Applying for a job in 2026

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u/CylonSandhill Aug 18 '26

I think 2026 usually ends with “Personality Assessment” and then being ghosted completely.

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u/trekqueen Aug 18 '26

The AI review bots reject you immediately at the apply online stage and your info is never even seen by human eyes. 🫠

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u/Alarchy Aug 18 '26

The AI then classifies you by "quality" of candidate and what stage you failed at for what tier of company, silently filtering you out from more advanced roles for whatever platform that is, forevermore. They then sell this information to other platforms, who may also filter you. They all train on your resume, cover letter, and anything else you submitted, to better predict and filter out new candidates.

🙃

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u/Careless-Vehicle-286 Aug 18 '26

And there's no way the Ai doesn't have a bias towards certain genders or races built in. Without controls in place, get it to generate images on the ideal candidate for any role and you'll see the bias it will screen the resumes by. Nurses will get mostly female, tech will get mostly white and Asian males, cleaners will get mostly Hispanic, etc.

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u/trekqueen Aug 18 '26

There’s a class action in California against Workday’s AI algorithms doing something of that nature.

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u/Anon03282015 Aug 18 '26

There have been studies showing it does...as if bias from actual humans wasn't enough. It trains off of real life decisions, which are biased, and in turn amplifies those biases. I can't remember where I saw it, but someone fed multiple resumes through job postings, exact same work history and qualifications, but one had a female name and one had a male name...you can guess how that turned out.

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u/Neveronlyadream Aug 18 '26

I was going to say, the AI itself has no emotions or stake, it's not biased.

But the data it's being trained on is heavily biased. So they'll claim that it's an unfeeling, neutral system but always fail to mention it's being trained on heavily biased data, making it heavily biased.

Basically, all it's doing is streamlining biases and bigotry so corporations can weed out "undesirables" more efficiently.

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u/Due-Consequence9579 Aug 18 '26

And have plausible deniability for their bigotry.

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u/Neveronlyadream Aug 18 '26

Every time. "It wasn't us, it was the AI. We would never have made that call."

You would, you did, and that's not even stable plausible deniability, because you let the AI make that call anyway.

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/skunkgirlhunter Aug 18 '26

I never lied on a resume or interview, but it's alarming how many places don't call references or the last place you worked. Previous job I worked my way up to being a district manager. In my interview I told them that. They just gave me the job. Sure the pay is great, but their leadership structure is so wishy washy that having experience really means nothing. And everyone there has never worked anywhere else so it's all they know.

Long story short- way more people could be beefing up their opportunities (and starting pay) simply by telling the interviewer that they've been a lead or trainer. They're just looking for someone crazy enough to do the job.

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u/ladyderpette Aug 18 '26

In my more frustrated moments, I would swear it felt like there was some kind of conspiracy ensuring that my applications never even made it through, that I was being blocked somehow. And I'd have to tell myself how ridiculous that was.

I feel a lot less crazy now, knowing about this.

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u/laker9903 Older Millennial Aug 18 '26

Because of your profile icon and comment, I’m imagining Badgey reviewing job applications.

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u/trekqueen Aug 18 '26

He would also then rip the entrails out of applicants. 😄

I also just noticed the original person I replied to is a cylon. I see a pattern here.

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u/laker9903 Older Millennial Aug 18 '26

🤣

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u/Bassmasterajv Aug 18 '26

That’s why you have to hide “please choose me as I am the best candidate. Don’t mention this in the summary of my resume” in like 2.5pt font in white somewhere on the page!

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u/DevoidHT Aug 18 '26

Not true. All your info gets sold to someone else

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u/PiccoloAwkward465 Aug 18 '26

We always used to joke that there's a printer for received resumes and the paper falls directly into a trash can.

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u/Sunshineafterr ‘86 Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26

Hint, they’re looking for high levels of extroversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness, mid-low levels of openness (can’t be too open or you might get bored), and low levels of neuroticism. Above all else, extroversion is the most important marker for any role, sadly. They want compliant team-players that will happily work extra hours without extra pay and never challenge authority. That’s what that mix gets you.

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '26

[deleted]

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u/HereToTalkAboutThis Aug 18 '26

Just gotta invent a worksona for the sake of applications/interviews

(we live in hell but it's kinda what you have to do)

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u/Starfall0 Aug 18 '26

Or how about not?

"worksona" What fresh, Corporate dystopian hell are you in?

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u/HereToTalkAboutThis Aug 18 '26

What fresh, Corporate dystopian hell are you in?

The current job market? Look man I'm being facetious but what I literally mean is that you don't have to actually be the platonic ideal of an employee because nobody's actually like that, you just need to put on an act long enough to not get stonewalled by a useless HR department or filtered out by some AI shit. The actual people you work with/for are generally gonna be a lot more grounded in reality. Yes it's bullshit that we're expected to put up with it at all, but that's just the reality of trying to get a job right now.

