Human Connection in Modern Hiring

[00:00:03] This episode is powered by a specialized recruiting group in Livonia, helping businesses find top-tier talent and professionals land their next big opportunity. Welcome to Ghosted by the Machine, a podcast where job seekers break through the algorithm and finally get heard. No filters, no bonds, just real stories from real people navigating today's hiring system. I'm your host, Mark Lane, and today we're talking to someone with deep experience in leadership, operations, and executive strategy.

[00:00:32] Rebecca Stack has spent more than 20 years working across high-stakes environments from the Department of Defense to executive operations and consulting. Rebecca, welcome to Ghosted by the Machine. Thank you for having me, Mark. Well, Rebecca, tell me a little bit about yourself. How long have you been in the job market and what kind of role are you looking for right now? So I've been in the job market for not quite a year. It's been eight months.

[00:00:59] I recently retired from the federal government in September of last year, and my experience is mainly with executive operations, chief of staff, C-suite, which would be equivalent to C-suite type support in strategic communications and budget oversight, contract oversight, staffing, those types of things. So I'm looking to stay in that executive operations lane.

[00:01:25] How tough has it been the last few months of trying to get in the door, get your resume out there and get in the door to some of these organizations? It has been grueling. It is not for the faint of heart. You have to have thick skin. You have to keep showing up. You have to just hold on to the thought that something is coming, right?

[00:01:49] I stopped counting resume submissions at about just under 400. I have gotten zero calls, interviews. I've gotten nothing. And so oddly enough, I'm the kind of person I am a worst case scenario person.

[00:02:12] I always have been. And oddly enough, there is a little bit of peace in knowing that I made a decision last year that I needed to make for my mental health. I have second guessed that decision, but still know that that was the right decision. And I know and I firmly, firmly believe that something is coming for me. It's just not here yet. But it's that waiting and knowing and believing and then looking at reality saying I don't have a lot of time.

[00:02:42] Right. Like and I've just been treating looking for a job as a full time job. I get up. I put myself together. I get on the computer. You know, I'm networking, meeting people virtually. If there's a silver lining, it's been the amount of support from LinkedIn has been amazing where people that random strangers, whether it's a note that they'll just say, hey, I'm in the same boat and I understand what you're going through to. Hey, reach out to this person.

[00:03:10] Tell them I sent you like that kind of networking has been amazing. So during this search, has AI helped or has it hurt you? I think it's a double edged sword. Honestly, I am an AI fan. As a tool, because it simplifies. I love how you can use it to put together workflows or I've been able to use it to pursue some passions that I've now had the time to work on.

[00:03:38] But at the same time, I feel like there are some elements when you're searching for a job that require people. There are many elements that require people. You know, being in the government, I am very familiar with the saying of reduce costs, increase efficiency. If I heard it once, I heard it 50 million times. And I'm all about the efficiency and you can use AI for that. I don't think AI should be looking at right. I believe that that needs to be a human in the workflow there and not a system.

[00:04:06] Because what we're fighting at this point, and I'm using that term fighting because that's reality. We're fighting a system. And I know that I'm qualified for many of the jobs that I put in. I know it. But my resume can't get through that system that AI is being used for. And it's saving companies money and manpower. I get it. But it's dehumanizing to feel like I have to compete with a machine. Right.

[00:04:36] Wow. And your AI is competing with my AI. And it's stuck in that cheese grater and it spits it out. Three months later, thank you for applying. Right. Exactly. The application process, you think it'd be a lot quicker. It's a lot slower. Yeah. I wish I knew what that was like. Because I'm in that, you know, flat line. I got nothing.

[00:05:04] So what's your secret skill or superpower that most resumes don't show? So I had a boss back in 2012. I was working on this team where our sole job was to bring two agencies together to work on building a relationship that had gone, we'll say, sour. And I remember he looked at me one day and he's like, Rebecca, you're a love broker.

[00:05:28] Like, you have a way of bringing people together, seeing what the problem is, getting the right people in the room and working towards a solution. Now, I'm a behind the scenes type person. I'm not the one necessarily facilitating, but I'm doing the hallway, walking the hallway, going to talk to people in person, going to talk to people saying, hey, how can we solve this problem? Right. Here's the requirement or here's the problem we're trying to solve.

[00:05:58] Here's what I think we can do. Would you be willing to do that? And then I go to the other party. It's like working on a, if you're in counseling with a, trying to solve a problem with your spouse, right? Like, that's, I'm very good at that. And I'm able to get the right people in the room that are the decision makers or delivering a product to the decision makers so that they can see the full picture and be able to say, okay, you know, give them the pros and cons. Or I'm not a yes person, right?

[00:06:28] I will speak up and say, you know, I think this is the wrong direction, but when a leader says, no, we're going in a certain direction, yes, sir, I will stand and salute and move on to the next. So I am very much a people person and I like to listen to differing opinions and finding the mutual solution where both parties feel, you know, okay, this is, this is a good decision.

