Some have come to call it the Great Freeze; others more poignantly refer to it as the Great Frustration—a fitting label for the pervasive sense of inertia and disillusionment sweeping through the professional landscape of 2025. Business Insider conducted extensive interviews with dozens of job seekers across multiple generations, many of whom have endured months or even years of unemployment despite tireless efforts. These individuals, ranging from seasoned professionals with decades of experience to recent graduates eager to begin their careers, offered candid accounts of a hiring system that feels increasingly opaque, impersonal, and exhausting.
Among the most common grievances voiced were protracted hiring timelines that stretch interminably, creating cycles of anticipation and disappointment; the prevalence of so-called “ghost jobs,” or listings that appear open but are never genuinely pursued; and the suspicion that age discrimination lurks beneath courteous rejections and sudden silences. Candidates described employers who ceased communication midway through the process, fierce competition that leaves even highly qualified applicants invisible, and an overarching belief that algorithmic résumé filters—driven by artificial intelligence—categorically eliminate many before a human recruiter ever glimpses their credentials.
This collective sense of exasperation is not occurring in a vacuum. It coincides with a broader economic slowdown, as employers hire at one of the most restrained rates witnessed since 2013. Whether they attribute the stagnation to overreliance on AI-driven screening, corporate cost-cutting initiatives, or pervasive market uncertainty, job seekers overwhelmingly agree that the result is the same: an avalanche of applications confronting a drought of tangible job offers. Still, amid discouragement, many have sought solace in solidarity, finding support networks and virtual communities that soften the emotional toll of rejection.
One such voice is Matthew English, a man in his sixties from Alabama who spent decades in accounting before losing his position in late 2024. For over a year, he has been searching relentlessly for full-time work—submitting hundreds of applications that span from professional accounting roles to decidedly unorthodox positions, such as the costumed Chick-fil-A mascot. The outcome, however, has been uniformly bleak. Having depleted nearly all his savings, English confessed that last Christmas he could not afford gifts for his family and lamented that funds once earmarked for retirement have now become a safety net for survival.
Statistical indicators underscore his struggle. The New York Federal Reserve surveys Americans regularly, asking them to estimate how likely they are to find new employment within three months if they lost their job today. In August 2025, that figure plummeted to its lowest since data collection began over a decade ago, recovering only marginally thereafter. As Kory Kantenga, LinkedIn’s Head of Economics for the Americas, succinctly observed, the U.S. labor market now moves with “low momentum.” After several consecutive years of deceleration, he explained, it is little wonder that so many perceive the current climate as the harshest job market of their professional lives.
Throughout the year, Business Insider documented the experiences of individuals once employed by some of the world’s best-known corporations who now find themselves adrift—some laid off, others who quit voluntarily or are reassessing what work means in a shifting economic era. Many have shared their stories in hopes of shedding light on the systemic barriers within the modern hiring ecosystem.
Take, for example, Hilary Nordland, a marketing professional in her fifties from Minnesota. After being laid off in mid-2024, Nordland began donating plasma and drawing from her retirement savings simply to manage household expenses. She recounts the demoralizing pattern of landing interviews only to have positions frozen, withdrawn, or filled internally, sometimes mere hours before her scheduled meetings. In an especially ironic turn, a recruiter who praised her as an exceptional fit was themselves terminated before an interview could even occur. To her, the job market resembles an endless void—“a black hole,” she said—one that erodes optimism and clarity in equal measure.
The macroeconomic backdrop amplifies these struggles. U.S. companies have announced more than 1.17 million job cuts in 2025, the highest total since the waves of pandemic-related layoffs in 2020. Despite nominally low unemployment rates by historical comparison, job loss is gradually creeping upward, marking its highest level since 2021. Furthermore, the proliferation of AI-assisted recruiting systems has flooded hiring pipelines with an overwhelming number of applications, making visibility and differentiation nearly impossible for candidates. According to Greenhouse, an industry-leading hiring software provider, the average posting now attracts around 242 applicants—roughly triple what it did in 2017.
Independent economist Aaron Terrazas argues that the frustration expressed by job seekers is wholly warranted. He notes that while national employment metrics may appear stable or even cautiously optimistic, aggregate data can camouflage the acute hardship felt by individuals behind the numbers. For those struggling to pay bills or facing repeated rejection, the job market’s supposed resilience offers little comfort.
Heather Driscoll, a healthcare management professional from Colorado in her fifties, articulates this emotional wear poignantly. Since losing her job, she has relied on her 401(k) savings to meet basic expenses. Each interview demands significant preparation—research, grooming, presentation—only for the process to end abruptly, often without a single line of feedback. Having advanced to final rounds multiple times without success, she suspects that underlying biases related to her age and gender subtly, but powerfully, undermine her candidacy.
For some, prolonged joblessness has forced a reckoning between ambition and practicality. Forty-year-old Kenneth Ferraro, once a truck driver, chose to pursue a bachelor’s degree in political science at New York University with the dream of entering public service. Yet after accruing over $100,000 in student debt and finding doors closed to him, he reluctantly returned to trucking. He believes that age, more than academic achievement, has impeded his entry into government work. He vividly recalls an interview where early optimism quickly evaporated when the hiring manager’s demeanor shifted upon meeting him in person.
Younger professionals, like twenty-something Solomon Jones from New Jersey, mirror this sense of disappointment from a different generational vantage point. After earning his degree in sports communication, Jones discovered that even entry-level positions in his field draw over a thousand hopeful applicants. His goals remain aspirational—he dreams of working in sports media—but the stark reality, as he puts it, is that “life isn’t fair,” and right now, any job is better than none.
Despite such widespread discouragement, a few individuals have found pathways to resilience and adaptation. Many have leaned heavily on family, close friends, or online communities for moral and logistical assistance. Ian Carter, for example, who was laid off from Microsoft in 2025, shifted from a fixed lease in Washington to a month-to-month arrangement before ultimately relocating to Florida to live with relatives and reduce expenses. He now draws strength from a network of fellow former Microsoft employees in a private social media group known as “MSFT Survivors,” a space where members share resources and emotional support during recovery from layoffs.
Similarly, Sriram Ramkrishna of Portland, Oregon, confronted the double blow of losing his position at Intel—his second layoff from the company—at the same time his wife was let go. The experience forced his job search into overdrive. Like Carter, he found comfort and collaboration in a community of peers navigating the same uncertainty, describing how they collectively exchange leads, encouragement, and accountability.
Economists such as Chris Martin of Glassdoor attribute this year’s subdued job market to climate-shaping forces of uncertainty: shifting trade policies, evolving technological adoption including AI, and cautious corporate planning as companies balance layoffs with limited hiring. Terrazas adds that while uncertainty may diminish slightly in the coming year, its psychological and structural residue is unlikely to vanish entirely.
For the vast majority, however, there is little choice but to persist. The financial reality of modern life demands continued effort, even in the bleakest conditions. Yet perseverance has yielded occasional successes. One such breakthrough was achieved by Alexander Valen, a project manager formerly employed by Accenture. After nearly twenty-four months of futile searching—during which he fell behind on his mortgage and relied on gig work and family assistance—he finally secured a position through a connection who introduced him to Toptal, a freelance platform. The role aligned precisely with his expertise and offered compensation within his target range of $80 to $100 per hour. Reflecting on the experience, Valen urged others to adopt a growth mindset, viewing each rejection not as condemnation but as opportunity for refinement. In his words, “When you treat the process as a chance to grow rather than a verdict on worth, it transforms the entire journey. And in times like these, networking isn’t optional—it’s the multiplier that can change everything.”
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/job-market-find-work-employment-hiring-slowdown-careers-2025-12
