I was in a professional field for five years before moving across the country during lockdown and experiencing the “if no one wants to work then why can't I even get a fucking interview?” phenomenon. I took a grocery store job out of desperation and have been getting beat down by that place now for over two years.
I finally scored an interview back in my field thanks to a friend of a friend. The only part of that interview I bombed was “what professional development or reading have you been doing in you free time?” I'm sorry I haven't been cracking open marketing tombs when I get home at 10pm mentally exhausted and in physical pain. You try running around like a lunatic for 8 hours, four days in a row, and tell me how many professional development courses you manage to take on your one day off. But don't forget to wash your uniform! And meal prep, so you don't have to spend an hour of your pay on a measly in store lunch. And run errands.
“The position has been very competitive and we are going to move forward with candidates that better fit our requirements.”
Fuck this. I don't want to live like this anymore. I'm so, so tired. And I'm almost out of money. I don't know what to do.