Why No One Can Get A Job Anymore

[Music] You basically need to prove that you

don't need this job and you're willing to work for no money in order to even be considered for the job. Five meetings,

five interview rounds is not just five days that you spend interviewing. Those

are the you have to buy outfits. You

have to research the role. You have to basically do this for two weeks in order to then be told no, we're going with someone else.

>> Hello everyone and welcome to our September video essay here at the Financial Diet where we are once again talking about um stuff that's happening in our economy that uh you might be

wondering about. And if there is one

wondering about. And if there is one topic that we get asked about quite a bit on this channel, it is the job market, or rather in some ways the lack thereof. Because we may not be certified

thereof. Because we may not be certified financial planners here at TFD, but we are certified financial vibes readers.

>> They voted yes. They believe we're going to get our food to all the schools.

We're going to be zillions.

>> And the vibes in the job market are not good and getting worse. Because as

anyone who has recently had to look for a job will tell you, things are harder out there than ever. And that is not just a perception. There are a few current factors that are making it almost impossible, especially for

younger, more entry-level workers, to find jobs. And on that front, the most

find jobs. And on that front, the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report speaks for itself. According to

CNN, quote, "The US job market slowed sharply in July and was substantially weaker than first estimated for prior months, suggesting that the current administration's trade policy may be

stifling hiring." The US economy added

stifling hiring." The US economy added just 73,000 jobs last month, and the monthly totals for May and June were revised down by a combined 258,000 jobs.

"The prior two months revisions were stunning," said Diane Swank, chief economist at KPMG, in an interview with CNN. May's estimated 144,000 net gain

CNN. May's estimated 144,000 net gain was revised down by 125,000 to just 19,000 and June's preliminary tally of

147,000 was slashed by 133,000 to just 14,000 according to data released Friday. With those monumental quarter

Friday. With those monumental quarter million job downward revisions, the meager job gains in June were the weakest since December 2020, the last time the labor market had monthly job

losses. The pace of job creation seen so

losses. The pace of job creation seen so far this year is the weakest in decades outside of recessions. Now, we touched on the job market in a video last year that was very popular with our viewers,

and I'll throw to myself uh for the commentary that we had on the subject at the time. You probably know that it

the time. You probably know that it feels really hard to find a job right now. And yet, the narrative we've all

now. And yet, the narrative we've all been hearing in the news and the media about our economy and especially the job market has basically been the opposite.

If you can't find a job, that's a you problem. things are great and they've

problem. things are great and they've never been better. There's ample

evidence on the ground that this great economy we're hearing about so much is not being enjoyed by the people who actually need it. Quote, "But active job seekers say that the labor market feels more difficult than ever." A 2023 survey

from staffing agency Insight Global found that recently unemployed full-time workers had applied to an average of 30 jobs only to receive an average of four call backs or responses. Between the

news, radio, and politicians just talking about how the economy is so great because unemployment is low, and just hearing all that, I just want to scream from the rooftops. Then how come no one can find a job?" said Jenna

Jackson, a 28-year-old former management consultant from Ardmore, Pennsylvania.

She's been actively looking for a job since her layoff 4 months ago. And it's

worth noting that the job market indicators are substantially worse now than when we made that video. And yet,

as is often the case, other market factors when we look at economic news have actually been good since the beginning of the year, which creates this incredible cognitive dissonance between what we're actually experiencing

on the ground and what we hear is the case in the news. To hear a firstirhand account of the realities of looking for a job in this market, we spoke with Sabrina Ryan, writer and friend of TFD.

I've been looking really hard for a job to escape the freelance circuit for the last eight months and it has been incredibly difficult. Every single month

incredibly difficult. Every single month has been its own frustrating disappointments. And I will say I was so

disappointments. And I will say I was so validated when I saw that jobs report and its dismal findings because it was a great way to point to people who have

jobs or who are out of the job market exactly what we're dealing with, which is insurmountable odds. And as it pertains to jobs, this disconnect is not just something that we're feeling

emotionally. It is economic and

emotionally. It is economic and systemic. Between fake job postings,

systemic. Between fake job postings, quote, "Remote work opportunity tech scams, fishing emails, and AI taking over the job search process. It is

totally understandable to feel like the days of just finding a job are behind us." Basically, it is not in your head.

us." Basically, it is not in your head.

If you feel like it is impossible right now to get a job, there are many reasons why that is actually true. And what

we'll do in this video is break down what is happening, why that is the case, and the specific things that we can do to get around them. But before we get into this month's video essay, here is a quick word from this video's sponsor,

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before we dive into all of this, let's start with a look at what job seekers are actually experiencing right now with chapter 1, job hunting, a dystopian beauty pageant. As anyone actively

beauty pageant. As anyone actively looking for a job will tell you, just the search process has become its own kind of hell in recent years where even figuring out what jobs actually exist is

nearly impossible. On the one hand,

nearly impossible. On the one hand, LinkedIn's easy apply job postings make it seem like there are plenty of opportunities there. But, and this is

opportunities there. But, and this is especially true for industries like mine, media, the process is much more elusive than simply clicking a few buttons and getting your resume in front of the right person. It can also often

feel like a talent competition where charisma, branding, and optics matter much more than actual competence, qualification, or skill level.

