Need community help - looking for remote IT leadership role

[VintageReefer]

reaching out for help from the community, I don’t know what else to do

I was impacted by a RIF (reduction in force) from my company the week after Christmas/New Years break and laid off the first week of January. I have been on the job hunt since the second week of January and unemployed since. Despite 13 years of management level experience in engineering, SaaS application tech support, and integrations/implementations, I’m making no traction.

I’ve applied to hundreds and hundreds of jobs, ones I’m qualified for, ones I’m over qualified for and some dream jobs. Result - 5 interviews that all went extremely well. A few second and third round interviews that went well. And in the end, the position goes to someone internal, or the position is eliminated and closed out.

I’m doing everything right for todays market. Customized resumes and cover letters for each position. ATS keyword scan comparisons with scores of 90 or greater before applying. It’s like there’s a black hole and I apply and never hear anything back.

I have a career advisor telling me this is normal, and it takes 6-12 months to find a job. Well, I’m not able to go 12 months and I am writing this to take the search more aggressively.

I am seeking help, from anyone, to help me gain remote employment. If you work for a software or IT company that employs remote, that is actively hiring, please dm me the company name and I’ll take a look at the positions on the career page. If something’s a match for me, I could really use a referral to gain an upper hand.

These usually result in bonus’s for the person making the referral. In addition to you gaining the referral bonus, if I end up getting hired through the help of someone here, I will go through my tank with you and I will work out a very high end care package that I will send you for free, to show my appreciation and gratitude. If you know my tank, it’s almost all collector grade stuff.

I will watch this thread and my inbox in case you don’t want to post your company publicly. In the mean time I will also continue applying to places I find on my own, as I have been, hoping that something comes through for me.

The majority of my background is in healthcare IT and automotive IT - for software companies in these industries, building, scaling, and leading client facing support teams, and integration / onboarding teams, project and client management. The experience and knowledge is transferable to any software or IT based company.

I am not giving up, I am trying harder and reaching out to a community of friends, and I am not ashamed or too proud to admit I need help. If anyone has any questions about my career or myself, feel free to message me.

Thank you,

V.R.

 

[Fish Fan]

VR, I'm so sorry to hear about your situation here! Unfortunately, I've experienced some of this in the past, and I don't think this is an unusual story in this day and age. It seems incredibly difficult to find a job now for everyone.

I don't have a lot of great answers for you here, except to say - as I'm sure you know - that you can't use any kind of fancy or flashy resume, because these resumes are "scanned" using AI and other tools, and if your resume doesn't fit with a typical style, you get "filtered out" right off the bat, before you even have a chance.

I wish I had better advice for you here, or a line on a position for you, but all I can suggest is that you keep your head up, stay positive, keep looking, and something will come up for you soon.

Good luck with your search!

 

[smitten with ocean life]

i know i cant help but wishing you the best v r !! im sorry youre going thru this

 

[VintageReefer]

VR, I'm so sorry to hear about your situation here! Unfortunately, I've experienced some of this in the past, and I don't think this is an unusual story in this day and age. It seems incredibly difficult to find a job now for everyone.

It absolutely is not the same as other times in the past I needed to find work. This doesn’t even feel like reality.

My advisor says everything is through LinkedIn now, and almost everything on LinkedIn is fake. Ghost jobs that don’t exist and keep getting posted, taken down, and reposted - but nobody actually gets it because there is no job

Actual jobs that thousands apply for and flood HR and you never even get looked at. Spammers. Scammers. It’s a mess

I don't have a lot of great answers for you here, except to say - as I'm sure you know - that you can't use any kind of fancy or flashy resume, because these resumes are "scanned" using AI and other tools, and if your resume doesn't fit with a typical style, you get "filtered out" right off the bat, before you even have a chance.

My resume was completely redone in March to make it very basic in format but with key accomplishments and achievements

I wish I had better advice for you here, or a line on a position for you, but all I can suggest is that you keep your head up, stay positive, keep looking, and something will come up for you soon.

Good luck with your search!

Thank you!

 

[Fish Fan]

VR, I feel for you, I do!

