Marcial Quinones, 48, used to have few problems getting jobs in the 1990s without a high-school diploma. Now, after sending what he estimates is over 1,500 applications since the early 2010s, he can't land a stable job in his field, even with an MBA.
Quinones, a father of four who lives in a rural part of eastern Pennsylvania, said he's struggled to land a long-term job in tech or counseling. He has held part-time positions and built his own inventory software to sell to companies, though he rarely gets interviews, even after redoing his résumé two dozen times.
"I wish there was an easier way, but traditional ways of looking for employment have been overshadowed by artificial intelligence and lack of human interaction," Quinones said, noting his applications are likely thrown out due to his lack of recent work experience.
Quinones is one of many Americans with traditional work credentials who can't land a decent-paying, stable job. This comes at a time when getting a college degree is much more necessary to landing a well-paying job. Quinones shared his difficulties with securing work, as well as some reasons he may be falling through the cracks.
A rocky but successful start
Quinones said he had a difficult upbringing with an "abusive" stepfather. He lived in various youth shelters and dropped out of school in seventh grade, and he had his first child shortly after entering a transitional independent-living facility at 18.
"At that point in my life, I was trying to change everything and become better because I knew that I would be a father," Quinones said. "I started taking things more seriously and tried to figure out what to do with my life."
He became interested in computers and found side jobs helping the Salvation Army and other businesses fix their technology. By 18, he applied for technical jobs, doing contract work in the 1990s when companies were rolling out computers at the office.
Without a high-school diploma, he got a job as the head technician for a computer company in Arizona, then landed a role at Intel in 1999. He worked there as an IT manager for a year before getting laid off.
Feeling behind his peers because he didn't have a college degree, he enrolled at a community college in 2002, where he got his associate degree in computer programming. While there, he also worked part time for the school's IT department.
He moved with his wife and children to Arizona to be closer to his wife's family. Given that a four-year degree was increasingly becoming a prerequisite for many positions, he received a bachelor's degree in computer programming.
Still, he said the job market in Arizona was "extremely difficult." He recalled walking from company to company with résumé in hand, which resulted in some job offers. However, he wanted to progress his career, so he enrolled in an MBA program in technology management.
He secured a job in New Jersey as the chief technology officer for an import and export company. However, in 2010, two years into his job, he faced a challenging family situation that cost him his job, which he said was "extremely difficult to recover from."
Can't find a job
Since then, he said he's struggled to find anything relevant to his skill set and hasn't landed anything beyond a first-round interview for IT roles. He recalled putting up Facebook posts in the early 2010s searching for work, only to be met with negative comments.
"I've walked into local businesses to start talking about working, and I'm told that I would not be happy working there because it is not part of my high-skilled profession," Quinones said. "This is even after not including my education not to become overqualified. However, when they reviewed my work history, it was clear I am."
Quinones said he's struggled with alcoholism but stopped drinking eight years ago. He began bodybuilding as his therapy, and he took part-time positions just to stay afloat.
He created an inventory-management software program, hoping to expand it to many clients. He secured some contracts for his software with businesses including with a restaurant in Puerto Rico and a Christmas company, and he's worked on inventory for small startups to help them grow. He was offered full-time employment at a company that planned to use his software, though the company wouldn't compensate him for his software outside his salary.
Additionally, he printed images on stickers, shirts, and bottles for side income and drove for Uber, though he recalled often working 14 hours and making only $70 a day after expenses. He volunteered at a middle school to implement his software to improve students' math performance and sold some licensing agreements to parents.
He said his wife works remotely as a sales supervisor for a company in Arizona, which has kept his family of six afloat. Over the past decade, he's found ways to cut costs for the family, such as doing car repairs or plumbing fixes without calling in experts.
In 2015, desperate for job security, he enrolled in a master's program in family and marriage counseling as a backup plan, though he ran out of financial aid with four classes left and dropped out. A few years later, when he considered returning, he was told only half of his classes counted because of a curriculum change.
He received advice from career counselors to "finish my master's degree in counseling, which is not easy because of the cost," Quinones said, noting he had to pause any further education while recovering from surgery. He added that hiring managers "would not give me a chance even though I had three years of education."
He's still in touch with career coaches from his previous universities, and they've offered workshops, résumé and cover-letter reviews, and job recommendations to help him stand out. He began tailoring every application specifically for each role and sending personalized emails to hiring managers, but he only got two emails back from recruiters saying they would keep him in mind for positions.
Why landing a job is so difficult
In total, he said he's applied for about 1,500 jobs unsuccessfully, getting five to 10 rejections a day this year, screenshots shared with BI show. He's redone his résumé over 25 times, spending $300 for a professionally created one that yielded zero interviews (he received a partial refund for that service). He's asked his friends in IT and project management to review his applications.
There's also the matter of where Quinones' degrees are from. His undergraduate studies were completed at American Intercontinental University, a for-profit school whose accreditation has come into question in recent years. Meanwhile, he got his MBA through the University of Phoenix, an online program.
He said he's in a middle ground: He's overqualified for many entry-level positions but underqualified for jobs in his fields. He acknowledged that hiring expectations have skyrocketed over the past few years. He even tried removing some educational background on his applications to seem less qualified, to no avail.
He believes many of his rejections are for positions that companies legally have to post but give to internal candidates or recommendations.
"I used to get interviews for jobs where I beat out 600 people," Quinones said. "Now, it's hard to get a job when you don't have a foot in the door to interview."
He also suspects that being Latino may have hindered his job search. Once, a company told him it wasn't accepting new applications, though they gave one to his wife, who is white. He also used a shortened version of his middle name, Tony, on an application instead of Marcial, which increased his interview rate.
He added that because technology changes rapidly, he may be behind on the skills companies expect applicants to have, particularly experience with AI.
Given that he lives about 30 miles from a city, he's focused on finding a remote position, though the number of those jobs has been dwindling and getting more competitive.
"If you haven't been employed in a while, I can't magically snap my fingers and make it happen," Quinones said, noting employers may be skeptical of gaps in his work history.
Are you struggling to find a job? Reach out to this reporter at nsheidlower@jkmperu.com.
Correction: September 24, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated one of Marcial Quinones' actions. He didn't turn down any job offers while pursuing his MBA.