>> The charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent monologues are made possible by contributions to your local Drag Race station from twisted viewers like you.

>> And let me tell you, as someone who's worked with quite a few creators over the years, talent and charisma are often useless when you are just impossible to work with. But this phenomenon, the need

work with. But this phenomenon, the need for basically every candidate to be a oneperson self-branding machine, has made it so that well-qualified candidates are constantly overlooked for jobs they're qualified for because they

just fail at the art of marketing themselves online.

>> You basically need to prove that you don't need this job and you're willing to work for no money in order to even be considered for the job. Five meetings,

five interview rounds is not just five days that you spend interviewing. Those

are the you have to buy outfits. You

have to research the role. You have to basically do this for two weeks in order to then be told, "No, we're going with someone else." Even if they have other

someone else." Even if they have other open positions, you're starting over.

It's it's in a human by design.

>> But anyway, let's take a look at the various dystopian steps involved in the job search process these days. First is

the application phase itself where according to industry data compiled by LifeShack, job seekers apply to 100 plus positions on average in order to secure just one offer. And landing a job when

you need one obviously doesn't happen overnight. According to the Bureau of

overnight. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median duration of unemployment as of July 2024 was around 5 months. Five months, by the way, being

5 months. Five months, by the way, being a number which according to all of you guys that we've spoken to about the job hunt seems very low.

All [Music] right.

What?

Apparently, the good news, guys, it's not better in France. And your resume is much less about showcasing talent and more about keyword optimization and figuring out ways to game the system.

And actually, whether or not you get an interview depends on automated filtering. Almost all large companies

filtering. Almost all large companies use applicant tracking systems, ATS, which are responsible for rejecting or accepting résumés before a human ever sees them. Which means if your

sees them. Which means if your application is not tailored to the screening algorithm, it simply won't even reach a human being. And guides

online are even saying to rewrite your resume for every single job application, which if we remember the fact that it takes roughly a hundred of these applications to get one offer, means you

are rewriting your resume approximately 100 times. And of course, once you

100 times. And of course, once you finally do get an interview, if you get it, it may or may not even be conducted by a human. We'll talk more on that later. And the further the screening

later. And the further the screening process goes, it might involve even more unpaid labor beyond all of the work you've already put into applying. This

kind of work often involves assignments and multi-round interviews requiring free work, i.e. writing a marketing plan, designing a campaign, or coding a project. And it obviously makes sense

project. And it obviously makes sense that hiring for certain types of jobs would require candidates to prove they do indeed hold a certain skill set. Even

at TFD, where many of our positions focus more on soft skills, we ask job candidates to complete an edit test, which let me be very clear, we pay for our edit tests. Anytime we require any kind of work to apply for a job at TFD,

that work is compensated. And it is crazy to me that as a teenytiny company with not many resources, we do that. And

so many big companies that are putting up record profits quarter over quarter are not paying for this. Although now

that I'm saying it, it's probably due to the fact that they're not compensating so many people that they're putting up record profits for shareholders. There

you go. And additionally, some employers have interview processes where candidates go through several rounds depending on the position and company, which means the hiring process from start to finish could take well over a month depending on the job. And then of

course, because looking for a job is basically the same as dating at this point, you have to deal with ghosting. A

significant percentage of candidates never hear back from their prospective employer. Quote, "Roughly 48% of job

employer. Quote, "Roughly 48% of job seekers say that they were ghosted by an employer in the past year, compared to 38% who said they'd been ghosted the previous year, according to the 2025 candidate experience report by Criteria

Corps. And let's be very clear for how

Corps. And let's be very clear for how this feeds into the right-wing pipeline, at least as it pertains to women. When

the job market is this dystopian, it is no surprise that content themed around things like the stay-at-home girlfriend or the trod wife become more and more popular because it seems like essentially you are being expected to

play a rigged game, which will then often, as we've discussed for women, result in them having to both work a full-time job and take on almost all of the labor at home. So, the question becomes, why even do it? Why even

bother? Why not just return to an era where uh men controlled 100% of our financial and personal outcomes? Is that

a better way to go? Probably not. But I

cannot blame these for being tired. I'll say that.

tired. I'll say that.

>> Bobby, this isn't you. That's right,

Joanna. This isn't me.

>> But as I mentioned, one of the things that makes the dystopian beauty pageant all the more frustrating is that it's become so difficult to even know which of the jobs are real. Many times, part

of the reason why you're having to apply for 100 plus jobs in order to get one offer is because half of the jobs that you're applying to don't even actually exist. Which brings us to chapter 2. How

exist. Which brings us to chapter 2. How

job scams became the new normal.

>> What if I told you that at least half of the jobs you're applying to are fake job postings and that company is not hiring at all.

>> The jobs that you apply to on LinkedIn are probably fake. Look at all of these jobs which are not verified because they don't have the tick. Employment scams

have surged 118% in recent years, fueled by advancements in artificial intelligence.

