I got laid off from my last job about 2 months ago. It was seasonal, but my last employer misled me to think that if I did everything I was supposed to do, I would likely be kept around, so the title “seasonal” was “nothing to worry about”. Well obviously that was a bunch of shit, and now I've learned to never trust something like that again from another employer.
Since August, I've been trying to find another job, but I've either been rejected before even getting an interview, heard nothing back, got ghosted through text by a hiring manager, or got as far as an actual interview, only to be rejected (a whole day after in one instance, and that was for a dishwasher job). These aren't professional jobs either, I'm only 22 and haven't finished college yet, and I'm getting ghosted by Walmart.
And just to add to the frustration, my emails are getting spammed by multiple jobsites, and I think that's how my phone number is getting passed around by asshole telemarketers. I keep thinking that an employer is reaching out to me, only for the number to be bullshit, and I know this because they call up to 5 times a day with different numbers and never leave any messages.
The jobsites also just suck. I'll see listings and try applying to them, only for the links to keep redirecting me to endless tunnels to anything that isn't the job that was advertised. Or better yet, it'll be a listing posted 5 hrs before only to display a screen that says the job is no longer available.
At this point, do I just start calling these places myself to say I'm following up? Because I've been on the other end of this situation where I'll be at a job and someone calls the store for a follow-up, only for me to pass the message along to my boss and never hear about a lot of these people again.
I know following-up seems like common sense, but I'm kinda worried that doing that will give employers the impression that I'm “pushy”. I know it's absurd to even have to worry about that, but I know from experience that employers can become easily biased against job candidates for the most minor things.