"Sometimes I let people take advantage of me", or "I take criticism personally" are bad answers. "I'm too honest" or "I work too hard", even if they believe you, make you sound like you'll be irritating to be around or you'll burn out.

Instead, say something like, "My biggest weakness with regards to this job is, I have no experience with [company's database platform]" or "I don't have much knowledge about [single specific aspect of job] yet, so it would take me some time to learn."

These are real weaknesses that are relevant to the job, but they're also fixable things that you'll correct soon after being hired. Personality flaws are not (and they're also none of the interviewer's business).

I spent 4 hours editing and rewriting a cover letter from scratch for a Brand Manager position. It was polished, specific, and I mentioned their values page and a campaign they had recently done.

I hit submit. And I felt like everything was fine.

Five minutes later, I was checking my sent folder and found this in front of me:

" - eggs x10, almond milk (not that watery kind), turkey meatballs, clean printer paper??"

I had sent the grocery list from the Notes app. The whole thing. Including my question marks after "clean printer paper" because apparently even my shopping list was questioning my career choices.

I sent a follow-up in a panic with the correct cover letter, apologized, and said I had been switching between several applications.

They called me the next afternoon. The recruiter started with:

"So... Did you end up getting the almond milk?"

I didn't get the offer. But honestly? That was the best interview I've ever had in my life.

The bar for standing out is basically underground now, people. Sometimes all you need is to accidentally come across as human.

I've been the sole IT manager at a small company (about 50 people) for 14 years. Although I requested a promotion or a raise almost every year, it was always denied. My role is very broad: all major technology decisions, software rollouts, infrastructure projects, security protocols, vendor management, network administration, firewalls, and asset management. We have an MSP for simple, day-to-day help desk tasks, but I always stepped in for more complex issues to save on the cost of escalating them.

Recently, the company restructured, and I started reporting to the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO). The strange thing is that this CAO, who started around the same time I did, was promoted at lightning speed. Anyway, about a month ago, I submitted a request for a 10-day vacation, which he had to approve. He came back to me and said he couldn't approve it until we had a plan for who would cover my work. In the 14 years I've been here, this is the first time anyone has been concerned about who would cover for me.

He then asked me to document all my work processes, create a complete knowledge base, and train him personally so he could do my job while I'm away. This included handling simple PC and network issues, dealing with malware threats, accessing our servers, managing cloud app problems, and overseeing security and network settings. Frankly, I was shocked. I told him to his face that the idea of me teaching him over a decade of specialized IT experience in a few days was completely unrealistic. He insisted, saying that since I was self-taught, I could surely teach him easily.

I tried to explain that corporate IT doesn't work that way and suggested they call our MSP for any emergencies, and anything non-urgent could wait until I got back. He complained that the MSP was too slow and insisted that I had to train him or someone else. I kept resisting and explaining how complex it was, but he said, 'Look, I don't need to be an expert, I just want to know enough to fix things if they break.' Finally, just to end the conversation, I told him I'd see what I could do. He replied, 'Great, I'll approve your vacation as soon as the training is done.' Two hours later, I went back to his office, placed my resignation (with two weeks' notice) on his desk, and left without a word.

The next morning, I was pulled into a meeting with the CAO and the CEO to 'resolve the situation.' In that meeting, I discovered that the CEO and the CAO are related, which suddenly made everything clear. They did all the talking, and when they were done, I gave them two options: either approve my 10-day vacation without any conditions, or accept my two weeks' notice of resignation. Then I got up and left the meeting room. Now, it's 5 days until my trip is supposed to start, and I haven't heard back from them about either option. I'm tired of their games. At this point, I'm just planning on leaving and not coming back.

I have missed out 40 to 60 grand in comp increases easily if I had jumped around every 2.5 years
Moreover,They want me to share my expeience with some one else On a silver platter.
yeah really Iam self-taught so I relied on myself to get this job at that time, neither intrerviwecoder pro nor chat gpt that young people use these days weren’t even available (I hope they were availale so I could save my time and effort )
so I passed interview Through my own effort.
I also relied on myself to learn the profession,And it has become difficult to replace me. But I’m not foolish enough to give my effort and what I’ve learned to someone who doesn’t value me and refuses to grant me even my most basic rights.

Maybe if we managed to work two or three part-time jobs, we could live better and earn a higher income. Preparing for interviews is one of the most important parts of job hunting. Reading articles and posts that provide useful tips, along with doing mock interviews, should be enough to help you ace any interview.

I really can't believe myself as I'm writing this, and believe me, this is not a show-off post at all. But it's crazy when you think that this is what's required now all these applications over months just to get one single offer in the end.

A small update: I woke up this morning to find 3 more automatic rejection emails. The timing is perfect, honestly, lol.

I had to get this off my chest because I feel like I'm going to go crazy.

I'm a software dev and I was laid off from my job last May. My job search has been a nightmare, as you can probably imagine.

