‘Unemployment is my best friend now’: He has an engineering Ph.D, has applied to 2,300 jobs — and still has nothing. Is this the future of non-work?

Weis initially set his sights on corporate research positions and prestigious postdoctoral fellowships. When those opportunities didn’t materialize, he expanded his search to software engineering and other industries. He couldn’t even get a response from a frozen-food company.

A degree is no longer a guarantee

Weis’ mother, Dr. Holly Carveth was even the second set of eyes to review his applications, wondering whether something in his résumé was turning employers away. But nothing stood out.

“It’s quite surprising,” she told the news outlet. “I don’t know how to put it together.”

Catherine Fisher, LinkedIn’s vice president of communications and career expert, told Moneywise that companies are still hiring, but they’re becoming much more selective. According to LinkedIn’s October 2026 Workforce Report, U.S. hiring was down 3.4% year over year in September, making an already competitive job market even tougher to navigate and leaving even highly qualified candidates searching for longer.

“The job market is a bit of a mixed bag right now,” Fisher said. “Unemployment remains relatively low and companies are still hiring, but not at the rate they once were.”

A $70-an-hour gig

After thousands of unsuccessful job applications, Weis finally caught a break in January when he landed a $70-an-hour contract with Mercor, a tech startup that hires experts to train artificial intelligence. His job involved using his chemical engineering knowledge to develop questions for an AI model, evaluate its answers and help improve its responses.

Weis isn’t alone in turning to AI training for work. According to a 2025 report from Oxford Economics, commissioned by Scale AI, the U.S. data annotation industry supported nearly 200,000 flexible earning opportunities in 2024, with researchers projecting the market could grow to as much as $19 billion by 2030.

But there’s a catch to this type of work. As The Guardian reported, AI training is becoming a fallback for experienced professionals who can’t find work in their fields. Some workers are even helping train AI systems to perform tasks similar to those they once did themselves. Although certain contracts can pay more than $100 an hour, the work often comes without guaranteed hours, benefits or paid leave.

Weis experienced this firsthand as some weeks he worked 20 hours, while others he worked just four. By March, the assignments had dried up, and he learned his contract had ended through a Slack message sent to more than 800 people.

“Friendship with Mercor ended, unemployment is my best friend now,” Weis said in an email to the Wall Street Journal.

Why even qualified candidates are struggling

Landing an interview doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get to speak with an actual person. Weis tried to get around automated hiring systems by reaching out to Princeton alumni, hoping a personal connection might improve his chances.

But in this market, qualifications aren’t always the barrier to entry. Chris Sund, president and COO of Uniti Med and GQR Healthcare, told Moneywise that as companies cut management layers and combine responsibilities, experienced professionals are finding themselves competing for fewer positions that match their skills.

“Being highly qualified doesn’t necessarily mean there are enough openings for the type of work you do,” Sund said. “When companies consolidate responsibilities, remove management layers or prioritize only the roles they consider essential, experienced people can find themselves competing for a narrower set of relevant opportunities.”

Technology is adding another hurdle. A 2026 Greenhouse survey found that 63% of job seekers had experienced an AI interview, with more than half of those who completed one saying they never heard back.

“Without the social cues and back-and-forth of a traditional interview, candidates need to rethink how to prepare,” Fisher said.

How to stand out in an AI-driven job market

Since Weis is living with his parents he has saved money. He also graduated without student debt, giving him some breathing room. But even as his investments have grown alongside the stock market, a steady paycheck remains out of reach.

“It’s cool that my stocks keep going up, I’m not mad about that,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “But it does make it a whole lot stranger.”

For Americans struggling to find work, there are still ways to improve their chances of getting hired, even as AI becomes a bigger part of the application process.

Fisher recommends practicing with tools like LinkedIn Premium’s Prep AI or Microsoft Copilot to get comfortable answering questions without the usual back-and-forth of a conversation. She also suggests studying job descriptions closely, keeping answers concise and using specific examples to show employers why they’re a good fit.