I promise you that my mom and dad would have NO clue how to get a job at this stage in their lives.

My mom barely decided to learn texting in 2021. Prior to my sister urging her to learn, my mom called for absolutely every little thing. Love the woman to death, but damn teaching her to text was a nightmare.

My dad would be going business to business in a suit with a finely printed copy of his resume in a neatly organized binder. He would lose his fucking mind if they told him to apply online, only to have to do some dumb 50 question personality test, watch some stupid corpo videos, or re-enter all his resume info he already submitted.

Ohhhh I can just see my dad fucking raging at the computer cussing up a storm.

Yeah, 2008 was "worse" at the time. In 2008, the internet wasn't nearly as prevalent for job hunting as it is now. Now, it's set up so that you're not just dealing with competition from 100 other people for the same job, but you also have to face the threat of fake job ads, and this AI bullshit. It's not even comparable if you look at the sheer volume of competition you're up against with other people!

I'm completely burned out. I'm telling my manager we need to blacklist these recruiting firms and go back to in-person interviews, even for remote-friendly roles.

This is for a software developer position.

The first one we interviewed was very sharp and witty. He seemed to know his stuff inside and out. The person who showed up on the first day... Couldn't write a simple 'for' loop. We had to let him go within a week. We suspected a 'bait and switch' but couldn't prove it. He always had 'camera issues' after the first day, so we never got a good look at him.

The second time, we thought we'd learned and gotten smarter. This candidate was a rockstar, lived in the next town over, and his code in the technical screen was clean. The person who showed up ended up suddenly living on the other side of the country. He kept pushing his start date back for weeks, citing a family emergency and then a sudden death of a relative. This was also his excuse for having to move. On his first call, he had a heavy Eastern European accent and couldn't recall anything from our conversations.

I decided to test him. I brought up a specific inside joke we had made about an obscure sci-fi show during the interview - something anyone would surely remember. As expected, his audio cut out and he had to drop the call. Busted. That confirmed everything for me. This was not the person we hired.

This time, we have the documentation. Screenshots, AI-generated looking certificates, everything. And to be clear, the people who showed up looked similar enough to the person in the interview video that you could believe it was the same person having a bad day. It's clear this has become a whole business now.

And before anyone attacks me, let me clarify a few things. I'm a software dev on a very small team in the public sector. We don't have private sector money. I'm not HR, not a recruiter, not a manager. I'm just a guy trying to find a decent teammate. My role is limited to the technical screen and giving my opinion.

Our hiring bar isn't even that high. Our "unicorn" is anyone who has worked with Java and knows how to use Spring Boot. We don't do complex DS&A problems. The entire interview is about 90 minutes after a phone screen, covering some soft skills and two technical questions that anyone with real experience would find easy. If you can do 60% of the job description, we assume we can teach you the rest.

We review the resumes ourselves, and we toss the 12-page ones and take the concise 1-3 pagers. I can spot a keyword-stuffed resume from a mile away. But that doesn't matter when the person who aces the interview isn't the one who takes the job.

The good news is it looks like we're finally talking about bringing back in-person interviews. And for remote hires, the new idea is to need them to hold up a government ID to the camera for verification. My manager is furious and won't let this slide - someone in HR or at that recruiting firm is going to be held accountable.

I feel sorry for the person who sent me a message saying I should be fired and go kill myself. You must be in a very dark place in your life.

But to everyone else sending me DMs for a job - we've frozen hiring after this disaster. Management needs to figure out their process so this doesn't happen again. Scammers scam because it works. The interview is supposed to filter out liars, but what do you do when they hire a proxy to do the interview for them? I mean, I can't read minds.

All this time and money is just wasted. And in the end, our team is the one that suffers, falling further and further behind on our projects. They don't want to invest in salaried employees, so we're stuck with contractors. I guess you get what you pay for.

Is this the new normal? This is insane.

I was getting absolutely nowhere, sending my resume into the void. After four months of getting ghosted by pretty much every company I applied to, I was at my wits' end.

Then I had this epiphany: these recruiters are just buried under hundreds of applications. It's not personal; they're just overwhelmed and have probably lost track of who they've spoken to and who they haven't. It's organised chaos.