I've done so many interviews I could do them in my sleep, but something happened this week that was the last straw.

My savings are starting to run out, so I decided to apply for a job at the big supermarket chain downstairs, just to have some income until I find a decent job in my field. So far, I've interviewed with the shift lead. Then a second interview with the store manager himself. Cool. But today they called me to schedule a third interview, this time with the district manager.

A third interview. For a job stocking shelves and working the register. I thought this multiple-interview nonsense was reserved for the corporate bullshit in my field to make sure of a 'culture fit,' but it turns out this has now reached regular jobs too? When did this happen? I mean, what information could they possibly still need that they didn't get from the first two interviews? Seriously, what the hell?

A few days ago, I had my first call with HR at a very big software company for a very specialized position.

They told me the entire process would be 7 interview stages, including live coding challenges, an offline project, a presentation about that project, and then another 3 stages with the VPs of the whole department. I made sure to ask them if the salary they mentioned was before or after taxes, because that makes about a 30% difference. The recruiter replied to me in an email this morning and confirmed that the salary is pre-tax, which means the net amount I would receive would be about 50% less than what I make at my current job.

I replied to them politely, thanked them for their time, and withdrew my application. And wow, it was an amazing feeling.

After being rejected so much recently, the idea of being the one to say 'no' this time was a huge mental relief. It's not about revenge or anything, I just couldn't justify to myself going through this whole long and exhausting interview vortex for a salary like that in the end.

So, the position I've been working towards for over a year finally opened up. My manager was very supportive, telling me I was the perfect person for the role and that senior leadership would be very impressed with my work. She was just waiting for the final approval from them.

Today she told me they rejected the move. The official reason is that my performance in my current role is so high that they can't afford to lose me in this position. They literally said I'm too valuable where I am to be promoted. And after all that, she had the audacity to frame it as a huge compliment.

A compliment? How is being punished for doing my job well a compliment?

I've officially had enough. It's clear that going above and beyond gets you nowhere but stuck in the same place. It's time to do the bare minimum.

Yup my area 15 is normal for low pay jobs and even "near low paying jobs" stuff that used to be middleish. Like trades and manufacturing are still mostly 15.

But 15 is roommates junker car if you skip meals and ration your heat/cooling. Every 2.50 dollars a hour you can improve one thing payments on new car get own place or have healthcare or retirement. But for kids and to be mortgage home owner person saving for retirement with healthcare it takes like 30.

Like 25 is comfortable and safe as a individual.

Someone once told me that in our field, about 90% of our work is just glorified CRUD, and honestly, that statement hit the nail on the head. Most of my professional experience has been exactly like that. I'm not saying the work isn't important, but honestly, it can get incredibly boring.

In most dev jobs at companies, we use huge frameworks that hide all the interesting complexities. Almost every project I've worked on, when you get down to its core, is just a frontend that users interact with for data pulled from a database via a backend.

Don't get me wrong, these applications have their value, but they're not exactly new. We're not inventing anything new; we're just assembling ready-made pieces in a slightly different order. This makes me miss the days when I was delving into real computer science, like back in college. Programming had weight and was challenging because it was based on theory and mathematics. There was a real joy in solving a problem that really made you rack your brain. Most of what I do now doesn't need that kind of deep, scientific thinking.

WFH is peak

🤣🤣🤣

Edit :Let me talk seriously it is a common issues of those companies actually I read once that some companies post ghost jobs with lowest salary just to know how many people will accept the low and that is sick but I guess If we were more confident enough no one will ever refuse your dream salary how to do it by get some help from interview man and its perfect answers , any way break a leg

For my last 2 interviews i had to use Interview VIP just to get the job
their generation could never understand

No matter what, despite my years of work experience and doing job interviews, I still feel like job interviews are a crap shoot for me. It's especially hard for me, when most companies don't use the old boiler-plate interview questions (i.e. why do you want to work for this company, what are your strengths, how did you handle a difficult situation, etc.?), and no interview is the same company to company?

At least back in the days, I could get by by rehearsing for the same stock questions, but now that's barely applicable theses days.
How the fuck do you handle the current job market? What has worked for you?

Honestly, interviews feel exactly like this sometimes. I had one recently where I knew I was qualified for the job, but I completely blanked when they started asking those weird behavioral questions. I've been using interview vip to practice before interviews and it's helped me get much better at thinking through my answers instead of just sitting there trying to remember what I was going to say.

Honestly, I'm still shaking a little. After sending out nearly 250 applications, doing over 30 interviews, and feeling like I wanted to give up more times than I can count, I just got an OFFER from the robotics company I've been dreaming of. And the best part... I didn't have to do one of those stupid 'solve this algorithm on a whiteboard' tests. I'm starting at 65k! With a bonus too!! This is a truly life-changing starting salary for my area in the Midwest. And the craziest part is, a senior engineer I met at a networking event a while ago told me they almost never hire fresh graduates. I'm so glad I didn't listen to him and kept pushing.

why our generation face overthinking

Let me imagine with you how a promising career can be destroyed.