>> Yeah, this this is a scam. Yeah, our

link was just going to try to hack you and take all your money. Oh, man.

>> Well, you don't know, [Music] but I know you. Now, not only are applicants now competing in a world where the average job listing will have

thousands of candidates applying, they're also doing it in a context where many of the jobs don't exist. So, let's

start with the question, are the jobs on LinkedIn, including the apply now ones that we talked about, even real? Like

many things on this channel, the answer is it's complicated. So, there have been a substantial rise in what we call ghost jobs in the past few years. This is

where, quote, "Legitimate companies are increasingly posting fake job listings, often referred to as ghost jobs." "Ghost

jobs are actually not scams. They're from real companies, but they are openings that don't actually exist," said Jeffrey Scott, senior content manager and hiring manager at Resume Genius. "That company is not actually

Genius. "That company is not actually hiring for that role at this moment in time. They might be interested in hiring

time. They might be interested in hiring for the role in the future, or maybe they were hiring for it, but due to budget cuts, these roles were closed or put on hold." And you may be asking yourself, what is the point of businesses putting fake jobs online?

Like, wouldn't it just be a waste of time to even list them in the first place? Well, again, complicated. Quote,

place? Well, again, complicated. Quote,

"A 2022 survey from Clarify Capital, a small business loan provider, discovered that 43% of hiring managers kept job listings open, even if they didn't intend to fill the role to give people the impression that the business was

growing or to keep their current employees motivated." Other survey

employees motivated." Other survey responses included wanting to keep a pool of applicants in case of turnover, keeping options open in case there is an irresistible applicant, or because they forgot to delete the job listing. Now,

it is endlessly frustrating to have to navigate this already extremely complicated and demoralizing process while not even knowing if the job that you're applying to is real or not. So,

here are a few things to look out for when you're determining whether or not a job is a ghost job. One, there is no detailed job description. Two, there is no posting date or it was posted a long

time ago. I would say anything more than

time ago. I would say anything more than a few months. Or if it's posted on a job board site but not on the company's own website or social media. To get an insider's opinion on the state of the

job market, we spoke with Joe Petra Monaco, founder and career coach at Shape Your Fate.

>> By posting a ghost job, they're able to take a temperature check of like what's going on in the job market. if we were to post this job, what kind of applicant flow would we get for it? What kind of

talent would be applying to it? Are we

going to get the right talent that we're looking for? Um, is our salary

looking for? Um, is our salary competitive? And then when we are ready

competitive? And then when we are ready in the future to actually create and post this job, now we've built a pipeline. So now we already have people

pipeline. So now we already have people that we can reach out to that are interested. Um, so it's a way of them

interested. Um, so it's a way of them take taking like a temperature check of everything that's going on right now without actually having to commit to it.

We'll hear more from Joe later on how to navigate job hunting, take back some control, and make the most of the process. It's also worth noting that,

process. It's also worth noting that, especially on LinkedIn, if you are seeing a listing for a job you suspect might not actually be real, you can also go to that company's LinkedIn and see if the position already exists and if

someone was in it previously, someone's still in it, you can generally get a sense for at least the legitimacy of a role and whether or not it might be open at this time by looking at their actual company content versus the listing. But

this is sort of the better version of fake jobs in the sense that the companies at least actually exist, if not the jobs themselves. What a lot of job seekers are really having to contend with, and I will say I get these text

messages all the time as someone who's literally owned her own company for over a decade. So they must be going out like

a decade. So they must be going out like crazy to people who are job hunting. And

that is the rise of completely scam job listings.

>> What do you think? I think it's some kind of scam.

>> Oh, good. A scam. And the most common form that these take is the rise in random text outreach prompting you to apply for remote work opportunities. So,

at this point, we've probably all gotten these. Someone from a number that you

these. Someone from a number that you don't recognize reaches out to you claiming to be a recruiter from XYZ company wanting to talk to you about a remote job that they're hiring for that you haven't applied for. And it may or

may not be for a company name that you recognize. Often it is to add legitimacy

recognize. Often it is to add legitimacy to the scam, but sometimes it might just be for an unnamed or fake named company.

Either way, right away or after you reply, the person will then ask you to either share some personal information or to click a link, which is a huge red flag that this isn't actually a recruiter at all, but rather someone trying to steal your money or identity.

Now, according to the FTC, here are a few tips for avoiding getting sucked in by these types of scams. One, start your job search with sources you know are legit. Try visiting sites like your

legit. Try visiting sites like your state's job bank at Career Onetop. Do

not click on links or respond to unexpected texts. If you think the text

unexpected texts. If you think the text could be legit, contact the company using their website or a phone number you know is real, not the information in the text. Do your research. Search

the text. Do your research. Search

online for the name of the company and words like review, scam, or complaint.

If you can't find the company online, steer clear. Block all unwanted texts.

steer clear. Block all unwanted texts.

