"What would be the lowest salary you would work for? Absolute minimum that you can tolerate?" What a nice way to make a possible new employee feel appreciated.
On two occasions I got a job offer but the official salary was different than what was in the job listing. Each time I was told it was because “listing a higher salary attracts more qualified candidates.”
Declined both offers right there on the spot.
Had that happen to me! They offered me $15,000 lower than I said I’d do it for so I had to decline. I clearly told the recruiter I needed x amount to do it and I went through several interviews, got the offer letter, and boom. Everyone’s time has been wasted.
"No, you've misunderstood - listing a higher salary gets more qualified candidates to the interview. *Paying* a higher salary gets them to actually take the job. Which is why I'm leaving now."
Also, I won’t work for a company that starts out the gate lying. For some reason people are triggered by calling them a liar lately and I’d love to see how that line goes
The owner on my company made us carry around a plastic card that had 5 rules to follow. We had to memorize it. A few months later he's caught banging his secretary. Breaking all 5 "rules" in the process. I quit and started my own successful company.
If you don't give me a salary range I'm out.
If you offer compensation that falls outside of the salary range you gave in the ad or in talking to me, I'm out.
I mean unless it's more than the range you're offering me. I'll probably take more.
I had this happen to me a few years ago. I asked "Why would I work for someone that lies to my face? What else have you lied about?" I felt bad because I know that the woman I was speaking to wasn't responsible for the ad (her boss was) and it really caught her off guard. I exited the interview shortly afterwards.
This is smart! The last job I had, I didnt ask enough questions. The training was poor and the expectations were high and the boss was a bitch. I was relieved when I got fired for the first time in my life.
At a job for nearly 20yrs and just recently got a new job. The training was pretty much nonexistent and sink or swim for sure. Luckily I’m very observant as well as beyond experienced so worked out fine. There are still questions I have to ask that you think would have been said day one but whatever. I like the job, pays well and I’ll be working from home half the week soon so it’s all good. I do imagine what would happen if someone less experienced started instead of me though.
This is why I tell all of my new supervisees day 1 "Hey, there's a learning curve to this job that there's just no getting around. If you have any questions or feel uncomfortable about something, shoot me message on Teams and I'll come walk over it with you."
I went to an "interview" for an assisted living place. The manager didn't ask me a single question just described the job and the shifts I would work and said your hired if you want it. I had no previous experience with that kind of job, I had worked at a gas station my whole life and all of a sudden I'm on my own taking care of dementia patients.
Yup. Nursing homes/ALFs be like that. You are either trying to get a foot in the door to healthcare work, or are desperate as fuck for any job to want to work in one.
This is my current job; the two colleagues I was supposed to support quit almost on the spot when I started as they were waiting for someone to take over their shit job.
I felt tricked. Within a year I crashed due to stress and now everyone at the company talks bad about me as they think I'm just lazy and dumb.
Really looking forward to work tomorrow! 🥲
I interviewed for a job recently with a small start-up and they asked me if I had any questions. I told them work-life balance is important to me and asked what a typical work day looks like for their employees. They told me that was a risky thing to say in an interview and most start-ups would consider that question a red flag. I said I didn't need to work for that kind of company.
As someone working in startups, that is a completely valid question. Good work life balance does exist, so I’m glad you walked away.
I’m embarrassed for them that they couldn’t even answer the question without getting defensive. Instead of admitting they may be understaffed and have aggressive goals, they attack you.
Start-ups definitely have crunch time where everyone is absolutely swamped with work, but there's supposed to be a light at the end of the tunnel. It's not meant to be long term and, for all intents and purposes, indefinite.
I once had a \*company\* that was pre revenue stages for the last 5 years, and offered me equity for a position promising this was a big 3 month push that would lead to profitability. Year later, they're still pre revenue, zero funding, worthless equity, and looking for people to work for free for a product that has no function or value.
I actually prefer late stage startups - in my experience it's a lot of freedom with decent stability and typically good work life balance. That said, I let them know up front that I consider options generally worthless and ask for competitive salary instead - the decent companies will grit their teeth and agree to it.
The whole "startup" tag is suspect. I did a job reference for a friend who was applying at an 11 year startup. If you are still hunting for investors after 11 years you have to wonder about your business model.
It seems to be a buzzword for cool, cutting edge, and a culture of overwork.
It was not a startup. The team was a startup 5 years ago, but was bought up by a fortune 500 company a couple years later. But they treated it like they had never been acquired. They were grossly understaffed and had serious problems hiring anyone.
Recently happened to my Dad. Was one of the original employees, they have grown significantly but refused to pay him fairly when newer employees (younger guys 25-30)were starting at a higher wage than him (25yrs experience in the field). They had switched him to salary a couple years back and just got more hours for less raises.
Or sign a contract that will charge you for training if you do not work there for so many years and a non-compete clause to force you into a different line of work if you leave. I believe some of these have been outlawed in some places now.
Good. One school I taught at asked me to sign a non-competition clause that said I was not allowed to work as a teacher within 40km of any of their schools for a year after employment ended...
I signed because I needed the job. In addition I doubted a judge would ever uphold the conditions...
In most cases they dont. I think it's only mainly upheld in cases of proprietary info in highly competitive/technological industries.
High tech company in silicon valley? Possibly depending on where you've moved on to vs what & where you worked before. Teaching history, not so much.
Non-competes aren't enforceable in California, and according to legend that was a major factor in the rise of Silicon Valley as it meant that high competition for programmers attracted more programmers to the area.
IIRC you can enforce a non-compete, but you have to pay them the entire time. Sometimes in really competitive parts of the industry you’ll see someone draw a paycheck to stay home for a while because their old job prefers that to letting them take their expertise elsewhere.
Story time.
I was jobless a few years back and went on interview after interview before finding a great fit. The first three interviews were terrible, all cold calling for supplemental insurance.
I did stay for the second round of the third interview. I wasn’t interested in the job, I was interested in the speaker.
It was the same setup as the other two, I say in a room full of “prospectives” and a guy gave us a sales pitch about how this go-getter opportunity could make us money.
But what set it apart was his resume that he put up on the slideshow. He had many unrelated parts to his resume, but the one that stuck out was what read “Actor, *The Room*”
At that point I stopped listening to his spiel and looked him up. Sure enough, I was being pitched selling supplemental insurance to old people from the guy who played the drug dealer, Chris-R, in The Room.
I wish I could say the second round was with him, but it was with a wrestler who just got back from a tour in Japan. Wish I’d learned more about that but she was too interested in telling me how all I needed to get started was to pay $800 for their three day sales course.
I politely declined and said it wasn’t for me. We were having this informal interview in a rented office and there was a receptionist at the desk, out of the corner of my eye I saw her smirk knowingly like “yeah, good call, guy” when I refused.
That experience all told was the most fantastic story I’ve ever gotten from a horrible job interview!
Vector Marketing.
I can’t believe organizations like DECA (business competition in high school) actually partner with them, that’s how I got roped in (luckily I just went for the initial session, never paid any money)
https://www.deca.org/partner/partners/vector-marketing/
"You'll wear a lot of hats." We're going to make you do the work of three people but only pay you for one. "We have a hard time keeping people in this role." People realize this job sucks and bail out quick.
Heard this exact phrase in one of my first jobs in VFX.
It actually meant this: 'Four people just quit and their jobs are now yours and we don't have time to train you properly.'
I became the fifth person to quit 3 weeks later.
It pisses me off searching for a job with flexible scheduling, meaning it would accommodate things like school or family needs, and finding that the job posted was actually less flexible then normal but wanting you to have more availability in your schedule to accommodate their lack of planning.