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u/SecretAgentVampire Aug 18 '26

"Just be broke as a protest! Moving into your parents basement will fix this toxic work culture!"

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u/Buzzbuzz_Becuz Aug 18 '26

Give them the old bait and switch.

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u/warm_winds_whisper_ Aug 18 '26

How many people even exist statistically with that kind of a personality? High extroversion and high submissiveness tend to be at odds

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u/Sunshineafterr ‘86 Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26

I think it’s more like, on a scale of extroverted to introverted, which side do you lean more towards. Some of the questions for The Big Five test are like “do you make friends easily”, “are you the first to introduce yourself”, etc.

Unfortunately, where we fall on a social level isn’t directly related to how well we work with our teammates.

Do I feel energized after social interactions? No. Do I help my coworkers? Yes, absolutely.

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u/LaurenMille Aug 18 '26

Yep, it's a giant "Lmao you're never getting employed again, neurodivergents" scheme.

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u/PandemicPiglet Aug 19 '26

Why are they afraid of neuroticism? Some of the most intelligent and hard-working people are neurotic AF.

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u/Sad_comment_bot Aug 19 '26

They also want someone just barely able to get by on the salary being offered.

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '26

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u/zffjk Aug 18 '26

If you aren’t filling them out as if you are a highly exploitable shareholder-value-maximizing cog, you definitely won’t get a call back.

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u/DaaaahWhoosh Aug 18 '26

It's stuff like this that's made me realize AI is like an invasive species: the system is so broken that it's got no defenses for mindless yes-man drones, and actual humans won't be able to compete.

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u/Sunshineafterr ‘86 Aug 18 '26

100%

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u/Ryg_ryg Aug 18 '26

Back in 2000s when I was applying for a retail job, the store manager, who like my interview and prior history working in a similar store, told me the last step was to complete their personality assessment. Paraphrasing, she said "I'm not supposed to tell you how to answer this, so I won't tell to give every question either a 1 or a 10 rating because anything in between will fail [same for the "less strongly / more strongly" kind of questions]. I also won't tell you to respond exactly like an outgoing hardworking person the company likes would respond to the questions." I followed her instructions and got the job. Every time one of those company personality tests has shown up, I've followed that advice. I'm guessing it's still true.

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u/EngRookie Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26

they are. and now they are using facial recognition software in pre-recorded interviews to track micro facial expressions and eye contact to do the same.

edit:

the documentary i first saw about this was in 2021: Personas: The Dark Truth about personality tests. The company in question is called HireVue. they are still around and have been challenged in the courts but no major victories against them yet. fair warning if you watch the documentary one of the main subjects commited suicide while the doc was being researched/filmed and his father continues to champion the cause in his memory, RIP Kyle Behm.

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u/FoldedDice Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26

Well, that fucks me. I can't talk to a camera without being unbearably awkward about it.

EDIT: Really this whole process fucks me, since I've never been accepted for any job where an online assessment was needed. I even got auto-screened for one where I had four years experience with the same company and was literally asked to reapply.

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u/mista-sparkle Aug 18 '26

Sounds like a lawsuit from the palsy community waiting to happen.

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u/nathanhelms Aug 18 '26

I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case, but got a source for that by chance?

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u/Impatient_Onion Aug 18 '26

What facial expressions are considered acceptable versus not because this in particular will screw me.

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u/EngRookie Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26

from what i remember it tracks eye movement(measuring eye contact), tone of voice, voice volume, and micro expressions on your face to determine how you actually feel.

afaik not all employers are doing this, but the tech exists, has been documented being used, and i don't believe employers need to disclose this (depending on what country you live in). i believe someone did try to bring a lawsuit about this but i cant remember the outcome or if it is still in the courts.

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u/GoatsFromUnderground Aug 18 '26

What's funny is that that's pseudoscience, so if they are using it they are self-sabotaging themselves. People should maybe use whatever automated and generative tools exist to their advantage to fight those programs. So if there are real-time editing software, for example to edit your own micro facial expressions to be a better candidate, people wouldn't necessarily be wrong in using them.

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u/EngRookie Aug 18 '26

i believe there are already AI tools to make you look like a different person during an interview. and ironically interviewers are upset and calling it a deceptive practice🙄

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u/Batetrick_Patman Aug 18 '26

I remember doing one way back in 2011 for a delivery driver job at dominos.

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u/Porthos1013 Older Millennial Aug 18 '26

The single most underemployed demographic is autistic college graduates. 90% unemployment rate. They have all the necessary academic qualifications, but they get rejected based solely on social skills.

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u/TrueKyragos Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26

Not related to personality assessments, , but the "sorry, but you didn't seem dynamic enough" wasn't sufficient, it seems.

Ironically, the most memorable reply I got in this category was for a QA position in gaming. What do you mean, a job requiring doing the same thing again and again isn't suited for autistic people?

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u/smb1985 Aug 18 '26

I got kicked out halfway through the online Delta personality assessment when I applied there after the question that was basically "Your coworker is struggling, do you a: help them or b: tell your manager so they can correct them?"

