Hi Everyone!
As always, we ask that in order to participate in the weekly megathread, one self-identifies as some form of disabled, which is broadly defined in the community sidebar:
“Disability” is an umbrella term which encompasses physical disabilities, emotional/psychiatric disabilities, neurodivergence, intellectual/developmental disabilities, sensory disabilities, invisible disabilities, and more. You do not have to have an official diagnosis to consider yourself disabled.
Alright, with that out of the way, let’s talk about COVID-19, specifically the kind that messes with you for long time, possibly forever! <-- (so fun /s)
From the Wikipedia Page on Long COVID:
Long COVID or long-haul COVID is a group of health problems persisting or developing after an initial period of COVID-19 infection. Symptoms can last weeks, months or years and are often debilitating. The World Health Organization defines long COVID as starting three months after the initial COVID-19 infection, but other agencies define it as starting at four weeks after the initial infection.
Long COVID is characterized by a large number of symptoms that sometimes disappear and then reappear. Commonly reported symptoms of long COVID are fatigue, memory problems, shortness of breath, and sleep disorder. Several other symptoms, including headaches, mental health issues, initial loss of smell or taste, muscle weakness, fever, and cognitive dysfunction may also present. Symptoms often get worse after mental or physical effort, a process called post-exertional malaise. There is a large overlap in symptoms with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).
The causes of long COVID are not yet fully understood. Hypotheses include lasting damage to organs and blood vessels, problems with blood clotting, neurological dysfunction, persistent virus or a reactivation of latent viruses and autoimmunity. Diagnosis of long COVID is based on (suspected or confirmed) COVID-19 infection or symptoms—and by excluding alternative diagnoses.
As of 2024, the prevalence of long COVID is estimated to be about 6-7% in adults, and about 1% in children. Prevalence is less after vaccination. Risk factors are higher age, female sex, having asthma, and a more severe initial COVID-19 infection. As of 2023, there are no validated effective treatments. Management of long COVID depends on symptoms. Rest is recommended for fatigue and pacing for post-exertional malaise. People with severe symptoms or those who were in intensive care may require care from a team of specialists. Most people with symptoms at 4 weeks recover by 12 weeks. Recovery is slower (or plateaus) for those still ill at 12 weeks. For a subset of people, for instance those meeting the criteria for ME/CFS, symptoms are expected to be lifelong.
Globally, over 400 million people have experienced long COVID.
Mask up, love one another, and stay alive for one more week.
It’s been months and I still can’t find a job. I can’t even get an interview.
Can any comrades help me with getting porky to notice me? Like what sort of things should I put on my resume. I don’t care if they’re lies. Looks like I need to lie if I ever want a job. Is it an ATS thing? If so what words do I put?
The market for pretty much everything that isn’t in the service sector is complete dogshit if you’re in the states – I don’t know how bad it is elsewhere. Years ago I paid a guy whose whole thing was puffing up resumes so that they get past the word filter shit they do now and it still doesn’t work. I have lied on my resume and interviews, I have been completely honest and candid, and nothing works. I am sorry to say it’s pretty much nepotism or luck right now. I have been in my field for a long time and it has never been this difficult to find work. Anyone who tells you the recession is “coming” (it has already been here for a while) or that jobs are good right now are rubes or grifters, maybe both. I don’t think there’s a cheat code or anything that can be done to help it; we live in the bad place and in unprecedented times. All you can do is keep rolling.
Are you applying through places like indeed and linkedin? I’ve found I have a much higher call back/rejected but not just ghosted rate going to the company’s website and applying there if possible. A lot of the posts on job boards are scrapped from company websites and nobody is actually seeing your application.
I don’t have many tips, but my boss did tell me that for public-sector jobs (might help in private sector as well), look at the requirements that the job has, or what they are looking for in an employee, and tweak the wording on your resume to be very similar. This supposedly helps with algorithms. Also tweak resumes as necessary depending on what you’re applying to, some groups may want to see different things on that page than others.
Anyway, this is just my two cents, as someone who’s still in school and has only worked minimum-wage service jobs or seasonal positions (still minimum-wage) for the most part. You might already know this, but I don’t know much more. I also don’t have a resume and never have, just to add to my credibility even further.