u/ComprehensiveWay6911

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............

I'm a 26-year-old guy, and I always knew that college wasn't going to be my path, so I went to truck driving school and got my CDL. I've been working as a garbage collector for about 3 years now, and for some reason I still feel embarrassed when I say that's my job.

The thing is, the job is good. The benefits are nice, the hours aren't bad, and I'm making $27 an hour now. And honestly, I can see myself continuing in it for a long time.

But every time someone asks me what I do for work, I get this weird feeling of embarrassment before I answer. I know that probably sounds silly, but it's bothering me. Am I supposed to feel this way?

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.....

Honestly, I'm still a little shocked by what happened.

I spent about 20 months sitting on the sidelines, sent out more than 650 applications. Several times I was treated like the perfect candidate, got stuck in the 4-month, 6-interview loop, and in the end, for the last 7 months, there was nothing but complete silence.

So I decided to start my own business. A simple site, nothing fancy. And strangely, the leads started coming in. In just 3 weeks, I had 3 clients paying me $115/hr for real work, and there are also a few conversations that look promising.

What I'm trying to say is: screw recruiters and their garbage AI screening systems. This whole thing is completely broken if an ordinary person can launch a business and make decent money faster than they can get a call-back for a job they're qualified for, and were literally willing to take a pay cut for.

Also happy to answer any questions. Happy Friday!

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.................When a taxi driver turns into an airline captain

I started noticing the warning signs around March - a small hiring freeze, travel approvals becoming weird, my manager dodging questions about the date of the next review, and things like that. People kept telling me I was making too big a deal out of it. Maybe I was, but I told myself that if I turned out to be right, I didn't want to be building the parachute after I'd already been pushed out.

So for 4 months, my side project was basically looking for a job: I updated my resume for the first time in 7 years. I rewrote my LinkedIn so it wouldn't look abandoned. I started reconnecting with old colleagues before I needed a favor from them, mostly just commenting on their posts or congratulating them on new roles. I started taking casual calls in July, and I managed to save up nearly 5 months' worth of basic expenses.

This morning: "your position has been affected."

And honestly, the strangest part was how calm I felt. I read it once, read it again, closed the laptop, and made coffee, because I already have three interviews in advanced stages lined up over the next few days, and another recruiter waiting for a few time slots from me.

I'm not sharing this as some kind of flex. More as a reminder that work can disappear almost without any warning. If you start noticing the small signs, don't wait for the official email before you start moving.

Take care of yourselves.

This is a good reminder that preparation makes a difference. Interviews are the same idea, you need to be ready before the opportunity appears, not keep trying to catch up afterward. I recently saw a post with the most asked interview questions, and I thought it might benefit some of you too.

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........

Seriously insane. My husband and I almost fell for this, even though we're both pretty tech-savvy and in our thirties. I had applied for a director-level role at a company on LinkedIn. The whole idea is that they're relying on you being nervous and in a hurry because you don't want to miss something you think is a real interview. A few days after I applied, I got an email asking about my availability for an interview. At the time, nothing felt off. No weird grammar, no random spacing, the company name looked right, and the email seemed legit.

After that, they sent me an interview confirmation and said the meeting link would arrive shortly before the interview started. About 15 minutes before the interview, I clicked the Teams link and got a pop-up saying the Teams app needed an update. It took me to a page that looked exactly like a Microsoft Teams page. Then it automatically started downloading the "Teams" app onto my laptop. I tried to open it from the downloads folder, but my Mac blocked it. I went back and read their email again and noticed they had written that their interview software wasn't compatible with MacBooks, so I needed to use a Windows computer instead. Yeah, I know. That should have been a huge red flag.

By then I was getting really stressed because I thought I was going to be late, so I called my husband. He told me to grab his laptop and try it on there. I opened the link on his computer, and a program called "connecthelper" immediately started downloading too. I FaceTimed him and showed him what was happening, and that's when we both snapped out of it and realized it was a scam.

We tried to shut it down from Task Manager, but every time we ended one process, four more would pop up. We shut the laptop down completely and changed the passwords for everything we could think of - bank accounts, email, computer logins, job sites, everything. These people use real company names and emails that look real, and they're counting on you being rushed and distracted before an interview. Honestly, I never would have imagined we could fall for something like this, but we came really close.

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..........

After sending more than 130 resumes and barely hearing anything back (the usual scenario), I felt like I had to change my approach.

So instead of spending every night on job boards, I picked 12 companies I was genuinely interested in and started showing up around their employees on LinkedIn. No spam. Nothing weird. Just normal things like...

Leaving genuine comments on their posts (not the useless "love this!" kind)

Posting a few thoughts of my own during the week

Sending connection requests with something simple like: "Hey [Name], I've been following [Company] for a while and like what you're building. Figured I'd connect - always interested in learning from people in this space."

After about 3 weeks, people from 4 of those companies were talking to me. One literally messaged me and said:

"I keep noticing your name in my feed - are you exploring new roles at the moment?"

No ATS black hole. No custom cover letter. Just being visible to real people.

I'm not saying stop applying altogether, but this approach put me in front of the right people much faster than another batch of cold applications.

Has anyone else tried doing this? I'd love to know what other "non-apply" approaches have worked for people.