Looking for work can feel like a race, with listings to check, feeds to refresh, and applications to send before someone else beats you to it. For some job seekers, that routine stretches into hours of scrolling, and the habit goes by doomjobbing, a mash-up of doomscrolling and job hunting. Career coaches say doomjobbing can work against the search it is meant to help.
Hours a Day on Job Boards
Job hunting can swallow a whole day. Jonathan Clanton, laid off from his talent acquisition job, went straight into a search and was soon scrolling listings for hours each day. He described it to CNBC Make It as “a mix of social media addiction plus the anxiety of needing to find work.” Dan Kejsefman, talent director at Avature, says urgency is natural after a layoff, but constant activity can feel like progress without improving outcomes.
When the Stakes Are the Mortgage
Losing a job can raise pressing questions about health care and the mortgage. For Ilya Bagrak, the primary breadwinner for a family of four, those came first. The stress had him spending more and more time searching online. Career and leadership coach Phoebe Gavin says scrolling listings may soothe a worry for a moment, but in her experience it leaves people feeling more powerless about when the search will end.
A Flood of Applicants for Every Opening
Each new listing draws a wave of applications immediately, according to career coach Eliana Goldstein. Greenhouse data showed the average opening in mid-2025 drew 242 applications, three times the 2017 average. Kickresume CEO Peter Duris says the applicant counts shown on platforms like LinkedIn often include everyone who clicked Apply, not just people who finished, so not every applicant is necessarily serious competition.
Speed Starts to Feel Like Strategy
With that many applicants, plenty of job seekers feel they have to apply to as many roles as possible, as fast as possible, Goldstein says. In a March Monster survey, 48% of job seekers said they frequently or regularly put speed and volume ahead of selectivity, and 25% said they applied to any job that seemed remotely obtainable. Clanton felt the same push to apply early so his resume would not get buried.
Why Scrolling Feels Like Control
So much of a job search sits outside anyone’s control, and Gavin says doomjobbing and similar habits grow out of a desire for stability. Organizational psychologist Dr. Jamie Shapiro adds that scrolling delivers dopamine hits, and that workers who feel burned out or unappreciated may start fantasizing about other options. Together, those pulls can create an illusion of control, even when the habit does little for the search.
Easy Apply Makes It Easier
Easy-apply options and job boards that surface listings by algorithm have made applying faster, often with little friction. Mindi Cox, chief people and marketing officer at O.C. Tanner, says LinkedIn emails her jobs that fit her profile multiple times a day, even when she is not looking. That steady stream can stir a fear of missing out. Shapiro also says fear-heavy talk about AI can push people into survival mode.
What All That Applying Costs
Sending more applications does not necessarily raise a job seeker’s odds, according to Goldstein. Applying to roles that may not be a good fit is likely to bring more rejections or fewer replies. Self-doubt can follow, along with less time for relationship building, networking, and personal branding. The math wears on people, says Cox, since 500 applications with a single acceptance would likely mean 499 rejections.
When It Reached Family Time
A job search can crowd into the rest of life, and Clanton saw it happening with his three children, laughing with them one moment and lost in his phone the next. He decided to change course before it affected the people around him. His fix was time blocking, with set daily slots for applying, networking, and posting on platforms like LinkedIn. Outside those blocks, he tried to unwind with walks, friends, and family.
A Slower Way to Search
Before opening a job board, get clear on the role and set filters to match your experience. Duris adds that an existing resume usually needs little more than the right skills and keywords surfaced. In Gavin’s experience, candidates who come in through relationships search much faster than those who only apply on job sites. Bagrak’s 8-year-old daughter called his LinkedIn habit doomjobbing. He said he needed a more productive way to cope with the stress.
