It’s well known that the job market is really bad. Despite the unemployment rate is 4.3%, a lot of people are struggling to find jobs. Many are listed on job sites like Indeed, LinkedIn, etc., but you don’t really know who’s actually hiring. There’s been an overflow of ghost jobs clogging up the job sites. How that isn’t considered illegal since it’s false advertising, I’ll never understand.
I’ve been on the job search since 2023, and though I’ve had jobs then, they were usually only temp jobs.
When you’re looking, so many things come to your mind. You wonder what are you doing wrong?
“Maybe I need to fix my resume.”- Meanwhile, your resume has been changed 5+ times.
“Maybe I need to apply to more jobs.”- You can apply to 10+ a day and still get nothing or either rejected.
“Maybe I’m aiming too high.”- You’re not. I’ve applied to retail stores, and I’m a mid-level admin and have gotten rejections.
You start to doubt yourself, feeling depressed, unmotivated, and losing confidence in yourself and your skills.
Plus, it doesn’t help that people who are employed completely gaslight you into thinking you’re the problem.
It’s not you. And I hope by the end of this article, you’ll realize that.
Many job seekers are skilled, experienced, and apply for jobs that match their backgrounds.
According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the unemployment rate held at 4.3% in May 2026. In April 2026, job openings rose to 7.6 million, while hires fell to 5.1 million. But that’s just it. “Job openings”. Doesn’t mean they’re actively hiring. I’ve had a job that I applied for months ago, and now they messaged me for an interview. Also, a lot of the “openings” are ghost jobs.
One 2025 survey found that 53% of job seekers said they had been ghosted by an employer during their job search. Another report found that employer ghosting had reached a three-year high, with more than half of job seekers experiencing it within the past year.
Now, before I get into my findings, I’ll share with you my job experiences.
I’ve worked as an Executive Assistant and Mortgage Loan Processor, supporting executive leadership, managing administrative operations, processing residential loan files, reviewing borrower documentation, coordinating with loan officers and underwriters, maintaining loan pipelines, preparing files for compliance review, and handling high-volume email and scheduling.
I’ve worked in legal support as a Mass Tort Litigation Claims Investigator, reviewing and validating more than 800 claimant files, conducting client outreach, analyzing medical records, confirming eligibility, and working in Litify for case management.
I’ve worked in financial records reconciliation, correcting and reconciling eight years of financial and banking records across multiple client accounts. In that role, I identified and resolved discrepancies totaling $10 million, improving data accuracy and audit readiness.
I’ve worked in real estate operations and administration, with experience in GSMLS, NJMLS, CJMLS, BrightMLS, HCMLS, MOMLS, and FlexMLS. I helped increase a team agent roster by 88% and helped increase office staff by 40%. I have years of administrative; data entry, client communication, scheduling, database, office, and operations experience.
I am also a commissioned Notary Public in New Jersey.
So, anyone who challenges you about “skills” are either ignorant to the problem or just a plain idiot.
Not to mention, I’m having assistance from five different hiring agencies and government employment assistance programs. Keep that in mind as well.
Now, here are my findings from my job applications.
I started tracking my applications and put them into an Excel spreadsheet. I put the date applied, the company name, the position name, and the company location.
Now I couldn’t get all my applications from 2023, but I managed to find some still in my Gmail inbox.
In 2023, I logged 52 jobs from September 2023 to November 2023. Out of the 52 jobs, I got only 3 interviews. So, 0.056 percent of applications turned into interviews.
In 2024, I logged 131 jobs from January 2024 to December 2024. Out of those applications, only 14 turned into interviews. So, 0.10% of applications turned into interviews. I had gotten hired for a part-time job in March of 2025.
In 2025, I logged 606 jobs from January 2025 to December 2025. Out of those applications, only 24 applications turned into interviews. So, 0.04 percent of applications turned into interviews.
This year, I logged 254 from January 2025 to June 2026. Out of the 254, only 6 turned in interviews. So, 0.02% of applications sent turned into interviews. Out of the six, I managed to land two temp jobs, one in January and one in February.
So overall, I’ve applied to 1043 jobs. Only 47 applications turned into interviews. So, 0.045% turned into interviews. And out of the 47, only 3 turned into hires. So 0.06% of the 47 interviews and 0.0028% of the 1043 total applications turned into hires.
Finding work is rough. It takes a toll on your mental health, confidence, financial stability, etc. But I just need you to be aware that it’s not you. Ignore the idiots, ignore the gaslighters.
It’s not you.
This was written by our contributing writer, Gigi Grindley.
Image Source: Pexels, Ron Lach
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