Mastodawn

If, like me, you've been actively seeking a job recently, you will likely be aware of the impact Ai has had on the job market. Virtually every other day is a msm news story about qualified and/or experienced people making hundreds of applications without getting anywhere.

Personally, although I've had a few interviews that didn't quite land (one I didn't really have enough experience, the others were pulled or lost funding), I've now applied for over 300 jobs over the past year. At this stage I'm quite philosophical about it and recognise it's not a reflection of my value.

Along with all the other current crises, there is now a looming employment and skills crisis. This is being framed as a benefits culture led by overdiagnosis of neurodivergence. Which makes me so very very cross it's difficult to put into words. I know that's not true. You know that's not true. *They* know that's not true. It's just a convenient demographic to throw under the bus to detract from the catastrophic damage being wrought by this new gold rush.

Urgh.

I've started typing this out a few times recently and always deleted. It's not something I feel very comfortable talking about. But I am really struggling with this and I figure that if I am there might be others. And I believe in visibility and not suffering in silence - been there and it was awful.

I know things will change at some point. And I know I've spoken to some of you separately irl about this (and thank you so much for your support), but just wanted to fire a beam out across Fedi to anyone else in this shitty situation. You are not alone. Always happy to chat offline if this is kicking your ass as much as it is mine! X

#jobs
#employment

May Likes Toronto 7h ago

@TheBreadmonkey The job search process sucks and it's a battle of the AIs on both sides. Meanwhile, the non AI users are getting hit in the crossfire.

It's shit all around. You're a lovely human and I hope that you don't get consumed by the process.

@mayintoronto 😊❤️

The Doctor 1h ago

@mayintoronto @TheBreadmonkey In the few interviews I've gotten, I've been told to "do something unexpected" to prove I'm organic while on a call.

Probably not surprisingly, the interviews don't go very far after that.

May Likes Toronto 1h ago

@drwho When I'm interviewing people, I look for 2 things:
- Can you do the job?
- Do I want to work with you?

Prep stories about how you've done similar jobs, or solved problems about scenarios A/B/C.

Be curious about my work and the people on the team. I'll probably want to work with you if you're not an asshole and are curious.

It's not generally that hard. Unfortunately, you're also up against other people. Keep practicing! You only need to get 1 job every time you go through this!

@TheBreadmonkey

The Doctor 1h ago

@mayintoronto @TheBreadmonkey If I can just get past the baselines who think I'm trying to con them to get to the technical interview (because, for fuck's sake, trying to develop a theory of mind for somebody interrogating me, on the fly has nothing to do with the job they say they're hiring for) I've got it.

@drwho @mayintoronto

May Likes Toronto 1h ago

@TheBreadmonkey Straight to the final round! @drwho

MissConstrue 41m ago

@drwho @mayintoronto @TheBreadmonkey What, and I mean this in the most outraged sense possible, the actual fuck? Prove you’re organic? I hate this damn timeline so much.

May Likes Toronto 31m ago

@MissConstrue I miss the days where we just ask people to put their shoes on their head.

@drwho @TheBreadmonkey

"Ha! That sound of farting into the receiver was clearly emulated! Nice try, Killroy!"

CC: @[email protected] @[email protected]

GinevraCat 7h ago

@TheBreadmonkey @joakimfors It's pretty scary.

DB Schwein 7h ago

@TheBreadmonkey

Huuuugs
It's....awful out there 😟

I don't know what you do, but if there's anything at https://anaqua.bamboohr.com/careers that you think might fit, they are for reals hiring. It's remote unless you live in a city they have an office in. I'd recommend you in a heartbeat.

Current Openings

Take a look at the current openings at Anaqua

Anaqua

Amy Maybe 7h ago

@TheBreadmonkey It's really hard and horrible. ❤️

@TheBreadmonkey I hope you're able to find work somewhere that appreciates your skills and experience soon.

Tim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPE 7h ago

@TheBreadmonkey "making hundreds of applications without getting anywhere"

First came the job board scraping web sites. You could search, find a hundred vaguely matching jobs, then hit the "apply to all" button. Add to that you can now tell your AI to write a tailored covering letter for each. (Which you don't actually read before sending the applications, of course, you don't have time for that.)

Now, what about the other side?

A recruiter might in the past have received half a dozen CVs, back in the days when they had to be individually posted in an envelope with a stamp on it. Great, it's entirely possible to read them all, and pick out the two that are worth interviewing (if you're lucky!), and hire one of them.

Now you get hundreds of CVs. WTF are you supposed to do with those? You can't even read them all, at least not and spend any time on your day job. We know that buzzword filtering is a crap way of sifting through them, and we strongly suspect that getting an AI to tell you which ones are any good is also useless. So what do you do?

(I'm recently retired so I don't have to worry about it any more.)

GinevraCat 7h ago

@TheBreadmonkey @joakimfors Also, who wouldn't hire you?

You would be an employee perk. Instead of company weasel-words scrolling across screens at lunch times, you could just read aloud your greatest hits toots.

GinevraCat 7h ago

@TheBreadmonkey @joakimfors The company colour would be beige, obviously.

