‘Doomjobbing’ spreads as hiring system loses trust

doomjobbing spreads – Workers are increasingly stuck scrolling job ads without applying, a behavior dubbed “doomjobbing.” The term—popularized after an 8-year-old watched her father search for jobs after a layoff—captures the emotional squeeze of a job market shaped by AI filters,

In San Diego, Joe Patterson watches a pattern play out in real time: job seekers clicking through listings they don’t fully commit to—then stopping at the “apply” button.

For many, it isn’t a lack of ambition. It’s the moment the process starts to feel like a trap. A new label has attached itself to that feeling: “doomjobbing.” The word. as the story goes. was seemingly coined by an 8-year-old girl after she saw her dad scrolling job ads on LinkedIn after being laid off. It captured something sharp—helplessness after redundancy or after growing dissatisfied in a role.

The habit works like doomscrolling on social media. A listing may look promising at first. But doomjobbing begins when applying feels not worth the effort—especially with relentless competition, the hoops candidates are expected to jump through, and the constant possibility of automatic rejection.

Patterson, vice president of workforce and community education at National University in San Diego, frames it as a psychological stall. He says doomjobbing “tends to be reactive and emotionally driven.” Instead of feeling empowered. people feel “overwhelmed.” Over time. he warns. “that cycle can heighten anxiety and deepen dissatisfaction with their current role. even if their situation hasn’t objectively changed.”.

The wider job market is making that response feel more reasonable, not less. The year 2026 finds industries reshaped by artificial intelligence, layoffs rippling through sectors, and many workers dealing with burnout. At the same time. candidates are using AI to generate polished applications at scale. while employers deploy AI-powered filters to screen them—often in ways that leave both sides struggling to keep up.

“It’s uniquely difficult. and I would say it’s getting worse. ” Daniel Chait. CEO of the job board Greenhouse. tells MISRYOUM. “There’s times when there’s a hot job market and talent is really in control and feels good about their ability to get a job. and then there’s times when there’s a really soft job market and employers feel really good about their opportunity to scoop up talent. ” Chait says. “This is one of the first times I can remember where both sides feel it isn’t working.”.

A 2025 report by the background check company Checkr shows how widespread that frustration is. Out of 3,000 American job seekers surveyed, 58% said it felt impossible to get an interview or response through traditional job boards. And 62% said a lack of feedback hurt their confidence during the search process.

That mismatch—workers not hearing back, employers using systems that speed up screening—helps explain why doomjobbing is taking hold. It reflects a sense that the future of work feels “blurry” and harder to plan for.

Jennifer Dulski. CEO of the workplace performance platform Rising Team. puts it bluntly: it’s harder than ever for workers to feel confident about their next career move. “We’re in a completely different job market than we’ve ever seen before. ” Dulski says. adding that she’s never seen a job market “flooded with AI—it’s really the first time in human history that has happened.”.

Dulski also connects the behavior directly to emotional cost. The word “doomjobbing” is appropriate, she says, because endless scrolling without action “can really make you feel worse.”

Patterson describes it like decision paralysis: when there are too many options or no clear sense of what you actually want. you freeze. “It can be difficult to take the next step and follow through,” he says. “That leads to a loop of browsing without action. It’s not a lack of ambition, but more often a lack of clarity or confidence. Without a clear sense of direction, people stay in the exploration phase indefinitely.”.

Underneath that loop is an escalating technical arms race. Dimitri Boylan. CEO of the recruitment platform Avature. says job seekers are using AI to create multiple polished résumés and cover letters. while employers are implementing automation to screen candidates. The result is a question that hangs over the entire process: if the system is turning into a contest of tools. why bother going through it at all?.

The danger, Boylan argues, is treating job search like passive watching instead of active work. His advice is aimed at breaking the doomjobbing cycle by shutting down the endless scrolling and starting to engage with opportunities.

“For some people, the grass is always greener—they get a job and they spend all that time at that job thinking about some other job that they don’t have,” Boylan says.

For people who are unemployed. he adds. “resist the temptation to play the machine.” He doesn’t think it leads anywhere. “I don’t think that is going to get you very far,” Boylan says. “The idea of doomjobbing implies that you’re not really looking for another job, you’re just looking at them. If you have a really good representation of who you are and what you do. and you are realistic about what you can get. you should be able to. hopefully. get a job.”.

Dulski agrees that agency matters—even when the future feels scary. “I do believe people have agency over their own future,” she says. Her recommendation is to stop endlessly browsing openings and focus on the roles that stand out and feel motivating.

For those jobs, she says candidates should invest a little extra effort, whether it’s researching the company more deeply or demonstrating interest in a creative way such as a short video or slideshow.

She also warns about the flip side of AI-era desperation: “If there’s doomjobbing, there’s probably ‘doomapplying’ also, which is the spray-and-pray approach,” Dulski says. “For people who really want to stand out, a tiny bit of effort goes a really long way.”

What looks like apathy from the outside can feel like something else up close: a rational response to a job market that has turned unpredictable. When job seekers sit between hope and resignation. the leap from scrolling to applying can feel surprisingly difficult—because the system itself doesn’t consistently reward effort with outcomes.

doomjobbing job market AI hiring Greenhouse Checkr report job search anxiety Rising Team Avature workplace performance doomapplying LinkedIn job ads