Two years of silence: A nonprofit leader’s struggle to find work

McClain initially approached the search with professional confidence, leveraging her background in social services to target similar management positions. Despite tailoring her resume for countless applications across major job platforms, the silence from employers grew deafening. By the end of 2024, she had expanded her scope to retail roles at companies like Burlington Coat Factory, yet even these applications yielded no response. The psychological toll eventually prompted her to delete her LinkedIn account, as she began to wonder if systemic factors, such as her age or lack of a college degree, were hindering her prospects.

The search forced significant personal sacrifices. McClain moved between California and Las Vegas to stay with family, eventually surrendering a storage unit containing her possessions to prioritize household contributions. To stay productive, she poured her energy into a personal nonprofit project dedicated to assisting homeless populations and domestic violence survivors. Earlier this year, she finally secured a full-time position in a remote customer-service call center. While the role offers lower compensation than her previous career, it provided the validation she needed to confirm she had not been permanently excluded from the workforce.