The Job Search Has Become a Humiliation Ritual

Back in the fall of 2024 I began to sense from a variety of people — from my closest loved ones to strangers I encountered — that something seemed … wrong. Despite the universal proclamations of a roaring economy — minus ole gal inflation — almost everyone’s job searches were proving notably hellish, dragging out to four or eight or 14 months. Particularly if they weren’t tapping a cast-iron network and sometimes even if they were. “Humiliation ritual,” a friend texted me, attaching a screenshot of a demeaning email from an HR rep addressing her by another candidate’s name. Another sent a voice note featuring elements increasingly familiar to me: hiring processes that lasted four or five months with five-plus rounds of Zoom interviews by committee and spaced multiple weeks apart, chaotic i