Ragged Riches

This article was done in partnership with OBA, a new creative freelancer community. Come and join them!

Did you notice how many magazines talk about a labor shortage? If you’re like many job hunters and regular joes, you’re sick and tired of hearing employers wail about how “no one wants to work anymore.”

You know that it’s not true because you’ve applied to hundreds of places only to get turned down. The job market is increasingly difficult to break into, even for jobs like waiting tables or sales.

Getting a job is now an arduous task for many of us and yet mainstream media is adamant about a shortage being afoot. We’re not okay with being gaslit about a fake “labor shortage.”

People want to work. No one wants to hire. What gives?

AI Discrimination

Believe it or not, you might be able to blame AI for a lack of a job. Sites like Indeed have algorithms that “weed out” and deprioritize job applications that don’t have the qualifications, education, skills, or keywords HR reps want.

If you applied to a bunch of jobs only to hear nothing back, it might not be your fault. It may also not be the fault of the employer. You might just have a resume that wasn’t AI-friendly enough.

Make sure to carefully read job descriptions and try to use as many of their keywords as humanly possible. It can take a while but it’s better than getting screened out by a stupid bot.

Real Job, Fake Opportunity

Did you notice how many companies seem to hire people other than you, yet still post job openings? It’s not just because they deemed you a bad fit. It’s often because they already have a candidate lined up but have to “officially” go through the motions to avoid a lawsuit.

This is the most common route for companies that engage in nepotism, have a “friend in the family” they want to hire, or for companies that generally want to make their hiring practices look fairer than they are.

Fake Job, Fake Opportunity

Most people have come across ads that are fake, often with telltale signs like vague responsibilities, vague hiring practices, and more. Fake job posts happen for a wide range of reasons.

Sometimes, they’re posted by data scrapers and HR companies as a way to gauge the labor market while getting data. Other times, it’s done by other job applicants who just want to get an idea of the competition.

The most common reason why it seems to happen is because company owners purposefully short-staffed their business. Keeping up a fake ad convinces their employees that they are “really working to find someone” to do the job they’re pawning off on overworked people.

If you’re unlucky, you might have just gotten your resume to a scammer who just wants to steal your information.

An MLM “Offer”

MLM companies are not jobs, but they absolutely pose as jobs. These types of jobs are technically pyramid schemes, but they use a legal loophole to stay in business. Do not take an MLM offer. You’re better off selling goods yourself.

Sadly, MLM companies are multiplying like rabbits. They are all about selling a dream, not selling an actual product.

Higher Competition

It doesn’t take too long to find an article about highly qualified people struggling to find work in their fields. One of the many job hunters out there recently published an article where he details applying to almost 1,000 jobs.

There is a growing amount of evidence showing that the number of fake jobs on the market is skewing the real number of available jobs. It’s also a commonly-known fact that unemployment statistics don’t include people who want a job but gave up trying to find one seriously.

Because there are actually fewer legitimate jobs than the media wants to let us know, the competition for the jobs actually available is much higher than we let on. Those HR reps have to leaf through hundreds of resumes per position.

To make matters even worse, we’re no longer just competing with Americans. We’re competing against firms overseas. So, it’s also just more competition on a global scale.

Pro Tip: If you want to avoid being lost in the flood of applications, aim to chat with companies

Social Media Sniffing

In a normal, sane world, companies would only care about one thing: whether you can do the job well and not pose a risk to the company. In today’s world, that’s not the case. You also have to police yourself on social media.

Most companies search up people on social media prior to hiring them. Things like being caught ranting about life, saying something toxic, or even taking photos with a glass of beer can be enough to get you booted out of a job.

In certain cases, such as making racist or sexist remarks, this kind of policy can make sense. However, most companies go “whole hog” on it and tend to exclude dedicated employees that would actually help their company grow.

Go figure.

The System Sucks

It seems like every company has at least one horror story about a hire gone horribly wrong. Human Resources reps have to cover their behinds in order to keep their job—and that generally means showing proof they picked well.

This is why many HR offices demand a college degree for jobs where college-level knowledge isn’t required. (For example, you shouldn’t need a degree for a sales job. C’mon, now.)

The truth is that most hirers are so terrified of taking a risk on a good candidate, they will pass them up in hopes of finding a perfect unicorn candidate. It’s a shame, but that’s what it is.

Get Creative?

Let’s face it. The job market is really brutal on creative people, especially if you don’t fit the mold of a perfect corporate employee. If you were hoping to find stability or even a good client the old-fashioned way, it’s probably not going to happen.

Now is the time to get creative and find people who get it. Maybe it’s time you check out online communities where creatives get support, network, collaborate, and find jobs with likeminded people.

Check out Oba. It’s the new way to work.