Job Hunting Tips and Tricks. - Or how to not get stuck as a retail wagie

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The job search gets tiring sometimes.
 
I got fired at the end of April, but I've been applying for jobs since February, albeit at a less intense pace than I have been the past month or so. Anyway, I've been pleasantly surprised by the number of interviews I've managed to score even though most of them don't go anywhere. One of these interviews was a "video interview" that was really just me talking to an AI bot. The website was like a real video call but with just you, your camera, and the profile picture of a fake AI person with their fake AI voice. After the mandatory feedback section, I said to get a real human to do these interviews next time and I guess I got an email about it (picrel). I never responded.

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If I may vent a little.

It's funny and a bit sad what devilish schemes one has to execute to actually get through to HR/rec after you send a resumé to a company on the local equivalent of Linkedin.
The other month I had to ask the CEO (whose info was on the company's website) via fucking Telegram to give me HR's contact* because they don't seem to even check the applications people submit to THE original (in the country, that is) portal that people look for/offer work on. That company turned out to be a sort of startup quicksell, so it's probably par for the course lol. Still!

Another position's description had precisely 0 (zero) mention of an important requirement (experience with a CRM system) until I phoned the HR, who ON THE CALL added it to the damn thing. "I know the description says "training will be provided", but it will be too busy for us to actually train a new employee as a matta fact, if you wanna kbow the truth about it". Bish, YOU wrote the description! :story:

It also bears reiteration that if the stated salary seems too large for a "no experience required - we'll teach you everything you need!👌", then it abso-fucking-lutely is BS. "Glad you made it! Starting salary is sqrt(stated salary), but our smartest and hardest-working candidate reached that level in a short 9 months!"... Spare me.

*That said, being proactive in calling your potential workplace and coming over to visit (where applicable) turns out to actually be a pretty sound idea and it came IN FUCKING CLUTCH on Tuesday as I got through to a respectable company that just so happened to have opened up the exact same position as my last one, except with higher pay for less work. :woo:.
 
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Also, people who have really long resumes, I just put in the trash because most of the time it's bullshit.
The longest resume I ever received was 12 pages.

I read ever bit of it, maybe this is where my autism kicked in but I had to know what the actual fuck would be in 12 pages.

But ya, keep it a page or two. Unless they specifically ask for CV, and not its an option, but they specifically ask for a CV.
Are cover letters even necessary for job applications anymore now that applications are online based?
I don't read them, for any position I hire for. The better option is to send follow up emails and appear engaged.

One candidate I hired sent me an email and asked, "What project would you want done my first year?"

That was the only thing in the email, so I told him and he followed up with steps on how he would accomplish it, that interaction made me look past missed interview questions.
 
I find it fascinating that the only way to get a job is to bypass the entire system that's
Its pretty much that nowadays. Why play fair for a system that doesn't work and is against you. Like it really sucks since I know people who have been unemployed for months to years because they think they need to play fair to get a job.
 
In regards to jobs, I would recommend avoiding Kitchen Porter work unless the place is local and small or if you're planning on attaining a higher position in the establishment, it is absolutely shit work and those above you love to flaunt their power where they can. Also I think it's a red flag if a place books you on a trial day without interviewing you first.
 
What is the current meta for freelance work? English-only academic jobs across the Eurozone seem to have hit a crater as of late so I figure freelancing might be good for the time being, at least to farm resume points. I am quite literally willing to do anything so long as it fills the employment gap and involves sitting in front of a computer.
 
What is the current meta for freelance work? English-only academic jobs across the Eurozone seem to have hit a crater as of late so I figure freelancing might be good for the time being, at least to farm resume points. I am quite literally willing to do anything so long as it fills the employment gap and involves sitting in front of a computer.
Seconding this
It seems that making vibecoded websites for local businesses is officially over as now every business has at least some kind of website.
 
What is the current meta for freelance work? English-only academic jobs across the Eurozone seem to have hit a crater as of late so I figure freelancing might be good for the time being, at least to farm resume points. I am quite literally willing to do anything so long as it fills the employment gap and involves sitting in front of a computer.
I don't know much about Europe, but I assumed it was peak bullshit jobs and it was easy, but that's my naïve understand of Europe.
Why play fair for a system that doesn't work and is against you
Why would you play fair? Finding a job isn't about playing fair, its about marketing yourself and networking.

Think about a cologne company that markets do you think when they sell you a cologne, they market it in a way that makes their product seem mediocre? Or will a company make it seem like women will dive bomb ass first on your cock just by purchasing it.

Why would you market yourself any differently, I don't lie on my resume or to a business partner but you can bet I stretch the truth.
 
Start a LLC run your own business, trade the SPY. You don;t pay taxes on losses running company into the ground thats the LLC part. Every 2 days the market is down buy the spy. 17 years never failed for me and buy assets Property Houses Pet rocks . . . . . . Stay out of debt ...... Wagies are NPC's your dead already!
 
Still seeing people stuck in the 'wage cage' even now in 2026. If you're chasing those remote desk jobs, Upwork is the move, but manual searching is a trap.

That’s why I just use this scraper https://apify.com/upwork-vibe/upwork-job-scraper to grab the decent leads for me. It’s way faster to land a gig when the good postings pop up in your list automatically instead of you hunting for them. Saved me a ton of scrolling.
You'll have to explain how you're using this site. I signed up a few months ago, optimistic, then found out you have to pay to apply to any projects, which I was not going to do. I was then bombarded by the same "install our suspicious app to do four hours of work which we will then dismiss as unacceptable and refuse to pay you" project by accounts with South-East Asian names and AI profile pictures. Which I almost took the risk on until I remembered that I'm better than that.
 