[00:06:57] So what's one thing you tell recruiters or hiring managers today? I would tell them, if I could talk to them, that I would acknowledge the fact that this job market is something that we have never seen before. Well, it's something that I've never seen before, but what I've been seeing is that this is a job market that we've not been seeing, that we've not seen before. I know their job is difficult.

[00:07:25] I know that a lot of time, I would like to think that, not like to think, but I would think a lot of times they're not in the rooms where the decisions are being made. And they're being told to say, you know, look, we're going in another direction or look, this position is being eliminated, right? And they're left with having to tell somebody, hey, this is, we're eliminating this position or we're not pursuing it or whatever it is.

[00:07:53] But then I would say, having understood all of that, I would say, one, I know I'm a fit for the job that you're hosting. I know I can take my resume and line it up to a job description and line for line, I can do this. And then some, even if I'm looking at a job that's well under what I did 20 years ago.

[00:08:17] And I would say that this is a, you can't, you can't dehumanize people in this process because not everybody is cut out for doing this job search. What scares me is the impact.

[00:08:35] It's, it's not just the person getting the, hey, we're not going in this direction with you after they've researched and interviewed three or four times and exchanged emails and talk uncomfortable conversations like salary and, you know, done the mental gymnastics of, well, I can take a lower salary, you know, that kind of stuff. They're trying to provide for their families. Like people at this point are desperate.

[00:09:01] I have 26 years and I'm, I applied this morning to a position and target in my local town. I have to feed my family. So AI, I get it. I understand you have a difficult job. Get it. But you signed up for this job and taking the time as much time as it takes you to hit send on an email is a phone call. You can make to tell me, look, I'm really sorry. We're not going in this direction.

[00:09:31] I appreciate the time you took with us. Whatever it is. Maybe you can, you know, I don't know. I don't know if they can refer you. I don't know what a recruiter can do because honestly, Mark, I haven't had the opportunity to talk to anyone. But I know the human element is there. I'm very passionate about that. And. It just disturbs me to think what families are doing.

[00:09:59] Hell, families don't even have a dinner table anymore. You don't sit around the dinner table with your family anymore. We try. But. What is this doing to families? What is it doing to marriages? What does it do? How are kids carrying the burden of their parents worrying about money? Right. And. Having to tell your child, look, we can't do that because your mommy doesn't have a job or daddy doesn't have a job, you know.

[00:10:24] So if I had the chance, obviously, I would talk highly about my skills because I think I have very good ones and I know what my ability is. But I would really humanize it, if nothing else, just to get it to somebody that maybe hears it. So is there anything that's giving you hope right now? I know that in my gut, I made the right decision to retire.

[00:10:49] But when I have had a eight hour day of job searching and I come home and I my daughter comes home from school, the gift of this all is I have been able to be home with her for a year. Almost. I never have had that opportunity ever in 20 plus years because I always worked in a secure facility. I didn't you know, I couldn't have a cell phone with me during the day. I had to make arrangements for people to be able to get a hold of me. You know.

[00:11:18] That's been the gift thus far. And it's what I hold on to when she looks at me and says, Mommy, you're going to get something. You can't give up. She tells me back what I tell her when she's struggling or, you know, other people that are very supportive of me. I really hang on to my support network and I have a very strong one. And listen, I have been through so much worse and somebody else has it so much worse than I do. I have food in my pantry. I have a house to live in.

[00:11:48] I have a car to drive. Am I destitute? Am I desperate? Yes, I am. And I will do what I need to do to take care of my family. But someone out there has it so much worse than me. And I just hold on to something is coming. Something is coming. I just feel it. I feel it. And I, after many years of not listening to my gut, after making very poor personal decisions in other situations, I listen to my gut every time now. And something's coming.

[00:12:15] And it's going to be great and wonderful and make me happy and be able to provide it. So. I did say God's got a plan. Yep. And just got to keep on praying and working hard and you're working hard and you're, um, be as positive as you can and network and build relationships. And that's, that's probably the biggest thing that I've learned is to, uh, lean out in some of those relationships. Yeah.

[00:12:39] I mean, and the other thing is I'm able, like I said, to pour myself into other passions that I have that I may not have been able to do. You know, writing a book and, uh, things on the list. I haven't been there yet, but it's coming. And just started a nonprofit. I mean, there's so many other things I've done outside. I started my own consulting business, which by the way, that's just as hard to find clients.

[00:13:04] I had one client that was, some things don't work out for a good reason. And I was protected in that situation. And that was a blessing. Well, Rebecca, we really appreciate you being open and sharing your experience with us today. And if you're watching or listening and thinking, Hey, that sounds like me, you're not alone. And if you'd like to share your story, feel free to email me or send me a DM.

[00:13:29] And if you want to stay plugged into the real stories, real insights and real humans behind today's hiring system, make sure to follow and subscribe. We've got new episodes, shorts and conversations every week. I'm Mark Lane, and this is Ghosted by the Machine because behind every application, there's a human. Let's make hiring human again. Rebecca, thank you again for sharing your story. Thank you so much for having me. I really do appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.