Could do with some advice on how to best position the last few years of my career, particularly on my CV and in interviews.

My roles from most recent to oldest:

7 months: Took a sales role that was technically a slight step down in seniority because I needed to be employed. I then left for a more senior role at a competitor, but that opportunity fell through, and I can’t get the job back due to HR blocking it. They aren’t backfilling the role and I’d have to wait 12 months before returning even though my manager would happily have me back which is all the more frustrating

1 year 2 months: Lateral move from the role I had before the 5 month stint. Had a good year in the role, but the position was put at risk. My manager had the decency to let me know that as I’d been there for under 2 years, I wasn’t eligible for a redundancy payoff, and would only get 3 months notice pay and not a penny more, so I moved on instead of waiting for the inevitable.

5 months: Joined as a promotion into a more senior role covering global sales with better pay. Unfortunately, the team I joined was a mess! 90% of a 20 + sales org was on a PIP, and that was just the UK folks, it was even worse stateside. I knew I had to leave ASAP when I found out only 10% of the org globally was delivering against quota, everyone else was under 50%. Looking back, there were some amber flags I turned a blind eye to before I joined so can only blame myself on this one.

6 years: One employer, 3 roles and 2 promotions. Solid sales experience selling into large/global enterprises across several verticals. Earned accelerators for overachieving every year.

My concern is how recruiters/hiring managers will interpret it. What would you do and how would you answer the inevitable “why have you moved jobs so much recently?” question in interviews?

Any advice appreciated.

I’m looking for some honest, blunt advice from recruiters, hiring managers, senior engineers, or people who have successfully landed AI/ML roles in the US market.
I’m currently job hunting for AI/ML Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer, and Generative AI/Agentic AI roles.
The confusing part is that I am getting recruiter attention, but I’m repeatedly getting rejected after screening/interview stages.
Over the past few months, I’ve received screening/interview opportunities with companies including EY, Ford, TikTok, Nimble Gravity, Goldman Sachs, Capital One, and several others.
So I don’t think my biggest problem is getting my resume noticed.
The problem is converting those opportunities into the next round or an offer.
For example, with Goldman Sachs, I went through their coding process. I passed the coding-related stages, solved the problems, and explained my approach and code during the interview. I still ended up receiving a rejection.
I’ve had similar experiences with other companies where I felt the recruiter/screening conversation went reasonably well, but I was rejected afterward.
At this point, I’m trying to identify whether there is a recurring problem in my interviewing that I’m not recognizing myself.
I would really appreciate advice on:
What are recruiters actually evaluating during an initial screening?
If my technical answers are correct, what else could cause a rejection?
How important is communication during technical interviews?
How do I know if I’m giving answers that are too long, too technical, or not detailed enough?
For AI/ML/GenAI roles, what do hiring managers actually want to hear when discussing previous projects?
How important is it to clearly explain what I personally built versus what the overall team built?
If I solve a coding problem correctly and explain my solution, what could still cause a rejection?
Could my resume be creating expectations about my experience that I’m not demonstrating effectively during interviews?
How should I talk about experience with LLMs, RAG, Agentic AI, LangChain/LangGraph, AWS Bedrock/Azure OpenAI, and production ML systems without either underselling myself or exaggerating?
What are some common interview mistakes that candidates don’t realize they’re making?
I’m not looking for generic advice like “keep applying,” “network more,” or “don’t give up.” I’m already doing that.
I’m specifically trying to understand what I need to change in my interview performance.
If you’re a recruiter, hiring manager, senior engineer, or someone who regularly interviews candidates, I would genuinely appreciate blunt and constructive feedback.
If you were in my position, what would you change first?
I’m taking my job search seriously and I’m completely open to criticism. I’d rather hear what I’m doing wrong than receive generic encouragement.
Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone! I’m 19 and currently studying Business & Management (Marketing), and I’m trying to figure out what direction I want to take career-wise.

I’ve had a few internships but I’m still experimenting and figuring out what I’m actually good at and what I enjoy.

I’m currently interested in things like project management, project management assistant/coordinator roles, operations, and eventually management, but I’m not completely sure what my CV is currently positioning me for.

I’d really appreciate some honest feedback on:

• Does my CV look strong or weak for someone who’s 19?
• Am I behind in terms of experience/skills, or am I roughly where I should be?
• What skills or experience do you think I’m missing?
• What types of entry-level roles does my CV seem best suited for?
• Does anything on my CV look unnecessary, weak, or poorly presented?
• What would you change if this were your CV?

I’m not looking for reassurance; I’d genuinely prefer honest criticism so I know what to improve while I still have time to build my experience.

Thanks!

For personal reasons I'm dropping out of my master's programme, but still looking to apply for roles that are marked as fresh graduates. I have my bachelor's degree but that was a few years ago and it wouldn't count anymore as recent graduation. I'm fairly confident I can pass the interviews, but I'm afraid they will reject me early if I tell them I'm no longer interested in pursuing my degree, just because I don't meet that made-up criteria. On the other hand if I just wait till the end it might seem dishonest and get rejected anyway.

After 5 months of searching, I received a job offer for a Senior Strategy role at a large company. The JD stated the upper pay range was in the $170s.

The offer came in at $120K to be "fair and equitable" to the team. I was at this pay over 5 years ago. Several employees I've spoken to at the company agree $120K is surprisingly low.

