I find myself in an odd place. I have changed jobs a few times throughout my career, but typically it was a situation where I was recruited or reached out to by another company to take a new and better position. Only a small number of times have I ever found myself searching, researching, applying, and hoping to hear back from a job posting. Every time I’ve had to do so, the search has been relatively short (1-2 weeks) to find something and get hired. In 2025, I’m finding that things are quite different.
During the first week in January 2025, I found myself on one of my regular planning/strategy calls with the owner of the company I worked for. As the general manager, we would engage in long planning sessions, and everything was rolling along as normal. We discussed potential hires, staffing needs, upcoming events, branding updates for the company, and all kinds of random logistical considerations. The meeting was wrapping up, and then the bomb was dropped, or better said, the bomb got dropped on my head.
The owner of the company proceeds to tell me that our company is going to merge with another company, but the only way that deal works is if the owner of the other company is able to take over as the general manager. Before I can formulate a response, I’m hit with a parade of accolades for me and my accomplishments, quickly followed up with a re-iteration that my position has been handed away. It hurt.
Not only was I not prepared to lose my job, there was no reason to think it could be taken away. Just coming out of the holidays and with a wedding coming up in July, I was sent to job sites to scramble for some way to support myself, my kids, and the plans for my upcoming wedding.
And here we are now, deep into the job search. It’s difficult out here. I’m exhausting the daily postings on Indeed, FlexJobs, local job site listings, and LinkedIn. I apply, I wait, I typically hear nothing. The first company I heard back from only reached out to inform me that the position was filled before my resume was able to be reviewed, but they thanked me for sending it in all the same. Yikes.
As I continue to engage with job sites, I’m also bombarded with AI services to “improve my resume” or to create resumes that are more likely to trigger a response form AIs that review applicants. Have we really complicated the process this much? It sure seems to be the case.
While I know I’ll find a job, it’s like I left the job search field years ago to come back to something wholly unrecognizable. Adaptation has always been a strength of mine, so I’m taking this as a bit of a challenge. I do have a phone interview tomorrow, but the tone felt more like a screening exercise than an actual interview. Still…it’s something.
For those of you out there doing your best to find work, hang in there. The process seems overly convoluted and odd, but like dating, the proper match will come along. We might have to watch a few flashy dream jobs elude us before the one that’s actually best for us cuddles up for the long term.