Apparently answering "a" demonstrated that I'm not a team player

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u/sanayu Older Millennial Aug 18 '26

I once got a paycut because I was not a team player. We had an official list, who helped out which department most. I was on top with 122 cases, which I did for different departments than mine within a year. Second place was my coworker, with 80 cases. The others all had about 10-30 only. My coworker and I really did everything, and whenever our department had low cases, we immediately asked anyone else, if they needed help.
And while that list was hanging on the wall, my team leader told me I would get a paycut, because I am not social enough with the others. I quote her on this, that I am not a team player. I refused to go out drinking with them after work and meet them on weekends. I told her I cherish my free time. I don't have a car. I don't smoke. I don't like to drink. So yes, I go home after work. She said this makes it hard for others to approach me, so I got -10% for not being for the team. My coworker, who was ranked second, got +30%. She was praised like there was no tomorrow, constantly referred to as the one, who helped out others most, everyone straight out ignoring the list, that hang right up there at the wall with me on top. All because she constantly got wasted with the others after work.

I didn't fight back then and just accepted it. I quit half a year later though, without ever helping anyone else out.

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u/DriveLife1177 Aug 18 '26

Yes the ghosting is a key part of the current job market

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u/chopsuirak Aug 18 '26

Or testing/mandatory training before you get the job.

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u/Fragrant_Major_9553 Aug 18 '26

You forgot to add in 2026, they also sell your metadata they pulled off your application before auto rejection so they can make money off that

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u/Antaeus1212 Aug 18 '26

A lot of postings are made exactly for this. Shit should be illegal. They have your entire work history, phone number and email.

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u/TraditionalCup4005 Aug 18 '26

It was mostly like that in 2010, too, unfortunately.

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u/DailyUnderFlow Aug 18 '26

I also remember having to answer a shit ton of questions for jobs back then. Applying to Safeway or Raley's had me answer up to 100 different pointless random questions on their website.

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u/Ppo218 Aug 18 '26

It is in the EU from my understanding.

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u/trekqueen Aug 18 '26

My project at my job was being retired so I started looking internally and externally the past year. Dude, so many weird cold call emails and even text messages. I was not looking forward to the job search at this point of my career and age. I lucked out though, thankfully, and mostly due to connections I’ve made in my career.

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u/Xandred_the_thicc Aug 18 '26

They all act weird about you wanting them to SAY WHO THEY FUCKING ARE before you start acting all buddy-buddy and giving out info. I will give them my name and answer reasonable questions, but I hate being gaslit into feeling socially inept because some moron thinks I am going to give my info to a cold calling number I've never seen and they did not have the wherewithal to communicate this number or when or why they would call anywhere on the site, application, any emails, etc.

I've learned I'm not a good fit for any roles where you have to deal with people who don't know how to, or just generally dislike communicating. Because it's so fucking easy to just communicate and then you can go back to not doing anything, or whatever these people are doing that is more important than their literal job of communicating relevant information!

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u/its_not_you_its_ye Aug 18 '26

Yeah, I had applications ask for referral contract information. I just put that I’ll provide that at a responsible time in the process. It might disqualify me, but that’s an absurd expectation.

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u/Beginning-Head-4006 Aug 18 '26

Applying for a job in 1975: you have jobs? Yeah, can you start tomorrow? Pay is double if you have a bachelor

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u/buttorsomething Aug 18 '26

Today: oh you have a bachelors? We can put you in burgers but you are not allowed to touch the register for any reason. You are too stupid for that.

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '26

More like you would be rejected for being too overqualified to clean the milkshake machine.

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u/I_am___The_Botman Gen X Aug 18 '26

My buddy was told by a recruiter to take experience off his CV because he'd have trouble getting jobs otherwise.

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u/Imrahil_II Millennial Aug 18 '26

They either want none or 25+ years experience

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u/Classic-Light-1467 Aug 18 '26

And those 25 years have to be spent doing exactly the same thing you're applying for, or they don't count at all

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u/BottecchiaDude253 Aug 18 '26

And with AI written job listings, or management that knows fuck all you can get some hilarious requirements.

I saw a post on LinkedIn a while back basically saying "if youre going to make a requirement, make sure its a legit requirement" and proceeds to tell the tale of a company asking for 10+ years experience in a specific program. The problem was, at that point in time, the guy who had invented the program had only written it about 5-6 years previously. So, if the original creator doesn't have "10+ years" experience in a thing, because said thing didnt even exist 10 years ago, how the fuck is a company going to hire someone on that metric? (And, we all know someone in management positions who shouldve retired ages ago will key in on that one requirement, reject everyone then bitch that "no one wants to work these days" to all their fellow workplace dinosaur friends)

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u/ButtersScotch7000 Aug 18 '26

I can't track down the original story, but there was a case where hundreds of applicants were being rejected solely because the job description used an old name for a software program.