Scammers send texts designed to get your attention. And some phone settings and

attention. And some phone settings and call blocking apps let you block unwanted text so you don't even hear from scammers in the first place. And if

you spot a text scam, tell the FTC at report fraud.fttc.gov of or forward it

report fraud.fttc.gov of or forward it to 7726 spam or use your phone's report junk option to delete and report it.

Essentially, with very, very rare exception, no one who is approaching you about a real life job or is an actual recruiter is just going to be randomly texting you links. Generally speaking,

they'll probably reach out to you by email and they will be someone whose references you can check, who have profiles on places like LinkedIn, who have other clients that you can speak to and cross reference with. Just all of these scams need to go. Honestly, like

what are phone companies doing? Like

phones are becoming borderline unusable at this point. Like this is whatever.

>> These jobs find you. Chat GPT will text you and email you and give you calls and say, "We just came across your resume."

And because of all the data they and other companies have been scraping about you during a job search or maybe just using Facebook, they can hyperarget it to you. They can say, "We were

to you. They can say, "We were recommended because you worked at, you know, Q&P and we would love to interview you for a position." And then they have somebody on the hook. And at that point, people might not know to pay for an

interview or might not know to give their social security number for a background check to a company that they don't know anything about. So, I feel like I've been able to dodge a lot of those um those scams, but even I have

been submitting for jobs that probably don't exist. But one of the reasons that

don't exist. But one of the reasons that these tech scams are so prevalent and so overwhelming, especially for people who are in the jobseeking process is because so much of it is now being automated at

scale by AI. Which brings us to chapter 3, the job markets AI takeover. So as I mentioned, AI is now basically present in every aspect of the job application, interview, and hiring process. Quote,

"According to a recent report by Réumé Now, a rumé building platform, 96% of the more than 900 US hiring professionals surveyed said they used AI and recruiting tasks such as screening

and resume analysis. While the survey didn't ask respondents if they used AI specifically to conduct interviews, about 94% of those surveyed said AI screening tools effectively identify

strong candidates. Roughly 73% said

strong candidates. Roughly 73% said using AI tools has sped up the time to hire." And it's worth noting here that

hire." And it's worth noting here that when you think about the considerable ethical issues when it comes to AI's ability to be neutral in issues like

race or gender or to accurately discern qualifications, you can see how putting hundreds or thousands of applications through an AI filter in the interest of it making the best most neutral decision

is uh compromised at best. But with the amount of AI induced job search horror stories now available, the question then becomes, am I going to have to interview with a robot? And the answer for many

people is yes. Quote, "Job seekers across the country are starting to encounter faceless voices and avatars backed by AI in their interviews. These

autonomous interviewers are part of a wave of artificial intelligence known as agentic AI, where AI agents are directed to act on their own to generate real-time conversations and to build on

responses. Talking to AI interviewers

responses. Talking to AI interviewers has felt very dehumanizing, said Charles Whitley, 22, a recent computer science and mathematics graduate from Santa Clara University, who's had two such conversations in the past 7 months.

Quote, in one interview for a software engineering job, he said, "The AI voice tried to seem more human by adding ums and it came across as some horror movie type stuff," Mr. Whitley said. And as I

mentioned, even in the best cases, these programs are by no means neutral. They

may not be human, but they were designed by humans and have all of the same shortcomings and biases that the humans who created them put into them. Quote,

Matthew Bidwell, a professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, said that using AI to conduct interviews resembles older one-way video interview tools.

Those recordings have usually been reviewed by a human. But now, Bidwell worries that hiring managers could use AI to both screen and to evaluate the candidates, which he says feels quite alarming. quote, "The early work on

alarming. quote, "The early work on these large language models does suggest that they have some kind of race and gender bias baked in. It creates a bunch of legal and ethical issues. And let's

be clear that the job search process was already heavily stacked against marginalized groups because it has been well established by a multitude of studies that unconscious bias plays a huge role in determining who is the most

qualified candidate for any given position. Recent reporting shows

position. Recent reporting shows disproportionate federal job cuts for black women alongside gains for white men. We'll link the source. So, if AI is

men. We'll link the source. So, if AI is going to be taking over so much of the process going forward, it's hugely important that it become a way to remove or alleviate that bias rather than just reinforce it under the guise of

neutrality.

>> You get through that door, you're like, I did it. I I I I practice the dark arts and here I am. And now you are talking to yet another Gollum AI faceless thing

that is speaking to you the strangest questions you've ever heard. And you

have to answer it as if it's a person because you know a person will see it or perhaps a person like the Wizard of Oz is watching from behind a screen while the robot talks for them. This is not

conducive to finding good candidates. It

is not conducive to understanding the job you're getting into. It it is it is a terrible system. And the worst part is that we're going to need more AI to sort through the AI resumes and applications

that candidates feel the need to make on the other end. And it's just going to be a flame war while we burn the environment, use up all of our water, trying to find people to fill jobs that

they may already have had and be able to do. We are in a really dangerous state

do. We are in a really dangerous state of affairs right now in the US in regards to AI. It's not better at its job. I think studies would show it has

job. I think studies would show it has not made money for anybody. It is not better at its job than anybody else. Um

it's like a pencil sharpener that they're giving an HR position. It's

shocking. But you have to be prepared to jump through those hoops. You have to really know how these systems work and you maybe should research how hiring is happening on the back end so you can

plan around that. It's it's a full-time job in and of itself. I feel like an AI researcher who is now qualified to do AI research just because I wanted a job as a writer.