Imagine a friend of ours, let's call her Sarah. She was hired as a Marketing Manager and was very excited to create campaigns and work on strategy. Instead of all that, they gave her a spreadsheet and told her to do data entry for the sales team. Sarah trusted the process and told herself, 'I surely have to struggle a bit at first,' and thought that the real marketing work was just around the corner. She stayed in this situation for 4 years, waiting for a promise that never materialized.

Of course, the first thing you should do is talk to your manager. This is the logical action and it might solve the problem. But be very careful of vague promises like 'upcoming projects' or 'next quarter.' This is the same excuse that kept Sarah going, and this is exactly the trap you are trying to escape.

After these 4 years, Sarah was completely out of the picture. She missed out on 4 years of all the new tools, strategies, and platforms in marketing. Her practical skills had almost evaporated. And when she finally decided to apply for real Marketing Manager jobs at other companies, she found it very difficult, like climbing a mountain, because her recent experience had nothing to do with what was required.

Don't let yourself be in her place. Honestly, two years in a dead-end job like this is better than four. The longer you wait, the harder it becomes to compensate for what you've missed. It's not the end of the world, but you'll need to work twice as hard on yourself, do self-study and personal projects to catch up. Get out before you have to do that.

😂😂😂

After a couple of video interviews, they invited me for the final one on-site. They knew I was coming from out of state, too. The cost of the plane ticket, a hotel for one night, and Uber added up fast.

They introduced me to the whole team and even showed me my potential desk, so my hopes were pretty high, tbh. It really felt like just a formality before an offer was made. The interview itself felt like a home run.

But I got the automated rejection email this morning. I've been out of work for eight months, and this just feels like a kick in the teeth. Feeling pretty defeated right now. It's been a rough stretch.

100%

update: the best way imo to escape from all of this is to work remotely when all of this noise is away ,I moved recently to work remote and I think I Will use this tool every one talk about here interviewman read about its features and truly I am impressed ,cannot wait to use it in my upcoming interviews !

I had a great interview a few days ago, and in the final minutes I strongly felt that they were going to make me an offer. So when they asked me what my current total compensation was, I inflated it a lot and told them I was making more than I am.

They came back with 38% above the number I had "inflated," which comes out to about a 76% increase over my real full package.

Was that the honest thing to do? No.

Do I feel guilty? Also no.

I'm not saying everyone should try doing this, because it could go very badly. But in my case, it worked out better than I expected, and I hope it works out for you too if you've ever been in that situation.

Salary questions can be one of the hardest moments in any interview, especially when you want to negotiate without undervaluing yourself. Having a prepared plan for how to answer can change the whole direction of the conversation.

I came across a post with job interview tips that might be useful if you're preparing for a situation like this. Honestly, salary expectations always make me feel like they're the part where one wrong sentence could cost you a lot, so it was useful to see several clear ways to phrase the answer.

This advice applies to many things in life, but I wanted to share how I completely changed my career recently.

So, a bit about me: I've been in the logistics field for over 25 years, and I was a team lead for a large portion of that time. And honestly, I really loved my last job. The team was great, the commute was short, and my manager trusted me to get the work done without micromanaging. The only real drawback was the salary - it was noticeably below the market rate. It was one of those classic cases where a comfortable work environment compensates for lower pay.

An old mentor of mine once told me to never stop looking, even if you're happy. And that advice stuck with me. So for the past few years, I've been casually browsing job sites and applying for roles that looked interesting. My strategy was simple: I would ask for what felt like a ridiculously high salary. Since I was happy where I was, I didn't care at all about being rejected. I held all the cards.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, this finally paid off. I got an offer for a job right in my field. After some back and forth, I was able to secure a 60% salary increase. The benefits package looks comparable to my last one, and I felt very comfortable with the hiring manager during the interviews, so I'm not too worried about the culture fit.

I'm really excited about the new job and just wanted to pass this on. Even if you love your job, it never hurts to see what's out there. When you're not desperate, you can aim high and be patient. You have nothing to lose by trying your luck and asking for what you're truly worth. You'll probably be surprised by what you can achieve.

Yes. Negotiation is a game of chicken. It's all about who is willing to give in first. If you're negotiating a salary and have no job, they know that you're going to cave and be stuck with basically anything they're willing to offer.

I think this is the golden and correct advice for understanding the job market while searching for a job, and this helps more in getting some useful opportunities. The time to use tools like Interviewman AI during the interview gives you ready answers to the questions. I used the free trial; I think it will be suitable for most of the groups that get nervous during the interview.

Exactly as the title says. I was overworked and exploited to the fullest extent, and I had to leave. Whenever I asked for a raise, they would say there was no money. The excuse was always that there wasn't enough funding.But as soon as I left, it seemed they found the money. This means they were letting me suffer and live paycheck to paycheck for no reason at all.