Jobs

A mentorship session I had last night, crushed me inside. I never imagined I'd have that kind of conversation with a mentee…

For as long as I was working a stable job, I didn't know how bad the job market was. I spoke to a few people in the last quarter of 2024, and they said the job market is bad.

I thought yeah, maybe that's because it's the last quarter and companies are generally not hiring in the end of the year.

And then began 2025, and I thought things would improve. I started taking mentorship sessions on ADPList, and speaking with more designers across the world. One theme that was common for my sessions was — how bad the job market was, and something that was common for multiple geographical locations.

From speaking with mentees in the US, to India, in the Netherlands to Germany and France, from designers in New Zealand and Australia, to those in the UK and even the middle east, the pattern was the same. It was impossible to get a job.

People were applying to an insane amount of jobs only to get generic rejection emails hit their inbox, one after the other. Some applied to more than a thousand jobs in the last full year.

One thousand jobs. And no offers. Let that sink in.

I admire, and salute the resilience and integrity of such people, who still have the stamina to apply to more jobs, but seriously…this should not have happened in the first place!

I thought things would become better by the mid of 2025, but rather it became worse.

With Trump's tariffs and geopolitical mess that he created, there was an economic recession like situation in almost every country you can imagine.

If you already have a job, stick to it. Make sure you do everything to keep it. And if you're unemployed, may God help you.

I ended up speaking with over 50 people in the last couple of months, and I couldn't believe how bad it was for some of them. One mentee I spoke with just last night, was crying on the call. She told me that she is on the verge of losing her apartment in the Netherlands.

Even though legally (thankfully), her landlord cannot just evict her (in the Netherlands), but she hadn't paid her rent regularly enough, and she isn't that kind of a person who wants to be in that kind of a position.

Every month when the rent is due, she sends a sobbing message to her landlord that she will be late in paying it, and even then she can't afford to pay the full amount. She was telling me her story with shame and frustration. I could sense that in her cracking voice.

Even though I tried calming her down, and motivating her to keep applying, but she was dejected, frustrated, and lost. She had been applying for jobs since September 2024, and it is the September of 2025.

She had exhausted all her savings, her emergency fund, everything, and even the unemployment benefit only lasted a few months (three, for three years of employment in the Netherlands).

Yes, she had been doing odd jobs, some gigs at supermarket, and some shifts at the local grocery stores, but that takes a lot of energy, time and leaves her with no motivation to apply for jobs or do case studies that demand a lot of attention to detail.

Facing rejection after rejection has been hard on her overall mental health as well, and now every time she applies to a new job, she prepares herself for a rejection, instead of being hopeful about getting a call back. She tells me that it is easier, that she reads the previously received rejection emails from other companies, right after sending a new application. That way, she is able to manage her anxiety. Good lord!

I never thought I'd have that kind of a conversation with a mentee. I have spoken with many people, and I honestly wanted to suggest her to seek a therapist, but that's also tough here. You just don't get appointments that easily, and many times it is not covered in your insurance.

She further told me that she joined this support group that keeps people motivated through periods of unemployment — I was honestly happy that there are groups like that for unemployed people in her region. Yes, we need more of community support, but what frustrates me the most is that we should not be in this situation in the first place.

I have met some of the most talented, educated, smart, and humble people in my mentorship sessions, and knowing that they can't get any job, has been heartbreaking.

Some of them have visa restrictions that make them ineligible to apply to most jobs that are only open for citizens. Some of them don't have the exact specific industry experience that the new employer is looking for. And some of them simply have too much anxiety which is absolutely normal to get in such uncertain times in your life, so they end up not performing up to the mark during their interviews.

But just think about it — how can you expect to perform to the best of your abilities when you're this depressed, lost, and rejected in life?

How can you be your best version, when you are this close to losing your apartment, or becoming homeless? Or when you don't know where your next meal will come from? How can you do your best in your assignments and case studies, when you have a big gap in your work life, and you don't know how much, or to what extent the market has changed?

How can you do any of that, with a calm, relaxed, or a sane mind, when the entire job market is nothing but insanity. I absolutely refuse to accept that the people who are getting rejected, are the ones who are at fault.

I have seen most of their applications, resumes, and portfolios, and they are better than those who are holding jobs right now. Some of them are legit better than a lot of people who are employed. These people just need a chance. That's it.

And I feel that these days, employers and companies are too scared to take risk.

For example, in design we are seeing a lot of gatekeeping. In a way that the companies only want to hire people who either have experience working in exactly the same domain, or they have worked with their competitors.

Any other candidate who does not meet these two criteria, is automatically rejected. Industry specific gatekeeping was never normal in tech.

Developers don't have that kind of a restriction. No one tells them that if you have built financial apps before, you cannot build healthcare apps. They are happily accepted into new environments, and new industries, but it is 'design' that is suffering the most.

And designers, are the most resilient, hardworking, and dymanic set of people that I have met. We have to do assignments, and case studies, we have to go through the longest, the toughest, the shittiest hiring process of the entire tech industry, and yet we are here. We are applying, we are learning, we are adapting, and we are growing.

I wish I could do more for fellow designers, than just motivating them to be gritty and resilient, in this tough job market, but I can't.

I don't know what will change this situation for the world, or how can we make this a better place for everyone to have a job, have money to buy the nice things they like, have food on their tables, and have a roof over their head without worrying about the future.

Every human, deserves at least this much on this planet. And the conversations I am having recently, are nothing but soul crushing…

Hi, I'm Mehekk, a Senior Product Designer with around 9 years of experience, based in the Netherlands. Follow me on Medium or subscribe my Substack newsletter to never miss a story. You can also follow me on Instagram or connect with me on LinkedIn.

See you around.

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MB ❤️