>> And on that note, it is not just the hiring process that is now being dominated by AI and by extension much of the HR and recruiting industries. We

also have to ask ourselves is part of the reason why the job search process is getting so difficult especially for younger candidates because we are in a bit of an AI job apocalypse. Now, there

have been plenty of stories highlighting how AI has made it so that certain previously very stable industries are now becoming very unreliable again, especially for newer employees. For

instance, computer science and IT degrees, once all but guaranteed steady jobs, but now AI is automating much of entry-level coding. As journalist Kevin

entry-level coding. As journalist Kevin Roose recently wrote for the New York Times, quote, "In interview after interview, I'm hearing that firms are making rapid progress toward automating entry-level work and that AI companies

are racing to build quote virtual workers that can replace junior employees at a fraction of the cost.

Corporate attitudes toward automation are changing, too. Some firms have encouraged managers to become AI first, testing whether a given task can be done by AI before hiring a human to do it.

One tech executive recently told me his company had stopped hiring anything below an L5 software engineer, which is a mid-level title typically given to programmers with 3 to seven years of

experience because lower level tasks could now be done by AI coding tools.

Another told me that his startup now employed a single data scientist to do the kind of task that required a team of 75 people at his previous company. This

is a total well, I guess it's not a side note, but this is like a personal note.

My husband works in tech. I feel like he's a bit of a a Cassandra figure in our house with regards to sort of seeing the uh incoming impact of AI and we talk about this quite frequently because

being in tech himself he's not only very aware of the development of the technology but also its implication on his own industry and employability and he's basically like uh I need to figure out a way to uh essentially be

financially independent pretty soon because a lot of the jobs are just that people like myself do are just simply going away and but part of what he does in his spare time is mentor younger

people coming into the tech industries and uh his advice for them has radically shifted in the past few years because quite frankly again many of these jobs don't exist already anymore and a lot

more of them are going to go away in the coming years. He has a feeling of of

coming years. He has a feeling of of real existential dread about the tech industry that applies to himself as well. So anyway, we have a lot of uh

well. So anyway, we have a lot of uh late night convos on this topic. Highly

recommend uh if you don't want to sleep afterward. But it's not just tech and

afterward. But it's not just tech and it's not just hiring. Ultimately,

automation is coming for most jobs in some form or another, and it's becoming incredibly difficult to scale up into the kinds of jobs that are going to remain or at least are still currently

available if you're not able to get those essential early years of experience because those entry- level jobs no longer exist. And this creates a cycle of permanent insecurity where people are having to take jobs which

they are way overqualified for. Which

brings us to our next chapter, overqualified and underpaid. Now, as

someone who became an adult during the Great Recession, I can tell you that the stereotype of baristas with master's degrees is absolutely real. Hallelujah.

And it feels like we're actually now seeing both sides of that coin. Part of

the reason why the job search feels so frustrating is because for many of the job hunters, they received either degrees or trainings or certifications or other skill sets that they were told

essentially from birth would set them up to a good job pipeline, which now seemed to mean very little if not nothing on the job market. And in many cases, these people went heavily into debt for the

degrees that now no longer even really help them to get a job to pay that debt back. And to understand this, we first

back. And to understand this, we first need to understand degree inflation.

According to an off-sighted 2017 report from the Harvard Business School, quote, "Degree inflation, the rising demand for a four-year college degree for jobs that previously did not require one, is a substantive and widespread phenomenon

that is making the US labor market more inefficient. Postings for many jobs

inefficient. Postings for many jobs traditionally viewed as middle-skilled jobs, those that require employees with more than a high school diploma but less than a college degree in the United States, now stipulate a college degree

as a minimum education requirement, while only a third of the adult population possesses this credential. In

an analysis of more than 26 million job postings, we found that the degree gap, the discrepancy between the demand for a college degree and job postings and the employees who are currently in that job who have a college degree is

significant. For example, in 2015, 67%

significant. For example, in 2015, 67% of production supervisor job postings asked for a college degree, while only 16% of employed production supervisors actually had one. Our analysis indicates

that more than 6 million jobs are currently at risk of degree inflation.

And for the record, that number has gone up. And the result of this is twofold.

up. And the result of this is twofold.

It's not just that people are wasting time and money on degrees that aren't actually necessary or even in some cases helpful to the jobs they're looking for.