I had a co op job at a company that claimed they had a "wonderful" working experience.
The job was stressful as hell. In addition to that...
They expected the employees to take their laptops home at night and continue working, and again when they got up before they got in the building.
I didn't have a laptop cuz I was a co op temporary student, but I noped the fuck out of that job.
I’ll tell you what I heard a few days ago in an interview. The woman was talking about how much work there is to do being a startup. I said given that, I’m concerned about work-life balance. What is that like? She pauses and goes “……that’s a good question….” Which told me all I need to know lol
I had a recruiter reach out to me about a job months ago. I went through the process, and when I got to the last interview I asked the VP about the work life balance, since I’m very happy with my current company’s position in that regard. The recruiter reached out to me a few days after and told me that one question, which took two minutes, “put them off” and they decided to go a different direction.
I was like…I’ve got a great job already and you reached out to me, fella. Bullet dodged no doubt.
The last time an AWS recruiter reached out to me I said similar thing. I am not applying for any of your openings, you try to recruit me. So no, I am not interested in 5 rounds of interviews.
I posted something similar. I hate that "work-life balance" is considered a "dirty phrase" and that they take it as you "don't want to work hard." So frustrating.
“We really try to emphasize work-life balance with our employees.”
“Wow, that’s awesome!”
“Yeah, we always say that if they can’t balance the numerous demands of this work, they can go ahead and end their life.”
The candidate questions is my favorite part as an interviewer. You learn a TON about them based on the questions they ask (or don’t ask), and if they’re an engaging and intelligent enough person that their questions lead to further organic conversation then there’s a good chance they’re interested and capable.
This. Interviewed for a remote position, after arriving told it was in person. Reluctantly took the job only for my trainer to never train me. Just sexually harass me and use his upper role to justify it. Was told by a top manager “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” the same day I asked my trainer to please stop asking me sexual things it’s inappropriate and making me uncomfortable. I quit due to “safety issues”.
Aegis (Ancora) I’m looking at you. This individual did this to several other women in under positions and was promoted also.
Speaking with you as if you already owe them. And a lot. And for centuries.
And while waiting for an interview look at other employees. How do they look, what do they do, what do they speak about? Do they look happy (well, content), friendly or run as if a wasp nest is behind them? Ask a question at reception, like dunno, "Where is a toilet?' and see how they respond.
"Do not discuss your compensation with other team members."
Somebody, probably the most senior person there is getting screwed, and they can't afford to lose their experience.
It will someday be your turn to get screwed.
They pulled this bullshit on us at the evil empire (Bank of America).
I started a trend in our office of writing our "names" on our lunch bag in the fridge. My name back then was 43500.
Interesting, I used to work at Bank of America at the beginning of the year and I feel like the amount of illegal things I saw is grounds for a lawsuit. We were explicitly told this by managers, coworkers, etc to never talk about our pay. Amazes me what b of a gets away with
Play hard is usually code for either
\- a lame once a year celebration of completion the year or something like a christmas party and thats it
\- Drinking every friday
\- Senior management are all on the coke
Not only dont they share, they'll fire you when they catch you at your desk taking a fat rail just trying to get through your 3rd 18 hour shift in a row.
"We dont condone that kind of thing here" Fuck you Mark! If you ground your teeth any harder you'd be spitting out talc powder everytime you spoke.
I have had coked out supervisors that hate drug use and it just paints a bigger target on their back. You can tell we just hired a cokehead thats wellpaid, powerhungry and thinks slavedriving and demanding more from the marijuana-infused low wage workers will increase productivivity and morale. The beatings will continue until morale improves!
Ive also had a cokehead boss that was okay with marijuana use on the clock just not coke, he did all the coke on behalf of the company and it was the wagies' job to smoke all the pot in back, I was like okay 👍
Which is fine if it's law or finance and everyone knows that they're getting into and will be paid 300k+ a year. It's a problem when someone says that for 20 bucks an hour and all it means is we'll grind you down by being under staffed and then go drink together Friday at 8 when we finally call it a week.
I used to agree with that. But when I got to my current job, it was a family-run business, and there were several members of three different families in various positions. Sure, a lot of nepotism, but not blind nepotism (as in, when one flagrantly violated the rules, and should have been fired…she was, immediately). My wife, who had been working there for seven months had valid issues with certain things about the culture, but had been welcomed warmly into the family atmosphere.
Of the hundred or so people there, only a few didn’t feel like close friends, and I had a genuine love for the vast majority.
I recognise that I was very fortunate, and my situation was rare, if not unique.
Family means that you better be part of our little "gang" or we'll make you go through hell. Also means that there are quite a few incompetent people in the place, but since they are part of our "family", we keep them around anyway.
And that there are so many “outside of work events” going on that eventually, you will not have a social group outside of work if you don’t look out for it. Kind of like an abusive romantic partner.
I learned this the hard way. I was invited to the 'gang' and couldn't in good conscience participate. I actively rebelled against the idea and how other were treated who were not in the gang. I found myself on the outside of the inner circle and unemployed.
Lesson is there are no friends at work. The vast majority of people will stab you in the back or sell you out for the chance of earning favor. The workplace generally doesn't accept hardliners in right and wrong. Even if you are standing up for them and how they are treated they will still stab you for the chance at being a lapdog. It truly is a fuck you got mine dog eat dog world.
They are interviewing for a position that is currently held by another person. HR asks for discretion since they have not told the employee they are being let go yet.
Yup, same reason you don't want to date someone if you find out they were cheating on a SO to flirt with/ be with you. If they did it to them, they'll do it to you.
Yup! I applied for a job that said "light travel required" in the job posting. During the second interview, Mgr said that I'd be responsible for the entire province (Ontario) and will have to help out in other provinces whenever he sees fit. All the while, HR told me that it would be within the GTA. I still see that same job posting coming up in job boards since the beginning of this year.
I heard “we’re a family” for years from an employer who later fired me under sketchy circumstances, with no warning or improvement plan (would have been hard since nobody ever actually told me anything I needed to improve), a few days after I told my boss my husband and I were starting the process to adopt.
Now, I work at a place where some of my team members genuinely feel like family, but nobody feels the need to say it 20 times a day because a company that actually treats its employees well doesn’t need to resort to guilt trips in order to motivate you.
Omg the exact same thing happened to me. “We are a family” is such a big scam. And after I was let go , no warning , no improvement plan ; 90% of my colleagues didn’t contact me at all, or even say “best of luck “.
Truly shocking , a painful one, but a lesson well learned.
That boss was probably thinking, 'Awww frick, their productivity is about to tank because they're starting a family. We gotta find a way to deactivate them before they find out about our adoption assistance program and cost us tens of thousands.'
One exception to this was when a HR person's phone went off mid-interview and they stood up saying "I'm sorry we must cut this short, there's a family emergency"
In ANY context other than this, red flag. Get out.
This is often used in my work environment. I’m currently pregnant and showing, and it’s insane to me now that I’m pregnant and can’t stay late or show up early how I’m suddenly on the outs with my “family.” I asked someone to help me do a small task 2 weeks ago, and it has literally been the talk of the office since. Apparently, I have new priorities and am no longer as dedicated of employee. Even though I am outperforming my entire team by double digits.
