The Great Creative Layoff: why finding your next job feels impossible

It’s become a bad joke: One moment, I’m reading a LinkedIn “news” story touting a booming jobs market — and the next, I’m doom-scrolling through endless posts from out-of-work creatives.

This disconnect between official job statistics and the lived experience of many creative job seekers is a stark reality. While reports celebrate healthy job numbers (that always get “revised” downward a month later), social media platforms overflow with stories of unemployed creatives lost in a labyrinth of unanswered emails and data-harvesting scams.

I’ve seen it more and more in the past year, and especially the past six months.

In one freelance copywriters’ group I belong to on Facebook, I see daily posts from writers lamenting how slow business has been this year, how many clients they’ve lost, how difficult those clients are to replace, and how hard these writers are now struggling to make ends meet. A good number of these writers claim that until recently, they’d earned tens of thousands of dollars monthly.

To say the jobs market for creatives (and especially copy and content writers) has hit a speed bump is surely an understatement.

Many say they’ve never seen anything like it.

Sadly, I don’t think things are getting better anytime soon.

The Great Creative layoff: how we got here

Last June, I wrote about how the rise of AI would create massive job losses not only in creative fields, but in industries across the board.

Add to this AI threat the economic carnage that is coming to fruition thanks to federal fiscal irresponsibility and the distastrous policies put in place globally during the COVID crisis, and it’s clear that we are entering uncharted territory from which we may never return to “normal.”

As my own sense of impending doom began to sneak up on me as early as last spring (in part, a result of applying to dozens upon dozens of copy- and content-writer job postings, and cold emailing an equal number of marketing and advertising agencies with nary a response), I decided to leave the field I had worked in for 30 years.

Today, many others are doing the same. Writers of all ages, incomes, and industries are now asking what is their Plan B as the bottom drops out of the marketing jobs market.

I ask myself this daily. After a failed stint working as a rural mail carrier for the United States Postal Service (USPS), I reluctantly resumed my search for marketing jobs and began to seriously consider any and all other career options that might lead to a steady paycheck.

Where has that got me?

Today, I have one, maybe two, part-time freelance writing clients and the only full-time jobs I’ve interviewed for are government jobs (in public safety and corrections) that have me in limbo with their invasive and interminable hiring processes.

My advice to anyone reading this: If you have a job right now, hold onto it for as long as you can. Especially if you are over 40. This is no time to be an old (read: hard-working, experienced, dependable) codger looking for work.

Beware of job search scams

To add insult to injury, today’s job search is unfortunately blighted by cruel tricks and scams perpetuated by people and companies looking to take advantage of desperate and unsuspecting job seekers.

On at least two occasions, I’ve received emails from crooks who claimed to be impressed with my skills and experience and offering me an opportunity to interview with their companies.

Both times, a quick Google search revealed these emails to be scams meant to steal personal information (identity theft) or fool job seekers into sending money in exchange for equipment these fraudsters promise to send their new work-from-home employees.

Just last week, I nearly fell for a fraudulent Facebook post in my county’s official job-seekers group from someone claiming to be a recruiter hiring for multiple positions ranging from customer service and data entry to medical coding and information technology roles.

When I responded via Instant Messenger, this person (a “Rebecca Winchester”) replied immediately, asking which position I would like to interview for and attempting to set up a Microsoft Teams meeting with a hiring manager.

Sensing that this was all happening too quickly, I asked for more information about the company and requested that “Rebecca” verify her credentials. I also googled the company name she gave me and found a web page warning job seekers to beware of people posing as recruiters.

When I confronted “Rebecca” with this information, her replies devolved into crude language and “she” deleted her profile.

Welcome to Clown World, right?

But if you think it’s only crooks who are out to con innocent job seekers — well, just you wait because . . .

Companies are putting up fake job postings, too

I’d read about it on message boards for months: people complaining about “ghost” job postings for positions that don’t exist.

At first, I didn’t believe it. Why would a company pay good money to post a job when it had no openings or intentions of making a hire?

I’d seen some suggest that the federal government pays companies to post fake jobs to make the economy look healthy, and that companies are collecting and selling job-seekers’ information for profit. But I never looked into those claims myself.

Then one day a couple of months ago, I heard a more plausible explanation.

Turns out, many companies are advertising nonexistent jobs for PR purposes — to “raise visibility” of their brands and make their companies look like they are healthy and growing.

One job seeker who had been talking with an HR recruiter, upon completing an application, was apparently told, “Sorry, you applied to the wrong posting. That’s one of our placeholder job listings to promote awareness of the company. I’ll send you the correct link.”

More “reasons” for fake job listings include: compliance for internal hiring, conducting competitor research, collecting salary data, applying pressure on current employees, and more.

