Job Candidate Who Applied To 1,623 Companies Reveals What It Took To Get Just One Offer
It shouldn't be this hard to find a job you're qualified for.
Dean Drobot | Shutterstock The job market is an undeniable mess right now. Even overqualified job seekers are struggling to find work, despite the seemingly endless number of open positions.
One man applied to jobs at 1,623 companies before getting an offer at his current position.
Content creator Sean Lans shared his experience of submitting over a thousand job applications before finally getting hired.
“If you’re looking for a job right now and feeling discouraged, just know that I applied to 1,623 companies before I got my current job offer,” he said in a TikTok.
Lans kept a careful record of the details regarding his applications and was able to pull some shocking statistics from it.
“I received 795 total rejections,” he stated. "I interviewed with 61 different companies, so 60 of those rejections came after I did some kind of interview of sorts.”
“I did 112 total interviews," Lans continued, "and, hypothetically, if you were to assume that each interview was 30 minutes, which, many of them were much, much longer ... that equates to 56 hours of interviewing.”
“This is my third full-time corporate job, and I will say I have never had to apply to nearly as many jobs in the past,” he added.
Lans then shared some words of encouragement for anyone in a similar situation. “If you’re facing a lot of rejection, you feel like it’s endless applications, let this be your motivation because you just gotta put your head down and do the work and you’ll see results,” he said.
Most commenters were shocked by the statistics Lans shared, but some were critical.
Many commenters were surprised and disheartened by the details he shared about his job search. “Motivation? This makes me feel worse!” one person wrote.
Others, however, were critical of Lans for following the corporate way of doing things. One called him a “bootlicker,” which he addressed in a subsequent video.
“People adopt a victim complex when things become difficult or don’t work out in their favor,” he said. “People are mad that my takeaway was you’ve gotta put your head down and do the work if you want to get something.”
“I hear what you’re saying,” he continued. “I’m playing the corporate game. Now, do tell me, what’s the alternative?”
Lans agreed that finding a job shouldn’t be so difficult. However, that wasn’t the issue at hand.
“I get the argument that it really should not be this hard to find a job, and the corporate world is a mess. Like, there’s so many broken pieces,” he acknowledged before questioning how he would get a job if he "decided not to play the game."
Getting a job right now is very difficult.
While Lans’ situation is unfortunate, it’s not unbelievable. Many people are struggling to find jobs right now.
According to Fast Company, this is mainly due to three things. First, the number of people looking for jobs has increased because of recent layoffs. Additionally, AI gives everyone a more equal chance by assisting in the creation of better resumés. Finally, employers no longer feel as desperate to hire as they did during the Great Resignation.
With jobs so hard to come by, people are going to take more extreme measures when looking for a position. While we can hope it’s not true, applying for nearly 2,000 jobs may just be the new normal.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.