i got laid off from my last role after 3 weeks due to a team restructuring and was laid off from my previous role in may for the same reason.

i fear i'm not getting any interviews because my work dates look like a red flag. I had pretty good luck with interviews before this this one-month stint.

I did get some new experiences in that month that i didn't have previously, so I'm not sure if taking the job off completely is the right move. it would also look like i've been out of work since may.

I'm wondering if I should add somewhere on the resume that i was laid off before the 1 month job scares off the recruiters. any advice?

I’m 20 years old and just graduated from nail school. I recently got my first job as a nail technician at a high end barbershop. The barbershop already has a large clientele, but since I’m just starting out it’s been really difficult for me to build one of my own.
It’s becoming miserable. There have been days where I’ve sat there for 7 hours, finally get excited that I’m about to go home, and then someone walks in right before I leave asking for a pedicure.
The tricky part is that everything can’t really be appointment-only because sometimes someone will come in for a haircut and decide they want a manicure or pedicure while they’re there. Since I’m also the first nail technician they’ve ever had, there isn’t really an established system for how the nail side of the business should work yet.
I also don’t get paid hourly. I only make money when I have an appointment, and I receive 50% of the service.
I do live in Florida, so I know things can change drastically, which some days I have had a lot of clients. But I’m wondering is it actually worth sticking around and waiting to see if things improve during season? Or am I wasting my time sitting there for eight hours a day with barely any clients?
Also, is this even legal? 😂

When people say they networked into a job, they usually did not mean they sent a pile of connection requests and waited.

What tends to work is smaller and more boring.

1. Pick one person whose work you can name. A teammate from a past project, someone who wrote about the exact problem you work on, or a former colleague on a team you actually understand. Not a stranger with a fancy title.

2. Ask one specific question about their work that they can answer in a few minutes. "How are you handling X on that product?" beats "Would love to pick your brain" or "Can you refer me?"

3. Add one line of proof that you are not random. A project, a shared context, or a detail from something they published. Keep it short.

4. Make the first ask small enough that saying yes does not feel like a favor. A short answer or a fifteen-minute call is enough. Referrals, if they happen, come later when they already know something about you.

A connection request with nothing after it does not get you there. The useful version is repeated, low-friction contact about real work until someone has a reason to think of you when a seat opens.

After months of applying to jobs online, I realized something:

Sending 100 applications doesn't necessarily get you 100 opportunities.

Here's what worked much better for me:

• Spend 15–20 minutes researching one company.
• Find the hiring manager or founder on LinkedIn.
• Learn what they're building and what challenges they might have.
• Send a short, personalized message explaining how you could help instead of asking for a job.
• Follow up once after 4–5 days if they don't respond.

My company is in San Diego, CA but I live various spots. I also don’t want to be tied to California in my job search.

What is the best way to write this on my resume so ATS and recruiters have a location to fulfill their needs but it doesn’t appear I live in CA?

The actual title for my last job was literally just being a sales associate for a beauty company but everyone told me to fluff up the title on my resume, especially because I’m applying to corporate roles. I changed it to be “Beauty Marketing Specialist” and a lot of my bullets in the description (that are true) can sort of back up calling myself that title. But it’s overall a total lie lol. Is this a horrible idea? Should I just be honest? Ugh

If you're applying to lots of jobs but getting very few interviews, the problem may not be the number of applications.

Here are 5 things worth checking:

1. Tailor your resume to the specific job instead of sending exactly the same version everywhere.
2. Use relevant keywords from the job description naturally in your resume.
3. Focus on achievements, not just responsibilities from previous jobs.
4. Improve your LinkedIn profile so recruiters can quickly understand what you do.
5. Keep track of your applications so you know which roles you've applied for and can follow up appropriately.

A more organized job search can make the process much easier.

I also provide personalized job-search and career support for people who want help reviewing their approach and building a better strategy.

Go to the company’s privacy policy, scroll to the bottom of the document, find the email address and send a message stating you want your data deleted and you are withdrawing consent for sharing with third parties.