You can read more about fake job listings here.

Oh, and don’t forget those AI resume keyword scanners

As if all of the above isn’t enough, today’s job seekers also need to play a BS game of “Keyword Bingo with Robots” to have even a chance of getting their resumes seen by a flesh-and-blood human.

That’s right. This technology, known as an “applicant tracking system” or ATS, is “a type of resume scanning software used by recruiters and employers during the hiring process to collect, sort, scan, and rank the job applications they receive for their open positions.”

Basically, this expensive AI program scans resumes for words and phrases specified by the job poster. The resumes that meet a certain threshold win Keyword Bingo and go on to be seen by the busy “hiring manager.”

Everything else disappears into the abyss.

Here’s a post about it on my county’s official job-seekers group:

Look, I know it’s 2024 and we are in the midst of a total social, economic, and intellectual collapse, but is this really the best way to screen applicants?

Or is this the stupidest, laziest, most drool-all-over-your-shoes way to ensure that your first round of candidates are all bottom-of-the-barrel dimbulbs with absolutely zero critical-thinking and communication skills?

Has the world really run out of professional “recruiters” and “hiring managers” who have the skills, ability, experience, and gut instincts to live up to their job titles?

And don’t tell me they are too busy. Hiring quality employees is too important a job to mishandle like this. Wasn’t the point of all this technology to make us smarter and better?

Well, this is not smart.

This is not the way to find candidates who are qualified to work a job.

This is the way to herd cattle.

This is the way to find slack-jawed, mouth-breathing drones who are neither intelligent nor imaginative enough to do anything but regurgitate the text of a job posting in lieu of writing a resume.

If this is the way things really work, then it’s safe to say I will never be hired. That’s OK. I’ll go John Galt and turn my back, take my talents out of this world, and leave the idiocracy to burn.

Sorry, folks, but I don’t have any ideas for getting around this, aside from copying and pasting the job posting and sending it straight back to the HR lackey with a header that includes your name and contact information.

In a dumbed-down world, maybe we’ve no choice but to pretend that we are dumb-dumbs, too.

So, what is a job seeker to do?

If you are looking for work, my advice is to lean on your network.

Time and again, professional networks have proven to be the best and most reliable source for new job opportunities.

And don’t be afraid to pivot to a related job function — say, from copywriter or graphic designer to web developer or digital marketing specialist — to expand your options.

Leveraging your transferable skills can be a big help whether you are looking to stay in your current field or change careers completely.

Career paths for career changers

If, like me, you feel the time has come to change careers (or go John Galt), then in my opinion, the #1 best move you could make is to learn a trade. Plumber, electrician, carpenter, mechanic. Gain some hard skills that will always be useful and in demand.

You’ll be insulated from the effects of AI and make good (possibly great) money whether you work for yourself or someone else.

Another, less ideal option is to look for a job that has modest requirements for education and experience. Some ideas include:

• Sales representative
• Call center/customer service representative
• Receptionist
• Administrative assistant
• Security guard
• Sheriff’s deputy
• Corrections officer/control room operator
• Firefighter
• Paramedic
• 911 call-taker/dispatcher
• Mental health tech
• Victim’s advocate
• Library assistant
• Park services attendant
• Bartender
• Insurance agent/claims adjuster
• Warehouse packaging handler
• Mail/parcel delivery driver
• Massage therapist

You’ll find a pretty good list over at Find My Profession, a career services provider founded in 2015.

While you await your next job

Finding your next job may take a while. Be good to yourself during your search.

That means not spending all day slogging through job sites on your computer. Make time to get up, go out, and do something relaxing. Take a walk in a park. Spend a day at the beach. Visit with friends or family.

Keep a routine. Get up in the morning, shower and get ready the same as you would if you were working. Keep up your personal hygiene and don’t fall into any bad habits.

If you have interest in charity or volunteer work, do some of that.

For many of us, our job search will be a marathon, not a sprint. While it may take time to land your next job, this period can also be an opportunity for reflection and growth. Use it to refine your skills, explore new interests, and strengthen your professional network.

Keep in mind, your value is not tied to your job title. You are more than your job. So stay positive (I know it’s hard), stay focused, and keep putting yourself out there.

Good luck.

Share your thoughts on ‘The Great Creative Layoff: why finding your next job feels impossible’

What are your experiences with “The Great Creative Layoff”? Is the job market really as tough as it sounds? Creatives and non-creatives alike, let us know: Have you been laid off or seen a decline in freelance work? What’s been your biggest challenge in the job search? Have you found new opportunities and new employment? Or found a creative solution to your job search woes? Share your thoughts, commiserate with fellow job seekers, and offer words of advice below. Thanks for reading!

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