Finished my MBA last December, previously worked several years at Amazon and still no job 40 applications later?

Hi guys,

Apologies in advance if this post comes off a tad whiny--I'm exhausted after a long day and just overall discouraged.

Anyways, I'm really starting to worry about what I'm doing wrong. I now have an MBA, international experience, and I have some big names on my resume.

After I left Amazon in 2020, I took a few months of rest and then began applying to jobs I really liked (program/product management, strategy, marketing and similar). When I wasn't getting any traction, I figured it was because most of the jobs I was applying to had MBA preferred. So I studied, was accepted, and enrolled at IE, which is considered one of the top business schools in Europe. I did the 1 year program and graduated last December, but chose to do an extension program for my 2 concentrations (Strategy and Healthcare) and to have more time to job hunt (for simplification purposes, on my resume I just put my MBA timeline as lasting through June of this year).

Unfortunately, for the last 6 months of my studies I was primarily looking at jobs in Europe, and I didn't realize just how low the pay was (Glassdoor sucks in EU, and there's very little other pay transparency) until about graduation. After that, I was worried that I had wasted time, but ceded to the fact that I'd have to move back to the US for work in order to comfortably keep up with my financial obligations (namely my $100k Sallie Mae loan with high interest and a couple other loans/CCs with recently increased rates).

Some extra details for easier reading:

-I began applying to US-based jobs at at the beginning of this year.

-I previously worked in tech but was initially only applying to healthcare/pharma sector companies since I was trying to pivot into that

-I probably could've pursued something with Eli Lilly Germany, but I don't speak ANY German and know from my best friend that life outside work is difficult if you don't, so didn't really explore that

-I DID try to pursue roles for Eli Lilly in the US, but have struggled to find anything relevant and was passed over for the couple roles I was referred for early in the year

-I've had only 4 interviews for US-based roles, but only through referrals (through other business school alumni). Half were with bio/pharma companies, the other half were tech (but not FAANG). The ones with the first few companies went ok, but with the last 2 companies I was sure I would be selected--they went that well. Sadly, I ultimately did not receive an offer for any

-I only gave a definitive salary number for 1 company, and it was one of the ones I felt I interviewed really well at (Asked for $160k base for a position based in Florida)

-I've asked for feedback from both companies that I felt sure I would get an offer from, but both declined citing company policy (Lame)

-Most of my rejections have been automated emails (no interviews), including 3 for roles I had been referred to. Some roles I never even received emails for

-I've been looking at roles in Seattle, California, NYC (and around), Chicago, Florida, Boston, or remote.

-I cannot go back to Amazon

-I've since resorted to helping my dad out with the family restaurant, which has been struggling lately. I'm practically working for free and unfortunately it has taken a lot of my time away from serious job hunting the last several weeks

-Relatedly, I am wondering if I should disclose that my current role as GM is for my family company (since I'm worried that being a GM for a small restaurant after doing an MBA seems a bit like a step back), or if it would seem as if I took the easy route post-MBA if I disclosed this

-I've actually considered taking over the restaurant, but neither myself nor my dad have the capital required to maybe turn it around, and I'm not entirely sure I'd even want to tie myself to that job after having witnessed my dad be a slave to it for practically my entire life

I've got a few theories as to why I am struggling, but hoping to get some more definitive, objective feedback since I'm really feeling application fatigue..and possibly the beginnings of depression :/

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Thank you if you've read this far and for ANY feedback!

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