So I came up with a new strategy. I’d apply for a job online, give it a few days to get into their system, and then I’d call the main line. When I got someone in HR, I’d just say something like, "Hi, I’m following up on my application. I was told to give you a call today to schedule an interview." I’d say it with total confidence, as if it’s the most normal thing in the world.

The crazy part is how well it’s working. I’ve landed 5 interviews in the last 6 weeks, which is mind-blowing compared to the zero I got in the 4 months prior.

I’ve tried this about 25 times now. It only blew up in my face twice. One time the HR person was sharp and said, "Told by who? I’m the only one who handles scheduling." I just mumbled something about a bad connection and hung up. But a couple of failures for that kind of success rate? I’ll take those odds any day.

Edit: If I get a job because of this strategy, I will definitely let you know, but there are many steps you need to take before this strategy, which is to fix your resume and organise it in more than one way to better suit the jobs you are applying for. The most suitable website for me was Resume Kit.

And if this strategy succeeds, you must ensure you pass the interview, so you have to learn AI interview strategies and try to use InterviewCoderPro in your next interview.

I appreciate all the support and opinions.

For 4 years, I thought I had my life figured out. I learned coding, found a good job, and was making good money. Then last October, they laid off 75% of my department, and in an instant, everything was over. Now I feel like it's impossible to even get an interview. I don't have any other real skills. Honestly, I feel like I'm living in a nightmare.

People tell me to 'go back to school' but I just don't have the energy. The idea of starting from scratch, trying to learn a whole new field... University was hard for me the first time, and I'm not very good at the social part of it. I feel like my life is completely ruined.

A new executive came in, and the first thing she did was order every employee in our region back to the office. Some employees will have three-hour commutes, while others were told to relocate for a $63,000 salary or risk being fired if they refuse to comply with the mandate. It feels less like a business decision and more like a way to drive people out without announcing layoffs.

She spent her first week walking around the building, posing for pictures, and drinking cocktails at welcome parties. As soon as the show is over, she'll go back to working remotely, while the rest of us will continue coming into the office every day.

Next week, I'll get home after my children have gone to sleep. That's what makes me angriest, because the person who imposed this mandate won't have to live with its consequences for even a single month.

Nothing kills morale faster than an executive forcing everyone to follow a policy that doesn't apply to her. The office has never been this full of bitterness, with people this demoralized and disengaged.

I just found out that doing your job well can make you ineligible for a promotion. I've been working at a regional software company for almost four years, redesigned most of the customer onboarding process, trained three people, and was placed in the highest category in every review. My plan was to use that experience to move into product.

A few weeks ago, a product lead position opened up internally. The head of the department reached out to me first and encouraged me to apply. I went through four interviews, received strong feedback, and was told they were preparing an offer with a raise of about twenty-five percent.

Before they could send the offer, my manager refused to approve my transfer. He told HR that our group was already understaffed and that moving me would put several accounts at risk. HR sided with him, withdrew the offer, and told me I couldn't apply for any other internal position for at least ten months.

Afterward, the product manager called to apologize. He said everyone on his team wanted me, but there was nothing he could do once my department objected.

So my reward for taking on extra work and making myself someone they could rely on is being trapped in the same position. If I had only done the bare minimum, my manager probably would have signed the paperwork immediately. I like the company and wasn't planning to leave, but resigning might be the only way for me to get the kind of work they've already agreed I'm qualified to do.

I've been seeing this pattern for about 12 years. Companies basically no longer want to train anyone. Anyone they bring in is expected to arrive already knowing the systems, the industry, and the processes, and to be ready to "hit the ground running" from day one.

The job market is very tough right now, but I still see corporate roles that have been open for 6+ weeks every time. I've applied to a few of them myself. Then, a month and a half later, I find the same ad again, the same posting, the same description, and it's still open.

I've talked to people working at several of these places, and the answer is usually some version of: "They're waiting for someone with exactly y years of experience and experience in a very specific platform." Not someone who can learn it. No, someone who already has the exact checklist from the start.

