This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kymberly McClain, a 45-year-old who lives in Las Vegas. She previously worked at a small nonprofit until resigning in 2024. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
Two years ago, I was working as a deputy director at a small nonprofit in California focused on providing resources for the homeless population.
After some leadership changes, I didn’t feel like I had the support I needed. In August 2024, I resigned.
When I started looking for a new job, I was so confident. I’d gained experience and felt like I’d parted ways on good terms, even getting a letter of recommendation.
I thought I was going to slide into another role. Instead, I struggled to find work for nearly two years.
I started applying for jobs I never expected to consider
When I started looking, I was applying for deputy director, program manager, case manager, and other social service roles.
I used LinkedIn, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, CareerBuilder, and other job sites. I sought out résumé help because I had been out of the job market for a few years and didn’t know what had changed.
September, October, November, and December went by, and nothing happened.
As the search continued, I started broadening the scope of the types of jobs I was applying for. I went from thinking I could easily land another deputy director job to applying for retail jobs at places like Burlington Coat Factory. I was willing to take anything.
Jacob Zinkula writes about how workers in tech and other industries are navigating their careers. Share your story with him by filling out this form, emailing him, or reaching out via Signal at jzinkula.29. Follow his work by clicking here.
I eventually deleted LinkedIn out of frustration
LinkedIn was probably the platform I used most during the first six months of my search.
I went to LinkedIn training sessions about how to get a job and read up on interview tips. At one point, I was applying to multiple jobs a day and changing my résumé for each one. I would research the company and position before applying.
But I wasn’t having any luck. I remember seeing comments from other people on LinkedIn asking whether anyone else was having trouble finding a job or getting employers to respond.
As the rejections piled up, I started questioning everything. Was it my race? My age? My lack of a college education? I even wondered whether I was on somebody’s list of people not to hire. I had never imagined that I would be without a job for this long.
After about a year of searching, I was exhausted by the rejection. I started pulling back from my job search and eventually deleted my LinkedIn account out of frustration. I thought, What’s the point?
My long job search created financial challenges
My job search took a toll on my finances, and I had to apply for government assistance. For a while, I went back and forth between staying with a friend in California and with family in Las Vegas while I tried to figure things out. Eventually, I moved in with my family members in Las Vegas.
Eventually, I felt like I needed to contribute financially to the household. I had to choose between helping my family and paying for the storage unit I’d stored my belongings in when I moved, so I gave up the unit and lost the belongings in it.
When I wasn’t looking for work, I focused more of my time on a nonprofit I’d founded years earlier, based partly on my own experiences navigating the social services system. It helps people experiencing homelessness and domestic violence survivors navigate housing and other resources.
It wasn’t generating income, but I needed to feel like I was doing something productive.
Sometimes rejection is redirection
Earlier this year, I gave the job market another try. I applied for several healthcare billing roles, but I was rejected from all of them.
Then, my daughter sent me a link to a remote customer-service job. I completed an assessment, went through the process, and got a yes.
It’s a full-time customer-service call center job. It pays significantly less than I made in my prior role, but after being out of work for so long, I’m just excited somebody said yes. When I got the offer, I thought, Okay, I’m not blackballed from the job market.
I’m still not sure what the future holds, but I plan to keep working on my nonprofit while I work this new job.
My advice to other job seekers is to have faith in closed doors. Sometimes rejection is redirection, and sometimes it’s the push you need to build something of your own.
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