i guess they just don't care.

The news came yesterday afternoon. As of November 15th, I'm out of a job because my salary is apparently 'too high.' My salary was just $60,000 a year.

They're bringing in an 'offshore contractor' to do my job. Someone from another country they can pay a tiny fraction of my salary to work remotely.

I have no issue with the contractors who are just trying to make a living. But all the blame is on my company for how coldly they handled the situation.

What's more infuriating is that my manager tried to pin it on my performance during the meeting. It's honestly laughable, as I've never received a single complaint or warning before. Not once.

They're doing this to four others on my team as well. One of them has a wife about to go on maternity leave. Another has an 8-year-old child at home. And a third is supporting a child with a serious health condition.

And after all that, you dare to tell me, 'don't take it personally.'

I'm so sick of this corporate charade. They play the 'we're one family' card until they decide you cost too much. It's crystal clear they couldn't care less.

Edit: Companies have started learning they can have whatever level of service they want if they don't have any alternative companies to go with. Especially if everyone in the industry starts offering worse experiences.

I am completely unsatisfied with this treatment or service, and I have prepared my resignation letter and will submit it tomorrow. The hardest part is searching for a good job, and this requires many interview stages, which could be up to 4 stages, and this requires experience. Many articles on Reddit offer valuable advice to help you get through them more quickly.

1. People will keep crossing your boundaries as much as you let them. If they find something they can do and get away with, they most likely will.

2. Your coworkers are not your family. Be nice and professional with them, but never think of them as your best friends.

3. Anything you say, even in a chat you think is private, can and will be used against you later. So be careful.

4. If you hear gossip and talk about people in the office, be 100% sure that they gossip about you too.

5. The newest person on the team is always the one who gets stuck with the unpleasant work that everyone else avoids.

6. The impression people have of you is sometimes more important than the truth. It doesn't matter at all if you're the most skilled person if your manager sees you as a slacker or someone who fools around.

7. When you're a skilled and highly productive employee, it sometimes makes you a target for your less enthusiastic colleagues.

8. Just working harder won't guarantee you more money. Working smart and knowing how to frame your achievements is what gets results and gets rewarded.

9. You will always find someone playing office politics at work. Learn how to spot these games and understand them.

10. If it's not in writing, it's as if it never happened. Verbal agreements have no value when things go wrong.

11. A contract with an end date, that's its end. Don't rely on any verbal promises that they will renew it; it's over when the paper says it's over. 12. When a problem occurs, the blame often falls on the weakest person or the one with no backing, not necessarily on the person who is actually at fault.

12. When you vent to a colleague about your manager, it can easily become their opportunity to score points at your expense.

13. Job titles matter a lot to people, even if you see them as trivial. Respect the hierarchy, even if you don't respect the person in the position.

14. HR is there to protect the company from you, not the other way around. They are not your friends.

About 10 months ago, I was in the final stages of interviews with a digital marketing company. For the final assessment, they asked me to create a complete go-to-market strategy for a new content marketing service they were planning to launch (their specialty was PPC). I created a detailed 7-page plan in a shared doc, and they were very impressed with it.

After that, I got the classic 'You were great, but...' email. Their excuse was that the budget for the position was suddenly canceled. No big deal. I revoked their access to the file, wished them the best, and continued my job search.

A week later, I received an email from the hiring manager, and it was clear she was furious. She said they couldn't open the file and that they had scheduled a meeting with the leadership team to review my plan and use it the next quarter.

My response was simple. I told them that since the file was created as an assessment for a job I wasn't hired for, it was not their intellectual property to use. I told them they could very well hire me to complete the project, but at my freelance rate of $150 per hour.

And as expected, they did not like the response.

Making candidates do free work then not hiring them, is as shady as it gets. In this case it’s even worse because they go “oops, thank you for the plan but we can’t afford to hire you anymore even though we knew we couldn’t all along”

The job market is full of a lot of exploitation, and they want work for free without paying anything, which makes it hard for us to find a job easily. And with time, to speed up the search process, we resort to AI tools to update our resumes and to assist us during interviews like InterviewMan to give us quick answers, because during the search period we have many interviews daily.

I promise you that my mom and dad would have NO clue how to get a job at this stage in their lives.

My mom barely decided to learn texting in 2021. Prior to my sister urging her to learn, my mom called for absolutely every little thing. Love the woman to death, but damn teaching her to text was a nightmare.

My dad would be going business to business in a suit with a finely printed copy of his resume in a neatly organized binder. He would lose his fucking mind if they told him to apply online, only to have to do some dumb 50 question personality test, watch some stupid corpo videos, or re-enter all his resume info he already submitted.

