I’ve had a handful of referrals go nowhere in the past few months since a layoff, but the worst by far was one where I talked with the former coworker in January shortly after the role was posted, clicked through his referral link to apply, mentioned him in the cover letter, and then waited…

I checked back with him after a few weeks, with no updates. Finally, I checked in with him again just last week – and learned through him that the role had now been filled, all without the company so much as sending me a rejection email.

In an already-demoralizing job search, it was a real gut punch, and despite 10 years of experience, has me really starting to question whether I still have a future in tech.