Welcome to 2008, muthafuckahs!
this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2025
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Work Reform
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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
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Young men are struggling in a slowing job market, even if they have college degrees
(www.nbcnews.com)
2008 2, the next "once in a lifetime" financial crisis.
Once in a lifetime stuff happens literally all the time.
If you look at every decade in history there’s some sort of crisis or major event going on.
I think it was fermi who said the odds of some specific truck having a specific license plate he saw are minuscule, so it’s remarkable!
Anyways, I’m just tired of this “once in a lifetime crisis” meme. It’s been beaten to death at this point.
Shit sucks and that’s life, unless you were born during a few brief and rare moments in history.
Yeah, seeing than one truck isn't remarkable. But when you see that unique truck again, then it's significant.
Like 100-year floods. Seeing that one truck once a year? Unremarkable. When you start seeing it far more often than you have before? Something changed.
It's a bear economy with unpredictable import taxes that may or may not be happening causing everyone to be too scared to spend money. EVERYONE"S struggling
Sure, everyone is struggling, but some are struggling more than others.
the unemployment rate for men ages 23 to 30 with bachelor’s degrees has jumped in recent months to 6% — compared with 3.5% for young women with the same level of education, according to data analyzed by NBC News.
i suspect women are going for bio degree, they surpass men like 60% in this bio degree holders, specifically health(nursing, maybe some research, or even MD), in an older study, so they have more job security. the stems that men are going for, are usually very difficult to get into, if you dont have lab/research experience before graduation, or not even considering grad school. like psych, CS, data science, physics,,,etc.
biotech/health is one of those fields i see alot women in compared to men, when i was in university, most of the labs were taken up by women more than men, and men have struggled to find it by the time thier junior year or by the time they graduate, because labs have very limited volunteering spaces and are almost always full. some of them even got PUBLISHED/ or was in a research paper, which is a very big deal for your CV or resume.
EVERYONE"S struggling
That's factuallly not true. 60% of Americans live pay check to pay check for whatever reason
Then there is 30% who are "middle" class and 10% who are doing well very well, living their best lives.
yeah I have been unemployed for just about 11 months which is longer than every before and I am far from young.
Or, if you listen to my parents when I try to tell them how bad things are at my work due to tariff uncertainty that's all lies and the tariffs are actually amazing for the economy because Trump said so and will simultaneously not happen but will also bring back American jobs. I really don't understand how the people who raised me have become so stupid. It's really hard to watch.
Tell me about it. The only thing doing well in my portfolio right now is crypto, and I'm pretty sure that at least part of it is thanks to Trump's meddling (and the weakening USD probably has something to do with it). Just wondering when the rug pull is going to come.
Instead, two years after he graduated with a computer science bachelor’s degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology, he’s unemployed and living with his parents in the suburbs of Chicago. Despite having applied to more than 900 jobs — from secretary positions to a role at a prison — he has gotten only a handful of interviews.
I completely understand wanting a job in your field, and commend him branching out to other roles even secretarial. However, nearly every retail business in my area has "now hiring" signs. Is my area an anomaly and are basic retail jobs scares elsewhere?
A lot of times places like that won’t look at you if you’re overqualified, because they don’t want to spend the time and effort to train you, knowing or expecting you to be looking elsewhere from day 1.
That's why you lie on your resume if you're applying for a job you're overqualified for
Correct currently working at Walgreens as a shift lead. Bullshit resume and bs my way through the interview. Even didn't start until I passed my P&C license exam. Just waiting on a license then I can apply at good paying jobs. Its tough and retail sucks. But got to pay the bills and do what got to do to survive.
That comment has a strong boomer vibe.
The hiring signs for don't necessarily mean much. I have a friend looking for such "basic" sort of a job, or anything really, that I've been trying to help out. Two years later and we're both still trying to find more places around for him to apply to. I know the guy well enough to know that he's not like being a jerk to the occasional interviewer he gets or anything like that, and while he doesn't have much he doesn't have zero work history either, so with all the places "now hiring" you'd think statistically at least one of them would have worked out by now, but most won't even give the courtesy of a "no". I suspect those signs are more there to have a constant pool of applicants in case they should need to quickly replace an existing employee (or reassure overworked ones that they're "looking" for someone) than any actual intent to hire more staff.
If you're interested/comfortable in sharing some specifics I'm interested in hearing more about his real world experience:
The hiring signs for don’t necessarily mean much. I have a friend looking for such “basic” sort of a job, or anything really, that I’ve been trying to help out. Two years later and we’re both still trying to find more places around for him to apply to. I know the guy well enough to know that he’s not like being a jerk to the occasional interviewer he gets or anything like that, and while he doesn’t have much he doesn’t have zero work history either.
It sounds from your explanation that he is actually getting interviews, but hes getting ghosted afterward. Has he talked about what how the interviews go? Does your friend feel good about how they went or was he getting questions he didn't like or had trouble providing an answer to? Have you done a "mock interview" with him to see how he presents to see if there are things he could use help on there too? Are you in an area that has seasonal work (such as tourism support) and has he gone for any of that? Those kind of workforces tend to be more permissive with their hires.
you’d think statistically at least one of them would have worked out by now, but most won’t even give the courtesy of a “no”
Sadly, I know this is VERY common for employers to simply ghost applicants even after interviews. Its a practice I don't like either.
I suspect those signs are more there to have a constant pool of applicants in case they should need to quickly replace an existing employee (or reassure overworked ones that they’re “looking” for someone) than any actual intent to hire more staff.