And when ppl complain about their arsehole bosses and bad jobs, other beige employees would be like "Sorry for you! Should have chosen to work with. ...The Breadmonkey!"

@GinevraCat @joakimfors

I am a.... double-edged sword...

GinevraCat 6h ago

@TheBreadmonkey Whereas I have been described as "a fucking ray of sunshine" - clearly I am an unambiguous asset. 😁

J. L. Yocum 7h ago

@TheBreadmonkey Curious what you mean when you say it’s “framed as a benefits culture led by overdiagnosis of neurodivergence.”

Do neurodivergent people actually get *benefits* where you live?! Like, monetary benefits sizable enough they can decide not to work?!

I am an autistic guy in the U.S. And I’m in a benefits-heavy region of my country (New York State). I can assure you that neurodivergent people do not get one measly freaking dime in pay-outs, not in this neck of the woods.

George B 7h ago

@jlyocum @TheBreadmonkey

You're letting reality get in the way of the narrative that the people firing employees left and right to save a dime are trying to push

The Doctor 1h ago

@gbargoud @jlyocum @TheBreadmonkey I've got a paper in the works because I've been collecting data since I got laid off.

Disclose... Anything, really: Rejected within 48 hours.

Don't disclose anything: Rejected within 15 days (with a couple of three and four month outliers at the far end).

J. L. Yocum 13m ago

@drwho @gbargoud @TheBreadmonkey Oh I don't disclose ANYTHING until I'm on the payroll and showing up to work already. At which point I document everything.

I have become an expert on employment law related to the Americans with Disabilities Act, which I have had to do for mere survival...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8q26q2r75o

Streeting orders review into mental health and ADHD diagnoses

The health secretary says the aim is to tackle a rising demand for services and pressure on the NHS.

BBC News

J. L. Yocum 6h ago

@TheBreadmonkey I see… but wouldn’t removing people from the labor pool (via job-replacing benefits) actually *increase* available jobs for those willing to work?

There's a perfect storm in the UK at the moment with Brexit removing opportunities for economic migrants who have historically met the needs of some markets, then Covid interrupting the pipeline, initiatives to replace 'low-skilled' workers with visa/sponsorship-driven workers (expensive for employers and, who upon moving to the UK then quit/move and/or get lost in the system), successive governments cutting funding from public services, significant employer cost rises, and then a huge push on Ai which has had a deleterious effect at every level. So there are stark employment shortages (care, for example), record numbers of people unemployed, *and* a benefits crisis. Because there's been a spike in Dx for ND, this has been attributed as the main cause (by the Health Secretary).

In short, we're being told neurodivergent people are workshy benefit cheats. And I have to read that on a regular basis despite having applied for more than 300 jobs in 12 months. I think I've had interviews for 6 jobs in that time. It's quite frustrating.

J. L. Yocum 5h ago

@TheBreadmonkey I see. While I don't live in the U.K., I did spend a full month there about 20 years ago, have worked a total of five years for U.K.-based employers, and have many close friends that do live there... and I have to say what you've described sounds very English to me (though by this I do not mean to negate all the wonderful things that are also very, very English — such as Staffordshire County oat cakes, miners' strike culture, curry sauce on chips and The Stone Roses).

J. L. Yocum 5h ago

@TheBreadmonkey And the U.K. is by no means alone in its portrayal of newly-Dx'd neurodivergent workers as 'workshy benefit cheats' — it happens in the U.S. even though a) no such benefits actually exist in the U.S. for neurodivergent workers and b) in my experience, the only people who actually do any fucking work in any fucking workplace are the neurodivergent ones.

J. L. Yocum 5h ago

@TheBreadmonkey (Pardon my French.)

😂

Heather 👻5h ago

@jlyocum @TheBreadmonkey In a way the miners' strike has continued
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp9jyglv3y9o

Wakefield mining museum workers' strike extended into summer

Staff at the National Coal Mining Museum have been on strike since August in a dispute over pay.

BBC News

J. L. Yocum 3h ago

@Akki Fantastic! As an IWW member, I am always here for labor action and transference of power from the employing class to the working class.

peter (sax) 🌈4h ago

@TheBreadmonkey @jlyocum

Really well put. I think this covers it neatly and succinctly - better than any newspaper article.

@TheBreadmonkey @jlyocum

Fuck the Tories

Oh, wait...

@TheBreadmonkey @jlyocum Fuck me he's an unfortunate looking fella. Every photo is see of him somehow manages to look worse. Like an overfilled piping bag stuffed into a suit.

🌊 #woke 5h ago

@jlyocum @TheBreadmonkey Oh boy! Now I feel particularly priviledged to live in Switzerland! It was a taugh time getting financial benefits as an autistic person going throuth a serious burn-out and depression, thus being unable to work (it took me 3 years, I got in debts and was signaled at the debt regional office for months), but once I finally was accepted by the invalidity insurrance, things got much better. I'm not rich at all, but at least, all my basic needs are covered.

