Lots of Gray in the Gig Economy

Three days ago, I shared on LinkedIn New York Times writer Patricia Cohen's article "Lots of Job Hunting, but No Job". Ms. Cohen has been with the New York Times since 1997.

Laura Ward is the woman pictured in the article. Ms. Ward has been unable to find permanent full-time employment for the past 3.5 years.

Sounds awfully familiar.

I resigned willingly from my job in June 2010. I didn't return to full-time work until January 2014 (see February 6, 2014 entry). I probably applied to 200 different jobs.

Before 2010, it never took me more than 6 months to find a new employer.

During my job hunting phase, I told everyone I knew I was looking for a job. Managed to get a few referrals from friends and former colleagues that led nowhere. Secured promising phone interviews every 2 to 3 months. A handful of those made it to a second interview. If I really got lucky, my third interview would result in a face-to-face. Got about 6 of those in the 3.5 year span I was looking. A few of them were notably large well-known companies such as VISA, BART, and Dignity Health.

But no offers. Many rejection emails, sometimes a rejection phone call.
Most times, absolutely, positively nothing.

Here are my top 3 reasons why I didn't get the job:

1. Lacked the qualifications
2. Wasn't a cultural fit (too old)
3. Overqualified (too experienced)

My sister was laid off her job after 27 years in 2017. She finally returned to work to her former employer in another division. She's among thousands of others that were/are unable to find a full-time permanent job that pays a livable wage.

As of this writing, Ms. Cohen's article shared on LinkedIn has been viewed over 80,000 times in 3 days. That's 41% of my total views on this 13-year old blog.