A millennial has been looking for a tech job for over a year after being laid off. He says AI and being Black have worked against him.

A millennial (not pictured) has been looking for a tech job for over a year after being laid off.

Roughly a year and a half ago, Jared was laid off from his data scientist job at a financial services company. Despite trying several strategies to make himself more appealing to employers, he’s been unable to find work in the tech and finance industries ever since.

Jared received severance pay for three months and then started collecting unemployment benefits, he told B-17 via email. But this eventually came to an end: In the state of New York, where he resides, one can only receive unemployment checks for up to 26 weeks.

To save money, Jared, who’s in his 30s, said he moved his family to a more affordable area of New York. To make up for his lost income, he started selling some of his stock market investments and in recent months, has begun withdrawing some money from his 401(k). He also tried doing some stock market day trading, but he’s since pulled back after losing money.

“It didn’t end well,” said Jared, whose identity is known to B-17 but he preferred to use a pseudonym due to his concerns about professional repercussions.

Jared is among the growing number of Americans who are struggling to find work. While the unemployment rate remains low compared to historical levels, it’s ticked up in recent months. And the people people who are looking for jobs — whether it be because they were laid off, just graduated from college, or are returning to the workforce — are having a harder time finding employment than they did a few years ago when job openings were at record levels.

It’s because businesses across the US economy have been significantly pulled back on hiring. Monthly hires as a share of overall employment levels have been hovering at lows not seen in a decade, excluding a temporary dip in 2020. The ratio of job openings to unemployed people — an indicator of job availability — has declined considerably over the past two years.

What’s more, hiring on LinkedIn was down in July compared to the prior year period in 19 of 20 industries measured, including financial services, manufacturing, and healthcare.

Jared shared the top strategies he’s used to boost his chances in today’s job market — and the reasons he thinks his search has been so challenging.

There could be some discrimination during the hiring process

Jared said he thinks several factors can help explain why his job hunt has been particularly difficult.

First, he thinks it’s a “challenging job market” right now, particularly in the tech, finance, and consulting industries where he’s largely been applying — he said the tech industry has been his primary focus.

Some companies in these sectors have laid off workers and cut back hiring — resulting in more competition for fewer roles. Jared said he also thinks the adoption of AI has allowed some companies to operate “a little leaner” with fewer employees.

In addition to other laid-off workers, Jared said he’s had to compete with new entrants to the workforce from top schools. He also said having a graduate degree — which he doesn’t have — seems to be getting more important.

“A lot of roles now require advanced graduate degrees and even if they don’t, those are the people competing for these roles now.”

As a Black man, Jared said he thinks it’s likely he’s also faced some discrimination on his job hunt.

“In 2020, everybody wanted to hire me because I was Black,” he said, pointing to diverse hiring initiatives rolled out in the corporate world following the murder of George Floyd. “I wonder if other people of color hired during the 2020 hiring spree were also laid off in the last year or so.”

Despite some progress in recent decades, Black men are still less likely to be working than white, Asian, and Hispanic/Latino men. As of July, about 81% of Black men between the ages of 25 and 54 were working: The other three groups were all between 87.5% and 89.5%.

Jared said he also suspects that being a Black man has sometimes worked against him during job interviews.

“Between finance and tech, most of my interviewers are Asian or white,” he said, adding, “I do feel like there are a lot of prejudices working against me but there’s nothing I can do to change the way the world works.”

Jared said he has good reason to suspect biases can impact the hiring process. Earlier in his career, he said he was the deciding vote on a hiring decision between a Black and Asian candidate. He sided with the Black candidate, and he admitted that the candidate’s race may have played some role in his choice.

“I felt like he deserved a chance, but if I were not at that table, it wouldn’t have happened for him,” he said.

Interviewing can be a difficult skill to master

A competitive job market and discrimination during the hiring process aren’t the only reasons Jared thinks he’s struggled to land a job. He admitted that he hadn’t aced every interview.

He said interviewing is a skill he’s had to develop, and that showcasing his abilities through certain interview tests — which don’t always mirror actual job tasks — has been challenging at times.

“I don’t have any illusions about my own weaknesses,” he said. “I try to get feedback, learn, and correct.”

While Jared feels he has a pretty good handle on the job market challenges he’s facing, he said that sometimes, certain developments can perplex him.

For example, he said he had a dinner scheduled with one company to discuss a role, but they canceled it out of the blue.

“They told me there was ‘no cultural fit’ although they never met me in person,” he said.

Additionally, Jared said he interviewed with a company that very strongly hinted that they would be giving him a job offer — but they never did. He said being “ghosted” by companies has been a common occurrence during his job search.

“I assume the competition is younger, cheaper, and has advanced degrees and ‘looks like a better fit,'” he said.

Referrals and recruiters can help land interviews

Jared has tried various strategies during his job search. He said two strategies in particular have been the most helpful — even if they haven’t got him to the finish line just yet.

First, he said the best way to land an interview is to have someone refer you for a job at their company.

“Direct referrals consistently work the best,” he said.

Getting these referrals has required him to make full use of the professional network he’s developed over the years — he said he’s been very active on LinkedIn.

Additionally, Jared said connecting with recruiters has helped him land interviews and give himself a better chance during the hiring process. He said having “long-term relationships” with certain recruiters — who he’s kept in touch with even when he wasn’t actively searching for a job — has helped expedite this process.

While Jared said these strategies have helped him land several interviews, and make it to the final round for a few of them, he’s still waiting for a job offer.

Over the last year, Jared said he’s become less picky about the types of jobs he’d consider. He used to dismiss certain jobs because they didn’t pay enough, but he said it’s become clear that these compensation levels are the new normal in his profession.

“Compensation has definitely shifted lower but it took me a long time to fully appreciate that,” he said.

Additionally, Jared said he’s had companies ask if he would consider relocating to California and the UK. Early on, he decided to focus strictly on New York-based roles, but now, he said he’s become more open to moving for a job. He said he contacted the company that inquired about his California interest — he initially withdrew himself from consideration — but was told he’d have to undergo a lengthy waiting period before he could interview again.

Jared said that in recent months, he’s reached the final round of interviews for two jobs. He was rejected from one and is waiting to hear back from the other. He said he hadn’t heard from the company in a couple of weeks.

“I’m still foolishly hopeful they’ll at least give me a response,” he said.