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In April 2023, Felipe Martins was recovering from knee replacement surgery when his surgeon called and told him he needed to be seen right away.
Tests revealed a non-cancerous tumor in his knee, the 36-year-old told Business Insider via email. If the infection begins to spread, his leg may have to be amputated, and all the months he spent in physical therapy for a knee replacement will be wasted.
At the time, Martins was working in the sales department of a technology company in Utah, a position he had held for about nine years. He continued to work at his job while undergoing physical therapy and intended to do the same while receiving necessary treatment related to his diagnosis.
But on May 1, Martins received a phone call from an unknown person who worked for her employer. They said they needed to schedule a meeting with him that afternoon to discuss something.
It wasn’t good news. Mr. Martins was fired, along with several others in his department. He will be given one month’s severance pay.
“There’s a meme on the internet that says companies aren’t loyal,” he says. “And I thought, ‘Sure, but my company actually likes me and respects me. I’m valued.’ No, it wasn’t. .”
Mr Martins said he had been actively looking for and applying for work in the 12 months since his layoff, but had not had much luck. He cited several factors, including layoffs in the tech industry, a focus on remote working, health transparency for employers, and the prevalence of “ghost jobs” (those that companies no longer list on job sites). I believe that this may be working against me. Actively recruiting.
Though discouraged by the “constant rejection,” Martins said he plans to keep trying.
Most American men who want a job have a job. male unemployment rate lower than in previous decades. But Martins is among the men who are having trouble finding work these days, or have stopped looking for work altogether. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 1950 approximately 97% of American men between the ages of 25 and 54 had a job or were actively looking for one. As of April, that number had dropped to about 50%. 89%.
There are several possible explanations for this decline, one of which is that health problems have kept many men out of the workforce in recent decades. An analysis of 2022 census data by the San Francisco Fed found that almost 40% A higher percentage of U.S. men between the ages of 25 and 54 cite disability or illness as the reason they are not working. as a result, more men They turned to Social Security disability benefits to help make ends meet.
In recent years, remote work has become popular, historically high Thanks to job openings, more people with health problems were able to find work. In 2023, Approximately 23% According to the BLS, the percentage of Americans with disabilities employed is the highest on record since data collection began in 2008.
However, remote work is not as common as it used to be. And there’s competition to land remote jobs.
The share of US remote jobs on LinkedIn is over 20 LinkedIn says that despite the decline, 46% of all applications were for remote roles in December.
Martins talked about how he coped with the layoff and the challenges he faced during his job search.
Ghost job offers and scammers are making job hunting even more frustrating
When Martins was fired, he said his primary focus was not on the loss of revenue.
“I needed to get through this meeting to learn how to continue to have insurance at the end of the month,” he said of the meeting where he learned he had lost his job. “I didn’t have time to cry and recover.”
When he learned he could maintain health insurance through COBRA for $800 a month, he immediately started filling out the paperwork to make sure the process was expedited. Also, if necessary procedures were to occur, we were not “left” without insurance. , He said.
Although the cost is unbearable, he believes it’s worth it considering his health concerns, and said he can keep his insurance for up to three years.Thankfully his tumor has not spread. And he didn’t need surgery. Martins replied, “I got it.” get tested every few weeks check monitor its status.
But without a job, they have to deal with financial stress.
For a while, Martins said he saved up a lot of money and collected unemployment benefits, both of which helped pay his bills. He also plans to move to Washington to live with his parents, who want to be closer to him while he overcomes his health issues. This will also save you money on housing costs.
Martins said his job search is focused on remote work due to his upcoming transfer. He said he hopes to find a job that allows him to continue his physical therapy and take time off for treatment if needed.
But the search has so far been difficult, in part because layoffs across the tech industry have increased competition for a limited number of jobs.
When Martins finds a job listing, he doesn’t necessarily know if it’s real or not. He thinks he has encountered many ghost jobs.
“There are companies on LinkedIn that consistently advertise the same position and have been advertising it for almost a year,” he said. “I have applied for these positions at least six times so far.”
Martins also believes that some of the job listings he sees are created by “scammers.”
For example, he said he recently received an email from a company that had the actual company’s name followed by the word “jobs” in the website’s domain name. However, the domain name of his actual company’s website was different, making Martins question the quality of the site.
Using the Whois search tool, we discovered that a suspicious website was created on April 18th.
“It was April 19th when we received the email from the scammer, so they weren’t wasting their time chasing people,” he said.
Martins said that in his experience, the “company and job” domain name format is common. With scammers. He added that a recruiter who can’t answer basic questions about the role or salary that doesn’t seem true can be a red flag.
“They scam you, throw out big salaries and hope that people imagine themselves working in a bank and are too surprised to ask questions,” he says.
Business Insider spoke to several people who said they were almost tricked into sending money to scammers.of Federal Trade Commission Learn more about job scams and how to avoid them.
Finally, Martins said she sometimes wonders how much of the health problems she discloses to potential employers are negatively impacting her job search.
“Maybe I’m being a little too honest about my condition. Nobody wants someone like me,” he said.
Despite these challenges, Martins said he plans to continue his job search. Once you get to Washington, consider some direct roles.
“There’s no harm in continuing to try,” he said. “What’s the worst that can happen? Your resume ends up in the trash.”
Are you a man not looking for work or struggling to find work? Want to share your story? If so, contact this reporter. jzikula@businessinsider.com.