabolical tones as the closed blinds mirror the darkness of the sky outside.
In another boardroom, a group of scientists put together a group of obstacle courses HR will use during the hiring process: A job portal prompting candidates to upload their resume just to retype in the information later on, albeit after the system has removed bullet points and indentation. An essay section after asking them about their visa status, having them explain why they're so excited for the role. Best of all, a series of psychological profilings(interviews, cough) done with multiple people at various times with no real endpoint and hiring only done if consensus is reached among the 10 people they've met. If that fails, artificial intelligence will scan for matching words from their resume and even if there is a match, reject the application because the Uber Worker will completely eliminate the need for fair pay, intellectual curiosity, personal maturity, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Coming out of the meeting with hiring managers and after calmly observing the work of the scientists, the HR representative scratches their head. "Who are they trying to hire again?"
Jobadvisor
This is a satirical piece, and it's a sharp one. The closing line does the most work: after all that scheming, the HR rep can't remember what job they were even filling. That's the joke about how hiring processes drift from their purpose.
A few things I noticed about how it's built:
- The escalating absurdity works. The "perfect hire" is described as someone who works without pay, breaks, or protections, and then the piece adds that they'll train their own replacement. Each detail is a little worse than the last, and the reader gets to the bottom before the piece says it.
- The hiring obstacle course is the most recognizable part. Re-typing a resume after the system strips its formatting, asking about visa status in an essay prompt, and running an endless series of interviews with no clear endpoint will sound familiar to a lot of job seekers. Satire lands hardest when it's exaggerating something real.
- The "JD language creates hope" line is a good observation. Job postings often sound inspiring while describing a job that's hard to actually get or keep.
If you want to sharpen it, a few options:
- Tighten the middle. The paragraph about the Uber Worker is the longest and most crowded. Cutting two or three of the grievances would let each one hit harder.
- Trim the fake-out. "Nothing really matters" and "the universe stares blankly" set a nihilistic tone, but the piece is funnier when it sounds like a corporate memo that's gone wrong. A few deadpan, bureaucratic sentences would make the absurd details more jarring.
- Be careful with the discrimination lines. You list disabled people, minorities, and women as targets of "offensive remarks." As written, it reads as the hiring managers' plan, which works in satire. Just make sure the piece is clearly mocking that plan and not sliding into a joke about the groups themselves. The HR ending helps here, since it keeps the focus on the process.
- Consider a stronger ending. The HR rep's question is a good button. You could end right there, with no closing sentence after it.
Do you want to publish this somewhere, or are you working on it for a class or a specific audience? If you tell me, I can help you adjust the tone and length for that.
Was I in the wrong?
Just got a massage at a reflexology spa and the ladies reaction has been bothering me for like the last hour.
Basically I went in and got a 60 minute massage, I visit about once a month. I go there often. Today my reward card was maxed out for this spa so I got a discount at checkout.
So basically the total came out to about $36 and normally I’m pretty generous with my tips but I gave her $8. She looked at the screen as I’m typing and says , “8?” And then smiles and scoffs. As if she is questioning why so little? Idk , she lowkey seemed to be in some mood from when I walked in initially so I didn’t want to tip her too generously. Plus 8 is over 20 percent.
Basically it really pissed me off and I’m never going back. I guess I could have tipped a little more, but was this really that bad? $8??
Jobadvisor
Your $8 is about 22% of $36, so you did tip, and tipping well above 15% is generous. Most people would consider it a normal tip.
That said, you also said she seemed in a bad mood when you walked in, and she reacted to the amount in front of you. Her "8?" with a smile and a scoff was probably unprofessional, and it's reasonable that it stung. She didn't have to comment, and a neutral "Thank you!" would have been better. Still, one awkward moment from a massage therapist doesn't justify the anger you're describing, and an hour of replaying it suggests it hit a nerve for some other reason.
A few things might help:
- Consider the full picture. Your reward card covered part of the bill, so the sticker price was higher than $36, and the discount was for your benefit. The therapist still did the full 60 minutes of work.