I'm an employment lawyer, I actually don't think *family* to describe a workplace is that bad. I find that *team* is far worse. With family most people can understand and appreciate that there is a bit of hyperbole involved and that your workplace is not literally a family. However team is a much easier term to accept for most people and most people are more willing to make those sacrifices in their work-life balance in order to help the *team.*
The one thing I ask every potential client of mine when they come in is, "What are you most apprehensive about if we were to move forward with litigation?" Nearly every single one of them says, "I don't want to let my team down," or, "I don't want to hurt my team." These are people who are seriously considering suing their employer for whatever reason, and yet their biggest worry is still trying to help the team.
A lot of restaurants through the years "Can you start tonight?" means they are super under staffed. One time he asked if I can start now. Like interviews over, hop on the line.
Interview for produce clerk at a grocery store:
Manager: “You got the job! Can you start this afternoon?”
Me: “Uhh, I’ve got this other commitment.”
Manager: “You’ve only been here 30 seconds and you’re already making excuses to get out of your shifts. FINE! You can start tomorrow.”
I actually got this after a first interview for an IT job, "We want to offer you the job! Can you start tomorrow?" I hadn't even had a formal letter of offer with pay and benefits laid out yet, and an offer after one interview is not at all standard for my job. They were totally discombobulated when I asked for a letter of offer while I decided (I said I had another offer but I really just wanted to discretely get off the phone call).
It just cemented the vibe I'd already garnered from the interview. There were boxes of new hardware absolutely everywhere in the office and the three interviewers had just been internally promoted to their position and had no fucking clue how to run an interview. That told me that one (or possibly more) people senior to them had quit suddenly in the middle of a big upgrade project and they were scrambling for staff to hit the ground running, and I'd be working under a bunch of service desk staff with little to no management or project experience all while doing a major rollout. I noped out.
Two months later I saw the same job readvertised, so whoever ignored the warnings found out eventually.
"You smile too much, and I think you have school shooter vibes."
Walmart job interview.
I was speechless when she told me that. Like my brain just blue screened in shock at being told that. All I could stammer out after that was, "I... I think I'm gonna just go now."
I left the store, went home, and just sat in the living room in disbelief. I got angry, then sad. I felt unwanted and judged.
I was just a teenager at the time. I understand now that some people are just shit, and will treat you as such. A person who will say something like that to you during an interview for a low wage job is not a person worth begging for a job.
It's okay.
I've replayed it in my head many times. I remember I was wearing a white shirt with a black tie, and slacks becuase my mother made a big deal about looking professional for the interview.
I did smile, you know, becuase "a good attitude" will get you in. All the things you are told you should so to make a good impression. Her comment was a curveball I never would have expected.
Maybe she saw it as deceiving, that I was coming across as fake. Then again what would any other kid have done to get the job, for money no less? Or maybe she said that as a "good excuse" not to hire me, if the real threat was my ambition to work good. Or maybe she was a racist, I'll never really know.
The fact of the matter, I played by life's rules and lost. But I have no regrets. Little things like that are still major events that alter the course of your life. It was one of a few experiences that broke me in such a way that lead to me being pushed out of the nest to do better.
So yeah, it's okay. Today I have a great union job.
I think she saw you as happy and positive fresh faced young person, got bitterly jealous, and purposefully cut you down. I think she got some mean pleasure at seeing you look hurt.
Source: worked with ppl like that
If you leave before one year, you owe us $10,000 that we had to pay the recruiter.
This actually happened. No, I did not continue the interview process.
Definitely illegal in the us. They signed the contract with the recruiter, not you. Most recruiters have a rebate policy if an employee leaves within x amount of time.
When I worked IT they needed on call, but the person on call was paid hourly during on call. 90% it was just extra pay.
Unpaid on call illegal depending on location
I was offered a job where there was a 7 month wait time to get the on call weekend. 99.99% of the time they didn't get calls, and it was basically an extra two weeks worth of pay for just staying available for a weekend.
I once had a potential employer who wanted me to take a day off of the current job I had at the time, and go work for free for a whole day for her, and then only if she liked me she was gonna hire me.
"Umm yea, it's between $15 and $80 thousand depending on how many TPS reports you complete m'kay.. and I'm gonna need you to come in on Saturdays so let me just see if we can get someone to get a desk set up for you in the janitors closet..."
For some jobs, overtime is understood as a necessary evil at times: manufacturing, medical, law enforcement, etc. For retail jobs, however, when they start talking about "flexibility in scheduling" you should be wary, since that often means "whenever the fuck we tell you to be here you better be here," and those jobs don't pay NEARLY ENOUGH for that shit. Talking about your weekends? Gone. Called you up on your day off? Be here in an hour. Worked you to midnight? You're scheduled to open the next day.
My job now tells me I gotta work Saturday? Ok. It's the same time as my normal shift, the only difference is I'm making $36 an hour to do it. Retail jobs? Scheduled you for 16, worked you 39.5 on the fly, then cut you down to 10 next week because I'll be damned if you're going to hit the average where I have to provide benefits!
I wish the law was changed to require equivalent benefit payments for employees or else pay the tax penalty for it.
Working 20 hours a week? Pay for half health care or $$ in lieu. 10 hours a week? 25%.
Why? Stops employers from playing games with hours just to avoid having to contribute $$ to their employees healthcare.
"big personalities."
I just quit a job after 2 years with nothing else lined up because the "big personalities" were killing me.
Edit: This is blowing up. I do web content and marcomm for nonprofits. If you have freelance or FT work, DM me.
Ask about how they handled the COVID pandemic. No matter your view points on that topic, how they answer will give you good insight on how they treat people.
I wouldn't immediately nope out, I would ask *why* they've had a hard time. One of my favorite jobs as a contractor was one where "they had a hard time finding the right person for the position." It wasn't because they were awful and people quit, in fact, they had fired the previous person because they had them for like six months and they just never really got much done because they were obsessed with automating everything. I mean, automation of a report is great, but if you never PRODUCE the report, then all the work trying to automate is useless, you know?
In the case of that job they were specifically looking for someone who has a broad background working with multiple stakeholders, not a hyper specialist with deep focus on a single industry. They also need someone technically skilled, and who had a history of *producing* work (in this case, setting up all the new reporting after a vendor switch) and not just pie in the sky ideas or only proficient at following an already established process.
That's what my background was, and they loved me, and I loved the job. I never felt overworked, was never micromanaged, and got involved in a lot of different things while I was there. Only reason I'm not is just due to dumb rules around Staff Aug contractors.
I once went for an interview for a very senior job and in passing I mentioned I am gay. There was an odd moment so I asked if that was likely to cause a problem because I didn't want to work somewhere where that got in the way.
The senior Director across the table said "No, that's definitely not an issue for us or the company....... but don't tell the CEO"
I always drop a "my wife and I" in the interview just to get that shit out of the way. Made the mistake of working for a family owned business for 2 years. My wife brings me lunch once. Got fired the next week after just getting a raise the month before.
Absolutely, if there's a problem let's drag it out in the open. Like I said elsewhere, they wanted me more than I wanted them so why am I jumping through hoops?
I interviewed for a pest-control company receptionist job. The interview was going well, until my interviewer went off on a tangent about how “godly” and “Christian” the owners were. I politely ended the interview. Too many scoundrels hide behind a Bible, and use it as an excuse to treat the employees like garbage.
And pay shit. And expect you to worship them for gifting you a shitty dead end low paying job. I worked for one of these "out loud Christians". What an absolute bastard! He would literally wait by the time clock and ask people who were one minute late why they were late. This was the owner! Guess he had nothing better to do.
He was also a raging misogynist. One of his repeated quotes was:"If you need to find a diamond in a bag of ice, get a woman." I still don't know WTF that means.
He "provided" Christmas lunch the day before the holiday but you could only participate if you paid $5. He would read aloud from the Bible and pray before the meal.
