A 26-year-old exposed the challenges of securing employment as a young creative and how her arduous journey within professional life has left her with no other choice but to seek a “real job,” leaving her in tears for millions to see. A human resource expert has since analyzed the situation.
New Yorker Lohanny Santos publicly vented her frustration after her attempts to go door-to-door with her CV in hand in the hope of finally landing a job were unsuccessful.
Highlights
- 26-year-old Lohanny Santos' viral video exposed the struggle of job hunting as a young creative.
- Despite having two degrees and speaking three languages, Lohanny found it hard to secure even minimum-wage jobs in NYC.
- A Professor acknowledged the accessibility of app-based gig jobs but noted their limited appeal for long-term career goals.
Lohanny from Brooklyn was left weeping, a moment she vulnerably shared in a video she decided to post on her TikTok page on January 29, 2024. Unbeknownst to her, the video strung an emotional chord in many people, as the clip quickly turned viral, amassing 23.3 million views.
It would appear that other young jobseekers could relate to Lohanny’s struggles. The USA and Canada rank fifth out of seven when it comes to youth unemployment and third when it comes to total unemployment, according to World Bank data based on an International Labor Organization model for 2020, as per Statista.
A 26-year-old Lohanny Santos exposed the challenges of securing employment as a young creative
Image credits: lohannysant
This issue is especially prevalent in Canada, where an estimated 20 percent of young job seekers can't find work, a number similar to countries like Puerto Rico, Lithuania, France, and Nigeria.
In her video, Lohanny described how she had failed her job hunt and how she had received “the most humbling” reality check she’s ever felt in her young life.
Despite a majority of hiring processes being conducted online, Lohanny went old school, holding a stack of resumes in her hand and physically hunting for jobs on the streets of New York City and asking potential employers: “Are you guys hiring?”
But after all of her efforts had fallen in vain, the Gen-Zer expressed feeling disconcerted to be rejected in person. In her video, Lohanny said: “It’s honestly a little bit embarrassing because I’m literally applying for, like, minimum-wage jobs. And some of them are being like, ‘We’re not hiring,’ and it’s like, ‘What?’ This is not what I expected.”
Lohanny is a graduate of New York’s Pace University. She revealed that she speaks three languages and has two degrees, one in communications and a BFA in acting. As a result, she was disappointed with undergoing such an immense struggle to land any job in the Big Apple.
She explained: “This sucks, like, I just want to be a TikToker if I’m being so for real, but I can’t be delusional anymore. I literally need to make money,” while wiping a tear from her eye. “I'm just going to keep trying.”
Lohanny showed her arduous journey within professional life, which left her with no other choice but to seek a “real job”
Image credits: lohannysant
At first glance, it would appear that Lohanny has been doing rather well for herself on the video-sharing social media app. The job seeker currently has 152,200 followers and a total of 9.6 million likes.
However, making a living out of TikTok isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Top creators have revealed that the app pays between $0.02 and $0.04 per 1,000 views through the Creator Fund program. If you do the math, that's $20 to $40 for a million views, Descript reported.
In addition, according to DemandSage, Lohanny would fit into the “Mid-tier influencer” type, meaning those who have 50,000 to 500,000 followers, therefore, earn an estimated $125 to $1,250 per post. It’s a fair amount for those able to save money, but it's not enough to depend on whilst living alone in New York.
According to HousingAnywhere, depending on a person’s lifestyle, the overall living expenses in New York for a single person is $4,299.
Since uploading the video, Lohanny has received tons of support and job recommendations in the video’s comment section.
A supporter commented: “Never feel embarrassed. You should feel proud that you’re pushing your pride to the side and being realistic.”
Lohanny vented her frustration after her attempts to go door-to-door with her CV in hand in the hopes of finally landing a job were unsuccessful
Image credits: lohannysant
Another person recommended: “Don’t ask if they’re hiring. Just say you want to apply & speak to a hiring manager. Be assertive.”
Someone else encouraged: “This is precisely how you apply for jobs before the internet. Nothing to be embarrassed about, as this gives you real-world sales experience.”
A separate individual explained: “3 languages?? be a translator or work in a language school!! it's my dream job but I only speak English ahaha.”
