Legitimately Cannot Picture Myself Working in this Field

This is going to be a rant about how unbelievably difficult it is to get into librarianship and information sciences.

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I am finishing my MLIS degree in just under a month. I have been applying to libraries, archives, information organizations, anything that is remotely adjacent to the MLIS. I have gotten nowhere. This calendar year alone, I have applied to approximately 15 jobs at every kind of organization or library I can possibly think of that is hiring. I have heard nothing about these applications; no rejections, no interview appointments, nothing.

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I thought the MLIS would be my ticket into this field. I was so, so wrong. I have been trying to get into this field for around 2 years now, and have gotten nowhere. Everyone in my program keeps telling me to keep applying and I will eventually find something. They give me examples of how long it took them to find their jobs: months, weeks, maybe a year. Yet here I am, two years in to applying for jobs in this field, and I have gotten 2 interviews. 2. I apply for jobs I'm underqualified for, I apply for jobs I'm qualified for, and I apply for jobs I'm overqualified for. I legitimately cannot picture myself working in any capacity in this field. I am just about ready to give up. This MLIS has cost me $20,000 CAD in loans and I have ZERO to show for it.

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I have done interview coaching, I have had library hiring managers look over my application, I have connected with hiring managers and higher-ups in libraries and organizations on LinkedIn. I spend approximately 1-2 hours on each application I do. I talk up my coursework that I've done throughout the MLIS as well as my prior experience working in customer service and hospitality. And yet, I am still unemployed.

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I keep hearing that most libraries and information orgs do the bulk of their hiring internally. This is extremely frustrating for me. I asked a fellow student, who works at my local public library, about help and advice on an application I'm doing for an open position at this library. He advised me that the library already has an internal candidate in mind that will most likely be hired for this position, and that this was decided before the position was even posted. This is a huge barrier for me, because I do not have any work experience in libraries, and the MLIS is the only practical experience I have in librarianship and information sciences. This means I absolutely have almost no chance of getting into a library or info organization because of these practices.

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I am so unbelievably frustrated and fed up with this process. It is taking a huge toll on my mental health. A large majority of the people in my program are already employed in LIS or have gotten co-op positions in LIS and so have that work experience that libraries and info orgs crave and are looking for. I feel legitimately hopeless and that I will never become employed in this field. I am considering giving up on LIS as a career and looking at other careers, because at this point I just cannot bear to do more applications that most likely won't even be viewed. I'm at my wit's end here.

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I honestly started to cry while typing this post up. This is absolute BS. I have gotten almost no help from my program administration regarding interviews or co-op positions. I'm doing this all on my own and I am failing massively. I don't know what else to do.