The Job Market Is a Hot Mess (and My Savings Is Running Out)

For 8 months, I’ve been avoiding the job market, questioning if I want to “enter the arena.” And it’s because the stories I'm hearing are genuinely jaw-dropping.

The rules have changed in 2026. We can no longer reactively apply to hundreds of jobs. Our networks matter more than EVER, and I’m ready to share all of my theories.

In This Episode:

• My “life admin” week, and why I skipped last week’s episode
• Why the traditional job search feels more broken than ever
• The two arenas you can choose to play in, and why one of them is a crowded, exhausting dead end
• Why the "white picket fence" version of a career might be the thing we need to question

Resources & Links:

Episode 8: A $107K Portfolio Career, “Boring” Businesses, & the Rise of Unconventional Work 

Let's Connect:

Follow me on Instagram: @alisonkinsey or send me an email: alison@alisonkinsey.com. 

Connect with Alison on LinkedIn.

I also help entrepreneurs and thought leaders launch and grow their podcasts through my boutique podcast editing agency, Podcasting for Creatives. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I believe the rules are different now, and we are being evaluated even when we're not applying. We have the choice every single day to be extremely proactive in how we're approaching our career path. Shoot your shot. It will pay off 100 times over. I'm Allison. And you guys, last week I was really overwhelmed. And you might have noticed I disappeared. There was no new episode. I had over a hundred tabs open in my brain. And I was feeling every emotion: stress, frustration, anxiety about literally everything. My to-do list was growing. I've been feeling a lot of just wobbliness since I'm not employed full-time. And I also just wasn't being kind and compassionate to myself. It was an off week. I was not my best self. And it happens to all of us. I realized that I needed to just push pause, not force myself to release an episode and give myself a few days to get caught up on all of my life admin. So before we get into the job market talk, which is what I really want to talk about today, let's chat for a few minutes about my life admin week. It doesn't sound glamorous, but I feel like if anything, all of us need a life admin day, a life admin hour from time to time. And maybe it'll light that spark in you to knock a few things off your to-do list. So the first thing I did was I wrote everything down in a not fancy composition notebook, everything. What are all the nitty-gritty things I need to do? And it was a lot of stuff. Even just writing it down felt like a release. Some of the things were really simple things that I do every month, no matter what, like paying off my credit card bill, invoicing our podcast editing clients, paying our contractors. But other things were just stacking up that I had been full on avoiding, like calling the doctor's office and booking an appointment for a physical, ordering labs since I haven't had blood work done in two years. That's overdue. Researching different landscaping companies because we need a little spring cleanup in our front yard. So I was emailing a few for quotes. I also needed to return a pair of sandals I had ordered online from Target that just didn't look as cute in person. And I felt so accomplished after I just kind of the next day woke up and started just charging away at that list at like 7 a.m. I could not be stopped. And most of these tasks took less than five minutes each. And it's so funny to me how the things that take the least amount of time can cause so much friction and procrastination. Like none of these tasks are fun by any means, but it does feel really good to actually do them. And I'm glad I released the pressure and allowed myself that week off from recording. Because now I'm back. Moving on, though, to today's burning topic. I've been wanting to talk about the job market and how I've been thinking about it as an outsider looking in because what's going on out there is a hot mess. It is, it is a hot mess. I have been laid off now for eight months, zero full-time employment. As you all know, I've chosen a path of taking a creative sabbatical, a career break of sorts. And I feel like I'm at a moment now where I'm standing outside the arena and I'm questioning do I go in or do I stay out here? And already I feel like I'm jaded. And I don't want to be negative in saying this, but with everything that I am seeing and hearing, the hiring process just seems so broken and uninviting. I hear people saying things all the time, like, I applied for over 300 jobs in one year and haven't gotten a single offer. And after a certain point, like that must just beat on your ego so badly. Like, there's just no way. Like, if I applied to that many jobs and didn't get a single offer, that would just feel so horrible after a while. A woman in a community that I'm in said, and I thought this was so funny. She was like, job searching feels like the worst phase of dating in my 20s, but I'm not even getting free food. Mike drop. The way things are right now, it doesn't seem like it's designed to work in our favor. Another woman, she did 10 rounds at a company. 10 rounds of interviews. Can you imagine? And that included three meetings with the same person. And she got rejected on a Friday. And this was all after being interviewed off and on for six months. I just feel so bad for that person. On top of that, you've got AI screening filters, rejecting people in seconds, and you have phantom job listings that aren't even real. And I'll give you one example that I thought was really interesting because trust me, there is gonna be a positive spin on all of this. A content creator that I follow, her name is Kayla Kleinman. She has been applying recently. She was a content creator for a while. It hasn't exactly been working out for her monetarily. So she's back looking for jobs. And she gave a quick status update. After applying to 58 jobs, she got four interview requests. And here's what I found so interesting, but also not surprising. She had connections or referrals involved in three of those four interviews. She had a