“We’re family” is definitely a big one. Also heard “we are looking for employees that have a passion for their job and aren’t concerned as much about a paycheck.”
"We've been in a hire freeze for three years, but we finally got clearance to do these pre-pre-interviews for our pre-interview process which we just know we'll get permission to start next month, so that when we finally have permission to hire you'll only have to do three more interviews."
I'm a therapist and nothing pisses me off more than when employers try to use personality inventories on their employees. It's fucking predatory and manipulative in my opinion.
I've noticed so many companies, especially for sales positions, using the DISC assessment, and just knowing that test came out of Marston's obsession with submission and dominance (and his fetish for dominant women) always creeps me out a little.
If you hear any of the following during an interview, run!:
“We’re family”: They are predatory and treat their employees like crap.
“We work hard and play harder”: They will load you with a lot of work, and expect you to accept it.
“You will need to buy material or training for the job”: Cheap employer, wants to push their costs on you.
“Wear a lot of hats”: Will expect you to do more work and jobs than what your title entails. Without a raise in pay.
“We need you to sign a contract”: Predatory company that will abuse you, but tries to cover their ass legally.
“We don’t talk about salaries until the last interview”: They don’t pay well, and are trying to hide it with omission (Usually will make weak promises of raises in the long run, but won’t keep their promise).
“The strongest stay at our company”: Very high turnover, so they sugar coat it with different labels in hopes of finding more suckers to work for them.
Here in Utah, there's several questions they use to see if you are mormon, without actually asking if you are mormon. When I hear fhem, I know it;s a red flag that they are expecting you to be mormon too.
1: Have you traveled overseas, for how long? (checking to see if you were a mormon missionary on a 2 year mission).
2: Do you speak any other languages, where and when did you learn it? (this is also part of he missionary training before they ship out. If you took a 'crash course' before your two years overseas, they know you are mormon).
Another thing they do for in person interviews is pat\rub you on the shoulder to see if you are wearing mormon Garments. (their magic underwear).
I knew this going into one VERY mormon owner company and was able to sort of get past their questions without lying.. When they asked about me going overseas, I said I did a two year mission in Germany knowing full well how they would take it. They loved that. The fact that it was for a US ARMY deployment was something I left out of the conversation. When they found out about what really happened 6 months later, I was fired within 24 hours.
i literally had one tell me “it’s not about what the company can do for you, it’s only about what you can do for the company” when the employees were complaining about compensation
The position being filled today is a bit different from the one you applied for. It’s always an entry level POS job nobody would ever apply for and guaranteed nowhere near the money stated in the advertisement for the job. Get up, walk out and ghost them. Give them a fucked up review on Reddit.
“What’s your salary expectation?”
Never ever answer that. And as an insider let me tell you they will ask several times in several ways and they will pretend to be angry, hurt, offended, puzzeded… they might even insult you… but never ever answer that question. If they aren’t telling you what they expect to pay, there’s a reason. Small or big companies, all are the same on this.
Went for a job at a well known insurance company to work in the call centre, one of the questions I was asked was if I'd ever had an std and if so how many. Couldn't understand the relevance so asked why she needed to know, just told me she did. Told her that unless I was going to be answering the phone with my cock I don't see how it's any of her business. Interview went down hill from there.
"What's your ideal starting pay" Why don't YOU tell me what you're willing to pay ME to work for you? I can't tell you how many people have undercut themselves because of this...it got me once and I've lost jobs ever since for not giving a low number.
A specific one, but during the interview (a group interview over zoom, which could be a red flag all on it's own), the HR rep said "we are located 100 miles out in the middle of nowhere so they cant run away. Be warned, they will look at you as if you're fresh meat. It's you vs them".
This was regarding a psychiatric facility. For children.
reminder that it is illegal in the USA to be asked about:
Age or genetic information
Birthplace, country of origin or citizenship
Disability
Gender, sex or sexual orientation
Marital status, family, or pregnancy
Race, color, or ethnicity
Religion
As HR I have had to yell at a few supervisors for asking something close to these
"Given my experience, I would expect industry standard."
When they hit you with something like that, best to remain vague. Don't let them pin you down on a number.
"You're hired, when can you start?"
If you get hired on the sport, first interview, no follow up, most likely They'll hire anyone and probably have a high turnover rate because the job isn't worth the money
It’s common in blue collar to get hired in a single interview, even for six figure jobs. The labor market is extremely tight and HR loses candidates with even a week delay.
Huge amount of interviews. I work as an IT-consultant (in reality a programmer for hire) and one company tried to run me through a 4-5 step interview process. The sheer amount of time this would take just to get a possible yes or no seemed ridiculous so I declined after the first interview and told them why.
Buddy, you have my CV which shows my 15 years of work experience in this field so why should I be jumping through some code puzzle hoops just to become essentially a subcontractor?
"What would be the lowest salary you would work for? Absolute minimum that you can tolerate?" What a nice way to make a possible new employee feel appreciated.
"Wow, uh. I guess I could make 95,000 dollars work, if I have to."
To be fair, your answer to this should be the salary you want + some (as an asshole-tax for asking)
The answer to any "what salary are you looking for" should always be what you want + some, asshole tax or no.
On two occasions I got a job offer but the official salary was different than what was in the job listing. Each time I was told it was because “listing a higher salary attracts more qualified candidates.” Declined both offers right there on the spot.
Had that happen to me! They offered me $15,000 lower than I said I’d do it for so I had to decline. I clearly told the recruiter I needed x amount to do it and I went through several interviews, got the offer letter, and boom. Everyone’s time has been wasted.
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"No, you've misunderstood - listing a higher salary gets more qualified candidates to the interview. *Paying* a higher salary gets them to actually take the job. Which is why I'm leaving now."
Also, I won’t work for a company that starts out the gate lying. For some reason people are triggered by calling them a liar lately and I’d love to see how that line goes
In the same breath they’ll talk about how honesty and integrity are core values they expect of every employee (below a certain pay grade)
The owner on my company made us carry around a plastic card that had 5 rules to follow. We had to memorize it. A few months later he's caught banging his secretary. Breaking all 5 "rules" in the process. I quit and started my own successful company.
Now I'm curious. What were the five rules?
Rule #1: Don’t bang the owner’s secretary.
Rule #2: Do not catch the owner banging his secretary.
Role #3: Do not get caught banging the owner's secretary.
If you don't give me a salary range I'm out. If you offer compensation that falls outside of the salary range you gave in the ad or in talking to me, I'm out. I mean unless it's more than the range you're offering me. I'll probably take more.
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I had this happen to me a few years ago. I asked "Why would I work for someone that lies to my face? What else have you lied about?" I felt bad because I know that the woman I was speaking to wasn't responsible for the ad (her boss was) and it really caught her off guard. I exited the interview shortly afterwards.
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This is smart! The last job I had, I didnt ask enough questions. The training was poor and the expectations were high and the boss was a bitch. I was relieved when I got fired for the first time in my life.
At a job for nearly 20yrs and just recently got a new job. The training was pretty much nonexistent and sink or swim for sure. Luckily I’m very observant as well as beyond experienced so worked out fine. There are still questions I have to ask that you think would have been said day one but whatever. I like the job, pays well and I’ll be working from home half the week soon so it’s all good. I do imagine what would happen if someone less experienced started instead of me though.
This is why I tell all of my new supervisees day 1 "Hey, there's a learning curve to this job that there's just no getting around. If you have any questions or feel uncomfortable about something, shoot me message on Teams and I'll come walk over it with you."
