On a deeper level than small talk, of course.

Bottom text.

I've been without steady employment for over a year now. I've only been able to get one temporary job that lasted for a few months, but since then, nothing. I have a degree, years of experience in my field, and certifications. Nobody wants me. I recently applied for a job that I'm very qualified for, that my friend's dad works at. They sent me an auto reject. If having all the qualifications asked for and then some, years of experience, a degree, certifications, AND a referral isn't enough, then what the fuck is?

Most recently, I had an absolute unicorn job I interviewed for. It was in my area, transit distance, looking for my level of experience, and since it had an intangible product, was relatively unaffected by the tariffs and shit. I talked to two recruiters for screening, both said I'm an excellent fit. I interviewed two team members, they liked me so much, they advanced me to the final round minutes after the interview. I did the final interview, and it went quite well. I was given an update by the recruiter two days after, there's just one person left to interview, it's just between me and that person, and the two guys I interviewed first liked me better, but it's just down to the hiring manager's choice. And then I got rejected, because the other guy had more experience than me. WHY THE FUCK DID YOU WASTE MY TIME AND LEAD ME ON LIKE THAT IF YOU WERE JUST GOING TO GO BY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE?

My parents also paid for a career counselor for me, and all she could say was that I seem to be doing nothing wrong, and I just need to wait for an offer to come through. Gee, thanks. That was totally worth $200.

I even apply for the absolutely shittiest of places, paying well under what I'm looking for, but not even they'll take me. How the fuck am I supposed to get a job if no one wants to hire anymore?

"Oh, you may have 6 years of experience with IT support, using various different ticketing systems, worked in environments using all the major operating systems, and have done some system and network administrative work, as well as multiple certifications indicating that you know everything we're looking for and then some, but you've never worked with the ticketing system that we use? OK, bye! You're useless to us! Your resume is going on the bottom of the pile!"

That's like throwing away an application because they didn't use the same ticketing system is like refusing to hire a highly-experienced pilot because the seats on the planes they've flown aren't the same model as the plane the airline flies.

How can I be better liked in communities? I put myself out there, I go to hobby groups and various other social groups all the time, but it's really been feeling like most communities I'm in, at best, I'm someone you talk to for a bit until the people you actually want to see show up or can talk to you. Or if I'm in a group conversation, I'm slowly pushed out. That's if people talk to me at all. I rarely feel valued in any group, I mostly feel like filler. How can I be better liked?

This whole week has been nothing but me being ignored and nobody even acknowledging my existence. On Tuesday, I went to a social event for a community I often go to, and that was a complete bust. People just spoke with their small groups and weren't open to outside people and didn't mingle. OK, so the next day, I went to my dance class/social. Nobody really even acknowledged me, I saw everyone ignore me. Group conversations without me.

Today, I was supposed to go to the Art Museum with a friend. She was making it up to me after a miscommunication during a recent planned group thing at a new place, in which I didn't get the right plan, leaving me alone, waiting for the group for almost an hour, which never showed up. She wanted to make it up to me, but then today, she told me that she's canceling it because she isn't in a good place emotionally. But she didn't say anything more about that, and didn't even offer any alternate dates. Then by the time I went to another dance thing tonight, I was far too down from everything that happened to even have any real interactions with anyone.

Does anyone actually care about me? I think that if I were to suddenly die in my apartment, nobody would notice. Nobody would check on me, so nobody would notice until the police are called to evict me for not paying rent. And even then, none of my friends or groups would know unless someone just reads the obituaries for some reason.

I've noticed the same libs who laugh at people who refused to vote for Kamala after Trump said about making Gaza into a resort now take it seriously when Americans are getting detained for protesting the Gaza Genocide. There is something here, right?