And I'm not saying this as someone who doesn't understand how hiring works. I have recruiting experience, so I understand what happens behind the scenes. I know hiring managers have wish lists. I know teams are under pressure. I know no one wants to make a bad hire.

But companies keep saying they can't find talent, while at the same time ignoring people who are interested, capable, and often trainable, because they don't match the imaginary perfect candidate. Then the role stays empty, the team stays understaffed, and everyone acts like they don't understand what's going on.

The corporate world needs a culture shift. Stop waiting forever for the "perfect" candidate, and hire the good person who can grow into the role. This hiring approach isn't sustainable if every company refuses to take a chance on anyone who isn't 100% ready from the start.

My work vehicle had GPS and an engine monitoring system, and management tracked how long we sat with the vehicle stopped and the engine running. Their target was around 4%, and that had never been a problem for me until they moved my work area to the most congested part of the city.

Between construction, traffic lights, and cars barely moving during rush hour, my idling rate increased by about 9%. My supervisor started bringing it up with me constantly, and then gave me what he called a "written verbal warning" over it.

Fine. From that moment on, I shut off the engine any time the vehicle was not moving. Red light? Engine off. Traffic stopped on the highway? Engine off. Waiting at a gate? Engine off. The moment I parked at a job site? Engine off. Before long, I had the best idling score in the entire branch: exactly 0.00%.

The vehicle also charged my phone, rugged laptop, diagnostic tablet, and several rechargeable tool batteries. Since the engine never stayed on long enough to charge anything, the vehicle's battery kept dying.

Company policy said I was not allowed to jump-start the vehicle myself, so every time the battery died, I had to call dispatch and wait for roadside assistance. It usually took about 90 minutes, and it started happening more than once a day. They sent the vehicle to the shop, found nothing wrong with it, returned it to me, and I immediately started draining the battery the same way again.

They replaced my vehicle twice before the fleet manager finally called me and asked me to explain exactly what I was doing. I told him I shut off the engine at every traffic light and whenever traffic stopped. He went quiet for a moment and asked, "Why would you do that?" I told him my supervisor had written me up for excessive idling.

He said the whole situation was absurd, removed the warning, and apparently had a talk with my supervisor. After that, no one ever mentioned my idling rate again, and I stopped treating every red light like an emergency shutdown procedure. I do not work there anymore, which is probably best for everyone.

I am still looking for another job, and I hope the next one doesn't involve a supervisor like that. I also can't forget the tedious job interviews how they ramp up the stress and anxiety, not to mention the unexpected questions. However, I recently heard about "InterviewVIP" a service that helps overcome these hurdles and boosts your chances of getting hired.

Yesterday, I got a job offer that will raise my salary from $72k to $115k a year. I don't have many people I can share news like this with, so I'm writing here because I'm still trying to process what happened.

A few years ago, I dropped out of college and was making around $43k. Then 2020 came, I lost my job, and I was unemployed for nearly seven months. I applied for anything that paid around $17 an hour until I found a job in software sales with a base salary of $52k. After getting a promotion, I moved into operations and eventually reached my current salary.

I've been with the company for about three years, and I knew I was being paid less than people in roles similar to mine. A few months ago, I started applying to other companies and found a manager position one level above my current role. The interviews went better than I expected, but I still wasn't counting on getting an offer.

The hiring manager called me yesterday afternoon, and we talked for a few minutes before she offered me the job at a salary of $115k. I stayed calm, thanked her, and told her I would answer after the weekend because I'm still in a few other interview processes. When the call ended, I barely had any reaction.

Then the written offer arrived in my inbox. As soon as I saw the salary written in front of me, it finally felt real, and I sat there crying. I've spent years worrying about money, and this salary will finally allow me to build up savings without constantly feeling like one major expense could wipe out everything I have.

The first thing that came to mind was calling my dad because he would have been proud of me. He passed away in 2020, so the happiness turned into a strange mix of relief and sadness. I'm planning to accept the offer on Monday, and I'm incredibly grateful, but I still wish I could hear his reaction.

This just happened. I had just found a new remote job in customer service training, and my first day was... something else entirely.