- Recognize that tips in the US are often part of the pay. Many massage therapists earn a lot of their income from tips, so a reaction to a low tip can feel personal even when it isn't meant that way.
- Decide whether you want to go back. You visit monthly, so you don't have to decide right now. If you'd rather not return, that's a valid choice, but you can also make the call later, after the sting fades.
If you did want to say something, you could have politely asked what the usual tip is or explained that you were using a discount, but that's in the past now. You were probably more upset by how she reacted than by the amount itself, and it's fine to be annoyed about that.
How do I recover as a 34 yr old, almost always NEET?
Exactly as the title says. There's also a lot of personal troubles to work on, as I don't have any friends or ever had a partner. But finding some income is a priority.
What kind of professional help or guidance for employment and career searches are there? How do I approach such a situation?
Similarly, I definitely need a therapist or some other help for my mental well being as it's been terrible for a decade+ now.
I don't know why, but I just can't put my foot forward and just start, anything. I could look over my resume or talk to some career counselling service but I always freeze up and never do. Signed up for an online jobs site, then never do anything with it. Bookmark sites that seem helpful at a glance but never actually read it.
And not to mention on top of this the shame. I don't think I can ever face someone and be remotely honest about my life. Its so pathetic and even tho I know it could still get worse, thinking about the state I'm in now just makes me freeze up.
Jobadvisor
Step 1: The Mental Health Priority (Tackling the Freeze)
- Acknowledge Confidentiality: Therapists are bound by strict legal and professional confidentiality. A licensed psychologist or psychotherapist has heard it all—long-term unemployment, extreme isolation, intense self-doubt. You will not shock them, and you will not be judged.
- Opt for Online Therapy First: Given that leaving the house or facing someone physically might spike your anxiety right now, start with online therapy via video or even text/chat-based platforms if video feels too intense initially. Platforms like Hope Online or independent licensed clinical psychologists offering secure remote sessions (via Zoom or Google Meet) allow you to start from the safety of your own room.
- The "Zero-Pressure" Script: When you reach out to a therapist via email or a contact form, you do not have to write a novel. You can copy and paste something this simple:"I am an adult who has been dealing with severe long-term isolation, depression, and executive paralysis. I haven't worked in a long time, and I struggle immensely with shame and freezing up when trying to fix it. I need a safe, non-judgmental space to unpack this and take very small steps."
Step 2: Shifting How You View Career Help
- What they do: They offer free professional counseling, job-matching services, and subsidized vocational training courses (calificare profesională).
- How to approach it without a panic attack: You do not have to walk in tomorrow and bare your soul. You can start by checking their listings online, or calling them. If going in person feels paralyzingly heavy, remember that employment counselors are civil servants and caseworkers; helping people figure out a starting point is literally their daily job.
Step 3: Lowering the Bar to Micro-Steps
- Lower the stakes of "research": Stop bookmarking massive career guides. They are overwhelming. Instead, commit to 5 minutes a day of looking at one very low-barrier type of job (e.g., remote data entry, night-shift stocking, local warehousing, packaging, or digital transcription work that requires minimal initial human contact).
- Audit your baseline: Can you handle 5 hours of activity a week? 10 hours? Acceptance of your current baseline is vital. You cannot build a bridge from an imaginary life; you have to build it from where your feet are standing right now.
- Consider low-friction income paths: Look for entry-level roles or tasks that reduce the immediate need for intense interviewing or complex networking. Remote freelance micro-tasks, local entry-level manual/logistical work, or structured training programs can act as a bridge to get used to having a routine again.
Suggested Action Plan
- Week 1 (Mental Health First): Find an online therapist or mental health professional profile and send one email or message using a variation of the low-pressure script above. Your only goal this week is sending that single message.
- Week 2 (Acknowledge the Environment): Map out what kind of daily routine you can tolerate. Try to step outside for 10 minutes a day just to signal to your nervous system that the outside world isn't an immediate threat.
- Week 3 (Explore Low-Pressure Employment Support): Look up the contact details for the local AJOFM branch in Bârlad or check an online vocational training catalog. Do not apply for anything yet—just look at what options exist for free training courses or basic job placement assistance.