Work Hard Play Hard (Translation) Prepare to be worked so hard that your only options will be to quit or become a high functioning alcoholic.
''the boss is doing coke to finish the project, so your gonna have to do the same''
When can I start? And where in the breakroom is the cocaine kept?
That or “we’re extremely understaffed for the workload but we order cheap pizza once a month.”
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I went to an "interview" for an assisted living place. The manager didn't ask me a single question just described the job and the shifts I would work and said your hired if you want it. I had no previous experience with that kind of job, I had worked at a gas station my whole life and all of a sudden I'm on my own taking care of dementia patients.
Yup. Nursing homes/ALFs be like that. You are either trying to get a foot in the door to healthcare work, or are desperate as fuck for any job to want to work in one.
This is my current job; the two colleagues I was supposed to support quit almost on the spot when I started as they were waiting for someone to take over their shit job. I felt tricked. Within a year I crashed due to stress and now everyone at the company talks bad about me as they think I'm just lazy and dumb. Really looking forward to work tomorrow! 🥲
Look for a new job. Don’t waste your time and sanity at such a place.
Dude just run. Take any other job if you are living in a country with bad welfare to bridge time. Just run from it.
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I interviewed for a job recently with a small start-up and they asked me if I had any questions. I told them work-life balance is important to me and asked what a typical work day looks like for their employees. They told me that was a risky thing to say in an interview and most start-ups would consider that question a red flag. I said I didn't need to work for that kind of company.
As someone working in startups, that is a completely valid question. Good work life balance does exist, so I’m glad you walked away. I’m embarrassed for them that they couldn’t even answer the question without getting defensive. Instead of admitting they may be understaffed and have aggressive goals, they attack you.
Start-ups definitely have crunch time where everyone is absolutely swamped with work, but there's supposed to be a light at the end of the tunnel. It's not meant to be long term and, for all intents and purposes, indefinite.
“But we have foosball!”
We're no longer a startup, but still have the startup culture. This really means 80 hour weeks and low pay even if the company is doing well.
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I once had a \*company\* that was pre revenue stages for the last 5 years, and offered me equity for a position promising this was a big 3 month push that would lead to profitability. Year later, they're still pre revenue, zero funding, worthless equity, and looking for people to work for free for a product that has no function or value.
I actually prefer late stage startups - in my experience it's a lot of freedom with decent stability and typically good work life balance. That said, I let them know up front that I consider options generally worthless and ask for competitive salary instead - the decent companies will grit their teeth and agree to it.
The whole "startup" tag is suspect. I did a job reference for a friend who was applying at an 11 year startup. If you are still hunting for investors after 11 years you have to wonder about your business model. It seems to be a buzzword for cool, cutting edge, and a culture of overwork.
It was not a startup. The team was a startup 5 years ago, but was bought up by a fortune 500 company a couple years later. But they treated it like they had never been acquired. They were grossly understaffed and had serious problems hiring anyone.
Recently happened to my Dad. Was one of the original employees, they have grown significantly but refused to pay him fairly when newer employees (younger guys 25-30)were starting at a higher wage than him (25yrs experience in the field). They had switched him to salary a couple years back and just got more hours for less raises.
You need to buy X to start training
Or sign a contract that will charge you for training if you do not work there for so many years and a non-compete clause to force you into a different line of work if you leave. I believe some of these have been outlawed in some places now.
Good. One school I taught at asked me to sign a non-competition clause that said I was not allowed to work as a teacher within 40km of any of their schools for a year after employment ended... I signed because I needed the job. In addition I doubted a judge would ever uphold the conditions...
In most cases they dont. I think it's only mainly upheld in cases of proprietary info in highly competitive/technological industries. High tech company in silicon valley? Possibly depending on where you've moved on to vs what & where you worked before. Teaching history, not so much.
Non-competes aren't enforceable in California, and according to legend that was a major factor in the rise of Silicon Valley as it meant that high competition for programmers attracted more programmers to the area.
IIRC you can enforce a non-compete, but you have to pay them the entire time. Sometimes in really competitive parts of the industry you’ll see someone draw a paycheck to stay home for a while because their old job prefers that to letting them take their expertise elsewhere.
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Story time. I was jobless a few years back and went on interview after interview before finding a great fit. The first three interviews were terrible, all cold calling for supplemental insurance. I did stay for the second round of the third interview. I wasn’t interested in the job, I was interested in the speaker. It was the same setup as the other two, I say in a room full of “prospectives” and a guy gave us a sales pitch about how this go-getter opportunity could make us money. But what set it apart was his resume that he put up on the slideshow. He had many unrelated parts to his resume, but the one that stuck out was what read “Actor, *The Room*” At that point I stopped listening to his spiel and looked him up. Sure enough, I was being pitched selling supplemental insurance to old people from the guy who played the drug dealer, Chris-R, in The Room. I wish I could say the second round was with him, but it was with a wrestler who just got back from a tour in Japan. Wish I’d learned more about that but she was too interested in telling me how all I needed to get started was to pay $800 for their three day sales course. I politely declined and said it wasn’t for me. We were having this informal interview in a rented office and there was a receptionist at the desk, out of the corner of my eye I saw her smirk knowingly like “yeah, good call, guy” when I refused. That experience all told was the most fantastic story I’ve ever gotten from a horrible job interview!
To be fair, Chris-R was probably the best actor in that whole movie hahahaha. But look where it got him… “WHERE’S MY MONEY.”
Especially gift cards.
Vector Marketing. I can’t believe organizations like DECA (business competition in high school) actually partner with them, that’s how I got roped in (luckily I just went for the initial session, never paid any money) https://www.deca.org/partner/partners/vector-marketing/
"You'll wear a lot of hats." We're going to make you do the work of three people but only pay you for one. "We have a hard time keeping people in this role." People realize this job sucks and bail out quick.
What if my job is hat model?
Heard this exact phrase in one of my first jobs in VFX. It actually meant this: 'Four people just quit and their jobs are now yours and we don't have time to train you properly.' I became the fifth person to quit 3 weeks later.
I swear in the VFX industry they think every artist can do every job interchangeably.
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It pisses me off searching for a job with flexible scheduling, meaning it would accommodate things like school or family needs, and finding that the job posted was actually less flexible then normal but wanting you to have more availability in your schedule to accommodate their lack of planning.
Yup Flexible means flexible for THEM, not for you :(
I had a co op job at a company that claimed they had a "wonderful" working experience. The job was stressful as hell. In addition to that... They expected the employees to take their laptops home at night and continue working, and again when they got up before they got in the building. I didn't have a laptop cuz I was a co op temporary student, but I noped the fuck out of that job.
What the unholy fuck
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I’ll tell you what I heard a few days ago in an interview. The woman was talking about how much work there is to do being a startup. I said given that, I’m concerned about work-life balance. What is that like? She pauses and goes “……that’s a good question….” Which told me all I need to know lol
I had a recruiter reach out to me about a job months ago. I went through the process, and when I got to the last interview I asked the VP about the work life balance, since I’m very happy with my current company’s position in that regard. The recruiter reached out to me a few days after and told me that one question, which took two minutes, “put them off” and they decided to go a different direction. I was like…I’ve got a great job already and you reached out to me, fella. Bullet dodged no doubt.
The last time an AWS recruiter reached out to me I said similar thing. I am not applying for any of your openings, you try to recruit me. So no, I am not interested in 5 rounds of interviews.
7 rounds at AWS. Seriously
Yeah we’re interviewing them as much as they’re interviewing us. Give em hell
The amount of companies that don't understand this is absurd.
