A job hunter went viral on TikTok, shocking viewers when he revealed that he had applied to 1,400 jobs over the past eight months but had not been hired. He also went on to say that people shouldn’t be giving their unemployed friends advice on how to find a job because he’s tried every trick in the book.
Ohm Patel (@ohmpatel90) lamented the state of the hiring market in a video that he stitched to another from TikToker Amber Loeffler (@amberloefflerrr), who had a similar complaint, asking her audience, “Why are all of these places hiring but like won’t f*cking hire someone?”
The video then cuts to Patel, who starts by stating a number. “1,400,” he says, “1,400 is the number of jobs I’ve applied to.” The TikToker adds that he has applied to jobs across a number of different employment websites like LinkedIn and Indeed, but also through individual company websites.
“When I tell people this number, they genuinely cannot believe it, and then they do some stupid sh*t like recommend a book or like a seminar to watch about job applying,” Patel says before incredulously asking, “You think I haven’t tried every tactic in the book?”
He starts to list the many ways he’s tried to get the attention of companies. “Cold emails, cold calls, hot emails, mildly warm slightly-cold-in-the-center-type emails. It took me six months to get my last job and that was over 700 applications, and I got lucky with that one because I wen tot he same school as the person who hired me.”
This time around, though, the job hunter says he hasn’t been that lucky. “Coming up now on six months unemployed and eight months of job searching. It’s insane.”
@ohmpatel90 #stitch with @amber loeffler #job #jobsearch #linkedin #insane #economy ♬ original sound – Ohm Patel
Patel’s video received 9.2 million views, and his message resonated with a number of viewers. Many asked the TikToker questions about his search for employment in the comments section.
One person wanted to know how many interviews Patel’s 1,400 applications had resulted in. Patel replied in a follow-up video, stating, “I’ve gotten three.”
Another viewer wanted to know, “What jobs are you looking for? CEO?” suggesting that Patel had not been hired because he was aiming for too high of a position. But the TikToker clarified in another video that he wasn’t even applying to senior or management level positions, let alone C-Suite level jobs.
But a number of the comments were from fellow job hunters commiserating with Patel.
“Took me 968 days to get my current job,” wrote one person. “I think the biggest problem is the ghosting lol.”
“This somehow makes me feel less bad. I thought I was just unhirable. Apparently this is all too common,” wrote another.
Despite Patel’s clear message, some viewers still took it upon themselves to share advice when it came to applying for jobs.
“The best way is to network it’s just nepotism but with friends in the field,” one comment read.
“Associate roles are always given to relatives/friends of employees. Your resume isn’t even looked at if you aren’t already connected to the company,” another said.
The Daily Dot reached out to Patel for further information via TikTok comment.
