Nowadays looking for a job It seems to be a real obstacle course for many. When you manage to skip one there isn’t even time to pat yourself on the back because immediately after there is always another one, often even higher. This is confirmed by Giovanna Ventola, a 34-year-old woman who has had to face three layoffs within three years and, after sending hundreds of nominations (both for roles more similar to her skills in various companies, and for lateral and temporary positions) and having managed to win only a few interviewhe’s losing hope.
The epic of looking for a job
«Since my last layoff, in November 2023, I have sent applications for 180 roles in the company and I only managed to get six interviews, none of which ended in hiring – declares Giovanna, originally from South Carolina, to BusinessInsider – . I also tried to apply for 18 “bridge jobs” (temporary, transitory, usually unskilled jobs, editor’s note), roles in the service sector, most of which ensure only the minimum income or in any case very low salaries. I had to go through two-step interviews only to be rejected for reasons that seemed truly arbitrary.”
These experiences pushed Giovanna to take on a new perspective on the job market. If she was already aware of how difficult it would be “to obtain a position in a company that pays well, with benefits, stock packages” and the like, she did not expect to find the same obstacles “to bring coffee or fill the shelves” . A realization that made her lose hope.
Attempts, however, have never been lacking, and what scares her most is the fact that she has sent applications «for jobs of all types, both in person, remote and hybrid. I have also tried to apply for positions for which I am overqualified and with much lower salaries than I would have liked.” Not only was the range of possibilities from which she drew very vast, but she also did «networking and everything that “needs” to be done». When refusals arrived (or no news arrived) for jobs such as «barista, supermarket or shop employee», Giovanna tried to understand what the reason was: «Maybe they saw from my CV that it would have been a temporary work and they don’t hire people who are likely to leave soon. I understand, but what do they expect for a minimum wage?”.
The series of disappointments and the realization of not having a point of arrival that is achievable after years of experience, work and study, have left Giovanna hopeless and embittered: «I don’t even want to go and work somewhere for the minimum wage . I’ve done it in the past, I’ve had odd jobs, even five at a time, and it feels like I’m going back to when I was 22. I don’t want to work at the bar until 4am anymore.” After returning home to her parents, Giovanna decided to dedicate herself to freelance work in the social media field for a construction company that she found out about thanks to a friend. «I would be willing to accept a second job – she declares – but what happened to the possibility of having a stable job, with benefits? I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop looking because I think whatever I find won’t last.”
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