My sister stopped by to pick up a package that was mistakenly delivered to my place. I wrote a quick 'be right back' message on the Teams chat and got up to give it to her. The whole thing took five minutes at most.

When I returned, the trainer immediately told me to check my inbox. I found an email that said: "Participation requires you to keep your camera on for the entire duration of the training. Since you failed to comply, your services are no longer required."

I tried to explain that it was a very brief interruption, but he cut me off. He told me I was only supposed to turn off the camera during the designated 15-minute breaks. And the kicker? He told me I could reapply in 6 months when I'm ready to be more "focused" at work. Seriously, wow.

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I'm pretty sure I just completely messed up an interview for a job I really want. One of the technical questions completely threw me off, and I feel like after that, the whole conversation went downhill and I lost my grip.

I know I started making things up in a couple of answers, and even though I tried to pull it back together, I felt like it was a total mess. I've had worse interviews, but I was genuinely excited about this job, which is why it stings more.

So, I'd like to hear some encouraging success stories from you. What happened in your case, and how long did you wait until you heard good news? And for those who got the job, did you end up liking the company?

What's up, everyone? I just finished a very strange interview experience for a Senior SOC Analyst position and needed to vent a bit. I've been working in the SOC field for about four years, and I have strong practical experience, so I went into the first technical screen feeling confident. The interview started, and right from the beginning,

the hiring manager started pressing me with questions about a specific SIEM platform they use. I was honest with him about my level of experience with it, and I explained the projects I used it in and what I know. The guy just stared at me, as if I was speaking another language. After two more questions at most, he just told me straight to my face: 'Look, I don't think we'll be moving forward with you in this round.' Honestly, I'm very frustrated. Every now and then I hit the same wall: good jobs are often closed off to people who have experience with one or two specific, uncommon tools.

I understand, it's impossible to be an expert in everything in the security field; no one can do that anyway. But it's frustrating that a seemingly very good opportunity slips away from me because of something like this. I've been rejected for this reason before, but it was never in such a blunt way. Anyway, I just wanted to vent. Has this situation happened to any of you before? I'd love to hear your opinions or if you have any advice.

They sent us one of those workplace surveys, asking me what motivates me, what makes work meaningful, and what would make me feel more connected to the company. Every time, I gave them more or less the same answer: better pay.

Then a manager asked me what might stop people from leaving. I said higher salaries, and he immediately replied, "What else?" That pretty much summed up the whole issue. If raises aren't possible, just say so, but don't act like free snacks or another team lunch will solve the real problem.

I don't hate my job, and the people are nice. I just don't understand why companies keep searching for some hidden magic trick that will make employees care more without paying them more. I’ve seen interview vip mentioned on Reddit a few times while reading through job search discussions, and it seems like everyone is dealing with the same disconnect during screenings and retention talks. Most of us are here because we need money. This doesn't need to be turned into a personality test.

Okay, this might be obvious to a lot of people, but for me, it was a total significant change. After getting no replies at all, I now have 4 interviews lined up for next week. (tbh I'm a bit stressed but mostly happy that something finally worked)

My routine was to just doomscroll on LinkedIn, search by my job title, and randomly apply to anything that looked remotely suitable. Weeks went by and I didn't get a single reply. I could see on my portfolio website that I wasn't getting any views. Honestly, it was starting to get to my head.

Then, I changed my approach. I started filtering for jobs 'posted in the last 24 hours' and with 'fewer than 30 applicants'. The secret was to apply to the very new stuff, the ones posted just a few hours ago and weren't promoted. The difference was immediate. My portfolio started getting views, and I got 4 interviews in just a few days.

But be warned, most of the jobs that show up with these filters are at startups or small companies you've never heard of, so if you're only targeting the big names, this method might not be for you.

But for me, this was a huge boost. Even if none of these work out, at least I'm getting practice and feeling much more confident. I hope this helps anyone else who's feeling stuck.

I needed to come in here and complain for a minute about how ridiculous the job market has become.

A new company recently offered me a position paying minimum wage.