It also means that people are being filtered out for criteria that have essentially nothing to do with the job at hand. In many cases, these jobs that

at hand. In many cases, these jobs that are listed as requiring four-year degrees are entirely comprised of skills that could theoretically be learned on the job. And by the way, used to be

the job. And by the way, used to be learned on the job. The entire concept of learning as an entry-level employee who is as much there to sort of be an apprentice to the job as they are to

actually execute the job has essentially all but disappeared. And even unpaid interns who are in many cases through their degree paying for the privilege of working at this company are still expected to be doing more actual work

than they are learning about the job itself. Quote, "What this so-called

itself. Quote, "What this so-called degree inflation means is that smart, skilled, personable people who haven't followed the conventional college route after high school have essentially been shut out of jobs that they could have performed well, which often means that

people of color who are less likely to attend college are denied an opportunity for social mobility. Meanwhile, people

with college degrees are often undermployed, taking on jobs that didn't make use of their education. A full

decade after receiving their bachelor's degrees, 45% of bachelor's holders are working jobs that don't require a college grad skills. So, it's easy to feel gas lit because you can do everything right according to the

authority figures who were telling you how to essentially navigate your early adult life and still find yourself with nothing to show for it except again in many cases a lot of debt. I think a lot of the time you're going to find that

looking overqualified is going to make it even harder to find a job because hiring managers want people who are going to stay. And if you can show that you're wildly qualified, you could be

obsessed with the position. It could be your dream position, but if for some reason they think you might want another job or you might be coming for their job, they're not going to hire you to that role. They don't want to hire

that role. They don't want to hire somebody that they think is going to want more pay. This is increasingly becoming a problem though because a lot of people have graduate degrees that they haven't been able to use or

master's degrees for positions that don't exist anymore or they followed the incel Reddit advice to learn to code and that's no longer a thing anymore.

There's no longer that many jobs doing that because of co-pilot and and uh Claude and all these other AI solutions.

Say you're over 35, you're over 40. You

also don't want to look too old because nobody wants to hire anybody who has wisdom or is seasoned or like knows themselves. They want to hire children

themselves. They want to hire children who don't know how to ask for more than minimum wage. So you end up going

minimum wage. So you end up going through your resume and knocking down major accomplishments and creating sort of a fake curated self to give to a

robot to trick a person with. Um and and it is demoralizing. It is demoralizing to go through my resume personally and this isn't a brag and be like this was a huge success, this was a huge success.

This was a huge success. This is in one product category. This is in another

product category. This is in another media category. This was as a journalist

media category. This was as a journalist and decide I have to only show parts of myself. I have to only show a couple

myself. I have to only show a couple things I was good at in my 20s and my early 30s. It's mortifying. I should be

early 30s. It's mortifying. I should be able to go in there and say, "I want this job. Look how much I have to offer.

this job. Look how much I have to offer.

and all my years of experience have made me way more qualified and self- assured at this task than a lot of people. But I

don't get to do that. This is a little bit of a digression, but we simply cannot talk about the phenomenon of overqualified and underpaid without talking specifically about the profession of teaching here. Because in

recent years, we have seen a massive attrition of qualified teachers for these positions. And we are seeing huge

these positions. And we are seeing huge teacher shortages in these situations where the degrees and qualifications are inflating, but the wages are stagnating, if not falling, and are almost universally not enough to live on.

Quote, "According to the latest June 2025 analysis, 48 states plus the District of Columbia employed an estimated 365,967 teachers who were not fully certified

for their teaching assignments. 31

states plus the District of Colombia published data on vacancies showing over 45,000 unfilled teacher positions.

Together, these estimates indicate that at a minimum, 411,549 positions were either unfilled or filled by teachers not fully certified for their assignments, representing about 1

in 8 of all teaching positions nationally. Now, there are many reasons

nationally. Now, there are many reasons for this happening, and it's also happening in other industries like healthcare for the record. But generally

speaking, it is a combination of these factors we're discussing. They are not being paid enough. They are being overworked or often having to do the work of multiple people because these positions are often understaffed. and

they are being required to have inflated qualifications that often in and of themselves require huge financial commitments and debt. And when you consider how much teaching has historically been a mission-driven

profession, I say this as the daughter of a teacher, it is also a good reminder in this whole context that your job is not going to save you. Because when the job search process is so terrible, it

basically feels like securing any job is a huge relief. And it turns just getting a job into the endgame of this incredibly complicated puzzle. But

ultimately, the job is just the beginning. And as we're seeing in

beginning. And as we're seeing in industries like nursing and teaching or even in things like it, just because you get a job does not mean you will be fairly compensated or you will have

longevity at that company or be treated with basic respect. Because for one thing, you have to keep a job in order to maintain any semblance of stability.

And as we discussed earlier with layoffs becoming more and more common, especially in the era of AI, job security is often an illusion, especially when you consider the last hired first fired trope, which

disproportionately affects younger, less experienced workers. And because the job

experienced workers. And because the job hunt is so brutal, people overvalue the jobs themselves, expecting them to fulfill their sense of identity, stability, and self-worth.

