People will talk about how it’s a soft job market right now. Here’s a story about what that actually looks like. 

My first out-on-third came from interviewing with (essentially) a renewables-focused consultancy - let’s call it company A. I had first heard about it from another person who had left BCG Houston to head up a region’s operations for the company; when I applied I learned that the hiring manager (and my future boss-to-be) was a former colleague of mine from BCG with whom I had worked together on a project for ~3 months or so (my second ever). All of this was to say, I thought this was going to be an easy win. I had established an strong rapport with him during our time working together, I was overqualified for the role, and I knew the industry much better than other candidates would have (at least, this was the line of thinking in my head). I went through three rounds of interviews, and I waited to hear back.

In the meantime, I had also reached out to another BCG alum who worked in the corporate strategy department of Company B, a very large fintech firm. I ended up getting in the pipeline for a Senior Associate role on the strategy team, and went through that process (a quick first call, a take-home assessment followed by a debrief as a Round Two) quickly. Things are going well with company B and I haven’t heard back from Company A, so I text my friend (on July 31) and learn that Company A wasn’t going to give me an offer, as they thought I was too senior for the role and that I’d get bored and quit after a few months (to be honest, they were probably right).

The next morning, I did my final round with Company B and emailed the recruiter to say that I thought things went well; I get some very promising news in response: “You are not wrong! It went VERY well. I am working to confirm somethings, but will likely be working on an offer for you my friend!” On August 7, I learn that Company B (1) isn’t giving me an offer, as they need to interview more folks to comply with internal hiring guidelines, and (2) that they want to consider me for a Manager-level position, not a Senior Associate-level position. This is mixed news, but I feel okay about it - ultimately, they wouldn’t be considering me for a hiring level role unless I had interviewed well, so maybe things will pan out.

A few weeks pass by, and an application I had submitted for Company C (note: not based in the Bay Area) lets me know that they want to interview me. I pass two rounds of interviews, and get an 86/100 on the SQL take-home. I don’t hear back for about a week or so (before this, I moved through each round after ~24 hours) and am then told that I didn’t get the job.

Some time goes by and the recruiter from Company B doesn’t respond to reach outs on August 16 or August 20. At this point, I think I’m basically back to square one, and without any major leads in the pipeline. A recruiter form Company D reaches out to me on LinkedIn, and although I’m not too interested in the role, I begin to go through the process. During this time, I’m based in Houston and don’t want to pay to fly out to the Bay Area, so when the topic of the final round comes up the recruiter tells me that I’m going to do a remote interview which “is part of the on-site panel, which is the final round” and that she’ll “connect with [me] after the call regarding next steps!” I do the interview, which I thought went well, and hop on a call after with the recruiter. I tell her that the weather’s hot in Houston, and I’m then told that I won’t be moving forward in the process. I assign a nonzero probability to missing out on the interview on account of not being in the Bay Area, and take note.

Another recruiter reaches out to me on LinkedIn from Company E; I go through the process and have the on-site interview on August 27. This time I’m willing to pay for my flight, and the interviews go (mostly) super well. I’m told over the phone that although the folks I chatted with in the office loved chatting with me, I ultimately didn’t get the role due to some profanity use during the interview. On one hand, this is incredibly reasonable. On the other, I only started after folks at lunch slung a few words around, and I called out mid-interview that the language I was using wasn’t client-friendly and that I could turn on the filter if that’s what folks wanted. In the end, though, I didn’t get an offer.

This part of the story ends with a reach out from someone at Athelas, and long story short, that turned into the job that I ended up taking.

I’m not writing this to say “woe is me” or to complain about the recruiting process - ultimately, things worked out. The point of this is to emphasize what a “soft job market” actually looks like - it’s rejection after rejection and ghosting after ghosting from the vast majority of companies, interspersed with periods of hope followed by a more crushing defeat. In total, I sent out 110 applications - but only one of them really mattered. It’s almost impossible to truly convey what that feels like - I was actively searching for a hair over 3 months, but the “pain level” builds exponentially over time. A few weeks of job hunting isn’t so bad; a few months in and you’ll begin to question why you ever left in the first place.