An additional commentator chimed in: “GIRL APPLY TO BE A FLIGHT ATTENDANT!!! BARELY AND EXPERIENCE NEEDED AND WITH THREE LANGUAGES THEY WILL WANT YOUU.”
Lohanny’s hardships within the job market might highlight a broader problem. Indeed, recent reports suggested that employers weren’t happy with Gen-Z (those born from 1997 to 2012) workers’ work ethics.
Unbeknownst to her, Lohanny's video exposing her job hunt strung an emotional chord in many people, as the clip quickly turned viral
Image credits: lohannysant
In 2023, an online magazine focused on education, student life, and career opportunities conducted a survey involving 800 US managers, directors, and executives, revealing that 39% of respondents would prioritize hiring older candidates over recent college graduates when all other factors were equal.
Previously, the presence of overqualified candidates was seen as a potential concern for job seekers, but now, 46% of surveyed employers and HR professionals are willing to hire overqualified individuals simply to circumvent working with Gen-Zers.
Among various different reasons for this shift, the survey found that 1 in 5 employers had encountered instances where young candidates brought their parents to interviews, with parents often being the instigators of conflicts.
The USA and Canada rank fifth out of seven when it comes to youth unemployment and third when it comes to total unemployment
Image credits: statista
Lohanny has since responded to the enormous amount of comments and reactions her initial video has garnered. Earlier this week, she told Fox News Digital that she's been receiving "outreach from people around the world."
She said: "So many people are also unemployed, looking for jobs, and not being able to find one.
"Some people have higher education than I do, and they, themselves, are also struggling.
"This is a tough job market. I’m not alone in being unemployed and struggling."
According to Mark Williams, a human resource management professor at the Queen Mary University of London in the UK, unemployment is normally always higher amongst youth given they have less work experience.
Lohanny described how she had failed her job hunt and how she had received “the most humbling” reality check
Image credits: lohannysant
In the case of the UK, since the birth rate has risen substantially between the turn of the millennium and the financial crisis, young people just entering the labor market now will be part of a bigger and therefore possibly more competitive cohort than those born in the decade prior the millennium, who were a smaller cohort.
Professor Williams told Bored Panda in an email: “Having rich and well-connected parents is a failsafe way to have an advantage in the labor market as it always has been. Certainly, my research supports this notion.”
The employment expert admitted that entering the paid workforce nowadays was, in reality, easy because unemployment is very low.
He said: “You can even work without applying for a job or doing an interview. All you need to do is download an app and you can start delivering hot meals and getting paid the same day.
“You do not even need to own a bike – you could borrow or rent one. It hasn’t been this easy to be employed for generations.”
“Admittedly,” he added, “this may not be the sort of job many would want to do long-term.”
Despite a majority of hiring processes being conducted online, Lohanny went old school, physically hunting for jobs on the streets of New York City
Image credits: lohannysant
According to the professor, given the numbers of younger people staying on in education later and later, and increasing numbers working while doing so, there is now a vast army of part-time student workers.
“Without them, I am sure a lot of coffee shops, pubs, restaurants, and supermarkets would struggle to function,” he said.
Professor Williams said he wasn’t aware of whether things were worse for younger people now than before, but if it is, he said, “it may be due to the fact the cohort of young people is bigger than previous ones due to the mini baby boom post-millennium (at least in the UK).”
A human resource management professor examined the situation
When asked if it was possible Gen-Z had "too many" diplomas to be hired, the human resource expert said: “I personally think one should study for its own intrinsic reward. If one assumes that the rising numbers reflect an increasing interest in academic pursuits, then there are not “too many”—latent intellectual curiosity is being satisfied which is surely a good thing.
“But studying is an expensive luxury these days, and I worry that those from ordinary backgrounds (and the government for those that can’t pay it off) are loaded with too much debt.
“If on the other hand, studying is seen as a gateway to the managerial and professional class, then there are ‘too many’ graduates in the sense there are not enough of these jobs for everyone with a degree.”
He concluded: “I think this is the wrong way to look at it because outside of a small number of specific occupations (e.g., medicine, law, accounting, etc.), no specific qualifications are legally required to enter any job (at least in the UK).
“‘Overqualification’ is a symptom of the real problem, which is meager economic growth and lack of growth in high-quality jobs that benefits everyone no matter how many diplomas you have or don’t have.”
Lohanny's candid video has continued to amass different reactions from around the world
