Life Update: Job Hunting and Sh*tty Companies

Me and my friend's dog at Seattle (image has no relation with the article, sorry!)

Hey guys, I'm not sure who will need to read this, but in case you're feeling down because of exhausting job hunting, please know that you are not alone. In this personal post, I'd like to share my experience in this madness time of just looking for a job.

I would not go too long but I will pour my soul out writing this post. I get very emotional every time I tell these stories to my friends, well, writing it still did the same lol.

A little background story: I moved to Canada in 2018, and throughout the years, I worked in different companies. The "office" experiences I had were with a couple of startups. I had to stop working in 2021 because my work permit ended and legally I could not work anymore... I just tried to be a good resident while waiting on my residency application.

Did I stop improving myself? No. I did volunteering in some places such as:

1.  A pottery studio, helping with pottery creation and studio management. 
2.  BC SPCA (an animal organization) where I took care of the animals in the shelter once a week.
3.  An Art Foundation where I helped as a photographer for their event.

So within those 2 years from 2021-2022, I tried to stay productive. Yes, I have a "big corporate gap" in my resume, but what can I do?

Long story short. Got my Canadian residency after 2 years of painful application and waiting game (yay). Now that I can legally work, I started to revamp my resume and the job hunt began. I was so optimistic and excited only to find that...it was (and still) desperately hard. 

Today is December 19th, 2023, this year is almost finished, and I still have no full-time job.

Anyway, my struggle is just the background story. I want to rant about these 3 companies and my whole experience with their unbelievable actions.

1. A COMPANY THAT WILL TRY TO STEAL YOUR EXPERTISE WITHOUT FURTHER NOTE

This company is based in Montreal and claims themselves as an agency that connects brands to UGC creators. They were hiring someone who could be the bridge and create scripts for the creators with the brand's brief. I absolutely would love this job!

They called me for an interview, but guess what, it only lasted for 5 minutes literally. He was just saying that you will have tests to go through, without even asking about my experience or explaining the company further. I was so confused but still full of hope and rainbow.

They gave me 2 tests of making REAL SCRIPTS that they will send out to the creators. I did the test, twice, wholeheartedly! Only to be ghosted. No news. No follow-up. No rejection email. Nothing. 

I sent them emails and messages on LinkedIn, but no reply up till now. What a bastard. Took me a while to acknowledge that they robbed my ideas, literally, they get someone to work on their work FOR FREE. What a slick of modern thief. Fckin thief.

2. A COMPANY THAT WILL JUDGE YOU FOR WHATEVER PERSONAL THINGS YOU HAD BECAUSE THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT THEIR FUTURE TEAM MEMBER

This company is based in Vancouver and they were looking for an assistant for a production manager (for a broadcast company). Basically in the job description, they wanted someone to work part-time and I wouldn't mind a part-time. Here came the interview day. The first question they threw at me was "Why did you have a big gap on your resume? What did you do?" 

I was not comfortable with the second question but whatever, I answered them smoothly and said I could NOT work without a permit that's why I did not work BUT did a lot of volunteering and self-improvement bla bla bla. I also mentioned that I got married in Indonesia so we were taking time to prepare for the wedding + traveling as well. 

What's next was not to my expectations. They looked disgusted. You read it right. They looked at me with eyes full of judgment as if I did criminal or something shameful! Then they quickly ended the phone and guess what, another ghosting game. I was too late to realize that they HAD NO CLUE on how painful and stressful the immigrants may experience here in Canada. They might think I lied about the gap year reasons. But after all, can you just be a human though? Does life not happen to them????

What a load of bullshit.

3. A COMPANY THAT WILL GIVE YOU HIGH HOPES ONLY TO DITCH YOU WITHOUT ANY NOTICE

This company is based in a small town in the Greater Vancouver area. They were looking for a "Studio Coordinator", someone who would do 50% admin tasks and 50% assisting the production team like buying photo properties, taking care and organizing the studio, and stuff like that. It was also mentioned that this role will need skills in graphic design, photography, videography, and motion graphics.

Note that they want the whole agency to be in one person. I did not mind at first because I love to do multiple tasks that are on my skillset and I want to learn new things!

I had 2 interviews with them, the last one was with the direct manager and she expressed how she liked me, she said I am a strong candidate to move forward to the last interview. But they still had some candidates to interview so she told me to just wait for the next instruction.

I was so freaking happy to hear that! I did mention that I could give more to the table if they would give me the opportunity.

Two weeks passed, no news. I emailed their HR and she called me to apologize. She said they moved on with someone who HAS MORE EXPERIENCE in MOTION GRAPHIC. In my head, I was like wtf??? They were looking for a studio coordinator but they hired someone with more motion graphic experience???

I was extremely disappointed and exhausted. It just failed me on many levels. I was speechless, not knowing if I even still had my common sense intact or not.

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There you go, all the rant in my head, straight from this calloused heart. I am not sure when this madness end. I guess I, or you, are not the only one. I hope this post gives you a warning and a breeze of hope that we are NOT crazy, the world is. 

Till next time.