4 ms·

I entered the professional workforce in the fall of 2008, as the recession was in full force. I had a college degree, but no experience or resume of which to sp

I entered the professional workforce in the fall of 2008, as the recession was in full force. I had a college degree, but no experience or resume of which to speak - and frankly, didn't know very much outside of academia. I was lucky enough to land a job, but was laid off in fall of 2009. I was poor, sleeping on an air mattress, and in my early 20s, but determined to get a job as a software engineer, even if it meant taking a non software job for a while. This was before I knew that job-recruiters were a thing, or how to make connections with them, and before Linked-In had taken off. I made sure to apply for 10 jobs online, by going to companies "apply" pages, every-singly-day. I did this for two full months (weekends excluded). That's 400 applications. I only got 5 interviews, and only 1 job offer. That's 399 rejections. I'm doing well now - but those were rough times for me. When my teenager feels rejected (e.g. not making the team), I always tell them that rejection is always a bummer, but not the end of the world. And I gently remind them of that story as a way of saying *"trust me, I'm not saying that as empty words; I do understand how it feels."

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
a_brawling_boo 6y ago
That is so similar to what happened to me, only I had graduated December 2006. So I had 1.5 years until it went south and got laid off. Luckily I had acquired a condo in that time at the market peak, so I had a place to lay awake at night and worry about how I'd pay the mortgage.
- tmnstr85 6y ago
  This right here is the goods... only thing that would make this better is if it was a variable interest mortgage
  - a_brawling_boo 6y ago
    80/20. Everyone, parents, agents, closing lawyers all told me I was making the best decision of my life. All were saying they wished they could go back in time and buy a house when they were 24. Ended up taking a 30k bath on it 5 years later.
jart 6y ago
Rejection is a strong word to use when some algorithm didn't find the keyword it was looking for. Not getting an offer after interviewing isn't really so bad either since it's a learning opportunity where you get to meet people and ask questions. Before covid it usually meant you got a free vacation too.
- grayclhn 6y ago
  Yeah, not in 2008.
  - dvirsky 6y ago
    That was a rough time. I worked at a start-up company that shut down just at the peak of the global panic. Forget rejection - even finding a company that was hiring people was hard. Everyone was freezing new hires, investors were running away from signed deals, etc. To make matters worse my employer did not pay me my last paycheck and severance pay required by law, I didn't have a lot of savings, my wife was fired the next day, we just had a baby, and we didn't have a car anymore because that was a company car. In the end it turned out okay - I managed to get a couple of offers within a week, ended up taking a job which paid 30% less as did my wife, we moved to a cheaper city, got a cheap car, and after a while the market started recovering and I found a better job. But man, that was traumatic. Some of my colleagues from that company were unemployed for many months.
- astura 6y ago
  Sounds like you've never been unemployed during a global recession.
filmgirlcw 6y ago
I entered the workforce at the same time. I don’t have kids so I can’t relate to that aspect, but I speak to lots of college students and career-switchers and like you, I always note that I’m coming from a place of knowledge. I’ve been mentoring a lot of recent grads over the last year and with the pandemic, the uncertainty in the job market is very reminiscent of 2008 and I know what it was like to graduate into a pit of “what am I going to do?” And the answer is usually, “it’ll be fine. Probably.”
Balgair 6y ago
Pretty much the same situation for me back then too. But I wasn't in SW. So I did ~2000 applications before finding a job. Even in the late before-times, it would take ~6 month to ~1 year to get something lined up. SWland has it very easy when it comes to looking for work.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

a_brawling_boo 6y ago

That is so similar to what happened to me, only I had graduated December 2006. So I had 1.5 years until it went south and got laid off. Luckily I had acquired a condo in that time at the market peak, so I had a place to lay awake at night and worry about how I'd pay the mortgage.

tmnstr85 6y ago
This right here is the goods... only thing that would make this better is if it was a variable interest mortgage
- a_brawling_boo 6y ago
  80/20. Everyone, parents, agents, closing lawyers all told me I was making the best decision of my life. All were saying they wished they could go back in time and buy a house when they were 24. Ended up taking a 30k bath on it 5 years later.

jart 6y ago

Rejection is a strong word to use when some algorithm didn't find the keyword it was looking for. Not getting an offer after interviewing isn't really so bad either since it's a learning opportunity where you get to meet people and ask questions. Before covid it usually meant you got a free vacation too.

grayclhn 6y ago
Yeah, not in 2008.
- dvirsky 6y ago
  That was a rough time. I worked at a start-up company that shut down just at the peak of the global panic. Forget rejection - even finding a company that was hiring people was hard. Everyone was freezing new hires, investors were running away from signed deals, etc. To make matters worse my employer did not pay me my last paycheck and severance pay required by law, I didn't have a lot of savings, my wife was fired the next day, we just had a baby, and we didn't have a car anymore because that was a company car. In the end it turned out okay - I managed to get a couple of offers within a week, ended up taking a job which paid 30% less as did my wife, we moved to a cheaper city, got a cheap car, and after a while the market started recovering and I found a better job. But man, that was traumatic. Some of my colleagues from that company were unemployed for many months.
astura 6y ago
Sounds like you've never been unemployed during a global recession.

filmgirlcw 6y ago

I entered the workforce at the same time. I don’t have kids so I can’t relate to that aspect, but I speak to lots of college students and career-switchers and like you, I always note that I’m coming from a place of knowledge. I’ve been mentoring a lot of recent grads over the last year and with the pandemic, the uncertainty in the job market is very reminiscent of 2008 and I know what it was like to graduate into a pit of “what am I going to do?” And the answer is usually, “it’ll be fine. Probably.”

Balgair 6y ago

Pretty much the same situation for me back then too. But I wasn't in SW. So I did ~2000 applications before finding a job. Even in the late before-times, it would take ~6 month to ~1 year to get something lined up. SWland has it very easy when it comes to looking for work.