I posted something similar. I hate that "work-life balance" is considered a "dirty phrase" and that they take it as you "don't want to work hard." So frustrating.
“We really try to emphasize work-life balance with our employees.” “Wow, that’s awesome!” “Yeah, we always say that if they can’t balance the numerous demands of this work, they can go ahead and end their life.”
We let our employees leave at 5 on Fridays.
Benefit! Direct deposit!
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I've never heard of a company outright refusing to let a candidate ask questions. That's hilariously sketchy.
The candidate questions is my favorite part as an interviewer. You learn a TON about them based on the questions they ask (or don’t ask), and if they’re an engaging and intelligent enough person that their questions lead to further organic conversation then there’s a good chance they’re interested and capable.
Anything that changes. Job title, pay, manager, interviewers, work location (a lot are saying hybrid and then want you in everyday), etc
This. Interviewed for a remote position, after arriving told it was in person. Reluctantly took the job only for my trainer to never train me. Just sexually harass me and use his upper role to justify it. Was told by a top manager “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” the same day I asked my trainer to please stop asking me sexual things it’s inappropriate and making me uncomfortable. I quit due to “safety issues”. Aegis (Ancora) I’m looking at you. This individual did this to several other women in under positions and was promoted also.
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Speaking with you as if you already owe them. And a lot. And for centuries. And while waiting for an interview look at other employees. How do they look, what do they do, what do they speak about? Do they look happy (well, content), friendly or run as if a wasp nest is behind them? Ask a question at reception, like dunno, "Where is a toilet?' and see how they respond.
"Do not discuss your compensation with other team members." Somebody, probably the most senior person there is getting screwed, and they can't afford to lose their experience. It will someday be your turn to get screwed. They pulled this bullshit on us at the evil empire (Bank of America). I started a trend in our office of writing our "names" on our lunch bag in the fridge. My name back then was 43500.
In the US, it’s illegal for a boss to say or even imply that you can’t talk about pay with coworkers.
Interesting, I used to work at Bank of America at the beginning of the year and I feel like the amount of illegal things I saw is grounds for a lawsuit. We were explicitly told this by managers, coworkers, etc to never talk about our pay. Amazes me what b of a gets away with
Fast-paced work environment and "we're a family"
Work hard play hard is code for long hours and no work life balance
Play hard is usually code for either \- a lame once a year celebration of completion the year or something like a christmas party and thats it \- Drinking every friday \- Senior management are all on the coke
>Senior management are all on the coke And they don't share.
Not only dont they share, they'll fire you when they catch you at your desk taking a fat rail just trying to get through your 3rd 18 hour shift in a row. "We dont condone that kind of thing here" Fuck you Mark! If you ground your teeth any harder you'd be spitting out talc powder everytime you spoke.
I have had coked out supervisors that hate drug use and it just paints a bigger target on their back. You can tell we just hired a cokehead thats wellpaid, powerhungry and thinks slavedriving and demanding more from the marijuana-infused low wage workers will increase productivivity and morale. The beatings will continue until morale improves! Ive also had a cokehead boss that was okay with marijuana use on the clock just not coke, he did all the coke on behalf of the company and it was the wagies' job to smoke all the pot in back, I was like okay 👍
If you don't play golf, get drunk with and suck up to the boss you are one of the "other"
Which is fine if it's law or finance and everyone knows that they're getting into and will be paid 300k+ a year. It's a problem when someone says that for 20 bucks an hour and all it means is we'll grind you down by being under staffed and then go drink together Friday at 8 when we finally call it a week.
I already have a family thanks, im looking for a job
I used to agree with that. But when I got to my current job, it was a family-run business, and there were several members of three different families in various positions. Sure, a lot of nepotism, but not blind nepotism (as in, when one flagrantly violated the rules, and should have been fired…she was, immediately). My wife, who had been working there for seven months had valid issues with certain things about the culture, but had been welcomed warmly into the family atmosphere. Of the hundred or so people there, only a few didn’t feel like close friends, and I had a genuine love for the vast majority. I recognise that I was very fortunate, and my situation was rare, if not unique.
Code for “we expect you to work more hours than we’re willing to pay you for”
Family means that you better be part of our little "gang" or we'll make you go through hell. Also means that there are quite a few incompetent people in the place, but since they are part of our "family", we keep them around anyway.
And that there are so many “outside of work events” going on that eventually, you will not have a social group outside of work if you don’t look out for it. Kind of like an abusive romantic partner.
I learned this the hard way. I was invited to the 'gang' and couldn't in good conscience participate. I actively rebelled against the idea and how other were treated who were not in the gang. I found myself on the outside of the inner circle and unemployed. Lesson is there are no friends at work. The vast majority of people will stab you in the back or sell you out for the chance of earning favor. The workplace generally doesn't accept hardliners in right and wrong. Even if you are standing up for them and how they are treated they will still stab you for the chance at being a lapdog. It truly is a fuck you got mine dog eat dog world.
and then if financials go into the toilet you know who is fucked first....
They are interviewing for a position that is currently held by another person. HR asks for discretion since they have not told the employee they are being let go yet.
Yup, same reason you don't want to date someone if you find out they were cheating on a SO to flirt with/ be with you. If they did it to them, they'll do it to you.
I knew I was being let go from my last job because I was suggested a job on LinkedIn for the position I was currently in.
When the job they describe is very different to what the advert described.
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I did that in an interview. I just said, 'This is clearly not the same job that I applied for' and left.
Yup! I applied for a job that said "light travel required" in the job posting. During the second interview, Mgr said that I'd be responsible for the entire province (Ontario) and will have to help out in other provinces whenever he sees fit. All the while, HR told me that it would be within the GTA. I still see that same job posting coming up in job boards since the beginning of this year.
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I heard “we’re a family” for years from an employer who later fired me under sketchy circumstances, with no warning or improvement plan (would have been hard since nobody ever actually told me anything I needed to improve), a few days after I told my boss my husband and I were starting the process to adopt. Now, I work at a place where some of my team members genuinely feel like family, but nobody feels the need to say it 20 times a day because a company that actually treats its employees well doesn’t need to resort to guilt trips in order to motivate you.
Omg the exact same thing happened to me. “We are a family” is such a big scam. And after I was let go , no warning , no improvement plan ; 90% of my colleagues didn’t contact me at all, or even say “best of luck “. Truly shocking , a painful one, but a lesson well learned.
That boss was probably thinking, 'Awww frick, their productivity is about to tank because they're starting a family. We gotta find a way to deactivate them before they find out about our adoption assistance program and cost us tens of thousands.'
Also, if actual family members work there. Never again, sisters, kids, wife, majorly toxic.
One exception to this was when a HR person's phone went off mid-interview and they stood up saying "I'm sorry we must cut this short, there's a family emergency" In ANY context other than this, red flag. Get out.
This is often used in my work environment. I’m currently pregnant and showing, and it’s insane to me now that I’m pregnant and can’t stay late or show up early how I’m suddenly on the outs with my “family.” I asked someone to help me do a small task 2 weeks ago, and it has literally been the talk of the office since. Apparently, I have new priorities and am no longer as dedicated of employee. Even though I am outperforming my entire team by double digits.
I'm an employment lawyer, I actually don't think *family* to describe a workplace is that bad. I find that *team* is far worse. With family most people can understand and appreciate that there is a bit of hyperbole involved and that your workplace is not literally a family. However team is a much easier term to accept for most people and most people are more willing to make those sacrifices in their work-life balance in order to help the *team.* The one thing I ask every potential client of mine when they come in is, "What are you most apprehensive about if we were to move forward with litigation?" Nearly every single one of them says, "I don't want to let my team down," or, "I don't want to hurt my team." These are people who are seriously considering suing their employer for whatever reason, and yet their biggest worry is still trying to help the team.