connection, she knew someone. That was what was getting her these interviews. And this is where my brain went with all of this. We have the choice every single day to be extremely proactive in how we're approaching our career path, or we can just be reactive. And I feel like there are two arenas. Arena one is crowded, it's reactive and exhausting. I kind of think of the Roman Coliseum, like way back in the day where there would be like these lions or tigers or whatever that would come out. I think of that. It feels like you're applying into the void and you're getting chewed up. It feels like you're choosing to play the game and be a pawn in the system. And you're just throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping by sending out some applications, throwing out your resume, you'll get at least a few interviews. And then there's arena two. It's proactive, relationships first, it's human, it takes a more creative, strategic approach. And it's a long tail situation. It will pay off 100 times over. And if you're thinking, yeah, arena two is where it's at, I'm right there with you. So I want to ask you a question as we're thinking about this arena two energy. When is the last time you actually looked at who you're connected to on LinkedIn? So think about it. Rather than doom scrolling, I've been looking at my network with a much more analytical eye. And I've been asking myself, who would be worth reaching back out to? Should I reach out to that boss that I had 10 years ago? Do I have any second degree connections at companies that I'm curious about? Because the ones who are having success in the job market right now are leveraging their networks and they're getting referrals. Kayla is proof of it, which is just so valuable in this competitive market. So, point of all this is I want to encourage you to get curious, to make space to reconnect and shoot your shot. And I'll give you examples of little things that have happened for me since taking some time to network recently. One, I got two leads for podcasting for creatives. That's the editing business I run with my husband, Steve. So, yay for that. Referrals, I've talked about it in the episode that Steve and I did together. Referrals have been even the number one way that our business grew. I got asked to speak on stage a few weeks ago on a local podcaster's panel. And I did it. I spoke in front of 112 people. I've been invited to be a guest on three podcasts, most of which I didn't even have to pitch myself for. I've also just had a lot of genuinely interesting and positive conversations. And will any of these lead to actual jobs? Who knows? But the question I'm sitting with a lot lately is do I even want a full-time job in the traditional sense? And to be honest, now that I am eight months in, now that my severance is so close to running out, it does feel a little scary to say maybe I don't. And I do feel uncomfortable admitting that because I'm still driven. I still have loads of ambition and big dreams and big goals. But I don't want the whole white picket fence job situation that we've all been sold. And my income is nowhere near where I want it to be, but I'm finally building something that's mine. And that feels really cool too. Our reflex tells us to be in that first arena because arena one feels like the well-trodden path. We're supposed to immediately apply for tons of jobs to fill the void if we get laid off. It feels productive and it feels like the default option. And I get if you have no choice but to do that, I completely understand. But applying doesn't have to be your only strategy. So another story I want to share with you. One woman said it took her nine months to find a job. So she got through the craziness. She has a job now. And she spent all of her energy during that time reaching out to old connections and friends. And she said it was frustrating because she planted so many seeds and it felt like nothing was happening. But one day, one of the people she had reconnected with was hiring. And full circle moment, she's been at her job for 10 months now. And she said, even though it felt awkward asking for help, everyone was so generous with their time. And she has a much stronger network now. Especially if you've been in a job for a long time. Like I was in my sales job for six years. And sometimes when you're just in a job and things are going well and you just feel kind of safe doing what you're doing, you're not necessarily looking for another job. Some of that stuff just goes to the back burner. I certainly wasn't thinking about strategic networking when I was employed. So, all of that to say, I'm putting my stake in the ground, you guys. I believe the rules are different now. And we are being evaluated even when we're not applying. All the interactions we're having, the first impressions we're making on our LinkedIn profiles, the content we may or may not be posting or sharing about. I mean, we want to be top of mind for people. Are we being thought of when we're not in the room, even before we apply? That's something to think about. And that's something I'm putting a lot of thought into lately. So if you're in the middle of all of this and you've been through the ups and downs of figuring out what the heck to do next, just know that I see you. I get it. And maybe taking the squiggly path is worth exploring. If you want some ideas and inspiration, go back and listen to my episode from February 24th. It's all about portfolio careers and turning hobbies into income streams and creative ways. Some of my friends are leaning into a zigzag pivot. So I talk about my friend who worked in corporate, who's opening a wine bar, my friend who is a Facebook ad strategist that just launched a junk removal business. And it's just a really cool collective of stories. And it really rewrites everything that these people ever thought about their careers previously. It will fire you up. And my DMs are always open if you want to chat about this crazy hot mess job market. So feel free to go for that. And that's it for this week's episode. I'm so, so excited to be back behind the mic. I will see you next week and thank you so much for listening.