Dear Friends,

Over the past year starting December of 2015 I have been searching for employment. This article describes my job search. My job search started out as a normal search for employment, but as I submitted more and more applications I noticed the number of applications continually growing. By early 2017 I had submitted 1000 job applications and received zero job offers in the field of software. It may be hard to conceptualize the amount of applications I submitted. I would appreciate if people could take a moment and imagine applying to 1000 jobs. If you are able to, actually visualize that number and what time and effort that would take. Try and visualize reaching the 10 mark, then 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, then double it. This is a tremendous amount of applications. I am a qualified software engineer with many years of experience. Several of my friends and associates that I have worked with seem to have no problems obtaining employment. Some of my previous co-workers are surprised to learn that I have had difficulties obtaining employment. I usually did not receive much feedback from potential employers. When I did receive feedback from a potential employer regarding candidacy for a position, the feedback was usually positive and not specific. We have all applied for a job before. Personally, I have probably had more than a dozen jobs in my life. On my resume I list 7 jobs. Each one of those jobs did not take 1000 applications but probably only a dozen or so. With each position I have continued to gain knowledge in my field and also improved interpersonal and other skills. What I am communicating is I am much more qualified now than when I took my first, second, and even third jobs and so on.

I applied to positions using the following resources:

craigslist.org

indeed.com

monster.com

dice.com

linkedin.com

Washington state employment office

directly on employers websites

Background information about me that I believe is relevant to this article:

I have nearly ten years of relevant industry experience in the software field.

I have a portfolio of numerous successful software engineering projects.

I have a bachelor of science degree.

I have no disabilities.

I have no criminal record.

I am an honorably discharged Army National Guard veteran (employers want to hire veterans).

I have a professionally created and refined resume.

The interview process with employers usually started out with a technical phone interview. After the initial interview there were usually several other follow-up interviews. Some employers requested a skill examination or a coding problem as part of the interview process. When feedback was given I received positive feedback on all of these. I had many 3rd and 4th round interviews with employers.

The types of responses I got from employers usually fell into the following categories:

The position for which you applied is no longer available.

Not a good fit.

It came down to you and one other person.

Decided to go a different direction

During the 2016 year it is difficult to estimate the time spent on interviews with employers. I estimate that I spent up-to 20 hours a week just interviewing with employers some weeks. The job application process was a monumental task in itself. I received confirmation emails with the majority of my applications showing they were received. I have contacted all three of my most recent employers and asked if they have disclosed any information about me to potential employers. All three of my past employers replied to my emails and stated that they have not disclosed any information about my past employment to anyone. I have a highly rated expert profile in a computer programming language. I do not have any type of criminal record or anything I know about that would cause employers not to hire me. I have been promoted several times in my previous positions and have received increased yearly salaries at all three of my last employers. I have also received several positive periodic performance reviews from my places of employment. The applications I submitted were in a few different geographic locations. Toward the end of 2016 I applied to several entry level positions and other positions that I believe I was overqualified for. I have taken a lot of time to study communication and language strategies for interviews. When I did have an in-person interview I was always well groomed, prepared, on time, and professional. Does it pass a common sense test that with all of this knowledge and experience I do not receive a single job offer after 1000 applications? What has changed? Is it possible that there are other factors besides my personal resume and interview? Thank you for reading this article and comments are welcome.



