A few years ago, Derek Mowgli was working in IT.

He loved his job so much.

He told me he happily commuted an hour and a half each way to his office in Atlanta.

But about a year into the job, Derek got called into a meeting.

Next thing I know, you know, they say, hey, it was time to lay some people off and nothing personal.

It's just your numbers come up.

And it was just time for me to go.

And that was probably the most difficult day that I could recall, like, in my adult life, because it was a job I really did love.

Derek was laid off in 2017.

After that, he picked himself up and embarked on a common and frustrating experience,

the modern job hunt.

And how many applications would you say that you submitted?

You know, I know it was probably well over 150 opportunities that I've applied for.

How many callbacks did you get?

Of those, really none.

Wow.

Yeah, yeah.

How did that feel?

Terrible.

I mean, you know, financial stress, emotional stress, I just kept getting a lot of notes.

It was just rejection after rejection after rejection.

It was demoralizing. But Derek kept at it, sending out application after application for nine months.

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