Emily Canal

4 days ago | businessinsider.com | Emily Canal |Jacob Zinkula |Henry Blodget

Heather Rivera doesn't need to leave her office building to work her second job. The 53-year-old holds two roles — as a production manager and an operations manager — for brands that run out of the same single-story facility in Lawrenceville, Georgia. "It's really a matter of prioritization — knowing which fire to put out first," Rivera told Business Insider. When Rivera started her second role in 2020, her pay increased to about $100,000 from roughly $60,000.

1 week ago | businessinsider.com | Emily Canal |Jireh Deng |Henry Blodget

Last year Alex Mixson and his wife Marley Britt were having a string of medical crises. She was unable to work because of an undiagnosed illness, and he had to have an appendectomy. "We couldn't afford Columbus anymore," Mixson said of the Ohio city where they lived. Multiple emergency medical visits drained their savings and racked up thousands of dollars in debt.

1 week ago | businessinsider.com | Emily Canal |Allie Kelly |Henry Blodget

On Wednesday nights, Connie Sloan drives two hours from her Tucson suburb to Phoenix for work, cruising up the highway to her country playlist as the sinking Arizona sun casts shadows on her steering wheel. She crashes at a friend's house before waking up early for her nursing shift at a nearby hospital. It has been Sloan's routine for years: She drives 100 miles on Wednesdays, works 12-hour shifts for three days, then returns home on Saturdays.

1 week ago | businessinsider.com | Emily Canal |Jacob Zinkula |Henry Blodget

Four years, 1,000 applications, and a dozen interviews. As their job searches drag on, Americans tell Business Insider they're wondering if companies want to fill open roles at all. Since last fall, BI has heard from more than 750 struggling job seekers, ranging between the ages of 18 and 76. Many shared frustrations about open roles they suspect were never filled — either because the posting stayed up for months, or the company went silent after they applied or interviewed.

1 week ago | businessinsider.com | Emily Canal |Allie Kelly |Henry Blodget

Sarah Cevallos misses her old job. The 41-year-old spent much of her career building her own health tech practice in California, helping cancer patients navigate the complexities of their diagnoses. For a while, the role was rewarding — she felt her work was helping people. After she left in 2021, she bounced between opportunities at other health startups. She was laid off from her most recent employer in summer 2024, but was confident her résumé would quickly secure her a C-Suite role elsewhere.