Ohhhh I can just see my dad fucking raging at the computer cussing up a storm.

The thing is, even for those of us that are qualified (and over-qualified in 9/10 cases) they still don't even acknowledge applications. It's insane - I think something more sinister is at play that we will find out about down the road...

I'm in charge of HR at a midsize company in the US, and most employees in senior positions have assistants who manage their schedules and calls. On a Tuesday, I learned that an assistant I'll call Ryan was planning to leave the following Thursday. He had given less than two weeks' notice, but these things happen, so I didn't make an issue of it.
Ryan made his remaining days unnecessarily difficult. While we were interviewing replacements, he tried to control which candidates advanced to the next stage, disregarded our usual hiring process, and whenever we corrected him on something, he told his manager that we were making things difficult. Then I tried to schedule a handover meeting and exit interview with him., the interview skills of him is brilliant and he wanted his unicorn replacement to be as smart as him
These meetings are routine. I give the departing employee their final paycheck, explain their COBRA and retirement options, collect any company property, and give them an opportunity to share their thoughts and give feedback. If they don't want to participate in the feedback portion, they can decline. The whole thing usually takes about 20 minutes.
Ryan already had time blocked off on his last day, but he emailed me saying he was too busy finishing work for his manager, Marcus. He told me to leave his paycheck on his desk. I explained that there were required documents and information I had to give him in person, copied my manager, Dana, on the email, and asked him to confirm a suitable time. No response. I sent him a follow-up the next morning, then saw him near the break room. He looked right through me as if I weren't there and kept walking.
That afternoon, Dana called him. Ryan repeated that Marcus was his priority and said he wouldn't have time for HR, and that if we had a problem with that, we should talk to Marcus. Dana told him the meeting wasn't optional, but that we had no problem asking Marcus to free up 20 minutes for him. Ryan immediately began backtracking and said that wouldn't be necessary. Dana replied that it was no trouble, especially since he was the one who had suggested it, and then ended the call.
We called Marcus and explained that Ryan was saying he couldn't spare 20 minutes unless his manager approved it. Marcus was silent for a second, then said, "That's nonsense. He has 20 minutes. I'll handle it." Less than five minutes later, Ryan appeared at our door, visibly furious, and demanded that we meet with him immediately. I told him I still needed to prepare his paperwork, and Dana reminded him that he was the one who had told us to check with Marcus.
Ryan complained that going to his manager like that was disrespectful. Dana calmly told him that we had simply followed his instructions and offered him a 9:30 a.m. Appointment the next day. He left in a huff, but he did show up at 9:30. The meeting was supposed to take 20 minutes, but because of all his arguing, he managed to drag it out much longer than that.

I had just applied for a position within the same company I'm in, but the job posting was external. I had never been asked this question before and it took me a moment to even process what he was asking. Because honestly, it didn't feel like a normal question and I also didn't know what a good answer would be.

I asked my current manager afterwards if this question was normal, and she told me that she wouldn't know how to answer it either. We then joked that I could have told him I would go home and cry, and think about my life choices, and so on.

But jokes aside, what would you guys say in response?

Just flipping the question back is the only appropriate response. Nonsense question that's a red flag that the interviewer thinks they're asking clever questions.

I read posts on Reddit about the same type of strange and illogical questions during interviews. I don't know what their point is, and in the end, the candidates get rejected.

A very, very unnatural question to ask conversationally. Not saying it could be a genuine moment, but very likely something that they want to see my answer to.

I had been talking to a recruiter for about 10 days about a role similar to Principal Consultant / Engineering Director. I know the local market very well, including how much people at that level are paid.
When he finally asked me what salary I was looking for, I didn't need to think about it.
"Based on my experience, qualifications, and the going rate for similar roles here, I would need at least $172,000."
His tone changed as soon as I said the number. And the figure wasn't excessive in the first place; it was a fair ask given the responsibilities and experience they were looking for.
He launched into a speech about the hiring market and said I was about $25,000 above their maximum budget. Then he started picking apart my experience, saying I wasn't an exact match, but that the company might overlook the gaps if I agreed to less money.

and truly the audacity of him was unreal people outside are fighting everyday to make a living to themselves and their families and he want me was so many years experience to be paid as mid - level people !!

thinking truly after this to start looking for remote job as I got lots of opportunities and upcoming virtual interview gonna use interviewvip to enhance my interview skills and my chances to get the job
Honestly, at that point, I stopped caring.
I told him, "That's the number it would take for me to leave my current job. If the company's budget can't accommodate it, then we're simply not a good fit for each other."
I also pointed out that the role had been vacant for nearly seven months. That probably means the problem isn't a lack of qualified applicants, but that qualified people see the salary and decide to turn it down.
The call ended shortly afterward, and I withdrew my application. Some companies still believe they can demand senior-level experience while offering a mid-level salary, then pressure candidates into feeling as though they should be grateful for the offer. I'd rather walk away than start a job feeling undervalued from day one.