>> I can get another girl to take your job in 5 minutes. This is part of the reason why I really go out of my way to have other professional and personal projects outside of the business that I own and am the face of. Because although I love

what I do here, I know that overidentifying myself with any job, even a really good job, is ultimately pretty unhealthy for both just like our day-to-day mental health, but also for

our ability to advocate for ourselves and accurately understand what we want professionally. When you feel grateful

professionally. When you feel grateful just to be in the room, it's difficult to negotiate. It's difficult to ask for

to negotiate. It's difficult to ask for more. It's difficult to understand what

more. It's difficult to understand what really motivates you or what you're even good at and just generally starts to create a very negative feedback loop.

But the truth is, as we've discussed here, they're lying to you about the job market. It is very easy to manipulate

market. It is very easy to manipulate numbers to make things sound better or more hopeful than they actually are. And

as I mentioned, some economic indicators in the first half of 2025 look good on paper. But there is something very

paper. But there is something very fundamentally wrong with our job market and with how we are valuing human labor.

Because even if a few companies are able to make enormous profit off of this complete devaluing and decimating of the job market, eventually those chickens are coming home to roost because mass

unor undermployment is not good for a society. In fact, interesting data is

society. In fact, interesting data is starting to show that the concentration, the extreme concentration of wealth at the very top of our economy, which is happening increasingly over the past 20 years, is decimating many industries,

like something as simple as going out to restaurants. Because when the vast

restaurants. Because when the vast majority of people can't afford to eat out and the few people who can can only eat out so many times in a given period of time, you simply don't have enough

small spenders to support a healthy economy. So yes, getting rid of entire

economy. So yes, getting rid of entire industries and seeing all the profits realized by that at the very top by shareholders or executives is going to be good for a few people, but it

literally erodess the fabric of society.

Now, as with many of our videos, the answers to this have to be political.

And I'm going to link you in the description to a very good primer on how you can start to advocate for better employment practices, hiring practices, and workers rights, both in given industries and at the political level.

>> Thanks, Roz. I know just where to stick it.

>> Things like unionizing and strikes, as we saw with the recent Air Canada victories, are a huge tool that is historically quite underutilized in the US. We have seen a huge decline in union

US. We have seen a huge decline in union power over the past 40 years. And that

has been very intentional on the part of politicians who want a much more free market economy. That basically just

market economy. That basically just means unfettered wealth concentration at the very top and hollowing out of workers rights. But when we think about

workers rights. But when we think about all of the most basic rights that we achieved for ourselves as workers, they almost entirely came from organizing and political action, especially around the

turn of the century. And to be very clear, although AI is a current way to do the jobs of many people without having to pay a human being, that looking at America as an example, uh that also used to be the way most of our

economy functioned by having an entire class of workers who were not even considered full human beings and were not compensated for their work, who were owned and operated as property and were

able to give a massive disproportionate advantage to the capitalowning class because they were able to realize the benefits of so much labor without ever having to compens compensated or take it into account. I will also link you guys

into account. I will also link you guys in the description to a very interesting video on the connection between the formerly slavery based economy here in the US and the rise of the AI based

economy. But we also, as we always talk

economy. But we also, as we always talk about on this channel, need to walk and chew gum, which means I want to talk quickly about some of the practical tips for navigating this if you find yourself currently in the job hunt. What we work

on is is trying to reclaim some of that power of where you can control things throughout this process. So we're

focusing on how can we polish up our resume as best as we can. What skills

can we learn? Maybe there's things that we can either se self-e ourselves or maybe there's things that we can do like online courses or certifications on so we can continue to enhance our resume.

That's something we can control. Maybe

we can work on our interviewing skills.

they can continue to practice and just refine the way that we showcase our value to employers and how we're shining during the interview. Um, we're looking at attending networking events, right?

Those are something we can do. That's

something that we can connect with people in our community and maybe even people that feel the same frustration and we're we're kind of all in this together mentality.

>> So, the job market's terrible and landing a job isn't ultimately going to solve your life either. So, what do you do? So, you do have to be strategic with

do? So, you do have to be strategic with your applications. And yes, that means

your applications. And yes, that means tailoring your resume to format to ATS systems. And you can use an online ATS checker to optimize your application formatting such as job scan, which we'll link below. And you must be specific and

link below. And you must be specific and numbers driven whenever possible. Focus

your resume on hard skills, measurable results, and tailored keywords.

>> The hiring manager, the employer, the recruiter, they're creating the job posting for you. The job posting that you're looking at and wanting to apply to. use that as the blueprint to guide

to. use that as the blueprint to guide yourself in creating your resume and tailoring it. So, it's switching out

tailoring it. So, it's switching out bullet points for things that you've done. Um, and that's the disclaimer

done. Um, and that's the disclaimer here, right? Make sure you've actually

here, right? Make sure you've actually done it. Don't just send someone's job

done it. Don't just send someone's job description back to them. But that is such an effective way of making sure that you're being seen and showcased.

That's a lot of the times why people encounter that problem of I've sent my resume to 200 jobs and I haven't heard back yet.

Okay, but are you sending the same resume to those 200 jobs or are you tailoring it to those jobs?

