Voices of Job Seekers

VOICES OF JOB SEEKERS

In Their Own Words: What It’s Like to Look for Work in Colorado

Selected responses from the 2026
Colorado Job Seeker Confidence Survey

MEDIA CONTACT:

Andrew Hudson

(720)289-5877 (cell/text)

ahudson@ahjobslist.com

The numbers tell one part of the story. The job seekers themselves tell another.

The Colorado Job Seeker Confidence Survey asked respondents a simple open-ended question:

"What is the single biggest challenge you are facing in your job search right now?"

A total of 193 of 218 job seekers responded. Their comments provide a revealing look at the experience behind the statistics—from unanswered applications and automated screening to age concerns, career pivots, intense competition and the struggle to remain confident after months of searching.

The following 25 comments were selected because they reflect themes that appeared repeatedly throughout the survey. Responses are anonymous. Minor punctuation and capitalization may be cleaned up for readability, but the respondents' meaning and language are preserved.

"Does Anyone Actually See My Application?"

Employer silence and difficulty reaching a real person emerged repeatedly in the written responses.

"More than a year unemployed and 1K applications sent and no job in sight."

"Getting my application/resume through the screening process; connecting with a human on the other end."

"Contact with a human being. I'm relying on referrals now."

"I have yet to really get true responses on my applications, and the only interview I have had was with an AI bot — not a real human. There is no human connection in the hiring process — no way to be able to sell yourself outside of what is on your resume and cover letter."

"Lack of human connection/interaction during application process — having my
resume rejected immediately because my keywords don't match ATS exactly."

"The near disappearance of respectful human contact in the hiring process."

"Making first human contact — I have a good chance when I talk to a person."

These comments echo the survey's No. 1 job-market concern: 61% of respondents cite employers not responding to applications.

Hundreds of Applications — and the Struggle to Keep Going
Some of the most striking comments describe the sheer volume and duration of the search.

"After 500+ applications and 40+ interviews, just trying not to give up."

"Freelance gigs have been the only source of income. I've done everything according to the playbook, so why isn't anyone responding? So frustrating."

"Lack of quality opportunities. I'm happily employed now but it took me 14 months and almost a thousand applications to get there. Roughly 80% of my applications did not receive a response."

"Getting ghosted or other admin difficulties. I've gotten to the end of more than one lengthy interview process only to have the position suddenly changed, salary changed or just gotten flat-out ghosted."

"Ghost jobs seem to be everywhere and it's tough to know whether an opportunity is real or just an information scrape."

The comments illustrate why application counts alone don't tell the full story. Job seekers describe substantial effort without a corresponding level of employer engagement.

"Am I Too Old to Be Hired?"
Age discrimination was the second-most frequently cited concern in the survey, identified by 55% of respondents.

The written responses show how personally some experienced workers feel that issue.

"I'm 63 years old. My work experience is solid, but when employers see me, they think I won't be around long."

"Ageism. At 50 I'm too young to retire but too old to be hired."

"That I am within 10 years of retiring and not sure there is a place for me in the market any longer."

"Age discrimination along with being overqualified — ‘work experience discrimination.’"

"Few jobs at the VP+ level and many that are posted are for lower salaries than I'm targeting. I'm also an older worker and believe that may be a challenge for employers."

The comments don't establish that discrimination occurred in any individual hiring decision. They do show how strongly age and experience weigh on the minds of many respondents.

Experienced — But Trying to Figure Out Where Experience Fits
Another theme is particularly relevant to mid-career and senior professionals: knowing how to translate years of experience into the next opportunity.

For someone who hasn't looked for a job in years, the challenge isn't always simply finding another version of the position they just left.

"I am no longer sure I want to remain in my field or what kind of position I actually want at this point in my career. But financially, I do need to find a job."

"My past experiences are eclectic and not necessarily representative of what I want to do. For example, I was a CEO for a few years, but have zero desire to be the CEO. I'm interested in HR and while I've done five years of it, I've never had it in my title."

"I'd really love to pivot. I no longer enjoy this work, but I'm finding it incredibly difficult to make that change without taking a pay cut at the age of 50."

"After having a solid technical career for 12 years it's hard trying to figure out where I fit in as I want to change to a slightly different position."

These comments highlight an important challenge for experienced job seekers: employers often hire against titles and specific industry experience, while candidates may be trying to market skills that are much broader than their previous titles suggest.

"What About My Transferable Skills?"
Several respondents describe frustration with employers seeking an increasingly exact match.

"Unicorn wish-list job descriptions: nearly every communications position is the amalgamation of at least 2–3 roles and employers expect 1-to-1 software/industry-specific experience instead of transferable skills."

"Employers seem to have a rigid perspective on what degree or experience you should have before you can perform the job they have. I have more than 18 years of experience and I think I can learn many things, but being a good coach and leader comes naturally, which is harder to teach."

"Over qualified or under qualified in a specific industry. Exhausting!"

These comments reinforce an issue AH JOBS LIST sees frequently among experienced professionals: the challenge of separating skills from job titles.

Leadership, communications, project management, operations, strategic thinking, relationship building and problem solving can transfer across organizations and industries. But job seekers still have to demonstrate that connection to employers.

For some, that may mean considering a career pivot rather than simply searching for a position identical to the one they previously held.

Relationships Still Matter
Despite the increasing role of technology in hiring, several comments point back to something decidedly old-fashioned: knowing and talking to people.

"I have only gotten interviews in the past 6 months by knowing someone in the company."

"Time to network. I took on a heavy stop-gap gig, and it's eating my time and energy."

Those comments mirror the quantitative findings: 42% of respondents say personal networking has produced some of their most promising opportunities, nearly matching LinkedIn job postings.

The Emotional Toll
Perhaps the simplest comments are among the most revealing.

"Motivation after so much rejection."

"I feel like nothing is working. I'm at a loss and don't know what to do."

Those words help explain one of the survey's most concerning findings: roughly seven in 10 respondents say the job search has reduced their confidence in their professional value.

For experienced professionals, unemployment or a prolonged search can become more than a financial challenge. After years—or decades—of building a career, repeated rejection and employer silence can begin to affect professional identity and self-confidence.

What These Voices Tell Us
Taken individually, these are personal experiences.

Taken together, they reveal recurring themes:

Job seekers want more human interaction from employers.
High application volume isn't necessarily producing interviews.
Experienced professionals are concerned that age may be working against them.
Many mid-career workers are navigating a job-search environment that looks dramatically different from the last time they searched.
Transferable skills aren't always easily recognized by employers—or easily communicated by candidates.
Networking and relationships continue to matter even as hiring becomes increasingly automated.
Long searches are taking an emotional as well as financial toll.

The economic data tell us about employment growth, unemployment and the labor force.

These voices tell us what those conditions feel like from the other side of the application.