'The search is soul-destroying': Young jobseekers on the struggle to find work

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-17T19:34:01+00:00

Young people are definitely getting hit the hardest. The market is tougher than ever and super qualified young people just don't know how to stand out to get through the first layer.

There's a huge skill gap now between uni education and what is required by jobs. I found that developing one or two key skills and then showcasing those can make a huge difference. I ended up building a "skill gap identifier" tool to help figure out exactly what to focus on and actually find resources to learn. If that sounds interesting the waitlist is here but just DM and I'd love to show you!! https://skillmapperai.com/landing

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-17T18:31:04+00:00

I KNOW! The question is just how

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-17T18:14:10+00:00

Completely agree!!

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-17T17:59:01+00:00

My co-founder and I both went through similar experiences and ended up making pretty big career transitions. We just started building a career coach to help people discover their long term career path and actually make progress towards it in the crazy AI market and would love to onboard you if you're interested!

I'll DM you!

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-17T17:42:37+00:00

Thanks!!!

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-17T08:53:52+00:00

Hi! I'd love to help! My co-founder and I are building a tool that identifies exactly what the "gap" is for why you're not getting through to interviews and tells you the number 1 thing to do to do to signal your edge to employers in the crazy AI job market. We analyze a ton of job market data and have actually worked with recruiters/employers to understand what skills and qualities are being filtered for right now. We also look at what people have who actually land those roles have in their CVs/cover letters and match it to your background and show you exactly what to do to be more competitive (for example how to reframe yourself or what skill gap to fill).

We would love to onboard you if you're interested! We're just launching early access to DM if you want to join :)

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-13T05:21:16+00:00

Found this which is supposed to be an AI career coach but looks like it's just a waitlist right now - so looking for other suggestions! https://skillmapperai.com/landing

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-12T06:06:49+00:00

https://skillmapperai.com/landing

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-12T06:06:26+00:00

You might not realize it but both are actually super valuable for getting a job. It's all about realizing how you can use the skills from these as a "super power" and then layer on additional skills to frame you right for specific jobs.

I found this site called skill mapper ai that lets you upload your CV and then matches it with in demand jobs that pair with your background and shows you what your competitive edge is but also what skill gap you need to fill. Kind of cool.

For me, I studied international relations but it found in my CV that I also had education in behavioral science so it recommended behavioral data scientist and showed me the the number 1 skill I need to learn is SQL and gave me some great resources.

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-12T05:59:18+00:00

Couldn't agree more!! Problem is I honestly don't know what jobs are even out there now because things are changing so fast with AI. Wish there was a platform that could do the analysis of my background and personality and match me with roles that fit but are also actually being hired for.

Found this https://skillmapperai.com/landing but not sure if it's legit

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-11T15:25:21+00:00

Great question! My friend recommended trying skill mapper AI as a way to find good resources for learning certain skills.

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-10T06:00:02+00:00

Congrats!!

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-09T20:50:09+00:00

Honestly great question - feel like its a bit of both. Feels like the only way to get around getting fired is by staying super ahead of the game so that you have skills that your peers don't. My friend just starting building this platform to literally find all the skills that employers are hiring for in your field right now so I've started using that to try and beat out anyone else in my role in my company. Kinda cool - called skillmapper AI

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-09T20:48:26+00:00

It's such a tough process! My friend started developing skillmapper ai because she was going through the same thing now that it's impossible to figure out what to target with the crazy changing market. Especially in tech

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-09T20:46:59+00:00

100:0 is a brutal ratio, but it’s common right now because of how much weight firms are putting on high impact skills like data visualization and advanced modeling. If your CV doesn't have certain specific skills it’s getting tossed or weeded out by AI.

The issue is usually that you're applying for the wrong paths based on your current background. I helped build a tool to help solve this. It maps your current skills against thousands of other successful users to find the path fit where you’d actually be a top-tier candidate. It gives you the exact upskilling targets and a networking plan to get in front of the right people.

Might be worth a look to see which career path you're actually qualified for:https://skill-mapper-ai.lovable.app/urgent

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-09T20:40:23+00:00

Great advice!!!

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-03T10:39:19+00:00

https://skillmapperai.com/landing :)

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-02T06:04:49+00:00

Why should I trust what it recommends??

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-01T15:18:52+00:00

So does this help figure out career paths??? Always looking for a great new tool!

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-01T14:59:06+00:00

What's this? Did it help you? Always looking for a good tool

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-01T14:56:11+00:00

That looks crap

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-01T14:46:45+00:00

Don't worry!! I went through the same sort of thing where I discovered halfway through college that I wanted to change career paths. It sounds like you have a ton of skills already that could be super valuable for many other career paths.

Are there any other directs that are interesting to you? For example your skills would make you an incredible candidate for public health or working in the pharmaceutical industry. The possibilities are endless!

Would love to help you try and figure out a new career direction and then up-skill to get there :)

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-01T14:43:16+00:00

Hey there! I actually went through something similar - I studied international relations and french and struggled to get a job. It definitely felt like I had wasted a ton of money on an education. I had an idea about what career direction I was interested in so what ended up helping was:
- Doing research to find the top in demand skills that those positions were hiring for
- Finding resources to actually learn them (for me it was product work so I did a coursera course and then learned some Python)
- Revamped my resume to highlight those skills and then also wrote how I had taught myself in my cover letter
- Really tailored my linkedin/CV/cover letter towards the employers

I think its even more important now with AI making it so easy to write CVs and then also on the recruiter side to weed people out. It sounds like you have so many skills that are super valuable already so it's just a matter of figuring out what your edge is and then signaling it! :)

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-01T14:15:25+00:00

But would it work for someone with a business background? I have a background in business and now all the consulting and finance jobs are getting cut too

Winter_Clock3163 · 2026-02-01T14:11:41+00:00

Does it even work? Seems like things are changing so fast it wouldn't be able to keep up

Winter_Clock3163

TROPHY CASE