The current job market is messy.
Companies in the service sector hire fast enough—even three years after the pandemic began, hospitality businesses remain far from their 2020 employment rates, and there are currently over 2 million unfilled positions in the industry.
But if we look at tech, we see waves of layoffs. Just days ago, Amazon said it is planning to let go of another 9,000 employees in divisions like advertising operations and cloud computing (which are among its most profitable) and on March 14, Mark Zuckerberg announced Meta is preparing to kick out 10,000 of its staff, warning in a memo about "the possibility that this new economic reality will continue for many years."
But these are just numbers. Statistics. And they're hard to visualize. To better understand the situation, we need to look at the people behind them.
Meet digital creator Wesley Anna, who is trying and struggling to find a new place to work at
Image credits: itswesleyanna
In one of her recent TikTok videos, designer and content creator Wesley Anna (@itswesleyanna) showed how her job search is going after she was laid off.
The senior-level specialist explained that despite having a decade of experience (three of which were with a Fortune 500 company, and another one was with a few big tech brands, including SoftBank and Dropbox), she has yet to receive an offer. Even though she sent out 100 applications.
"Are you curious about how the job market is doing right now? Well, let me show you."
Image credits: itswesleyanna
"This is my job tracker in Notion, and I've hidden all the roles for obvious reasons."
Image credits: itswesleyanna
"There are a hundred positions listed here. I've applied for a hundred jobs."
Image credits: itswesleyanna
"I'm not entry-level, I'm not even mid-level. I am a senior designer. I have 10 years of experience."
Image credits: itswesleyanna
"Three of those years were with a Fortune 500 company. Another one of those years was working with big tech brands like SoftBank and Dropbox, and yet, still I wake up to emails like this every single day."
Image credits: itswesleyanna
After learning about her experiences, you might be wondering how Wesley Anna affords to stay unemployed for all this time. In fact, it's a question she gets asked a lot.
"There's a few answers to this," the woman said in another TikTok.
"I live in the US and I made a high salary before getting laid off and those checks were pretty substantial... I have savings. I am a very big believer in keeping a six-months emergency fund in the bank at all times for times like this."
Wesley Anna added that she also moved back home after she lost her job and is now living with her family again. "[It is] an absolute privilege and something I'm grateful for every day," she explained.
Another reason is the passive income that she makes from her online content, most notably her YouTube channel and Notion templates.
Plus, Wesley Anna's boyfriend still has a full-time job and he's able to cover a larger part of living expenses. "To balance out [his] contributions, I am doing more household stuff, like taking care of his dog and doing all of the cooking," she said.
Wesley Anna admitted she grew up with "a pretty toxic sense of self-reliance" but she said she's been working on healing herself over the last few years and has learned that "it's okay to lean on others and ask for help. It doesn't make you weak."
"In the end, we all have things that are in our favor and things that aren't, and it's up to us and no one else to make the best of our resources."
The popularity of Wesley Anna's video — which has been viewed 365K times in just a few days — shows that her story is part of a bigger narrative
Many factors influence how long it takes a person to find a job. According to Indeed, the #1 job site in the world with over 300M unique visitors every month (that also commented on Wesley Anna's video), some of the most important are:
- Economic conditions;
- Location;
- Experience;
- Flexibility;
- Length of unemployment;
- Quality of materials;
- Job search methods;
- Professional network;
- Other professional and personal commitments.
Because of the variance, it's important to set realistic goals and avoid getting quickly demotivated.
Indeed also said that people who want to find a job faster should consider the following steps:
- Proofread your general resume and cover letter;
- Update your social media;
- Send out applications regularly;
- Contact companies directly;
- Adjust your expectations;
- Ask for feedback;
- Improve your skills.
"On average, it takes about 3-6 months from start to finish to get a job," said FlexJobs career coach, Cidnye Work. "That means it could take as many as 10-20 applications to get one interview. And, on top of that, it can take 10-15 interviews to get one job offer."
So it shouldn't come as a surprise that people have a lot to say about it