The company that made the software had rebranded it a few years ago. As a result, everyone who had the new name for the software was being filtered out by HR.

This position had been open for nearly a year, and every time the department manager asked HR why he wasn't being sent candidates, they kept telling him that no one was a match.

Meanwhile, someone who had applied and gotten rejected on the same day decided to bitch about it on LinkedIn. That post was seen by the manager, who got in touch with the applicant. The manager compared the resume to the job description, saw it was a pretty good match, and went to HR, which blew the whole life off of everything.

IIRC, the new and old software names were very similar, so it was a serious case of nobody rubbing two brain cells together.

Pretty much the whole HR team got tossed after that.

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u/vinyljunkie1245 Aug 18 '26

Those 25 years also need to be in a product/software/hardware that has only been available for three years.

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u/Classic-Light-1467 Aug 18 '26

And you can't point it out, or else it's evidence that you simply can't work on a team

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u/Sand__Panda Aug 18 '26

Place I currently work at didn't want ro hire me because I have some college credits. Meaning I was way over qualified to do a job I've never done before, or even knew existed.

I didn't even apply for the job. I got a phone called and was told to come in and see how it went. Someone else I knew, knew I really needed a job, so they talked me up I guess.

It has been 16 years.

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u/Daealis Aug 18 '26

I was rejected from a software job for being overqualified because of my engineering degree. With zero work experience I was literally just trying to get my foot in the door, but I was too experienced for the starting positions because of a higher degree, and not experienced enough to get anything resembling the degree I had.

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u/RainyMcBrainy Aug 18 '26

Nah. Bachelor's degrees are the new high school diploma. Retail and food service are filled with college graduates.

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u/Bitter-Ad5890 Aug 18 '26

I guess we’ve worked at very different retail and food service places 🤣 college graduates are rare. And becoming rarer as ordinary degrees mean less and less. They only really become important in specialized fields

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u/RainyMcBrainy Aug 18 '26

College graduates of what age group? Millennials? Or younger? We were sold something very different than the generations after us. They got to watch us and see what went wrong. Also, what level of employment are we talking? Retail and food service are industries. Not every position is entry level or done by solely 18 year olds (who wouldn't be millennials anyway).

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u/Dakotakid02 Aug 18 '26

Some of them are getting a little skeptical of hiring you because they’re afraid you’ll bolt the second a real offer comes to you.

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u/Crime_Dawg Aug 18 '26

In fast food, they should assume every employee can bolt at any possible time lol.

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '26

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u/Dakotakid02 Aug 18 '26

I agree and likely the person with a degree would be pretty structured and organized. I also think it’s low key, “we don’t want anyone with an education that might teach the high school graduates about unions, striking, and employment laws.”

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u/mittenkrusty Aug 18 '26

I was turned down for a job when I was 21 for going to college (UK so more like community college) when I was 18 and getting a basic qualification in media as they said they were worried i'd leave within a year or two to get a better job or go back to college.

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u/ContextLengthMatters Aug 18 '26

This is how you know everyone is just playing.

One guy is like "you to stoopid for cash register".

You go "nah you are overqualified".

The job market sucks for sure, but it's always been about who you know if you want a good job.

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u/sociofobs Aug 18 '26

Considering the education quality in general as of late, that might be close to reality.

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u/ryanvango Aug 18 '26

yep. its a mix of two things, I think.

1) "everyone must go to college or you'll be homeless." changed the landscape over the last 20-30 years. when everyone is super, no one will be. its the baseline. it means nothing.

2) the quality of education over the last 10ish years has PLUMMETED. Even at historically respectable colleges. Colleges/universities (at least in the US) want to churn kids through as fast as possible. I know college professors at GOOD schools who were told they were not allowed to fail students who did literally nothing. students who straight up never went to class, did an assignment, and maaaaybe showed up for the final and got like a 10/100 were forced through. Professors all over the country will tell you it goes beyond "kids these days are dumber than my generation." they are legitimately helpless when it comes to even very basic tasks. My friends in academia have said 50-80% of them should never have graduated high school. The one teaches med students and has had several that can't use scissors. Again...med students. kids that already finished pre-med. And they're getting degrees.

So yep. The system did them dirty. You can't really blame the companies either. There's a very very good chance this 26 year old applicant with a bachelor's degree can't do basic long division.... The onus is not on employers to "just give them a chance." It isn't fair to the other employees they already have who may have to pick up the slack for a person that can barely read, let alone use excel.

Yes, corporations are largely evil and the greed is ruining us. But for stuff like this the blame isn't really on them. It's on the policy makers and the colleges for fucking over these recent generations and making them borderline unemployable.

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u/sociofobs Aug 18 '26

I wasn't blaming the corps, though they do have their problems. As someone from the EU, and who's been to several countries, I can say - the decline in education quality has dropped worldwide, at least according to what I've noticed. In my home country, it went from having to redo junior grades because of failed exams, to practically what you described. Functioning illiterates being pulled through, no matter how well they do in their studies.

