I’m posting this because I honestly don’t know what else to do. I’ve reached a point of total exhaustion and burnout with the job market, and I’m hoping someone here might have some advice or a different perspective.
Over the last year, I have applied to well over a thousand jobs. I have been relentless: I’ve reached out to recruiters directly, walked into businesses with my physical resume in hand, cold-called companies to ask if they’re hiring, and attended every job fair or networking event I could find. I’ve also worked with various job search agencies to try and refine my approach.
Despite all of this, nothing seems to be working. I’ve had a few interviews, but even those have led nowhere—I’ve even been rejected for basic customer service roles. It’s incredibly demoralizing to feel like you’re doing everything "right" and yet getting absolutely no traction.
To give you a better idea of who I am, I’m a Bachelor of Commerce graduate from the Ted Rogers School of Management (Toronto Metropolitan University). I have over two years of professional experience in financial operations, accounting, and underwriting. My background includes:
Accounting: Most recently, I worked as an Accounting Assistant for Parks Canada, where I managed financial records for 10+ national parks, processed thousands of invoices, and handled over $500,000 in transactions while ensuring government compliance.
Underwriting: I previously worked as an Underwriting Associate at Chubb Insurance, where I managed \~90 policy renewals a month, streamlined workflows to clear a 1.5-year backlog in just six months, and authored Standard Operating Procedures to improve accuracy.
Customer Service: I have experience as a Customer Service Representative at BMO, where I consistently exceeded sales and service benchmarks, including achieving 95% of monthly bank plan upgrade targets.
I’m based near Ottawa, Ontario, and at this stage, I’m open to almost anything, but I’m just completely at a loss for how to actually break through this wall. Has anyone else in the Ottawa area dealt with this kind of stagnation? Is there something I’m missing or a strategy I haven’t tried yet? Any advice, especially from those in finance, admin, or government-related sectors, would be deeply appreciated.