Sixty-Eight Companies. Fifteen Final Rounds. No Offer.

Sixty-eight companies interviewed, fifteen final rounds reached, not one offer. The candidate has since taken the master's degree off the résumé and started applying to the basics — a gas station, a Starbucks, teller roles — and is being turned down for those too. After six weeks of it, the conclusion was blunt: they look you up, see the real record, and pass.