3 months unemployed, 5 interviews, 2 rejections, 2 ghosted, 1 stuck in approval — asking for a referral if anyone can help
Hey everyone, first time posting here so bear with me.
Quick background: I'm a backend/full-stack software engineer with ~2 years of experience (Java, Spring Boot, Python/FastAPI, React, Docker, Kafka, PostgreSQL, some LLM/RAG work). I was laid off from Oracle in late March 2026, and I've been actively job hunting since — applying broadly, prepping hard, and going through interview processes end to end.
Here's where things stand after ~3 months:
- 2 rejections — one in the first round, one in the second round.
- 1 company — cleared all rounds, including the final one. Now just... silence. Complete ghosting after weeks of process.
- 1 company — post-final-round, stuck in an internal "approval" stage for weeks now, no clear timeline.
- Overall: very few calls coming in despite consistent applications.
Something I've noticed going through this process: it really does seem like referrals make a disproportionate difference. Almost everyone I know who's landed something recently got in through someone on the inside, not a cold application.
So — I'm not above asking. If anyone here is at a company that's hiring for backend/full-stack roles (Java, Python, or similar stack) and is open to help, I'd genuinely appreciate it. I'm attaching a masked version of my resume below.
Happy to share more details in comments or DMs. Thanks for reading this far, and thanks in advance to anyone willing to help.