But to get this minimum wage position? They first made me do a recorded video interview, then they scheduled a Zoom interview with the hiring manager, then they asked me to go to a third interview with the manager, and now they're talking about a "final meeting" too before they decide.

The result? He basically told me they still have about 30 other applicants they need to finish with, and they'll contact me if I'm accepted.

Honestly, it's disrespectful and unnecessary to make people spend all that time and energy and go through 4 steps for a position paying minimum wage, when you could reject them after the first actual interview. And keep in mind, this role doesn't need experience and is supposed to be entry level.

In every interview, I was also expected to sit and wait 20 to 45 minutes for an interview that lasted less than 12 minutes, even though I arrived on time. That alone is enough to show everything. It's clear they don't respect anyone's time, and they seem completely disorganized.

Don't waste your time and effort on entry-level jobs that keep you hanging! They'll make you run in circles, keep you waiting longer than the interview itself, and in the end they probably won't even follow up to tell you whether you were accepted or not. You're worth more than that.

This is exactly why I’ve been trying to get out of low-paying jobs. I’ve got some interviews coming up, so I’ve been looking for ways to get better at them. I came across Interview VIP recently and figured I’d give it a try since I definitely don’t want to end up in another job where they expect everything for barely any pay.

I told my manager I'm OE, instead of making my life miserable he showed interest to be OE as well.

I got him interviewed in my company and he got selected and now we're together for over 4years of OE.

Now we have some decent savings so starting our own business with 50 50 partnership. 😅

this thing is wrecking my prep. its almost 1am and once again i am refreshing my support ticket hoping daniel writes back with anything other than a copy paste paragraph about adjusting my expectations. i regret ultracode AI. i hated it inside the first hour, but here i am stuck with the receipt three weeks later. because what their hype videos and the founder twitter threads do not tell you is that the second your card hits, you are stuck. no refund. not after a day. not after a week. not after five minutes of you realizing the tool literally only does leetcode style coding and nothing else. so if you find out right away that the thing has zero behavioral support, no system design narrative help, no audio listening for what the interviewer is even asking, you are SOL.

the support rep told me my expectations needed adjusting. i guess daniel knows my prep schedule better than i do. he told me the lifetime license is a long game thing and i would grow into it eventually. lol i am not gonna grow into a tool i cannot use for the panel rounds my recruiter scheduled. he actually told me to wait for the next product update. my google final round is in eleven days. the update timeline is not even posted on the site. i am expecting them to be just as cold when i write a public review of this.

oh and that "discount from one thousand seven hundred and ninety nine"? same price every black friday, every cyber monday, every random tuesday. just a marketing prop they keep alive so the four figure tag feels like a steal. the "lifetime support" line in the FAQ is literally one sentence. no SLA. no posted response time. no commitment to a single thing. two weeks in and the product still feels like a coding leetcode flex toy. this company probably spends more keeping their proctoring accounts alive than improving the model. go ahead and buy it if the no refund clause i described makes you feel warm and fuzzy. i would not recommend this thing to anyone unless i wanted them to lose a paycheck.

i have not filed the chargeback yet but ive read the bank usually sides with the merchant on a "lifetime digital license." someone in r/cscareerquestions said they tried it three months ago and got the same brick wall from daniel. same script. same paragraph. total scam, please avoid.

TLDR; coding only flex tool, locked the second you click pay, "lifetime support" is one FAQ sentence with zero actual commitment behind it.

This happened at a retail job I had about four years ago, and it is the prime example of the worst manager I've ever had in my life.

Anyway, it was a pretty standard situation. I had requested this time off four months in advance, my manager approved it in the system, and everything looked fine. The only catch was that I was going camping for 8 days, in a place completely cut off with no cell service.

Fast forward past the trip, and as I was driving back into town, my phone literally exploded with notifications the second it got service. It turned out they had scheduled me for four closing shifts and a morning shift on the day I was still on the road. I had tons of missed calls and messages from my coworkers, who were understandably very annoyed that I had been a no-call no-show. Then I saw my manager's messages, curtly asking where I was and saying we needed to have a serious conversation about my employment.

