Parking-Selection-27's journey

I've been on the job hunt for the past two months and have gone through interviews with eight different companies. It's been quite a mixed experience, especially when it comes to communication after the interviews. Out of the eight, I had three companies that went through multiple interview rounds and actually got back to me with responses. However, I faced ghosting from two companies after just one round of interviews and, shockingly, three others that had multiple rounds left me hanging completely without any feedback, even after I followed up with emails. This has made me feel quite devalued, as if they viewed me as sub-human for not even acknowledging my efforts. I'm really curious to hear how others are faring with this issue of ghosting in the job market.

I graduated in 2024 and landed a marketing job through a connection, but I was laid off in late 2025. Since then, I've been job searching for months and managed to secure a short-term contract, but now I'm back to looking for a new position. It's been a month with only two interviews, and I'm feeling really stuck. I'm currently in marketing, but I want to transition out of my niche because it's just too competitive. I keep getting rejected from jobs I'm qualified for, and even overqualified for, without getting any interviews. I've only worked for about 3 out of the last 10 months, and it seems like it's going to take even longer to find something new. Initially, I was interested in breaking into finance, aiming for roles like underwriter or CFP, but I couldn't find any opportunities after months of applying. I ended up taking the marketing job instead. The only offers I've received lately are commission-only roles selling insurance, which feels exploitative, especially for someone with a college degree. It seems like most companies are only hiring candidates who meet every single requirement or have some sort of insider connection. I'm even open to taking a marketing job outside of my specific field, but I've never received an interview for any of those positions either. I'm feeling really lost and unsure of how to move forward.

Today, I confronted my manager about some very unprofessional behavior I experienced during my contract-to-hire role at the company. I started this position expecting it to last four months, but I found out my contract was ending early when my replacement reached out to me for training. It was incredibly frustrating to learn this way, especially since my manager never communicated the decision directly to me. Instead, I was told that the new director wanted to bring in someone else for the role. I’ve been trying to finish out my contract professionally, but the way this transition was handled left me disappointed. When my manager asked me to meet with my replacement today, I expressed my feelings about being blindsided and how unprofessional the situation was. I suggested that I’d prefer to avoid a meeting since I had already sent over the necessary documents. In response, my manager was dismissive and threatened to inform my agency about my reluctance to meet. He implied that as a contractor, it was my job to comply without question. Instead of acknowledging my frustration, he accused me of being unprofessional and claimed I was hard to reach for work-related tasks. I attended every scheduled meeting, and the only time I missed a call was due to a scheduling error on his part. There were also instances where he failed to provide proper guidance and then criticized my work without prior discussion. I felt like I was thrown into a chaotic situation with little support and no feedback until they decided to replace me. I told him that there was no point in arguing further; I would complete my tasks while under payroll. However, I also mentioned that it wasn’t fair to label me as unprofessional when they didn’t give me proper notice. It feels like they view me as less than human simply because I’m a contractor. A simple message informing me of the change would have sufficed, even if it was disappointing news. As a final step, I removed and blocked my manager on LinkedIn to distance myself from this negative experience.