These days, yes, but the pessimism was beaten into me by the market. When you are told you are worthless day after day, even if you don't believe it (I know I'm not), you at the very least have to accept the fact that the people in charge of hiring are nuts and are not going to give you a chance. After applying to 140+ jobs at 40+ companies and getting nowhere, one cannot help but be pessimistic. Particularly soul-crushing experiences include:
1) Being rejected for jobs because one's experience is not an EXACT match for the position. "Oh, I'm sorry - we use CAD tool X here, and you've used the competition, CAD tool Y. Clearly, you're unqualified." Or, "Well, 95% of what we do here is the same as what you've done before, but because of that last 5%, we can't hire you..." Right...
2) Being scheduled for an interview one day, and then shot down the next day because, 'Oh, we realized you're out of work... the client doesn't want to hire people who are unemployed."
3) Going to interviews where almost everyone in the place is younger than you... and knowing full well why you didn't get the job... They want people with experience, "but not too much experience, if you know what I mean." I'm only 34 - Geez - is this Logan's Run?
4) Having a company call me about a job, and then skip out on 2 of their own phone interviews, and then act like it's somehow my fault they ignored my follow-ups and refused to call me or email for a week each time?!
5) Dealing with an idiot interviewer, only to learn that he's the boss's son... must be nice to have that method of getting a job!
6) Being flat-out told by a company at an on-site interview, "Yeah, those jobs you've been applying to over the past year and a half... none of them existed. So, uhh... we might be hiring some people in the future... if we win some contracts..." And no, they didn't hire anyone in the end.
7) Applying to anything out of desperation, only to have people look at me sadly and say, "Oh no... we can't hire you for that... you're overqualified."
8) Going to job fairs only to learn that my degree and experience are apparently worthless and the only field in demand is software engineers with Top Secret clearances... but the company won't sponser you for a clearance and I'm not that kind of engineer... insanity...
Right... yep... lots of fun!
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