PFirst May, Labor Day. A day that has had a different flavor for some years, because the work rather than celebrate it, many seek it, fear it, or simply tolerate it waiting for something better that never comes.
There is a new word that describes something that many have experienced without knowing how to name it: it’s called doomjobbing. It sounds technical, maybe a little funny. But if you’ve ever spent a Saturday evening on LinkedIn scrolling through ads without finding anything really convincing, feeling something similar to desperation growing insidethen you already know what it is.
What is doomjobbing: when looking for work becomes a spiral
The term takes inspiration from doomscrollingthat habit of endlessly scrolling through social media or the news even when it makes you feel bad. Same mechanism, same emotional result. But applied to job hunting.
Doomjobbing is when you look for work compulsivelyCVs are sent out in a barrage, the ad pages are updated every five minutes, but deep down you don’t believe that anything will change. There is movement, yes. But there is no direction.
Bryan Robinson, psychologist and professor from the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, known for his studies on work anxiety, wrote about it in an analysis published on Forbes. According to Robinson, doomjobbing creates the illusion of action while eroding real progress.
Because it’s happening right now
It is not a question of personal fragility. It is the labor market that fuels this short circuit. Fewer opportunities, more competition. Increasingly automated selection processeswhere an algorithm discards the resume before human eyes even see it.
Offers that require years of experience for roles that were once junior. In this context, anxiety does what it knows how to do: turns urgency into frenzy. You send an application, then another, then yet another. Not because there is a strategy behind it, but because stopping would be even more scary.
The compulsive search for work: how to recognize it
Doomjobbing doesn’t look like someone who does nothing. He has the face of someone who does a lot, but it goes around in circles. Some signs: dozens of applications are sent without personalizing themalmost mechanically. You check ads multiple times a day with no real plan. You get stuck in a job that will lead nowhere, without being able to move. And every rejection, even silence from a recruiter, erodes your self-confidence a little more. This is one disoriented effortfueled by anxiety.
The hidden cost of standing still (even if you appear to be moving)
The most insidious part is that doomjobbing seems productive. Something is being done, isn’t it? But over time, that loop takes a toll. Skills risk not being updated. The network of contacts cools down. Trust crumbles, application after application goes unanswered. And little by little we lose sight of the most important question: where do we really want to go?
How to get out of doomjobbing
For To get out of doomjobbing you don’t need to overturn everything. Here are three key steps.
1. Quality, not quantity
Five well-thought-out and targeted applications are better than fifty standardized ones. Personalising, studying the company, writing as if you were speaking to that specific reality makes a concrete difference.
2. Structure over time
The job search, if not managed, becomes a black hole. Establishing precise timetables, as with any other professional project, helps you avoid being overwhelmed.
3. Invest in yourself, not just in your CV
Understanding which skills are missing in the market, keeping up to date, authentic networking: these are activities that seem less urgent but which make a real difference in the long term.
In essence, the real benefit is not doing more, but doing things with more intentionality. Go through one reactive mode to a strategic one it’s the only way to build a career that goes in a specific direction.
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