I've personally talked to a few of the managers/owners of the places I frequent, and nearly all the ones I've talked to are actually actively interviewing to hire, not just build a pool. Even the one that I talked to that IS building a pool communicated he has a high turnover workforce (usually working students whose school schedules frequently change and they have to quit). Again, all of my second hand experience is within 15 miles of where I live and I absolutely understand conditions could be different literally everywhere else in the USA.
He's gotten a handful of interviews (maybe a dozen, which over that time period doesn't seem like very many to me but I don't have enough job hunting experience to say). Ive generally asked him about them the day of, he's usually thought they've gone well (the places that have actually interviewed him have usually been fast food type places, and have usually asked him more about availability than much else from what he's told me), and often they've told him some variation of "we should give you a call with our decision within a week", after which all but one has never actually done so. I've not tried giving him a mock interview (I've been lucky enough to get hired by the first place to interview me both times I've been job hunting myself, so I have very little notion of what exactly to ask to simulate such a thing), most of my assistance to him has either been trying to find places he hasn't applied yet, helping him make his resume, and relaying advice from an aunt of mine with a lot more general life experience. I've also tried recommending him to my workplace's HR a couple times when they've had entry level positions open but he's never heard anything from applications there either. As far as seasonal work goes, I don't know if he's applied to any tourist stuff or not, I've not seen very many such jobs listed when I've looked around job postings but I might not be looking in the right place. He has tried applying for temporary landscaping positions a few times without any luck though.
As far as seasonal work goes, I don’t know if he’s applied to any tourist stuff or not
These are certainly location dependent. Regional theme parks (Six Flags, Cedar Point, etc) are always big for hiring for the summer usually 5,000 to 9,000 workers each summer so there's lots of positions and the job lasts for the summer months. In touristy places theres also lots of jobs at much smaller employers. However, don't over look small fairs or community events. County fairs will hire general labor to do non-skilled tasks. These will last slightly longer than the length of the even (setup, event, teardown), so perhaps a few weeks or a couple of months. Some like Cedar Point actually have worker housing so even if you don't live close you can go live in the company dorms for the summer (very cheaply) and earn doing the work.
Right...in the 900 plus job applications they submitted, im sure not one of them was retail...
for refrence Walmart has had me in the "applied" stage of resumee review on their shitty website for nearly a month. I don't think people quite get how bad it is. I had to wait for a spot to open up to interview at McDonalds that I'm still waiting for because the closest one was two weeks out.
My daughter had to apply to 45 jobs before she finally got hired. I would have stopped well before that when I was a teen.
Why would you apply for retail with a degree ? It will become worthless in a couple of years.
Well,usually if you live with your parents and have no money, you are desperate for income of any kind. I personally worked for a steak n shake after college for a couple months.Had to lie about having a degree so theyd hire me. Not that different. You dont apply to these jobs thinking its your forever job. Its just something to get you by until you can finally get a job with some kind of career.
They did graduate into a very shitty tech job market, that’s just bad timing, and it sucks.
I will say the market sucked when I came into it too, probably not this much. I had to start my own business and networked a lot to get into the field. Not sure how viable that is these days.
I have personal experience with a similar situation. I was told that others without a degree needed the position more. I suppose they thought I would surely get a better job elsewhere and they would be working to train and hire somebody new soon.
If you're going for a job that doesn't require one, I would recommend not disclosing you have one for the exact reason you cited. That isn't a new idea though, I remember being told it decades ago.
People like this almost always have some kind of red flag on their resume. Software engineering is tight right now but not getting interviews after 900 applications suggests there's a more systematic issue here.
That or he is applying for senior positions. I don't know how many times I've talked to young/straight from college who think they're senior level stuff.
Colleges don't teach shit for real world positions anymore, and it gives some of these green ears this ego that they know how to do everything and want max pay. The IT field has tons of positions open, you just shouldn't expect to start at the top with zero real world experience. Even if you have some certs to go with your degree.
...yeah, but they only employ women for those jobs.
My understanding is that its because healthcare is still doing very well and that has a lot of women in it as an industry. College educated or otherwise.
A lot of white collar work men tend to get into is being effected by mass adoption of AI and the tariffs are impacting blue collar work.
I was wondering why specifically men, but this makes a lot of sense. Thanks!
In Australia we are screaming out for trades people.
It's not desk work it's outside in the heat and cold keeping the world going.
And I think it's a while off before Ai is replacing your ceiling fans and lights or plumbing repairs and fixing cars and machinery.
Not to mention it pays reasonably well
I have a nephew studying to become a plumber. Trade jobs like that, electricians, etc. will always be in demand. Even as an apprentice it sounds like he’s doing really well.
This is what realistic impacts of AI actually look like. Good luck using AI to perform the responsibilities of a nursing position. It's much easier to replace the business/marketing responsibilities with AI.
It's much easier to replace the business/marketing responsibilities with AI.
Seriously. There is not much of a difference between a business boss confidently making up a solution so as to appear like they know what they are doing and AI hallucinating because it's a bad look for AI to say "I don't know".
Neither must face the consequences for their failure to acknowledge the consequences of being totally fucking wrong.
idk how they are replacing any job with their lack of memory, has to just be whats used to appeal to investors or an excuse for firing ppl when they overhired in the first place
Bunch of strugglas
I've considered very recently of returning to school. Or to pivot with the job market. What stopped me is the stability of taking out any kind of loan in this job market. Trades, office or other.
Yeah the shareholders figured out that it’s cheaper to keep the people who have to work for less for the same work because of their gender and race
Yep, here in belgium for an Electronics degree, there are about 10 open Electronics engineering jobs nationwide right now.
Like 400 software/firmware and like 150 electric installation jobs, but if you want to switch to one of those you pretty much have to go back to a junior level (and pay) which isn't much.