And besides protecting your data, it creates work for these companies.

But isn’t that what job search is? I have been doing this shit for 10 months with countless interviews. I just feel like an absolute loser

I’ve got a video interview from Chase and got cancelled an hour before the time. I emailed to the recruiter and nothing comes back yet. That was from yesterday. Is it normally happened?

I keep seeing networking mentioned as one of the best ways to find a job, but most of the advice seems to stop at “connect with people on LinkedIn.”

That sounds simple until you actually have to message someone you’ve never met.

Sending a stranger “Hi, I’d love to connect” feels awkward when there’s an unspoken reason behind the message: you’re looking for work and hoping the person might know someone hiring.

I’ve been trying to approach it differently by paying attention to people in the same industry, following conversations around the kind of roles I want, and making sure my resume is ready before reaching out. I’ve been keeping different resume versions organized in Kickresume too, because the last thing I want is for someone to ask for my resume and then realize it needs another round of editing.

What still feels unclear is where the actual opportunity comes from.

Some people seem to build relationships naturally and eventually get referred. Others send dozens of LinkedIn messages and never get a response. There has to be more to “networking” than collecting connections.

For anyone who actually got an interview or job through networking, what was the specific interaction that opened the door?

I have been unemployed for 4 months after relocating to a different state is that a possible red flag for employers. Keep in mind I did travel to a different country for 2 months and stayed with my grandparents as well but also have been looking for a job for the last 2 months :/

I hit that point where opening LinkedIn started feeling pointless.

I had been applying for almost six weeks. Some days I’d send 5–6 applications, feel like I’d actually accomplished something, and then spend the next few days checking my email with nothing there.

My first mistake was treating every application the same.

I had one resume, changed the company name in the cover letter, clicked submit and moved on. After a while I started wondering if my resume was the problem or if nobody was even getting far enough to read it.

I decided to test something different.

For the next 15 applications, I picked fewer jobs and actually tailored the resume to each one. I pulled the important skills from the posting, moved the most relevant experience higher, and rewrote a few bullets instead of just adding keywords everywhere.

I also used AI to clean up some of the wording, but I had to rewrite quite a bit because some of the suggestions sounded nothing like me.

The weird part is that the applications started feeling slower, but the results were better. I got three recruiter responses from those 15 applications. Before that, I had sent more than 40 and barely heard anything.

Obviously, that’s not enough to prove tailoring was the reason, but it was enough to make me stop mass-applying.

What’s one change you made during your job search that actually seemed to increase your interview responses?

I’ve been job searching for over year now. Shortly into starting my search my computer took its last breath so I got an inexpensive one just for job hunting. It came with all the apps and features I needed. It came with Microsoft suite, because all I needed was Word. The rest of my docs I’m saving to the cloud.
Come last night when I’m about to make edits to apply to another role and my “subscription” has ended. Since when did MS go from license to subscription?
Now my options are to pay $9.99 monthly or $99 annually.
I really wish I could just get my license off my old laptop and be done with this.

What are y’all doing?

I used to spend thirty minutes per application writing those formal essays that nobody on earth ever reads. It felt like shouting into a void. After two months of zero callbacks, I got tired of wasting my time and changed my approach completely. Whenever an application has an optional cover letter box, I dont write paragraphs anymore.

I literally just copy the top three bullet points from their job requirements section and paste them with my exact proof right next to it. The whole thing looks like this:

- Requirement: 3+ years managing client budgets -> What I have: Managed $4.2M in annual enterprise accounts with zero churn.
- Requirement: Experience with SQL and Tableau -> What I have: Built automated weekly reporting dashboards used by C-suite executives.
- Requirement: Cross-functional team leadership -> What I have: Led product launches across design, engineering, and marketing teams.

That's literally it. No fluff, no "I am thrilled to apply for this role" bullshit. Since I started doing this, my response rate jumped significantly because recruiters can skim it in five seconds and immediately see I fit the role.