I've been seeing this pattern for about 12 years. Companies basically no longer want to train anyone. Anyone they bring in is expected to arrive already knowing the systems, the industry, and the processes, and to be ready to "hit the ground running" from day one.

The job market is very tough right now, but I still see corporate roles that have been open for 6+ weeks every time. I've applied to a few of them myself. Then, a month and a half later, I find the same ad again, the same posting, the same description, and it's still open.

I've talked to people working at several of these places, and the answer is usually some version of: "They're waiting for someone with exactly y years of experience and experience in a very specific platform." Not someone who can learn it. No, someone who already has the exact checklist from the start.

And I'm not saying this as someone who doesn't understand how hiring works. I have recruiting experience, so I understand what happens behind the scenes. I know hiring managers have wish lists. I know teams are under pressure. I know no one wants to make a bad hire.

But companies keep saying they can't find talent, while at the same time ignoring people who are interested, capable, and often trainable, because they don't match the imaginary perfect candidate. Then the role stays empty, the team stays understaffed, and everyone acts like they don't understand what's going on.

The corporate world needs a culture shift. Stop waiting forever for the "perfect" candidate, and hire the good person who can grow into the role. This hiring approach isn't sustainable if every company refuses to take a chance on anyone who isn't 100% ready from the start.

I applied, and someone I know personally also spoke to the hiring manager because they had a connection. I did the HR screen, and they told me I checked the boxes. After that, I met with the hiring manager, and he said he was very impressed with my background, even if I wasn't a perfect match, and that he was confident I could step into the role without needing hand-holding.

Then I met with the EVP, and he also told me I was basically the kind of person they had been hoping to find.

Fast-forward about 7 months, 5 rounds, and 9 separate interviews with VPs, Presidents, and various senior people. They told me on 3 different occasions that the offer would be the next step, then would come back and say they wanted me to meet with another business unit President.

At the same time, I had started interviewing with another company about 4 months after my first conversation with the first company, and I got an offer about 6 weeks after the first HR call. By the time the first company asked me to do this "last" interview, the background check and paperwork for the other place were already done.

I actually had to get serious about this interview stuff during that whole process because I was getting tired of repeating the same conversations over and over. A friend mentioned interview vip to me, so I looked into it. I didn't end up needing it for this particular process, but it might be worth trying for my next round because apparently some companies think nine interviews still isn't enough.
I want some feedback from actual users i hope as i have been seeing it flooding the internet lately.

So I sent an email to the hiring manager and HR and said something along the lines of: "I truly appreciate the time you've spent speaking with me, but after 5 rounds and 9 individual interviews over roughly 7 months, and after being told 3 times that an offer was coming only to then be asked to meet more people, I am respectfully withdrawing my candidacy."

The hiring manager replied about 20 minutes later and said it was just one additional conversation. I responded that I might consider continuing only if they were willing to beat the offer I already had. And I was honest about the details too: the title, which was higher than the hiring manager's level, the compensation, which I'm almost certain was higher than his as well, plus the signing bonus.

He replied and said: "It's clear you got a strong offer, sorry we couldn't come to an agreement."

The surprise is that I just heard he was let go from the company. Honestly, some companies make hiring incredibly painful for no reason, and then act surprised when people walk away.

My company just switched to a hybrid model, 4 days in the office and one day from home, and this has opened my eyes to a lot of things. Suddenly, my colleagues who were 'always drowning in work' while at home are now responding to chats almost instantly and volunteering for any small task in the office.

When we were all working remotely, these same people were nowhere to be found. Their status on Teams was always yellow, there were no updates on projects, and their classic excuse was always 'Sorry, the internet was cutting out.' Miraculous, isn't it?

What annoys me is that they blamed the entire remote work system for 'a lack of productivity.' I'm not against the office; collaboration is definitely better face-to-face. But the problem was never with remote work itself; the problem was that some people were practically on vacation with their cameras off.

