A global pandemic saw one of the worst job markets in recent history, and just two years later there are still millions of job openings in the US. However, that didn’t seem like the case when one woman – who had been laid off from her job – sent out 76 job applications and received no request for an interview.
Kayley, who goes by @kayleyalissa on TikTok, has struggled to find a job ever since she was laid off in May. In a TikTok video, which has more than 1.4m views, she explained that she has spent the last eight weeks sending out 76 applications to digital marketing and social media jobs.
“Y’all, I have been off work for nine weeks,” she said in the video. “I was laid off in May. My company downsised and eliminated my position. I was completely blindsided by that.”
“I took literally one week off to be sad about my life, and then I started putting in applications,” she continued. “In these last eight weeks since I’ve been putting applications, I’ve put in 76 applications. For local work, remote work, a lot of marketing, digital, social, where my strengths lie and where I know I’m very good at my job.”
But out of all the applications, she has not had a single response for an interview. “76 applications and I have not had one interview,” Kayley said. “I’ve not had any interest whatsoever.”
“Y’all cannot tell me that companies are struggling – that they don’t have any workers – when you’re not hiring anyone. I don’t know what to do at this point. I have the most beautiful elaborate resume, I have a really detailed resume, I have a beautiful cover letter and it’s all a scam ”
Kayley’s viral video prompted other social media users to share how they’ve struggled to find a job in this current market.
“Same. I’ve been out of work for almost a year. I’ve applied to 3 jobs daily since,” one person commented. “I finally have an interview on Tuesday!”
“I was laid off in July 2021,” shared someone else. “I applied to 300+ jobs, had 8 or so interviews, kept being the 2nd or 3rd choice…took me 6 months to get a job.”
“I’ve been looking for A YEAR. Only a handful of interviews. I’m an educated IT professional,” a third person wrote.
“I’m in this same field and it’s brutal out here,” another user chimed in.
Others offered suggestions to Kayley as she navigates her job search. Some people recommended she send a follow-up email to the companies she applied to, or scale back her resume to make it look more professional.
Kayley took their advice and removed the colour, QR codes, and the photo of herself from her resume. “HR here. Remove photo, use the Harvard Resume format. Show quantifiable experience by showing the impact you made in each role,” said one helpful user.
“I am definitely going to redo my resume, thank you for all the tips!!!!” Kayley replied to the comments.
Luckily, Kayley shared an update on her job search to TikTok last week, where she thanked her followers for helping her along this journey. “Guys, the response from the video I posted about not being able to find a job was overwhelming,” she said. “I have a new resume and it has already gotten me two interviews!”
