This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Chris Fong, 25, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. In March 2025, he was laid off from a tech startup. After about nine months of searching for a job, he started a content-creation business. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.
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I worked at a tech startup for a little over a year. I was doing revenue operations, which is the intersection of acquiring customers and keeping them happy.
After I got laid off, I decided to take a month off to travel. I thought it would be easy to bounce back because I was already talking to a few companies. The problem is that it’s much easier to get a job when you’re working. There’s still a lot of stigma when you’re unemployed.
I came back to a terrible job market. My routine was wake up, hop on LinkedIn, apply for jobs, see if I get interviews, get my hopes up throughout the rounds — and eventually not land the role. Companies know they have the upper hand, so they can be picky.
In December, I was like, “What am I doing?” I saw this as a cycle I didn’t want to continue. When I started posting videos online, I needed to get this energy out there. I was feeling frustrated and needed an outlet to express myself because I knew I wasn’t the only one dealing with this. It really came from a place of being at a breaking point.
I started posting generic life advice, which is kind of funny, because I was in no place to tell people how to better themselves when I wasn’t employed. I had zero followers for maybe the first few weeks. That’s when I was like, “It’d be better for me to just tell my story and be this voice for unemployment.”
When I first posted a video about unemployment — how it tests you mentally — it got some traction. It went from 4,000 views to 10,000 to 20,000. At that point, I was like, “I think I have something here.” People like to see that they’re not the only ones struggling.
So I kept posting. I tried to post every day for most of January, and then one of my videos about how unemployment affects your sense of worth went viral, and has almost 1.7 million views.
With many of these videos, I wanted to point out the elephant in the room: This job market sucks, and it’s messing with my identity. It was hard to be that vulnerable at first.
I’ve found a new path
After a while, I decided to build something on my own. I started helping tech startups with user-generated content. I develop the creative strategy for what startups want their product messaging to be. Then, after creating a hook or script, I source creators to film and produce the short-form content.
I do a lot of outreach to founders, offering my services or working for them for a short time. Even if my agency doesn’t work out, maybe they’ll like my work enough to bring me on full-time. I can’t really lose in this situation when I’m building my own thing.
It’s been rehabilitative. Four or five months ago, I was stuck in my room, applying to jobs, hoping something would land, while my roommates were working and actually having lives. I was running low on my savings, so I didn’t have much runway left.
It’s funny that I decided to tell my story because I was frustrated with the situation, and now I’ve found a new path for myself.
For the first time in months, I’m busy. I’m running my own content channel. I am helping this startup run their content systems, and I’m working with a music nonprofit.
It’s good to be busy. It’s given me confidence, because when people ask me what I do, I can tell them. In America, we’re so obsessed about what we do for work, which is good and bad. But now I can have an answer, instead of saying I’m still looking for a job.
Start something and see where it goes
I’ve completely stopped applying for jobs. It’s a waste of my time. I’m more likely to get a job from doing this business because I’m reaching out to founders.
So much of the market has changed. These interviews are clearly not working. It’s now more about thinking outside the box. I’m not saying that everyone should do content creation, but find something that you like doing.
This journey has taught me that you need to trust yourself. You need to bet on your own abilities, because not everyone is going to be betting on you. Recruiters are not going to bet on you. Employers won’t see your value. If you know you’re good enough and you have a lot of ideas, you can start something and see where it goes. Don’t wait for someone to hand you an opportunity.
Do you have a story to share about your job search? Contact this reporter at [email protected].