>> And additionally, networking remains incredibly important. The majority of

incredibly important. The majority of hires still come through referrals and that doesn't mean you have to. But even

building weak ties via LinkedIn connections, professional groups, alumni networks, etc. is much more effective than cold applications. And when you apply for a job, do not be scared off from reaching out to the hiring manager

directly. Most want to see candidates

directly. Most want to see candidates take initiative. So I always recommend

take initiative. So I always recommend take like maybe an hour a day, half an hour a day and start reaching out to people. You can reach out to them on

people. You can reach out to them on LinkedIn. You can look for events that

LinkedIn. You can look for events that you can attend for your specific profession. You can look at um how you

profession. You can look at um how you can start building some of these relationships. Even if it's not, you

relationships. Even if it's not, you know, hey, connect me with this job.

Even if you just send a message to them and say, hey, I noticed we're in the same profession. Would love to connect.

same profession. Would love to connect.

or you know, hi, I noticed you work at so and so company. I would love to work there one day. You know, would love to connect and stay involved and hear more about the organization. The more you can build this network and this connection,

the more you start expanding your reach and that really does make a difference when it comes to getting through the job market. You might be in a full crisis

market. You might be in a full crisis looking for a job at the beginning of July and everyone you know is on vacation and you have to be the friend that says I can't go on vacation and I need you to take a break from your

vacation and bother a bunch of people you know and just help me because I'm desperate and someone might do that for a little bit and they don't come up with any leads but you don't know how much they did it. So then 3 weeks later

you're back saying hey is there anything else and that's who you become. And I

just want you to know that you are more than your job search. You are more than than the way that the AI would sort you algorithmically as a person. You are

more than the struggles that you face.

You have to do something right now that is um that is humbling if you don't put it into perspective.

>> You also want to practice skill stacking which means instead of highlighting one perfect skill in your career or job search, combine complimentary ones like data literacy and communication that can make your profile stand out. We'll link

to a resource that goes into much more depth on this. And lastly, as much as possible, protect yourself while job hunting. Financially, this means an

hunting. Financially, this means an emergency fund, utilizing gig or bridge jobs, and avoiding predatory scams. But you also need to protect your mental health. So, normalize detaching your

health. So, normalize detaching your identity from work by exploring meaning outside of your employment. That means

hobbies, community, and non-monetized activities.

>> I know it is such a trit thing to say.

It is it is so easy to say, but you have to try to make your own opportunities.

You have to look for angles. You have to keep your mind working. what is the unique thing I can do? And and if you have to do gig work like say you have to

do a delivery or or or ride sharing that is can be a great solution short term but just remember that those companies are trying to trap you in those roles.

So while you're doing that I would balance it with something that may give you more of a growth opportunity because um subsistence can exhaust you

>> from the candidate perspective as well.

There's also the opportunity that by the time you get through this interview process, you might have already found another job. So from an employer

another job. So from an employer perspective, you also run the risk of actually losing your top candidates and the talent that you want by the end of this interview process. Like I always tell hiring managers, if someone is

talented enough that you want to interview them, they're talented enough that someone else does as well. In a

perfect world, yes, there wouldn't be long interview processes. And it is up to you as a candidate to figure out is this job worth this interview process and this experience. So that is up to

you to determine if it if you do figure out that this is a job that you really want and you want to go through this long song and dance then we focus on where we can get value in the process so

that we take back a bit of control there. So we make sure that of all you

there. So we make sure that of all you know as we're meeting with everybody in their grandmother in the organization we focus on creating interview questions for each specific person so that we're getting their perspective. We're

learning more about the job. We're

learning more about the company and their culture. We are focusing on like

their culture. We are focusing on like if we have to do a presentation or you know a project for them as part of the interview process then we're focusing on okay well shift the mindset. this

project is going to give us a little bit more insight into the type of work we're going to be doing. Is this the type of work we want to do? Now, we get a little bit more perspective on the company.

Even just a company that makes you jump through 17 hoops, that now says a little bit more about the organization itself as well. So, now we're getting more

as well. So, now we're getting more information about the company. And I try to frame the mindset that way of this is all information so that you can figure out is this the right company that you

want to work for. Ultimately, the job market has changed forever and we are well aware of that at TFD and are also well aware at how effectively we can gaslight ourselves by focusing on the

few economic indicators that actually are doing well to pretend as if we are not seeing this enormous hollowing out of the middle class and of the jobs that make a middle class life possible. And

in light of things like the rise of AI, this can feel really scary. Again, it's

something I talk about with my husband all the time, who despite being a very desirable, highly compensated tech worker is uh very existentially scared for the future of his industry and his own employability. But it also means

own employability. But it also means that much of our classic advice here at TFD remains evergreen. Maintaining and

building on your skill set, diversifying your income streams, depending less on consumerism so your life is more affordable, and finding joy and fulfillment mainly outside of work.

Because success is not about just getting the job. It is about building resilience, financial stability, and personal value outside of institutional validation. But as always, thank you for

validation. But as always, thank you for watching this month's video here at The Financial Diet. Good luck in your

Financial Diet. Good luck in your searches, and I'll see you back here in October. Bye.

October. Bye.