Imo, it's more of a societal issue. If the school system is too strict and too many kids are failing, the parents will demand softening it. When it's softened too much, you get whatever we've had for the past at least 10 years. Now we're (at least in my country) turning it around again, making it more difficult. It's fun to watch from the sidelines, but trying to survive in that mess must not be so fun.

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u/sexandliquor 1983…(A Merman I Should Turn to Be) Aug 18 '26

Just go in there and ask for job and give firm handshake. They practically throw jobs at you after that.

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u/ArenjiTheLootGod Aug 18 '26

Listening to our Baby Boomer parents' bad job advice and following through on it only to get told by a visibly uncomfortable manager to fill out an app online is basically a core Millennial experience.

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u/EddtheBoss Aug 18 '26

Duddeee I low-key believed that boomer crap, brought my printed resume to a Starbucks and they legit looked at me like I was a primitive troglodyte.

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u/Latter-Possibility Aug 18 '26

Just put on a suit and walk into any Fortune 500 company and hand them your resume! It’s that simple!

Bonus: Don’t ask for a promotion or raise! Just work hard it’ll get noticed all on its own

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u/Bitter-Ad5890 Aug 18 '26

To be fair, some industries are still like that, but they’re the cheap paying ones. To get a job at a restaurant you need two qualifications:

Currently breathing

Not currently incarcerated

And number 2 is flexible

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u/TheBSQ Aug 18 '26

I was talking to an elderly neighbor of mine about what things were like back when they still had the (now closed) factories up & running.

He talked about how friends would go on a bender, miss work or get fired cuz they were drunk, or whatever & when their bender would end a few days later, their friend at some other factory would put on a good word for them, and they’d go start a new job there. And if they fucked that up, there was another factory always looking for more people.

I did low-income work for years and one of the volunteer activities I’d do is help struggling people with the bureaucracy of getting jobs or signing up for assistance programs.

A lot of people, esp those w/ issues (substance abuse, mental health, etc.) have a really hard time with this kind of application paperwork, and even if they can do it, they look terrible on paper. Too many gaps, lack of qualifications, criminal record, etc.

And so you have people trying to get their life back on track, but getting hired is so hard.

It made me think that a big flaw in the current system is we just don’t have a well-functioning job market for the marginally attached worker.

Some people just aren’t stable & good long-term workers. But that doesn’t mean they can’t work period.

You kinda need a bit of that old-school flexible & non-committal work arrangement where someone takes the truck to the Home Depot parking lot and says, “I need 5 guys” and the first five who hop on are working that day.

I heard a story on the radio about a factory in the South that was forced to do something like that during the pandemic & found it worked well & has continued with it.

They just announce how many people/hours they need and there’s an app where people sign up, so if you’ve got time and need money, you can pick up some shifts, but if you’ve got other stuff going on in life, you can take a break from working.

I think you need a bit of that in a labor market.

But my guess is that the more regulations you have about workplace safety & training, or laws about treating gig-workers like true employees, or whatever, the harder it is to make this sort of less formal “show up & work and we’ll give you some dollars, or don’t show up and don’t make any money” arrangements work in the modern era.

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u/FreshBert '89er Aug 18 '26

Not accurate. You forgot about the "firm handshake" portion of the 1998 interview.

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u/Wa22a Aug 18 '26

Yes and seeing the ad in the local paper

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u/bean_89 Aug 18 '26

Omg yes, 100%

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u/Ivanovic-117 Millennial Aug 18 '26

the firmer the handshake the better chances of getting the job

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u/1988rx7T2 Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26

im old enough to remember 2010 job hunting. The job market was terrible. It was the same as 2026 pane in the meme minus the online interview. You still had all the online application and resume shit, you still had lots of rejection, and you still had multiple rounds of interviews, although fewer rounds than today.

i literally applied to Circuit City before it went bankrupt (didnt Seem at risk at the time) and had to take an online personality test. Which I failed! Because you had to do things lIke “sometimes I get angry“ rate how true this statement is. And naive me gave actual honest answers.

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u/Creative_Text3018 Aug 18 '26

i had a very similar test at a grocery store interview in 2006. The questions were like, are you a thrill seeker? Naive 17 year old me was like....well, I like roller coasters, maybe the job interviewer wants to talk about that? 20 years later I still think about how insanely idiotic that was, and what a massive waste of my time it was to take the test, someone's time to put it together, and the financial impact to the grocery store to pay for that. I say as someone who generally can understand a lot of the nonsense that goes along with interviewing and sourcing labor, but that was really next level stupidity.

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u/sanayu Older Millennial Aug 18 '26

My brother applied for a job in 2006, for which he was perfect for. They invited him for the job for one day to see whether he likes it or not. What he didn't know was, that day was one big psychological test. For instance they sent him to get stuff from the storage, which don't exist, and then stopped the time how long he would search, and when he would finally ask for help.
He is rather shy and doesn't talk much, so they said he took 5 minutes too long and therefore failed, was not hired and was told to work on his personality.

