Seven months, and still looking for work in the capital

Saturday, 18 January 2025

Wellington's public servants have been told to return to the office.

Rebecca Thomson is a former public servant.

OPINION: At the end of last year I wrote a social media post about being out of work after seven months and how mentally gruelling it is.

2024 has been a really, really tough year. After 7 months of looking and applying, still no job in sight, save some freelance work. There have been some really some close calls, a lot of ghosting from organisations, and some really OTT application requests (e.g. three interviews plus presentation, plus writing tests).

By Christmas, I felt exhausted and defeated. I actually started wondering if it was possible to suffer from burnout when you’re not even working. Is “job hunt burnout” even a thing?

I’m closing in on 50 (eek). I’ve spent the last 25 years working in media and communications. I’ve worked as a reporter and digital producer, run media campaigns for New Zealand passports, had fun promoting the most popular baby names, and spent the Covid years working on Covid-19 Response (aka Unite Against Covid-19).

After finishing a contract in April 2024, this is not where I thought I’d be - nearly a year without a job. I’ve lost count of the job applications I’ve sent in. It’s tough out there and I’m not the only one.

Well-meaning people ask if I’ve tried the local book shop, boutique or café. Yes, I have. So has everyone else, it seems. Many of those places are struggling and can barely keep their own staff.

The capital has suffered after mass lay-offs of public servants.

Those same well-meaning people have suggested retraining. That can take years and money, and train as what? While the country needs teachers, nurses and police offices, not everyone is suited to these jobs. I know I’m not.

And, yes, I have considered work outside of Wellington. In a sheer state of panic at one point, I emailed some recruiters in Australia. Yes, I’ve also applied for lower level roles, only to be told I’m over experienced.

Back to that social media post. It went off – 309 reactions and 44 comments (and counting). Messages flooded in from people in a similar position - exhausted by the job hunt and the hoops they’re having to jump through.

Applying for jobs is a job in itself. It’s an endless cycle of checking jobs, emailing contacts, meeting recruiters, tweaking CVs, writing covering letters, sending in applications, and hoping you’ll hear something.

The job market changed, but so has the job application process. Most organisations have their own jobs website, which you need to set up a profile on. Many of these job application sites have a host of questions. “The answers are in my god-damn CV,” I scream internally as I fill out the answers. I get it. It streamlines things for organisations, whose hiring staff are being bombarded with hundreds of applications. It’s just so tiresome when you have to do this for every job.

Then there’s the waiting once an application is lodged. So much waiting. Often up to a month. Sometimes two months. Often I wouldn’t even hear back from places. It’s been about 50-50 on that. Even a one line “thanks, but no thanks” would be better than nothing.

Rebecca Thomson worked in the media industry and then on the Covid-19 response team. She can't find work.

There have been some terrible experiences . There were the hiring managers who showed up half an hour late for an interview. I was offered a half-hearted apology the interview was rushed, and then they ghosted me.

Being late is one thing. Being entirely forgotten is quite something else. It’s happened. Only once, but once is enough. I politely emailed to say I’d been expecting a call for a job interview, to be told “oops”. I was emailed a time and the phone interview went ahead. I never heard from them after that.

As well as multiple interviews for a role, it’s become the norm to assign multiple tasks, such as writing a press release, formulating a communications plan, and organising a presentation. A couple of recruiters I asked said employers were seeing too many graduates with subpar writing skills, hence written tasks. One writing test or presentation is fine, but multiple time-consuming tasks, as well as multiple interviews, for a single role is a lot.

Also, surely, it’s creating more work for everyone involved?

But here’s the thing. All the terrible experiences, poor communication and poor practices highlight the good places. There are some organisations and hiring managers that have been great. They’ve had good processes, made it easy to apply, have kept candidates up-to-date throughout and have communicated in a way that is empathetic and human (without being soppy). Shout out to Dave at Wellington Regional Council. I wasn’t right for the role, but that was a really helpful conversation!

Hopefully 2025 is better. To those job hunting, good luck. It’s easy to fall into a downward spiral. Take the occasional break from the job hunt to catch your breath.