Invidia #1 – The Luck of others in their job search

Age, experience, and comparing yourself to others

By now I’m also clearly heading toward 40. Over the course of my life, I’ve met a lot of people. Some were close to me, others not so much. But many of them have one thing in common: they have insanely shitty-good luck when it comes to job hunting.

There are plenty of examples I could name here, but that would completely blow up the scope of what I’m planning to post in January. So I’ll focus on the aspects that stand out most to me personally.

People with seemingly effortless access to work

Many people whose paths crossed mine were unemployed while I knew them. Some more often, some less. One person was even unemployed very frequently. And yet … they always found a new job quickly. That’s not a bad thing in itself. But for me personally, it was shocking to see how easy it was for this person.

Of course, only a few of those jobs actually made them happy. But they never had to worry about whether they would find a job at all. And that made me angry over and over again. And yes: deeply envious.

Networks, connections, and unequal starting positions

He always had someone who got him into some kind of job. A casual acquaintance, a former colleague, a relative—there was always someone. He kept landing new jobs without having to put in much effort himself. The positions were practically handed to him.

Other people didn’t have quite that much luck, but still, sometimes one or two applications were enough for them to get back into work quickly. And I keep asking myself why it isn’t at least a little easier for me.

Education, background, and limited opportunities

I already wrote in the first Acedia post about how frustrating this is. I want to go a bit deeper here.

Education, in general, is something largely reserved for the upper middle class and above. People from the lower middle class or below rarely make it into university or similar paths. Scholarships are few and far between.

That means many people’s opportunities for further development are severely limited. That was the case for me as well. I was a straight-A student until we moved into a socially deprived area. I already knew bullying before that, but there it became much worse. As a result, I ended up in the bottom third of my class—a massive fall for me.

Over the years, something like the Abitur became completely out of reach. I repeated a year, and then I was unemployed.

Applications, degrees, and structural barriers

Back then—as in parts of today—I applied everywhere, even for positions where I didn’t have the required qualifications on paper. But no one hires someone without the appropriate academic degree.

I know I get very hung up on this topic. I’m aware of that. But in the end, social background is often the reason why people don’t get ahead. I’ve seen people stuck in undeclared work, with no hope of improvement.

Fourteen years of stagnation and the fear of repetition

I’ve also spent 14 years in a job that neither helped me progress nor did me any good—out of fear of finding nothing else. Now I’m forced into a situation where I have to find something. And I’m terrified of taking just any job again, simply to be employed and escape the upcoming, deeply inhumane basic income system—only to get stuck once more and end up in an even worse psychological state.

Envy, self-contempt, and justified questions

In situations like this, the envy flares up even more—and with it, unintentionally, a certain bitterness.
“Why person X and not me?”

And then I despise myself even more for being bitter and envious. That spirals into yet another “I’m dissatisfied with my career decisions” rut.

But in my view, the question is absolutely justified: why do so many people have so much luck and find new jobs quickly—for example, despite lacking skills or required qualifications that companies then even pay for—while I’m practically drowning in existential fear?

To you, the readers: experiences, but no platitudes

How has this been for you? Do you have any advice?
And—however harsh it may sound—please refrain from statements like: “If you think positively, you’ll find a job faster.” There are people who can’t do that, for example for psychological reasons. And those people deserve a bit more luck too.

That luck would be easier to come by if companies would finally stop being so obsessed with certificates and maybe say once in a while:
“Let’s hire a career changer who might bring other competencies that are important to us.”

Gerry