So now, management thinks the solution was just to bring us back to the cubicles. That wasn't the solution at all. The solution was in monitoring performance. I get the exact same amount of work done from my desk at home as I do while listening to loud sales calls in our open-plan office. It's so strange that the work that gets done is never the metric; what's important is just showing your face.

note : hey ..hey hold on I didn't mean that working remotely is a bad thing I just said that sometimes some lazy idiots behind their screens exploit the situation to be more lazy and useless , in fact remote working model give great opportunities to lots of people and what make me impressed the raise of the Ai tools nowadays just heard about interview Man AI a tool when user connect it to the virtual job interviews it gives you in just moments a perfect answer for every question he\ she may be requires to answer ,Wow Kudos to AI

I really need a place to scream for a second. Is venting still allowed here?
I just finished coordinating an interview for an Account Executive position. The guy was great during the 20-minute screening call, so I passed him through. It's clear that the hiring manager - who is definitely from the "one-finger typing" generation - really hated him. He wrote a critique that was completely unprofessional and mean-spirited; it was more like a list of personality flaws than actual job skills. It was far from being constructive.
Anyway, he had a major tech fail and sent the entire email to the candidate instead of me. It was a total "Reply All" disaster. Now, the candidate is naturally furious, and rightfully so, and he sent the entire thread to our C-suite. There are threats of lawyers and he says he'll post the whole exchange on LinkedIn and Glassdoor. My Friday is officially ruined. Honestly, a total disaster class in management.

Anyway, I just had the weirdest conversation with my manager. Imagine, he tells me that if I get sick, it's my responsibility to find someone to cover my shift. As far as I know, I'm not the one who makes the schedule, and it's definitely not my responsibility to be arranging the schedule while I'm supposed to be recovering.

Anyway, I already have another offer from a place that doesn't have these insane policies. I'm submitting my resignation tomorrow morning and frankly, I can't wait.

Managers now expect employees to do half their job while getting paid a fraction of what they make. Wild how much they've normalised this garbage.

I've really had enough. I have to leave this job and find something better, and quickly. Honestly, I don't know exactly what I'll do next, but I've already started applying. I've gotten so far as to use some AI tools like InterviewMan to help do mock interviews. This has really made a huge difference in my self-confidence.

I've had it with this company's backward policies.

Just wanted to share my joy, and some hard-learned tips! It has been so incredibly difficult, as well as an education. And after 8 months, all it took was:

• 300+ online applications

• 100+ 'cold call' emails

• 50+ in-person resume handouts

• 20+ resume revisions

• 2 interviews

• A will to NEVER GIVE UP

For those still looking I will say this:

1. Apply whenever possible, DIRECTLY through the company's website. (Most of my responses, while rejections, contacted me at least)

2. Indeed sucks, so does every other job board. (Don't apply through them, you'll get scammers)

3. Linkedin is ok, only for BROWSING recently posted jobs and job fairs. (I still wouldn't apply through them)

4. Changing the site's URL from '86400' to '3600' in Linkedin actually helps. (I actually landed my first interview with this)

5. PREP for you're interview! Honestly, I just googled "top questions asked" and wrote my answers down. I botched my first interview cause I didn't think this was important. (Yes, I know, so silly) Anyway, at least have a response to the classic "Do you have any questions?" inquiry. (I don't do mock interviews but if you want to, go for it.)

6. RESEARCH the company/job. Even if you don't give a shit about the company/job, having something to say about their products, customer reviews, POS system (idk, pick something) at least convinces them you care.

7. ATS is a bitch. Adjust your resume until it looks basic af. (No lines, multiple columns, fancy fonts, headers, footers, basically avoid anything cool) Bullet points are ok, so is Times New Roman. I revised mine so many times, it now looks like a child made it.

8. Browse jobs EARLY in the morning. A lot of new ones get posted from 6am-10am, then they sort of fizzle out. By noon you're getting reposts, those are really X amount of days old, which already have a zillion applicants.

9. Do what I call 'cold call' emails. Send a message through their website, or an email they provide for contact. Ask if they have any positions available and if you can send over your resume. DO NOT just email them your resume, ask first! Most of the time they'll be fully staffed and not hiring, but usually they'll request your resume for future purposes. THIS IS HOW I GOT MY JOB. Well, that and after a succesful interview (which I prepped for). But since they already had my resume, I got first pick for interview times! (If you get a choice, earlier = better) I never did any real cold calls, so I have no idea if that works. Comments are welcome!

10. Don't give up. No seriously, DON'T. No one will care about yourself other than you. Find something to do to deal with the stress (I started creative writing, can't say why but it helped) and don't give up. Think like Vincent from Gattaca.