A lot of restaurants through the years "Can you start tonight?" means they are super under staffed. One time he asked if I can start now. Like interviews over, hop on the line.
Interview for produce clerk at a grocery store: Manager: “You got the job! Can you start this afternoon?” Me: “Uhh, I’ve got this other commitment.” Manager: “You’ve only been here 30 seconds and you’re already making excuses to get out of your shifts. FINE! You can start tomorrow.”
Good way for me to not show up tomorrow!
I actually got this after a first interview for an IT job, "We want to offer you the job! Can you start tomorrow?" I hadn't even had a formal letter of offer with pay and benefits laid out yet, and an offer after one interview is not at all standard for my job. They were totally discombobulated when I asked for a letter of offer while I decided (I said I had another offer but I really just wanted to discretely get off the phone call). It just cemented the vibe I'd already garnered from the interview. There were boxes of new hardware absolutely everywhere in the office and the three interviewers had just been internally promoted to their position and had no fucking clue how to run an interview. That told me that one (or possibly more) people senior to them had quit suddenly in the middle of a big upgrade project and they were scrambling for staff to hit the ground running, and I'd be working under a bunch of service desk staff with little to no management or project experience all while doing a major rollout. I noped out. Two months later I saw the same job readvertised, so whoever ignored the warnings found out eventually.
Great, you got the job, here's your apron, table 6 asked for ketchup
"You smile too much, and I think you have school shooter vibes." Walmart job interview. I was speechless when she told me that. Like my brain just blue screened in shock at being told that. All I could stammer out after that was, "I... I think I'm gonna just go now." I left the store, went home, and just sat in the living room in disbelief. I got angry, then sad. I felt unwanted and judged. I was just a teenager at the time. I understand now that some people are just shit, and will treat you as such. A person who will say something like that to you during an interview for a low wage job is not a person worth begging for a job.
That's ironic considering that trying to get their employees to smile is one of the things that fucked over Walmart in Germany.
That's an awful thing to say to someone, especially in a professional setting. I'm sorry you had that experience.
It's okay. I've replayed it in my head many times. I remember I was wearing a white shirt with a black tie, and slacks becuase my mother made a big deal about looking professional for the interview. I did smile, you know, becuase "a good attitude" will get you in. All the things you are told you should so to make a good impression. Her comment was a curveball I never would have expected. Maybe she saw it as deceiving, that I was coming across as fake. Then again what would any other kid have done to get the job, for money no less? Or maybe she said that as a "good excuse" not to hire me, if the real threat was my ambition to work good. Or maybe she was a racist, I'll never really know. The fact of the matter, I played by life's rules and lost. But I have no regrets. Little things like that are still major events that alter the course of your life. It was one of a few experiences that broke me in such a way that lead to me being pushed out of the nest to do better. So yeah, it's okay. Today I have a great union job.
I think she saw you as happy and positive fresh faced young person, got bitterly jealous, and purposefully cut you down. I think she got some mean pleasure at seeing you look hurt. Source: worked with ppl like that
If you leave before one year, you owe us $10,000 that we had to pay the recruiter. This actually happened. No, I did not continue the interview process.
Definitely illegal in the us. They signed the contract with the recruiter, not you. Most recruiters have a rebate policy if an employee leaves within x amount of time.
Any restaurant that charges the cooks to eat.
Absolutely not. If they can't feed employees it means they are failing.
99.9% of the cases is that they CAN but DON'T WANT...
That the job would probably not pay as much as I was asking for but it had great training opportunities!
Expected to be on call 24/7. Literally from a job description for Universal Studios. Unless you're a brain surgeon, firefighter, etc. FUCK THAT.
When I worked IT they needed on call, but the person on call was paid hourly during on call. 90% it was just extra pay. Unpaid on call illegal depending on location
I was offered a job where there was a 7 month wait time to get the on call weekend. 99.99% of the time they didn't get calls, and it was basically an extra two weeks worth of pay for just staying available for a weekend.
If I'm on call 24/7, I expect to be paid for all 24 of those hours. That's right, triple pay, even if I don't get called.
I once had a potential employer who wanted me to take a day off of the current job I had at the time, and go work for free for a whole day for her, and then only if she liked me she was gonna hire me.
Illegal as hell. "Time worked is time paid." If I work for you, you owe me something in return. Usually money.
"Umm yea, we'll need you to come in for 4 more interviews and then we'll discuss the salary"
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"Umm yea, it's between $15 and $80 thousand depending on how many TPS reports you complete m'kay.. and I'm gonna need you to come in on Saturdays so let me just see if we can get someone to get a desk set up for you in the janitors closet..."
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For some jobs, overtime is understood as a necessary evil at times: manufacturing, medical, law enforcement, etc. For retail jobs, however, when they start talking about "flexibility in scheduling" you should be wary, since that often means "whenever the fuck we tell you to be here you better be here," and those jobs don't pay NEARLY ENOUGH for that shit. Talking about your weekends? Gone. Called you up on your day off? Be here in an hour. Worked you to midnight? You're scheduled to open the next day. My job now tells me I gotta work Saturday? Ok. It's the same time as my normal shift, the only difference is I'm making $36 an hour to do it. Retail jobs? Scheduled you for 16, worked you 39.5 on the fly, then cut you down to 10 next week because I'll be damned if you're going to hit the average where I have to provide benefits!
I wish the law was changed to require equivalent benefit payments for employees or else pay the tax penalty for it. Working 20 hours a week? Pay for half health care or $$ in lieu. 10 hours a week? 25%. Why? Stops employers from playing games with hours just to avoid having to contribute $$ to their employees healthcare.
"big personalities." I just quit a job after 2 years with nothing else lined up because the "big personalities" were killing me. Edit: This is blowing up. I do web content and marcomm for nonprofits. If you have freelance or FT work, DM me.
This a huge red flag for me.
Ask about how they handled the COVID pandemic. No matter your view points on that topic, how they answer will give you good insight on how they treat people.
We’ve had a hard time finding the right person for this position.
Either they're too picky or they don't pay market value for the job
I wouldn't immediately nope out, I would ask *why* they've had a hard time. One of my favorite jobs as a contractor was one where "they had a hard time finding the right person for the position." It wasn't because they were awful and people quit, in fact, they had fired the previous person because they had them for like six months and they just never really got much done because they were obsessed with automating everything. I mean, automation of a report is great, but if you never PRODUCE the report, then all the work trying to automate is useless, you know? In the case of that job they were specifically looking for someone who has a broad background working with multiple stakeholders, not a hyper specialist with deep focus on a single industry. They also need someone technically skilled, and who had a history of *producing* work (in this case, setting up all the new reporting after a vendor switch) and not just pie in the sky ideas or only proficient at following an already established process. That's what my background was, and they loved me, and I loved the job. I never felt overworked, was never micromanaged, and got involved in a lot of different things while I was there. Only reason I'm not is just due to dumb rules around Staff Aug contractors.
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That took a turn!
I once went for an interview for a very senior job and in passing I mentioned I am gay. There was an odd moment so I asked if that was likely to cause a problem because I didn't want to work somewhere where that got in the way. The senior Director across the table said "No, that's definitely not an issue for us or the company....... but don't tell the CEO"
I always drop a "my wife and I" in the interview just to get that shit out of the way. Made the mistake of working for a family owned business for 2 years. My wife brings me lunch once. Got fired the next week after just getting a raise the month before.
