Emily Chan
For many people trying to find a job, the hunt has never been more difficult. Today’s job market is the worst it has been in a long time.
On LinkedIn, announcements of corporate layoffs are flooding everyone’s feeds. People are getting ghosted by recruiters and applying to hundreds of jobs just to receive one or two interview offers.
A 24-year-old man from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada named Abood Alfadhli has adopted a unique strategy to stand out from the crowd in today’s ever-competitive job market.
He printed his resume onto a t-shirt so he could be a walking advertisement of his skills to potential employers. He plans to wear the shirt to career fairs, conference meetings, festivals, and other events.
Alfadhli got the idea for his “t-shirt resume” after his exhausting experience of searching for a job. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from McMaster University last year. Since then, he has been applying to jobs round the clock.
“I’ve submitted my resume to Indeed, LinkedIn, specific job sites, over 400 applications. I’m submitting cover letters, tailoring my resume, but almost hearing no reply,” he said.
He added that some of his friends who graduated with him were in similar positions. However, many of them had co-ops with notable companies such as AMD, Tesla, and Qualcomm, which is high-level work experience that Alfadhli doesn’t have. Still, they’ve also been having trouble with landing a job.
Alfadhli aired out his frustrations on TikTok. Some commenters offered words of advice and encouragement, while others could relate to his struggle.
Even though Canada added 27,000 jobs to their economy in May, the unemployment rate inched up 6.2 percent. The United States isn’t doing so hot, either. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy gained a total of 272,000 jobs in May, but the unemployment rate still climbed to four percent.
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