Unless you're a trust-fund kid, won the lotto, were born into extreme wealth, or have someone else to help pay the bills, chances are high that you need to work to live. Over 161 million people are employed in the U.S. according to data from late last year. More than 7 million people don't have jobs. There's a big group of people seeking work, and it includes some who are currently employed.
But as they've discovered, navigating the recruitment process can sometimes be hell on earth. From dumb job descriptions to ridiculous requirements and expectations from recruiters, and endless interviews that go nowhere slowly, people seem to be going through the most.
Online community Recruiting Hell has over 770,000 members, all commiserating with each other about the horrors of job hunting and/or hiring new talent. "We'll pay you in experience!" reads the page, before inviting people to share their nightmarish stories of searching for work. Bored Panda has picked the best posts from the community, and we can only hope you have the good fortune of not having to encounter any of these situations anytime soon.
#1 Found This On Linkedin, Thought It Probably Belongs Here...lol
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#2 Anyone Relate To This?
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#3 A Story Of Two Parts, Recruiter Edition
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More than 60% of the American workforce doesn't have a college degree but that's not stopping them from earning big bucks. According to CNBC, many of the country's top companies, including Walmart, Amazon, Apple, GM, Bank of America, Uber, Nike, Delta Air Lines and Target are removing degree requirements from job postings.
CNBC adds that it's becoming more common for companies to hire based on skills rather than qualifications.
#4 It's Really Not That Complicated
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#5 I Will Drink To That
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#6 I Have Been Interviewing With A Company For Over 6 Weeks And Have Talked To Ten Different Interviewers. Emailed Today Saying I’ve Moved To The Next Round. Finally Sick Of It
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“Gen Z job seekers are increasingly foregoing college and seeking out meaningful, lucrative work that doesn't require a university degree," revealed career expert Eva Chan, in a Resume Genius press release.
"Along with a shift from experience-based hiring to skills-based hiring, this creates the perfect conditions for people to consider a variety of fulfilling roles they may have never considered before," added Chan.
#7 We Need To Make Discussing Salary Normal
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#8 Hiring Managers And Recruiters
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#9 Funny How The Language Changes Between People And Businesses
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Resume Genius recently released its "10 Highest Paying Jobs Without A Degree In 2025" report. Topping the list is an elevator and escalator installer and repairer, who has a median annual salary of $102,420. Instead of a college degree, recruiters are looking for those with a high school diploma and 4-year apprenticeship, along with a state license or certification.
#10 Can I Get A Second To The Motion?
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#11 UNO Card
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#12 I Just Want A Paycheck While Not Having To Join A Cult
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Transportation, storage, and distribution managers aren't faring too bad either, with a median salary of around $99,200. There are about 211,800 jobs available in that sector and the typical educational requirements are a high school diploma with no work experience needed. Of course, that varies from company to company.
#13 This Should Be Mandatory Training For All Interviewers
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#14 Robert Half Being Called Out On This Linkedin Post
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#15 Counterpoint: If It's Taking 6 Months For An Upper Manager To Fill A Position, The Company Should Be Looking To Fill 2 Positions
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If you're an electrical power-line installer and repairer, you could rake in $85,420 a year. Again, no degree needed. But you will need a high school diploma or GED. As well as an apprenticeship and hands-on classroom instruction.
If you fancy life on the edge while serving and protecting, you'll be glad to know you can earn around $74,910 as a detective or criminal investigator. You'll need a high school diploma, and some fairly stringent police academy training. According to Resume Genius, there are more than 790,000 jobs available.
#16 This Guy Gets It
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#17 That Backfired Spectacularly
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#18 Enough Said
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#19 That's It
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#20 The Truth About "Nobody Wants To Work" (That We All Knew Already)
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#21 Saw It Online
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#22 Why So Secret?
