While unemployment is down, that doesn’t mean that workers are easily finding jobs. Despite decreasing jobless numbers, users online are still reporting major issues securing positions, ranging from employers who don’t respond to applications to immediate rejections and more.
Now, a user on TikTok sparked discussion after posting a video satirizing the many issues that come with applying for jobs in 2023.
In a clip with over 114,000 views, TikTok user Allie (@arizona_allie) writes, “POV: getting your 438th auto rejection email for a job you’re qualified for then seeing it get reposted again the next day with over 2,000 applicants.”
The audio for the clip simply states, “Ha! I have to laugh. I’m sorry, this is so f*cking ridiculous.”
@arizona_allie Tell me you’re unemployed in 2023 without telling me #jobmarket2023 #jobmarket #layoffseason #layoffs2023 #opentowork #interviewing #interviewprocess #fyp #foryou ♬ original sound – Aaron 🫢
In the comments section, users claimed this was a common issue.
“I even had an interview that I was asked to make a presentation. Spent days preparing for that, did the interview and got rejected. Feedback was that they chose someone else with more experience,” recalled a user. “Tell me why I see them advertising for same job again.”
“I am so glad I’m not the only one experiencing this,” added another. “I have over eight years of experience in the logistics industry and can’t find a job in Dallas.”
“I interviewed, got rejected and was encouraged to reapply,” recounted a third. “Why would I do that if I wasn’t a right fit?”
Allie and other commenters also shared their belief that employers were not being transparent about whether they were truly looking to hire.
“What the heck is going on? It’s like they aren’t hiring but they’re pretending that they are ?” questioned a user.
“That’s literally exactly what they’re doing,” Allie replied. “it’s so weird !!! It’s like every job.”
While Allie’s claim may seem dramatic, she’s correct. Over a quarter of employers polled in a 2022 survey confessed that they had job postings up for more than four months.
“Among those who said they advertised job postings that they weren’t actively trying to fill, close to half said they kept the ads up to give the impression the company was growing…One-third of the managers who said they advertised jobs they weren’t trying to fill said they kept the listings up to placate overworked employees,” writes Te-Ping Chen for the Wall Street Journal. “Other reasons for keeping jobs up, the hiring managers said: Stocking a pool of ready applicants if an employee quits, or just in case an ‘irresistible’ candidate applied.”
Some job seekers have dubbed such positions “ghost jobs”—and on TikTok, commenters say that they’re working hard to fight back against them.
“I called someone out,” alleged a user. “‘As I see it has been reposted, did you still want to have that interview you ghosted me about?’”
“I swear im going to start calling these companies out on linkedin,” stated a second.
In an email to the Daily Dot, Allie laid out her thoughts on the issue as she continues her job search.
“Personally, I’ve been on my job search for almost four months now, but as you can see from the comments, there are hundreds that have been going through this process for anywhere from 6 months to a year,” she detailed. “I’m trying to understand why employers are doing this, since it seems to me like it’s almost every company/job posting I find on LinkedIn. Other than ‘ghost jobs’ as someone else referenced, it feels like there is some larger, hidden agenda — like they’re personally benefiting in some way from continuously acting as if they’re actively recruiting/ hiring for these roles but never filling them.”
A potential solution to this issue could be legislation, she said.
“I feel as if there should be some sort of legislation that tells companies they are required to fill a role within X amount of days once posted, and they should definitely be required to give individualized feedback to each applicant who went through their interview process,” she stated. “We deserve that, at the very least.”
She even offered specific examples of companies whom she accused of suspicious behavior when it came to job listings.
“One of the roles I interviewed with in April was at HubSpot (a very large tech company) for a mid market account executive (the title I’ve held for six years now),” she recounted. “Not only was the almost 2 month long interview process grueling as it required 4 interviews, one being a mock sales presentation and another being a THREE HOUR LONG final interview, they rejected me without any feedback and have since reposted the role 4 times now.”
“Every time it’s reposted I see at least 1,000 applicants,” she continued. “How is that legal?!”
As for everyone currently dealing with this process, Allie offered her advice.
“For the hundreds of thousands I’ve realized are affected and experiencing the same terrible job search process that I am, I hope they know it is not just them. They are not alone, and they’re not crazy!” she wrote. “I feel that so many in the comments were shocked at how widespread the issue is and how long it’s actually been going on without any news coverage or anyone doing anything about it.”