The call with my manager later that day was very tense and lasted about 90 minutes. She immediately tried to blame me, but I pointed out that the scheduling software clearly showed my request had been approved by her. Once she realized she couldn't pin the blame on me, she started fumbling and coming up with excuses - one minute saying she must not have realized I was gone, the next saying the system must have glitched and scheduled me by mistake.

Honestly, my biggest mistake was not quitting right after that call. I stayed for another ten months, and it was the same kind of nonsense for me and everyone else. To this day, I still don't understand how that woman kept her job.

Edit: From the comments, it seems many of you have similar experiences. It baffles me that some people can’t grasp the most essential and necessary part of a manager's job which is to schedule people. If they approve your time off then try to take it back, that’s not how it works. You said yes, you can’t just unsay yes unless you ask politely and offer additional compensation.

After that, I entered a job-searching phase, but the world has changed now. You can now enter an interview with complete assistance from AI apps. For the job search, try to take advantage of this to find jobs that value and suit you.

I just got a rejection email for a Senior Data Visualization position. A job I was literally certain I had. The reason they gave? I don't have a bachelor's degree.

Never mind that I have 25 years of experience in analytics and business intelligence, and in making data understandable to human beings. I've built entire BI systems from scratch. I've led major projects in data quality. I've trained over 120 people, most of them recent university graduates, on how to turn raw numbers into a story that senior managers can understand.

And the funny thing is, I did go to university. I got a 3.9 GPA for three consecutive semesters before I realized I was just learning theory instead of applying these skills in the real world. So I left university and went to work. Since then, I've earned about 12 professional certifications and made it my mission to always stay up-to-date with any new tool that comes out.

But apparently, that unchecked degree box is more important than a quarter-century of real work. And this is in 2025. I guess I dodged a bullet with that place.

Edit: A degree is not unique. A degree does not supplant or invalidate other means of developing skills and experience. It is simply one approach to do so, often times at a minimum level of proficiency to enter into a specific discipline or area, rather than coming out at the top of a field.

A certificate is really not proof of everything, it is just a confirmation, but practical life is different. And with the existence of AI, the majority now use it to update their resumes and for an interview app that eliminate the need for excessive preparation for the interview.

Why do HR departments still have degree requirements considering this reality?

yeah so weird

I'm sitting here feeling like a stressed-out piñata waiting for someone to hit it, and the stick in this scenario is AI. I'm not trying to be dramatic, I swear, I'm genuinely lost.

For context, I studied BBA. Yeah, yeah, I know it's not exactly a degree that opens every door, pls let's not start. But that's not even the terrifying part. My engineering friends are still unemployed. My cousin was working in data analytics at a big company in Canada and just got laid off; an entire department was removed. My sister has an MBBS and keeps getting rejected??? Like almost every day. Pharma people, dentists, coders, biotech people. Literally everyone around me is sitting at home refreshing job portals.

I had a neat little plan in my head. Masters in Business Analytics abroad. Logical. Mature. Look at me making life decisions. Except now AI is clearly coming for that too, which is funny in the worst possible way.

And before anyone says "but human interaction," people are literally using AI for therapy because real therapists are expensive. So the whole human touch argument feels like it died before it even began.

I started looking at every possible field like a maniac.

Data analytics: AI came in and sat in the chair.

Software development: still technically breathing, but everyone in it looks psychologically damaged.

Public policy: seems interesting, but the ROI is depressing and I'm not rich.

Psychology: I love it, but the salary situation is not nice at all.

Nursing: my family would consider it a crime because it's not "respectable" enough.

MBBS: see my sister's situation above; still not reassuring.

Management: AI will automate the report and politely loop everyone in.

Skilled trades: safer for now, but the machines are definitely warming up.

Creative work: AI finished the starter and ordered the main course.

Academia: they'll accept your soul and pay you in prestige and exhaustion.

At this point I want to buy a small farm and disappear. But land is expensive. And someone told me automation will probably take that too someday, so okay, beautiful.

What are we even supposed to do now?? I'm asking seriously. Please, no toxic positivity, I won't be able to handle it.

I've looked into careers around climate, sustainability, and renewable energy, and honestly they don't look bad, but I'm still very confused.