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#23 I’m Done
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#24 Got An Email From A Recruiter Today. I Was Interested Until They Disclosed The Pay. It’s Seriously Insultingly Low For The Role And Requirements. So I Told Them Just That Over Email
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#25 Job Ads Nowadays. Sorry If Repost I Didn’t Find It In Search
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#26 After 22 Online Rejections And Ghostings, I Finally Got An Interview! When I Arrived I Was Told They Had No Intentions Of Hiring Me And Just Wanted To Encourage Me To Continue My Education
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#27 Who Were You In Your Past Life?
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#28 Burn
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#29 A Company Found Me On Linkedin And Reached Out To Me, This Was My Response
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#30 This
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#31 We Don’t Count Internships As Experience Here, So Let’s Just Forget All Of That
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#32 Interviewing For My First Recruiting Job - Why Did I Start This Life??
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#33 Better Start Hiring Then
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#34 As An Autistic Person, I Despise Everything About This!
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#35 Don't Know If This Has Been Posted Here Yet
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#36 Felt So Good To Talk Back For Once
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#37 Opinion
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#38 This Guy Gets It
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#39 People Are Human And Human Things Happen
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#40 Naming And Shaming Done Right
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#41 This Is What It’s Come To
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#42 Hard Same
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#43 Another Way Of Putting It : My Quality Of Life And Mental Health Is Being Dictated By Others
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#44 This Happens All The Time
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#45 Rejected From An Internship For Not Having Enough Experience
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#46 A Delightful Find On Linkedin
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#47 Company: My Next Hire Needs To Be Enthusiastic About The Role So This Doesn't Happen Again
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#48 I Ran Into One Today
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#49 What Usually Leads People To Find Another Job
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#50 A Little Too Accurate
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#51 So Inspiring
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#52 "No One Wants To Work!"
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#53 Recruiter Asked Me To Record A Video Response To 4 Questions. This Is My Reply
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#54 Just Stop Please
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#55 I'm Tired Of Recruiters Avoiding My Questions And Playing Dumb
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#56 The Only Acceptable Application. 2 Seconds If You're Slow
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#57 Nothing They Can Do
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#58 Damn, That Felt Good!
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#59 Oh No It’s Totally Cool, I Love Booking 3 Separate Meetings To Be Bailed On Each Time By Someone With Crap Grammar
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#60 I Am So Sick Of These Ridiculous Screening Questions
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#61 Um…no?!?
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#62 Gold
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#63 Saw This On Linkedin And Had A Good Laugh!
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#64 Solid Advice
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#65 Someone Pls Try It And Tell Me If It Worked
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#66 Recruiter Moment
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#67 Goddamn This Felt Good
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#68 Contrary To A Number Of Recruiters’ Popular Belief, I Do Very Much Care About The Money. Did You Think My Childhood Dream Was To Send An Email To Request Reimbursement Approval For Airport Parking To Pick Up Someone Snotty Visiting From The Head Office?
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#69 "How I Got A Job At Big 4 Being In My 20s."
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#70 Listen Up!
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#71 A Linkedin Laugh
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#72 At 58, A Recruiter Says ‘Too Old To Code’—heartbreaking ?
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#73 Solid Advice From The Man Himself
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#74 "Minority Drawers" Should Be A Crime
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#75 Well!
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#76 No Idea If This Will Work, But Hey - Worth The Try
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#77 "This Is Your Only Means Of Interview" - So I Simply Refused
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#78 I Had To Take A Walk After This
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#79 Interviewer Cancelled An Hour Before The Meeting. I Know My Worth
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#80 The Companies vs. Me
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#81 Not Sure If It Fits Here But Reminded Me Of R/Recruitinghell
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#82 For The Memes, Because We’ve All Been There
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#83 Ayo This Lady Working For UPS Really Tried To Get Free Labor Out Of Me LOL
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#84 Gap In My Employment History, In 2017 I Was Fourteen
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#85 Was I Being Impolite? Had This Exchange On Linkedin
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#86 Hello Darkness, My Old Friend
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#87 I Cant Do This Anymore
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#88 I See Why Recruiters Ask Stupid Questions Now. I Apologize
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#89 4+ Years Of Experience In A 2 Year Old Technology
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#90 Just Going To Leave This Here
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