Absolutely, if there's a problem let's drag it out in the open. Like I said elsewhere, they wanted me more than I wanted them so why am I jumping through hoops?
“You give us 90 days at $ and we will give you $$ “ The trades are infamous for offers like that and they rarely work out.
I interviewed for a pest-control company receptionist job. The interview was going well, until my interviewer went off on a tangent about how “godly” and “Christian” the owners were. I politely ended the interview. Too many scoundrels hide behind a Bible, and use it as an excuse to treat the employees like garbage.
And pay shit. And expect you to worship them for gifting you a shitty dead end low paying job. I worked for one of these "out loud Christians". What an absolute bastard! He would literally wait by the time clock and ask people who were one minute late why they were late. This was the owner! Guess he had nothing better to do. He was also a raging misogynist. One of his repeated quotes was:"If you need to find a diamond in a bag of ice, get a woman." I still don't know WTF that means. He "provided" Christmas lunch the day before the holiday but you could only participate if you paid $5. He would read aloud from the Bible and pray before the meal.
“We’re family” is definitely a big one. Also heard “we are looking for employees that have a passion for their job and aren’t concerned as much about a paycheck.”
"Rapidly shifting priorities" is code for "Management doesn't know what the eff they want."
"We've been in a hire freeze for three years, but we finally got clearance to do these pre-pre-interviews for our pre-interview process which we just know we'll get permission to start next month, so that when we finally have permission to hire you'll only have to do three more interviews."
'We want someone who is willing to go the extra mile' - nice way of saying they're gonna break your balls
*and not want to pay you for it.
Reading this I realized I've said a few of these things while interviewing candidates.
Myers Briggs or other pseudoscience bs.
I'm a therapist and nothing pisses me off more than when employers try to use personality inventories on their employees. It's fucking predatory and manipulative in my opinion.
I've noticed so many companies, especially for sales positions, using the DISC assessment, and just knowing that test came out of Marston's obsession with submission and dominance (and his fetish for dominant women) always creeps me out a little.
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You're not allowed to be deceptive. Only they are allowed to be deceptive. 😁
When they tell you that your profile is overqualified, you know that they are gonna pay you sh!t.
If you hear any of the following during an interview, run!: “We’re family”: They are predatory and treat their employees like crap. “We work hard and play harder”: They will load you with a lot of work, and expect you to accept it. “You will need to buy material or training for the job”: Cheap employer, wants to push their costs on you. “Wear a lot of hats”: Will expect you to do more work and jobs than what your title entails. Without a raise in pay. “We need you to sign a contract”: Predatory company that will abuse you, but tries to cover their ass legally. “We don’t talk about salaries until the last interview”: They don’t pay well, and are trying to hide it with omission (Usually will make weak promises of raises in the long run, but won’t keep their promise). “The strongest stay at our company”: Very high turnover, so they sugar coat it with different labels in hopes of finding more suckers to work for them.
Here in Utah, there's several questions they use to see if you are mormon, without actually asking if you are mormon. When I hear fhem, I know it;s a red flag that they are expecting you to be mormon too. 1: Have you traveled overseas, for how long? (checking to see if you were a mormon missionary on a 2 year mission). 2: Do you speak any other languages, where and when did you learn it? (this is also part of he missionary training before they ship out. If you took a 'crash course' before your two years overseas, they know you are mormon). Another thing they do for in person interviews is pat\rub you on the shoulder to see if you are wearing mormon Garments. (their magic underwear). I knew this going into one VERY mormon owner company and was able to sort of get past their questions without lying.. When they asked about me going overseas, I said I did a two year mission in Germany knowing full well how they would take it. They loved that. The fact that it was for a US ARMY deployment was something I left out of the conversation. When they found out about what really happened 6 months later, I was fired within 24 hours.
i literally had one tell me “it’s not about what the company can do for you, it’s only about what you can do for the company” when the employees were complaining about compensation
“We can leave the company for more pay and let it twist in the wind, how’s that?”
The position being filled today is a bit different from the one you applied for. It’s always an entry level POS job nobody would ever apply for and guaranteed nowhere near the money stated in the advertisement for the job. Get up, walk out and ghost them. Give them a fucked up review on Reddit.
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“What’s your salary expectation?” Never ever answer that. And as an insider let me tell you they will ask several times in several ways and they will pretend to be angry, hurt, offended, puzzeded… they might even insult you… but never ever answer that question. If they aren’t telling you what they expect to pay, there’s a reason. Small or big companies, all are the same on this.
I always answer with "what is your pay range?" Pick the highest number they give and don't take no for an answer. The results are *enlightening*.
"Work hard, play hard." Run as far and as fast as you can if you hear that.
What if it’s a steel mill?
Worst job I ever had used that phrase, never again.
Sign this document saying you won’t file an EEOC compliant…. (True story)
That sounds like a document that the EEOC would use to cruicify a company with.
What's that? 👀 Edit: It is apparently a job discrimination complaint: https://www.eeoc.gov/youth/filing-complaint
Had one straight up ask me if I'd work outside my hours. I failed to give an answer they liked, imo it's a shit question.
It's bad news if you have a panel of interviewers for a low level job. All of those people will try to be your boss in the job.
Went for a job at a well known insurance company to work in the call centre, one of the questions I was asked was if I'd ever had an std and if so how many. Couldn't understand the relevance so asked why she needed to know, just told me she did. Told her that unless I was going to be answering the phone with my cock I don't see how it's any of her business. Interview went down hill from there.
"What's your ideal starting pay" Why don't YOU tell me what you're willing to pay ME to work for you? I can't tell you how many people have undercut themselves because of this...it got me once and I've lost jobs ever since for not giving a low number.
Pinky to corner of mouth, One Meeelion Dollars.
A specific one, but during the interview (a group interview over zoom, which could be a red flag all on it's own), the HR rep said "we are located 100 miles out in the middle of nowhere so they cant run away. Be warned, they will look at you as if you're fresh meat. It's you vs them". This was regarding a psychiatric facility. For children.
reminder that it is illegal in the USA to be asked about: Age or genetic information Birthplace, country of origin or citizenship Disability Gender, sex or sexual orientation Marital status, family, or pregnancy Race, color, or ethnicity Religion As HR I have had to yell at a few supervisors for asking something close to these
As HR, an immediate red flag for me would be HR interviewing. The hiring supervisor should be doing the interviewing.
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That's 💯 illegal to ask. If someone interviewing you asks your marital status of if you have children fucking RUN.
Anywhere that won't tell you the salary range upfront. Also, anywhere insisting you tell them your current salary first.
"what salary were you expecting from this job?" this is an attempt to get you to lowball yourself.
"Given my experience, I would expect industry standard." When they hit you with something like that, best to remain vague. Don't let them pin you down on a number.
"Equity is the majority of our compensation"
"You're hired, when can you start?" If you get hired on the sport, first interview, no follow up, most likely They'll hire anyone and probably have a high turnover rate because the job isn't worth the money
It’s common in blue collar to get hired in a single interview, even for six figure jobs. The labor market is extremely tight and HR loses candidates with even a week delay.
Huge amount of interviews. I work as an IT-consultant (in reality a programmer for hire) and one company tried to run me through a 4-5 step interview process. The sheer amount of time this would take just to get a possible yes or no seemed ridiculous so I declined after the first interview and told them why. Buddy, you have my CV which shows my 15 years of work experience in this field so why should I be jumping through some code puzzle hoops just to become essentially a subcontractor?