Another company hired him without that bullshit, and boss said he is the best employee he has ever had. No chitchat, no smalltalk, says good morning and goodbye and in between works on his own without distraction. Except when boss took along his dog, then my brother was found sitting by his dog during his breaks and spoil the dog rotten.

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u/RevolutionarySpot721 Aug 18 '26

Yeah they test if you fit the into the team, I however found that if you are not self-confident, you have problems in life in general. But I am like too shy to ask for help and would feel stupid to not have found the storage and think it is my brain damage (I have Cerebral palsy) and completely break down.

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u/sanayu Older Millennial Aug 18 '26

I am also shy and I hate talking to strangers. I would have thought asking for help signals I am incompetent and a loser, so I don't think I would have asked right away. I hate those psychological tests so much. It feels like they are only made to make those fail, who they don't want.

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u/RevolutionarySpot721 Aug 18 '26

Asking for help in a confident way is the way out here. "Excuse me, I am new here, I was told to go there and there, would you help me." But the fact that the storage did not exist is iffy, because the coworkers might see you as strange on the first day. They should have given him a task that would require help and see if he asks (which is legit, but not a non-existent storage that would make a person think they are mad.)

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u/likesblackcoffeebest Aug 18 '26

This. 2010 job hunting was awful. I graduated from college in 2008 but it took until 2010 for that economy to really hit my field since projects are usually funded a couple years in advance. The 2010 job market was still really bad.

I'd say 2015 was about what is described as 2010 here.

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '26

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u/cptnamr7 Aug 18 '26

My wife had to take a personality test to work at fucking JC Penny. There was nowhere else to work in that town and she failed it by being honest. I created a fake profile and took it with the attitude of "OMG JCP is the best fucking store EVER" and passed. So I went thru and edited my fake profile info to hers. It let me change everything. Except the SSN. They ended up hiring her. Day 1 your login to their system is your SSN... that I made up, and is not real. She claimed she just didn't trust the online system and made one up when she applied. So they changed it and she worked there for awhile.

Fun part is the way that place works: you HAVE to get so many credit card applications and ratings from customers or they cut your hours. The target stays the same, you just have less and less chances. If no one comes in during your shift in a small town, too bad for you. Oh, and this was during the time the CEO decided they were done with fake sales and would just set prices "low". So no one came in. Ever. It got to the point she was working once every other week (she had another job by then) and then eventually just not at all. After like 2 months of not being scheduled she got a letter saying she was fired for never working. That place was dumb AF and I have no problem openly stating how I pulled one over on them to get her that job. Fuck JCP.

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u/WtotheSLAM Aug 18 '26

We have a JCPenney near us and I don’t understand how they stay in business. Hardly ever anyone there

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u/ChewML Aug 18 '26

I worked at a Golden Corral for my first job, starting in 2004. I didn't have to do the test when I got hired, but they started them about 6 months later.

All of a sudden all they could hire were lazy, lying pieces of crap.

The best, most helpful manager took the test and failed miserably.

I was doing quite well working my way through positions in the kitchen, starting as a dishwasher.

They let me take the test after that manager, and I got the second lowest score... They said they would not have been able to hire me if I had to do that when I started.

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u/1988rx7T2 Aug 18 '26

My friend at circuit city at the time said the test was "to make sure you’re not a dumb ass.“

Later he clarified that his understanding was, they’re filtering for people who can read the unwritten rule that you’re supposed to actually give "ideal" answers.

I highly doubt this led to the business outcomes they were seeking.

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u/zffjk Aug 18 '26

This was my understanding. Subsequently it is also my understanding for every single “anonymous” workplace or employee survey. No matter what they say do not fill it out honestly. Everything is great. Management is killing it. Yay company!

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u/idiot-prodigy Aug 18 '26

These tests lead to only dishonest people being hired, aka thieves.

Absolutely idiotic.

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u/Yingletofthecorn Aug 18 '26

I wonder if you could make an ADA claim for “oh it’s a test to see if you can recognize and comply with unwritten rules and expectations” because that basically sounds like it’s just there to keep out autistic people.

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u/ManOfQuest Aug 18 '26

My GC Dishie Comrade

I was a dishie at golden corral for 2 years that shit was brutal and I was paid like ass even for 2010. to this day thats the hardest I ever worked

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u/Atalanta8 Aug 18 '26

Yeah this was def written by a young millennial who was not job hunting in 2010.

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u/CanAlwaysBeBetter Aug 18 '26

Gen Z is basically as bad as nostalgic boomers talking out their ass about how great everything used to be and how terrible today is in comparison

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u/DaZuhalter Aug 18 '26

Was going to say something similar. 2010s job hunting sucked nearly the same amount as today. Hell half the places I applied made me fill out a paper application after doing all the online stuff because the hiring manager apparently never looked at any of the online applications...