🌊 #woke 5h ago

@jlyocum @TheBreadmonkey These benefits come at a cost: you loose bank and medical secrecy, your case is reviewed every 2 years and the paper work is quite complexe (you actually need the help from a social worker to make it through) and you are constantly distrusted as a potential social benefit abuser by everyone who doesn't know what it entails and right-wing politics who waste no opportunity to blame you for all your ills and those of others, but the whole thing has been holding steadfastly.

J. L. Yocum 5h ago

@ariane @TheBreadmonkey And I thought I had it bad at my last workplace when all I was going for was workplace accommodations like "Please let me wear headphones while I work" and "Can I please work in a room without overhead lighting." The hoops I had to jump through...

🌊 #woke 3h ago

@jlyocum @TheBreadmonkey Well, it seems you have it bad, since it seems nearly impossible for you to find public/state assistance with your present situation. In Switzerland, this kind of help is not easily accessible, you need the help of social workers and your doctors to find your way through the bureaucracy maze, but when you get the benefits, the institution is fairly solid.

🌊 #woke 3h ago

@jlyocum @TheBreadmonkey

However, because of these bureaucratic hurdles and sometimes also humiliations (you're really forced to get administratively naked), about 30% of those who would legitimately have a right to it don't request this assistance. I'm privileged in this instance, as I'm pretty well-articulate, both in written and oral form, have a good command of digital tools and have the support of my family. For others, it is a lot tougher.

J. L. Yocum 3h ago

@ariane I'm definitely privileged myself — I managed to 'white knuckle' it through 45 years of life on earth before getting diagnosed with autism, through a combination of luck, supportive parents and sheer willpower. But I had to find a doctor to diagnose me as a middle-aged man just to get my aforementioned workplace accommodations, which was no small feat in the health-coverage desert that is the United States.

J. L. Yocum 3h ago

@ariane All of that just so I could wear headphones and tinted glasses at my desk, which is its own kind of corporate idiocy. (Interestingly, @TheBreadmonkey — this was at one of those U.K.-based employers I mentioned earlier!)

Matt Hall 7h ago

@TheBreadmonkey

<3

Leo Schuldiner🤘🏼7h ago

@TheBreadmonkey you are talking with the truth. I already have had 2 job interviews with -literally- an AI talking to me and asking me questions and interacting with me. It's been creepy and also so strange. Unfortunately in both appliances I didn't go forward to the next stage. But.. it made me decide I'll never have another job interview with an AI. Keep on, mate... this world is getting harder and harder and we must make us stronger and stronger.

@leoschuldiner23 👊

Tim Stickland 6h ago

@TheBreadmonkey
I wish you luck.
Offspring No 1 is in a similar position.
Tough times.
Austerity, Brexit, Covid, AI, war etc etc

@sticklandtim 🙏

Imran Nazar ~ عمران نزر 3h ago

@sticklandtim @TheBreadmonkey Mm, my nephew's been stuck in the hole since graduating in CS a couple of years ago. When he went in, it was a promising career; by the time he got out, the world had changed.

@TheBreadmonkey You are not alone, and thank you for finding the words. A lot of people, senior in their careers, feel like this. Also hard like a gut-punch to have prospective and curious students ask questions about a profession that is getting upheaved. What should we tell them? Stay away? They are embers and oxygen is getting sucked out of the room.

@TheBreadmonkey Same Ben. And it's not like I don't get interviews, but only once did I advance to the second round (I was notably not my authentic self in the first round). I've gotten feedback from some places that they went with someone more technical but everything I apply for is rather straightforward work. So either I'm not communicating my skills or it's a cover for "we didn't like you" 🤷
And I'm not an AI puritan or anything. I'll work with whatever tools we are using.

@TheBreadmonkey If you want you can send me a job posting along with the CV you would submit (and cover letter if they want that). I'll give you feedback but obviously I'm in a different country now and I've lived less than 4 years in the UK. But I'll take that into consideration in my feedback. And obviously I'm completely useless when it comes to interviews.

Edit: wow, that was a lot of buts and obviouslys.

That's kind of you. Thanks. 😊

Jordi (Tubal Hippy)6h ago

@TheBreadmonkey

🫂

@Jorsh 😊❤️

The Eddie Show 📷🎧❤️6h ago

@Jorsh @TheBreadmonkey

Yes. Big hug, brother. x

@TheEddieShow @Jorsh

❤️😊👊

Jordi (Tubal Hippy)6h ago

@TheBreadmonkey @TheEddieShow

And then Ben punched Jordi in the heart.

@Jorsh @TheEddieShow

Jordi (Tubal Hippy)5h ago

@TheBreadmonkey @TheEddieShow

"Feel-Good"

I've never felt good watching a movie described as "feel-good".

Дими́трий 5h ago

@TheBreadmonkey @Jorsh @TheEddieShow

I, too, have a 'thing' for emma thompson. did you see her performance in 'stranger than fiction?' dustin hoffman was great in that, too. and, yes, that 'sandwich' would likely smell sublime.

also: I hope you find the job you deserve. one that will enrich you spiritually and pocketbookily. one that will only punch you in the heart with love.