It’s been a while since I have updated this website. Like most marketing professionals, copywriters and content managers, the 2024 and 2025 job search has been grueling for me. But yet I continue pivoting.
I have tried to communicate with family and friends the difficulties I’m having. I’m not sure if they’re hearing me, comprehending, or anything.
It’s okay if they’re not.
Maybe it’s time to say something. I am day drinking right now, and this is something I don’t normally do. But I feel like I deserve a beer or two.
Two beers hits hard when you woke up at 3:00 a.m. thinking you should probably get into the habit because you might be hired for the early shift at the local grocery store.
I feel like it all started when news headlines said we were going into a recession.
Because that’s what happens, right? The news is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you start telling people there’s going to be a recession, then they’re going to decide not to buy anything, and then they’re going to basically manifest what you said was going to happen.
So that’s what the media did to us.
So there were jobs. And then companies started getting stingy. Layoffs began. And then layoffs continued.
Every day I make some effort to search for work, whether it’s freelance copywriting / content writing which is what I do, part-time or full-time gigs, and even my latest which I have been most persistent at, which is attempting to secure a position at a local grocery store.
I don’t know what the people at the grocery store think about this. But people who do not work at a grocery store don’t think I should be working at one.
I had a trusted contact react when I said that as a seasoned copywriter I had resorted to pursusing grocery store jobs.
He basically said to me, isn’t there some sort of middle ground?
I guess he was thinking, okay so maybe you’re not going to get the marketing job of your dreams, but there must be some type of role that someone will pay you for that is at least somewhat commensurate of your experience.
I’m really not sure what to say about that.
All I know is, I went from corporate copywriter to self-employed freelance copywriter, to online business owner who sells content online as a product… and somewhere in between there I became a mom who was very much engaged in my son’s early development.
And I will never regret that, and I will never apologize for turning my back on the corporate and business worlds in favor of giving love, attention, and life experiences to my only son.
I have no idea what people assume when they look at my resume or my career background.
Were they told to be on the lookout for red flags? This is naiive.
People are human and life happens. If hiring managers can’t imagine what it is like to run an online business because they’ve never done this, so be it.
If they look at my resume and question any would-be breaks in employment, I’m not going to feel bad. Because in the end, my son’s development and happiness is the most important goal.
But again, I don’t know what they assumed when they looked at my resume. Maybe they assumed nothing.
Was I employed, or was I not employed? When you work for yourself it doesn’t really matter. But I think that as soon as you start working for yourself, you’re always employed.
I had the district manager at a grocery store, who presumably did an internship out of college before being hired for a district manager role, ask me if I had steady clients when I worked as a freelance copywriter.
I’m not sure if this question was aimed at me to insinuate that I was not successful as a copywriter, or if she was trying to figure out if I had experience serving customers.
I certainly do have experience during customers. I’ve done this in one way or another since I emerged on the workforce scene in 1989.
But her general disinterest in what I was saying told me I probably wasn’t going to be considered.
And that is neither here nor there.
With the economy going the way it has been, I think more corporate professionals are going to experience what I have experienced over the past 20 years.
So, welcome to the gig economy. Welcome to rejection. I hope it serves you well.
Did you hear what I said? This is a gig economy. You will not survive unless you pivot into gigs.
I don’t know if any hiring manager in 2025 has actively engaged with my information, or even thought about it for more than 5 minutes. There’s no way for me to be able to tell if that ever happened at all.
What percentage of companies that I sent my resume to, used applicant tracking software to review my information? No idea.
The only thing I know is that the grocery store where I applied had human beings working for the company who very likely viewed my resume and credentials.
That was why I kind of banked on them. It was more promising than anything else I had sent out into the hiring world.
When I left the workforce, I left to grow an online business, and then become a mom. Then I took some years to be there for my son, before pivoting back into online business.
I will never regret being 100% there for my child in his time of need, and only a mom of an only child will know this.
If I was not available and accessible for my son’s early needs, who would be?
Other than paid professionals working out of obligation, no one.
And I don’t owe any explanation as far as my career history to anyone. But then, they never asked.
Behold the Many Job Rejection Letters of 2024 and 2025.
Now I’m going to share with you some screenshots. These are rejection emails that I have received on jobs I applied to in 2024 and 2025.
This is the best way I have of letting people know what I’ve been up to. Because it’s exhausting to try and explain it.
So please enjoy these rejection letters from various jobs I’ve applied to in 2024 and 2025.
I thought I uploaded somewhat in the ballpark of 50 plus rejection letters. But my phone is not digesting all this information. So please take what I’ve managed to upload.
If anyone needs a copywriter or SEO content writer, yes I’m available.
Email dinagio@dinagio.com.