Is it just bleak out there? I have a pretty good job in data but will send out the occasional resume and it's been probably 6 months since I've heard back from anyone. Is this the state of America or is my industry too jeeted?
It really just depends. Comp sci jobs are fucked atm because of infinite jeets + comp sci being THE hot major for a decade with the hopes of landing a 300k+ job with a FAANG corpo. Non-comp sci tech jobs are doing way better and I can vouch that they're hiring. Tech firms overhired comp sci positions like crazy over covid and still have headcounts higher than their pre-covid days after sacking thousands of employees.

My advice if you're a comp sci person. Apply to non-tech companies. Banking, insurance, and so on hire tons of comp sci people. They won't pay FAANG money, but they have no shortage of positions. That said, these jobs usually go to jeets because the boomers that run these boring companies still think jeets are smart. You'll want to look for small companies with lower headcounts that are more resilient to jeet infestation.
 
My advice if you're a comp sci person. Apply to non-tech companies. Banking, insurance, and so on hire tons of comp sci people. They won't pay FAANG money, but they have no shortage of positions. That said, these jobs usually go to jeets because the boomers that run these boring companies still think jeets are smart. You'll want to look for small companies with lower headcounts that are more resilient to jeet infestation.
Idk are there any careers that accept comp sci graduates in lieu of some other degree?
The main reason comp sci people arent applying to non comp sci jobs is because working a non comp sci job is considered worse than a total employment gap as far as hiring managers are concerned.
Like a career where you really need a different degree but a comp sci degree will qualify as well would be perfect.
 
Idk are there any careers that accept comp sci graduates in lieu of some other degree?
Yeah, you can go for a Ph.D. That's about it.

Stuff like cyber security, IT, and so on are still within what I'd call the comp sci sphere, but they're badly jeeted too. If you're a US citizen, try government work. It pays alright but won't compete with FAANG. Anything that requires security clearance is the last refuge from jeets.
 
Idk are there any careers that accept comp sci graduates in lieu of some other degree?
The main reason comp sci people arent applying to non comp sci jobs is because working a non comp sci job is considered worse than a total employment gap as far as hiring managers are concerned.
Like a career where you really need a different degree but a comp sci degree will qualify as well would be perfect.
Honestly, if you have the time and money, go back to school if you have a computer science degree. And get a law degree. A few friends of mine went back to school and now work in software. Copyright and patent litigation. Another one works in cyber crime defense. Cases.
 
I applied to a position and they offered me an interview, only for me to ghost me at the interview. What the fuck!?
If you're a US citizen, try government work. It pays alright but won't compete with FAANG. Anything that requires security clearance is the last refuge from jeets.
Tried this, never got anywhere.
 
What auto-fillers do you guys use? I've been using Simplify.jobs since it usually does time-consuming applications like Workday really well and gives you a daily late of job recommendations, but from a functional point of view Simplify has been shitting the bed lately (picrel) so I'm thinking they got jeeted and I'm looking for alternatives.

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What is the current meta for freelance work? English-only academic jobs across the Eurozone seem to have hit a crater as of late so I figure freelancing might be good for the time being, at least to farm resume points. I am quite literally willing to do anything so long as it fills the employment gap and involves sitting in front of a computer.
In my experience awful. You are competing with the entire third world that are willing to do 6months projects for $200.

Every jeet has 3 "compsci masters" and "12 yr work experience for Microsoft" so unless you wanna fight tooth and nail for what is shitty contracts, go for it.

In my 2 months since I had my freelance account, I've been contacted by fake "cert academies" (fake African companies with fake websites and Google maps HQs that sell Ai courses and "guaranteed internships"), data harvesting and downright illegal "go to this place and pretend to be this person to validate this document" kind of scams.
 
In my experience awful. You are competing with the entire third world that are willing to do 6months projects for $200.

Every jeet has 3 "compsci masters" and "12 yr work experience for Microsoft" so unless you wanna fight tooth and nail for what is shitty contracts, go for it.

In my 2 months since I had my freelance account, I've been contacted by fake "cert academies" (fake African companies with fake websites and Google maps HQs that sell Ai courses and "guaranteed internships"), data harvesting and downright illegal "go to this place and pretend to be this person to validate this document" kind of scams.
Grim. And yeah, you can't go two feet without stumbling over jeets stacked with milled diplomas. I have been trying to push into cybersecurity as of late, but even there, you have these browns that vibe hack through certs or Hack the Box or Try Hack Me and get 12000 projects in their resume from Punjab Pentesters United, applying for JUNIOR roles. You read the same exact blog post across 2000 different copy pasted Hugo jeet blogs to the point where they have the same bugs and incorrect code in their "custom tools" and wonder if anyone even reads resumes at all or if their niggerlicious ATS-compliance bot just rejects you if your name isn't Sanjay Patel. And I'm not even in the US! Last place I worked you couldn't go down to the cafeteria from the sheer reek of jeet. GRIM brother, GRIM.
 
Here's some tips to avoid fake jobs:
* Huge pay (2x up to 5x market value)
* Job is presented as easy/few hours/high pay (too good to be true)
* No company listed/contact info - clear giveaway
* Recruiter is vague about company or hesitant to name it: either data gathering or full on scam (one time I convinced the recruiter and they linked me a fake website lol)
* Position is broad and covers multiple positions (eg full stack or generalist): these are just data stealers
* When you click a position and it redirect to another recruitment website: it's just there to advertise the website/poach jobseekers
* Or these "recruitment" websites just steal your data and spam emails/calls
* You search the company and it doesn't show up (bonus: you look the addres and there's nothing there)
* Anything with quick apply

These are the biggest giveaways. I can do fake websites as well if people are interested.
 
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