Back in 2016, Wells Fargo created advertisements for the celebratory occasion of Teen Financial Education Day. The advertisements suggested that having a career in the performing arts is unrealistic, with their discouraging statements saying, “A ballerina yesterday, an engineer today.” Or “An actor yesterday, a botanist today.” Understandably, Wells Fargo received backlash from members of the performing arts community. “Apparently, @WellsFargo doesn’t think that an actor or a ballerina require any work at all! Shame,” Actress Cynthia Erivo stated on Twitter in an article for BroadwayWorld.com.

Wells Fargo released an apology for their misguided direction in advertising, but this controversy gives the career debate of following your dreams vs follow the money a whole new perspective. If you’re pursuing a career in acting, dance, or singing, then the hiring process that comes with experiencing obstacles and hardships will most likely be a challenge to follow your dreams. However, the barriers and hardships people experience just to get a practical job make it just as equally a challenge to follow the money.

“For the last two years, the sidelines have been packed with competent candidates who should be getting jobs—candidates from marketing to finance to data analysis.” CEO Coach Amanda Goodall stated on LinkedIn. “It’s gotten so bad that 50% of them are completely burned out by the job-hiring circus. I don’t blame them.” Why is it like this? Why has the job-hunting process become so challenging to obtain a job? It’s time to find out.

First, if you’ve ever been ghosted by a friend or potential significant other, then you’ll quickly realize that the job market is no different. Ghosting exists as a term known as ghost jobs, where non-existent job openings are available online. “Many companies will post hundreds of positions that they have no intention of filling, flooding your job feed with worthless postings that take up your time and energy.”

University of Michigan Student Isabella Rowlison explained this in an article for Thrill Magazine. “No one is properly monitoring many of these accounts, so anything sent to them, whether it be inquiring messages or completed applications, will remain unread indefinitely. So, when you feel like you’ve sent your resume into the void, you’re unfortunately probably right.”

This brought a lot of clarity for me because I’ve been ghosted multiple times on LinkedIn, and this does explain why the many jobs I’ve applied for never contacted me. It’s scary to think that people will take advantage of desperate job seekers who are struggling to make a living, and it’s deplorable when those job seekers have student loans, credit card debt, and other financial difficulties that can’t be fixed because the job market is filled with con artists instead of legitimate investors.

Second, if being ghosted isn’t bad enough, then dealing with exhausting job interviews is another issue. “Most candidates must endure months of extensive interviewing and testing even to earn consideration for a position,” Isabella stated. “That’s months of scheduling Zoom calls, in-person interviews, phone interviews, and tests that can range from reading comprehension to personality assessments.” The worst thing of all is that even after going through the long, extensive process, you’ll still likely end up getting rejected or even ghosted by the company.

When I applied for an internship at The Social Talks, the interview process was short, but it worked out in the end when I got the position as an intern. When I applied for a job position at Beaute Blossom LLC, the interview process was also short, but it ended up going nowhere, and I didn’t get the job. I can’t imagine how tough it must be for people to drag themselves through the interview process just to have their destination lead them back to where they started. It’s completely unfair and simply disrespectful to the job seekers who just want to make a living.

Finally, if being ghosted and dealing with the lengthy interview process wasn’t bad enough, then dealing with the new competition will be another weight to carry on your back. It’s common for people to apply for entry-level jobs, but what people don’t realize is how deceptive those jobs really are. “A common woe amongst job seekers is the misleading title of Entry-level jobs. The title suggests that the position requires little to no experience.” Isabella stated. “However, many of these positions will list the need for multiple years of expertise beyond a university education.”

This is incredibly deceptive for people who graduated from college and believe that a college degree, internships/externships, and extra-curricular activities are enough to obtain a job. Suppose a company is advising people not to worry much about qualifications. In that case, the job seeker will be deceived into thinking that their resume, cover letter, or portfolio is enough as it is.

Then, when they don’t get the job due to qualifications they either didn’t know they needed or were too high to be attainable, people are left confused, angry, upset, and frustrated. It’s frustrating to see people compete for something that likely has no winners because of unrealistic standards for a job that might not even exist.

In conclusion, whether you’re seeking a job in the performing arts or a practical job in anything else makes no difference at this point because today’s job market makes it almost difficult for anyone to obtain anything and make a living. So, instead of putting pressure on job seekers to pick the right career to pursue, we need to start putting pressure on corporate businesses to start being more open, fair, accepting, realistic, and attainable for people to get a job.

We say that children are our future, and they will be the next generation of leaders, but what are we doing now to fix the system to create future leaders? The job system needs to change so that dreams can come true and be attainable.