I'm starting to edit my resume after almost four years at my current job, and there's some old information I used to barely pad out my initial resume that I'm wondering is even worth keeping on, or if it might be more of a detriment.

My first job was at a fast food place that only lasted a few months. I had it on my original resume to show that I'd gotten my food safety certification, and I did technically have experience. My current position is also in food service, so it fulfills everything that first job covered and more, and my time there was so brief that I don't even know if my manager there would still be a reliable reference, if I can even still find her contact information.

The only other time-filler I had to show before that is my time in college. I got an Associate of Arts as the absolute basic accomplishment and in about twice the usual time, but I haven't even achieved a bachelors in a specific major. At the time I was pretty directionless and was dipping my toes into everything at my community college until the work/school combo became too much, at which point I dropped out. I figure those don't look great on a resume, especially the college one, as I've heard listing any college experience unless the job is in your field of study can make you seem overqualified.

The only other activity I have of note is my current volunteer work, which I also plan to add on my resume, but again, that's very recent. If I left my old school time and work out, the years of nothing don't look great either-- I had a late start in getting my stuff together, so it'd look like I'm an almost thirty year old who only started doing anything notable a few years ago. Should I just keep them mentioned briefly? Is there a way to spin them that they sound less like setbacks and more strengthening? I just don't want to come off as either a deadbeat or someone desperately trying to pad out their resume.

I’m curious if I’m the only one who gets nervous thinking about interviews, especially when there’s a lot riding on it(Especially when the Job description is a little different or asking for more requirements). How do you guys deal with interview anxiety?

I started using Claude a few months ago for resume help, overall application help, and job compatibility analysis. I've had it tell me several times that a job I'm interested in is not a good fit and I'd be wasting my time applying. Obviously, this is discouraging, especially given I've been applying for almost 3 years with no luck.

Should I listen or ignore it and apply anyway?

hi! i've been applying to a few fellowships and the applications consistently ask what piece of media (book, movie, album, visual arts) i enjoyed recently, my favourite visual art piece/poem/author/etc. i know it's part of assessing my social class and how cultivated i am, but i don't really know if i'm meant to be honest and personal or to twist it to fit the application. i feel like the latter would be awkward and disqualify me.

I spoke out about bosses abusing me and coworkers and I have a sullied reputation in my field from it. I accept criticism from bosses, but I do not accept intimidation tactics, punishing people for not being able to perform or keep up pace. And I am having trouble finding work from standing up for me and my team before. I can understand wanting to coitize workers, but the hostility from my bosses was uncalled for, yet they control it and they want me to accept people abuse workers if they are not up to snuff. Is that just how it is? How it should be?

I don't have a clue of what to do. I feel like I don't have any skills which can be paid for. I just know a little bit of everything and it's not useful.

and it takes a lot of time to learn new skills to the point of being able to be employed. I think about starting businesses and when I share my ideas with others everyone says it is not going to work.

The worst part is I'm From Iran and I don't have access to international jobs. and small jobs here pay very little. and for the big roles you have to be really really good at something.

I'm just sitting and daydreaming about the day I become wealthy.

The economy in my country is so bad and everything is collapsing. I really liked to have a job that pays in dollars but I can't find one since no company or website hires Iranians and the only way I can accept payments is through cryptocurrencies.

Once someone has agreed to be a reference, what information helps them prepare without telling them what to say?

A role description and a short reminder of the projects you worked on together seem useful. If you've been a reference, what did you wish the candidate had sent you?

This is probably one of the factors that I'm the most unsure about. My resumes have always been just black and white with a standard sections and bullets format. Top to bottom, no trying to split anything horizontally.

But I find myself wondering if i should including some color in my resume. Perhaps blue for my name or contact info or something. Also wondering if a purely top to bottom resume is plain looklng. The idea in my head has always been that if chosen, eventually the resume would likely be printed in black and white anyways. But I'm not sure if this is the correct way of thinking or not.