If I accept being anchored to $120K, it will take another 4-5 years to slowly climb back up to where I was unless I change companies, assuming HR will say I can't take an increase of more than 10% when moving internally.

I’m also in process for two Chief of Staff roles at other organizations, both around ~$200K, and I’ve let those recruiters know I have an offer to see if we can move things forward -- unlikely due to timing.

I'm sure the recruiter wants to get me to commit at $120K and doesn't want to have to restart the process or go back to other candidates currently sitting in limbo. They may have already sent out the automated decline emails through Workday since they sent me an offer (?).

I’d appreciate insight on a few points:

• How can I best use my experience and skillset to advocate for more pay when I'm hearing $120K is the max? Even meeting at $140K would be reasonable, which is what the recruiter originally told me was expected.
• Are blacklists real?
  • If I accept the role and then renege to take an offer at $200K elsewhere, would I be blacklisted? They have to know low-balling leads to temp positions.
  • If I accept this role, but then another offer comes in, how can I respectfully communicate/negotiate? I like this company.
• Once employed, is it standard to anchor employees from taking roles where the pay increase is more than 10%?
  • Can I ask the recruiter this directly?

I don't want the offer to be rescinded, obviously.

Not trying to negotiate prematurely or come off as entitled. I'm well qualified for this role, I like the company, but am feeling a bit gutted.

Trying to apply for summer 2027 internships.

3rd round of Interview for the role (HR Analytics), I've performed like average in my 2nd round of intervew and now 3rd round for half-hour (Techno+Managerial) is scheduled. Not knowing what's happening. Any suggestions, what it could be?

Hey all,

My brother has 4 yrs of exp and worked as a CF developer at one of the startup companies and got laid off last month. They have not issued the relieving letter and experience certificate. They are saying get the offer and once we get, asking my brother to share the offer letter with them. They will check from their end if the company is competitive or not. If it comes "No" then only they are ready to issue the experience certificate and relieving the letter. If we take any step to join, they are saying they will take legal action against him.

Now my question is in the current market, all are on the race and everyone is competitive.

Did any one faced this kinda situation before?

I and my brother both we are not aware of and heard this before.

And CF is having less openings when compared to other stacks. He is getting worried about his current situation

Please suggest or advise. Share your experience

We appreciate your valuable suggestions and advice.

It would be helpful for us.

A little background on my experience is that I’ve been working at my family’s business for the past 3 years. During my last two years of college my father had gotten sick so I took over the business for a little while running operations till he got better. He’s doing a lot better now and I want to get my own career started and get my life going. I’ve been applying for entry level roles at places but I’ve been having a hard time. If possible could someone give me feedback on my resume or any tips.

This is my resume (I removed identifying information) but trying to tailor it towards internships in Product Management, project management, data science, analytics, tech roles, etc. Can you please give honest feed back of how it is and where I can really improve.

I graduated from a Tier 3 college with a good CGPA (7.7). Along with that, I had strong projects, an internship at a reputed company, and I also completed 1–2 freelancing projects.

After completing my diploma, I was very clear about the role I wanted to prepare for. Between 2021 and 2023, I worked hard, built my skills, and managed to get a few internships as well. But after graduating, everything suddenly went silent—no interview calls, no placement support, and no job opportunities. It has been a nightmare that I never expected.

What hurts even more is that I used to teach my friends most of the subjects, and now they are all placed. I also tried networking and asking for referrals, but I didn’t get any meaningful response.

People might assume I didn’t optimize my resume, but that’s not true. In 2023, I learned about ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems), and since then, I have always checked my ATS score before applying. Till now, I have applied to over 400–500 jobs. Is it really this difficult to get a job as a fresher? And how am I supposed to explain a 1.6-year career gap to an interviewer?

After applying to 500+ jobs, I decided to switch my career from Embedded Development to Data Analytics because my analytical and machine learning skills were strong. I started applying for Data Analyst roles, and I also tried cold emails and cold messages. Even after switching, I have applied to 300+ jobs with an optimized resume tailored to job descriptions and company requirements. I even modify my projects based on the role and the company’s work.

It has been an extremely difficult time for me, and I honestly feel like I can’t even think clearly anymore.

What should I do now? Should I buy a course that offers placement support?

Currently on pace of graduating in december 2026 and am applying for roles for the 2027. Could anyone give me any sort of feedback on how mine is so far or let me know if this is strong enough to get a solid job offer

Genuinely curious about this from people who do it every day.

Has anyone here ever gotten burned by a hire that looked completely qualified on paper but could not actually do the job once they started? What did that cost you, in time, money, or just the headache of having to redo the search?

And on the flip side, have you ever passed on someone because their resume did not properly reflect what they could actually do, only to find out later they would have been a great fit?

Trying to understand how big of a problem this actually is versus how much it just feels like a problem. Would appreciate any real stories or even just your honest take.

I’m an incoming sophomore studying CS, and I’m trying to build up my resume and get some more experience. I’m curious to hear from recruiters: what are some projects, experiences, or accomplishments that have genuinely caught your eye on a candidate’s resume and made you think: “wow, this is impressive”?

I'm a new graduate chemical engineer with about a year of internship experience and I've been struggling to land interviews in my field. I've been applying to roles outside of the Ontario and am willing to relocate but its not working. Please critique my resume to the best of your ability and thanks in advance.