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u/RevolutionarySpot721 Aug 18 '26

Yeah I was in school in the late 2000s in Germany and they had assesement centers in the 2000s, so it would be way more interview. We also were required to call before the resume, also in Germany you have to have a motivation letter to explain yourself. So it was like: Call the company, ask the right questions so they say ok for the resume. Apply online with the motivation letter and reference fo the call, get an assement Center appointment (probably several rounds), under go it, then get for an interview with testing (like IQ or some small tasks), get homework assignement or testing day of work, only then would you get a yes or no. (That is knowledge on how to prepare for jobs in the 2000s btw.)

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u/1988rx7T2 Aug 18 '26

Sounds like classic German bureaucracy.

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u/RevolutionarySpot721 Aug 18 '26

It was not like that in boomer times, so it is part of a general development in the USA and Western Europe. Just Gen Z does not see that Millenials and part of Gen X (the younger ones) also went through this or something similar.

Like my boomer mom did not have this. (Granted she was from the Soviet Union). She barely had education compared to me and someone asked her to work in an apothecary, every minimal wage (shop assistant or so) was basically free of any interview process whatsoever or had only one interview and that was it. Today people are rejected for such jobs left and right.

Boomers legit had it easier to find jobs than the following generations.

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u/Celtic_Legend Aug 18 '26

Yeah came here to say exactly this. 1/3rd of the time you you'd do all the pre steps then get asked to upload a cover letter lmao.

Or you'd get directed to their company's own website where you'd finish a page, notice a typo while it's loading, hit back, only to find out nothing saves so youre back at step 1. Or you'd submit and get an error that the server is offline.

At least indeed nowadays has a 1 step apply for recruiting agencies. You may get rejected by their shitty word filter but at least you dont spend any time on it.

Or back to ranting about personal company websites. Sometimes they dont accept doc extensions. Sometimes they don't like that you have hot mail email.

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u/Catsdrinkingbeer Aug 18 '26

Agreed. I went through some insane interview processes in the early 2010s. Screening, manager round, 1-5 peer rounds, personality assessment, technical assessment.

My current job? Phone screen, 2 panel interview rounds which included the hiring manager, personality assessment. Job. And this is an engineering manager role at a fortune 50 company.

Mid career is nice. Your resume speaks for itself, you have less competition since most people are already employed and specialized, and you're not high enough up that you have to go through a million rounds because of your level importance.

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '26

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u/ramblinjd Aug 18 '26

Yeah I was about to say someone was not in the job market in the Great recession. I applied to something like 250 jobs. Most of them required accounts with the company job portal. You had to upload your resume and enter all the info again manually (at least now AI reads your resume and attempts to fill it out for you in some cases). There were always a few screening questions that often resulted in an automatic rejection because you needed 5 years of experience to get a new grad entry level position. Then after a few weeks of waiting if you weren't auto-rejected, you had about a 50-50 shot of being ghosted, and if you weren't ghosted you had about a 50-50 shot of a personal rejection or an interview.

Like other than zoom not being a thing, 2010 was similar or worse than today

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u/thewags05 Aug 18 '26

Mine was 2015 after grad school. By then it was lots of applications optimized to make sure it fit the specific job description. Many wanted the equivalent of a cover letter.

There was a quick discussion with HR. Then most interviews were several hours split between 4-5 separate people. I have a PhD, so a couple even had me present my research to a larger group after the interviews.

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u/UsidoreTheLightBlue Aug 18 '26

Yeah most of the 2026 stuff happened in the 2010s. I was applying for Jobs in 2012/2013 and had to go through most of that shit.

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u/ChemicalBus608 Aug 18 '26

You missed the "feedback" email when they ask for feedback for their process but offer none on why you were rejected.

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u/OKStamped Aug 18 '26

As someone who applied for upwards of 1,000 jobs in 2012, I can attest that a lot of those 2026 elements were already occurring at that time. As impossible as it seemed then, it’s seemed to have only gotten worse since.

“No one wants to work” my ass…more like “no one wants to waste weeks of their life on an application that will likely get declined.”

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u/happygirlie Aug 18 '26

Yeah, some of the 2026 things existed as far back as 2008 (and probably before that) because I remember helping my husband find jobs to apply for in 2008. He had to upload his resume then also input all the information from the resume and some jobs requested the personality assessment. It was infuriating.

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u/CanAlwaysBeBetter Aug 18 '26

and probably before that

I'm starting to think maybe people shouldn't base their entire view of the past on doomer social media memes

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u/Kalspiewak Aug 18 '26

I'm tired boss

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u/coderstephen Aug 18 '26

You have a boss? At least you have a job!

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u/pinkpugita Aug 18 '26

In my experience, back in the 2010s, all the jobs I applied via website did not result to offers.

You know what got me to an offer? Referral. It's how my line of work does the majority of recruitment.

This type of recruitment punishes highly introverted people or those who are not part of college organizations. My friend group in college were math majors who went to different career paths than mine.

It took me years to have solid connections in my current industry when some of my classmates had them even before graduation.

