If you work for a living, why do you kill yourself working?
– The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966)
Job hunting. It seems like an endless, merciless search for gainful employment. This question posed in Leone’s masterful film feels particularly relevant in today’s job market, where people work longer and harder for less, without even the promise of security or satisfaction. In 2025, the search for a job seems especially brutal. Well-meaning advice from older generations is unfortunately meaningless. The days of walking into an establishment or office and asking for an application are long gone. Welcome to the days of fighting for a job that won’t even pay the bills.
Truthfully, I know few people these days who have what might be called a conventional job. One friend is teaching without a certification at a desperate school in flyover country. Another is walking dogs. We’re all well into our thirties, all with substantial professional experience. As for me, I am currently with multiple staffing agencies but am without employment. It’s frankly a terrifying spot to be in, but I can take comfort that I’m not alone. One swipe on TikTok and I see plenty of fellow millennials struggling to make ends meet.
It’s been over a decade now since I graduated college, and I have yet to use my Cinema Studies degree. I’ve spent the last several years of my life working in the Financial Services industry out of necessity. I have the misfortune of living in the world’s metropolis, New York City, where the cost of living is sky-high. If you ask me, the worst part of being poor in NYC is not having the money to leave.
This past fall, I resigned from my most recent Finance position for personal reasons. I’ve been temping since, and even that comes with its own laundry list of guidelines and expectations. I had temped quite a bit in the previous decade, but the experience differed significantly. These days, competency tests, several interviews, and an extensive reference check are often required even for temporary roles of two to three months. It can be overwhelming, and I can’t imagine how much worse it must be for Gen Z.
Job searching is a balancing act, particularly for people with creative backgrounds and/or aspirations. I am a writer, but I’ve been doing administrative work for years to pay the bills. While this may seem like a normal thing to do, companies these days are seeking out people who really have passion for the work. It’s not enough to be a plain old Administrative Assistant; if you want to land the job, you need to sell yourself as a “career EA,” someone who lives and breathes for providing clerical support.
Personally, I’ve lost myself to overwhelm many times over the past few months. As I sit in the same boat as many others, I’ve started to see a larger trend: more and more, job hunters are not just competing for positions – they’re being asked to reinvent themselves to meet increasingly arbitrary standards. I’ve asked myself whether my lack of passion for Executive Assistant work has worked against me, and I think the answer is, sadly, yes. Because it’s not enough to work hard or have the right experience, and anyone who’s in a similar position will tell you as much. Selling yourself is an art form, and only those who fully commit can succeed in this cutthroat job market.
The expectations get higher and higher, while salaries continue to stagnate, and sometimes slump. It’s not enough to do a great job, you have to be a “rockstar.” It’s not enough to work nine to five, you have to be “flexible.” And now, with return to office mandates increasing, those who want or need remote work are left in the dust. In a world where job descriptions encompass more and more for lower pay, I’m left wondering – when do we get to just be ourselves? Where is there time for rest, recreation, and pursuits outside of what we do for a paycheck? I don’t know. For now, I keep hunting. When the world demands so much of us, what else can we do?
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