Nothing makes sense about this job market
I’ve been working on a federal contract for the last four years. I’ve done some great work, worked w great people, and have generally been happy. Last year our contract nearly didn’t get renewed so I thought “huh, I should probably get ahead of this before next year”. And I did just that.
I started looking for different opportunities in various industries. Wasn’t finding anything so I started getting more serious. Updated my resume, utilized AI in multiple ways, researched companies, tried LinkedIn, Indeed, and many more sites, tried applying directly, created a script to search for social media posts for job postings, etc. As the months went by I tried more and more methods to find something. And nothing. Nothing at all. Not a single response from anyone on any application.
But I kept on keeping on. Changed tactics, made posts, did more research, and still…nothing.
I decided to step back and take a break this last June. Thought perhaps I needed some perspective. And then 10 days ago we received word our contract is not moving forward and I have about 30 days to find a job.
The only difference now is I can look openly without keeping it to myself. I thought it might make a difference. And while I’ve had plenty of people reach out w words of encouragement I’m no where closer to finding anything. I cannot for the life of me get any responses from any job.
I’m highly experienced; 20 years as a military officer. MBA, Six Sigma black belt, PMP, experience in Project management, process improvement, AI integration & adoption, transformation, operations, logistics & supply chain management, and more.
I cannot understand where I’m failing or what I’m doing wrong. This market doesn’t make sense to me. I’ve worked my entire adult life to obtain the right experience, education, certifications, and done everything “right”, but suddenly none of that seems to matter.
I suppose this post is mostly to vent my frustration and see if I’m alone in this. You can only get ignored and rejected so many times without starting to feel worthless. I’m not going to give up. I have too many people depending on me to, but this pressure is building. I just want things to make sense.