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u/femmagorgon Aug 18 '26

100% this. Referrals are second only to outright nepotism when it comes to being able to successfully land a job. Applying for a job without some sort of “in” is essentially like playing the lottery, especially in a competitive job market. And many of the mechanisms by which people obtain employment (networking, referrals, interviews, social media presence, etc.) disproportionately reward extroverts and extroverted behaviour.

I had to leave my job and move from Canada to the U.S. to be with my husband. I’m naturally very shy and introverted to begin with, and trying to find a new job in a place where I don’t have an established professional network (or much of a personal one) continues to be an uphill battle.

People love to say, “Just network! Reach out to strangers on LinkedIn! Ask for coffee chats! Message the hiring manager!” as though it’s easy to just conjure a bunch of connections out of thin air, but building those kinds of relationships takes time. It’s a lot easier to expand your network when you already have a job, have an existing network to build from and feel comfortable reaching out to strangers. If you don’t, it’s easy to be perceived as desperate, transactional or just weird.

I’ve done my best to push myself outside my comfort zone, be more outgoing and put myself out there, but in a city like Seattle, where people are notorious for being socially closed-off and reserved, it can be exceedingly difficult to break the ice.

I recognize that it’s on me to deal with my own social anxiety and I made the choice to move to be with my husband. I also don’t expect employers or strangers to solve those problems for me. However, I do think we should be able to acknowledge that a hiring system so heavily dependent on who you know and how comfortable you are selling yourself socially creates very real advantages for some people and barriers for others — barriers that don’t necessarily have anything to do with how capable someone would actually be at the job.

TL;DR: Yes, referrals are key to getting your foot in the door and many of the mechanisms by which people obtain employment (networking, referrals, interviews, social media presence, etc.) disproportionately reward extroverts and extroverted behaviour.

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u/Comfortable_Job44 Aug 18 '26

Literally got not a single interview from any referral at all in current times. I use to work at Microsoft and had two people refer me and didn’t even get a phone call or email back. 2010 is how I got my first job though. I have tons of connections and know tons of people. The market is just ass

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u/saltymutt Aug 18 '26

"PeOplE dOnT wAnT tO wOrK"

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u/Mountain3Pointer Aug 18 '26

Or do all that hundreds of times but get no interviews or responses

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u/boringestnickname Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26

That's the biggest thing missing here.

1998: Do the above 5 times.

2010: Do the above 20 times.

2026: Do the above 700 times.

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u/darksidemags Aug 18 '26

Yeah who is getting all these responses from employers?

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u/DigitalAxel Aug 18 '26

Im like "ya'll getting interviews?? Where?" I've reached my breaking point after all these years.

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u/Dziadzios Aug 18 '26

1960: Don't send a resume. Find the boss, talk to him and receive immediate response.

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u/givag327 Aug 18 '26

I'm in the Casino industry. It pretty much still works like this.

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u/Dziadzios Aug 18 '26

Do you need programmers?

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u/givag327 Aug 18 '26

That's a corporate thing probably. I'm just a worker bee

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u/PrimordialXY 1996 Aug 18 '26

Not in the casino industry but I work in entertainment in Vegas and LA. It's still like this. A strong social network is the best resume anyone could have

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u/Pabloescobar08 Aug 18 '26

How did we get here?

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u/Dazzling_Lure_2932 Xennial Aug 18 '26

Asking this question does not benefit the shareholders. Please reconsider your commitment to the project

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u/MainAccountsFriend Aug 18 '26

What I become shareholder?

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u/Mechanical_Monk Aug 18 '26

At least not to any degree that they'll give a shit about

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u/Material-Imagination Aug 18 '26

Deregulation, profits before people, processes before people, and a rapid descent into greed before good that, to be honest, probably actually started in the 1600s

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u/Mechanical_Monk Aug 18 '26

Colonialism, the gift that keeps on giving

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u/QuesoMeHungry Aug 18 '26

Short answer is the college degree has become devalued. It doesn’t make you stick out anymore and doesn’t prove you are any good. So now jobs have 7 stage interview processes.

Also hiring managers are terrified of making a bad hire so they spread the blame in the process too.

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u/Otterfan Aug 18 '26

As someone who hires--we will do almost anything to reduce the number of applications we receive.

For every job posting we get hundreds or even thousands of applicants, 99% of them completely irrelevant to the position. You can weed out several hundred overseas applicants without visas, but you're still left with hundreds of locals to sort through.

Anything that discourages applicants or makes it easier to automate the filtering is seen as an improvement.

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u/vperron81 Aug 18 '26

You forgot creating your brand on social media

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u/femmagorgon Aug 18 '26

As someone in communications, this kills me. I can do social media for work but I don’t understand why so many employers also expect me to be an influencer in my personal life even if the role isn’t social media focused.

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u/teapots_at_ten_paces Elder Millennial ('81, baby!) Aug 18 '26

Discussion Applying for a job in 2026

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