There is indeed so much garbage out there, I've heard there's even AI generated fake resumes being submitted to job openings, which makes your resume like a needle in a haystack. I'm not quite sure why AI would be looking for these jobs, but I've heard this is now a thing.

I remember a while back when I was looking it seemed like I would spend so much time writing my resume specifically for a specific position, and then going through the often laborious online application process these companies use now (make an account, and answer 100 questions that are already answered in my resume and cover letter, if you'd just read them!). Then I wouldn't hear anything, and you lear that the position was given to someone internal to the company. I believe many companies by policy make a manager post the job opening, but that supervisor already knows who they want to give the job to. I get promoting within, but it's a lot of work to do these applications just for nothing.

I heard it said that looking for a job is like having a full tine job these days.

Keep positive, VR, I know something will come your way very soon!!

 

[VintageReefer]

VR, I feel for you, I do!

There is indeed so much garbage out there, I've heard there's even AI generated fake resumes being submitted to job openings, which makes your resume like a needle in a haystack. I'm not quite sure why AI would be looking for these jobs, but I've heard this is now a thing.

I remember a while back when I was looking it seemed like I would spend so much time writing my resume specifically for a specific position, and then going through the often laborious online application process these companies use now (make an account, and answer 100 questions that are already answered in my resume and cover letter, if you'd just read them!). Then I wouldn't hear anything, and you lear that the position was given to someone internal to the company. I believe many companies by policy make a manager post the job opening, but that supervisor already knows who they want to give the job to. I get promoting within, but it's a lot of work to do these applications just for nothing.

I heard it said that looking for a job is like having a full tine job these days.

Keep positive, VR, I know something will come your way very soon!!

I honestly am putting in more hours looking and applying for jobs, than I did working for my past job. For free.

It’s a snowball effect. I see it. And over the last 2 years apparently it’s become worse and worse job seekers vs AI.

1) numerous companies have massive lay offs and the job market becomes saturated with applications.

2) HR is normally short staffed / small departments. They can’t go through them all. Their software company that accepts the applications, and posts position. evolves. Workday, greenhouse. Etc. They have an update implementing ai scanning to filter results out

3) this is because seekers are desperate and start applying to jobs they aren’t qualified for. They are applying to anything and everything without reading the description fully.

Ex - job wants minimum 8 years experience, they have 5, but they apply

Job wants someone with medical IT background, they say I have IT background, and apply.

Etc

So the ai starts getting better to scan and filter out all the people applying, that shouldn’t.

4) people catch on to this and start finding ways to beat the ai - such copy pasting the job description into their resume in size 1 white font; to guarantee they are a match for the filters. They get through. hR sees the resume and is like what the heck this person isn’t qualified. Complains to the HR software company. They up the AI and filters and make it stronger.

5) repeat steps 3 and 4 in a loop / battle for 2 years

6) now the ai is so strict it blocks / filters out almost everyone! Because it thinks everyone applying is either under qualified, or fake!

And here we are now. I see it in my own network of former coworkers. I am a tech manager. I see pm’s and csms I used to work with, advertising they are looking for work as a PM, CSM, Support Manager, Client Services manager, Implementation Manager, etc - but they don’t have the background or experience for most of the stuff they are looking for and applying to, and they do it anyways because they aren’t getting hits on the things they are qualified for. Because those jobs are also being flooded by people not qualified. And it snowballs.

In tech, everyone is applying for everything and compounding the problem, and here we are today, with AI basically filtering out everyone from everything. I’m told the bast way to get your resume actually seen, is to have an internal referral that recommends you and passes your resume directly to the hiring manager or HR

So, I’m making this thread in case someone here in the community is able to help and do that for me, if they have a remote based company and I see something that I qualify for and would do well at

Thank you for your kind words and motivation, I appreciate it!

 

[Fish Fan]

Well hopefully this thread gets noticed by an R2R member that knows of something for you.

Things are incredibly stacked against job seekers these days, and this AI and other software they use to scan and filter resumes has a lot to do with it. We are so very far away from when you saw a classified ad in the newspaper, mailed in a hand-typed copy of your resume, and got a call back on your landline. Progress, they say.

Good luck, I'm pulling for you, VR!!!