My company has been struggling for a while, and is honestly not very well run. They don’t give us enough time or means to produce high quality work, and the scope of what we do is very limited and continuously shrinking.

It feels almost impossible to sugar coat these issues in interviews, as I’m toast the second I get a question like “can we see some real-world examples of your work” or “tell me about the work your company does” or even “tell me how your company usually does x.”

I’m great at getting through recruiter screens, but it usually bogs down after that. I’ve taught myself programs we don’t use, invented new workflows our business should have but doesn’t, and created entire fake portfolios just to make my experience look better to potential employers.

It’s exhausting, but I feel like it’s the only way I’ll eventually get out of where I am. I’m tired of hiring managers loving my skills, attitude, and success stories, only to get turned off when they learn about the lack of real-world work behind them. Thanks for reading my rant after another, “we loved you, but your experiences don’t exactly align” last-round rejection.