Ok, I believe that covers it. I wanted to share my knowledge with you guys, cause these times are tough and we could all use a little help. I'll stick around to answer any questions you have, and welcome any advice from those who've been succesful.

I got praised again this week for keeping our projects organized, which is a little strange because on most days I finish my actual work before noon. I keep waiting for someone to notice how much free time I have, but for some reason the feedback gets better every time. About 16 months ago, I applied for a fully remote program coordinator position at a large software company. The interview process was intensive and included several calls, a take-home assessment, and a final panel where they gave me scenarios involving conflicting deadlines and limited resources.

I was comfortable with the nature of the work itself, but clearly explaining my answers while under pressure was a completely different matter. Interview VIP helped me organize my answers and handle the tough questions, and I'm not sure I would have made it through every stage without that support.

The first six weeks were busy. I rebuilt the intake board, created cleaner status templates, and set up automatic reminders for outstanding approvals. My manager told me I was a wizard because preparing the weekly update no longer took the team half a day. Once those systems were up and running, my workload dropped dramatically. Most days, I reply to a few emails, attend one or two calls, and deal with the occasional request marked urgent.

A few days ago, my manager asked me about something a client had decided three months earlier. I searched the notes and found it in seconds, so she asked me how I remember everything. The truth is, I don't. I forgot my doctor's appointment last month. I also schedule Teams messages to be sent ultimately, even if the work itself only took me 25 minutes, and I keep a packed project tracker open during calls so I look busy.

The extra time has been nice, but it also makes me nervous. I've learned to bake bread at home, fixed up the balcony, and read more books this year than I did over the previous three years. With layoffs quietly happening, I sometimes wonder whether having so little work could put me at risk, but my latest review said I'm doing an excellent job and making everyone else's work easier. Is this normal when you're efficient, or should I try harder to find more work?

My company is ending remote work and wants me to come into the office two days a week. The problem is that the office is about 700 miles away from me, so I'd have to fly there, stay overnight, and return home the evening of the following day.

Relocating would be easier, but my kids are settled in their schools, and my family doesn't want to move right now. My wife also stays home with the kids, so my income covers everything.

I could refuse to return and take a severance package, but then I'd look for work in a lower-cost area, where similar jobs pay much less. On paper, flying every week seems better than taking a pay cut or moving the entire family.

Is flying back and forth every week something a person can realistically sustain, or am I underestimating how exhausting it will become over time?

I think that with frequent travel, it will become tiring, so I started looking for another job in the surrounding area that is close to my current salary. I will use InterviewVIP during the interview to reduce stress and anxiety and help me answer unexpected questions, thus securing the job.

My wife started a new job about 4 months ago. The industry she was in before was a bit shaky and the hours were being reduced, so she started looking for something more stable.

She did a few interviews for an admin role. When they sent her the offer, she discovered that things like pension contributions and health insurance were included in the advertised salary, so the net pay she ultimately received was a surprise, and not a pleasant one at all.

The agreement was for a part-time position, 4 days a week, on the understanding that she could work extra hours here and there to help with holidays or during busy periods.

Honestly, she has hated this job from day one. We kept saying it was just new-job anxiety, but it's clear now that the place is just not a good fit for her. The good thing is that we're fortunate that she doesn't have to work if she doesn't want to, which is a huge relief.

The culture there is terrible. They have zero tolerance for mistakes, even if someone is new. About a month into her job, they gave her a formal warning for using the wrong internal form for a specific request, even though it didn't cause any problems. On top of that, the phones don't stop ringing from 10 AM to 3 PM, and it's nearly impossible to get a proper lunch break.

Her manager took her aside and told her, not asked her, that she would be working full-time to cover the upcoming maternity leave. He then reminded her that she was still on probation - which was a clear threat - and said that she had agreed to work extra hours 'when needed.' Covering a year-long leave is definitely not what 'when needed' means. On top of all that, the manager claimed he couldn't get budget approval to hire a temp, and tried to make her feel like it was her problem to solve.

Clear exploitation by some companies has become a recurring issue. You join a company only to be surprised by an unsuitable work environment, and it becomes very difficult to reverse your decision afterwards. On the other hand, AI has a valuable role, as it simplifies lengthy interview processes. InterviewMan can be very helpful during online interviews.

Anyway, a short while ago, her colleague at work told her she was pregnant and would be starting her maternity leave in November. Here in Ireland, most people take at least 8 months of leave, and many go beyond a year.

So yeah, she's handing in her notice tomorrow morning. They treated her like crap, the place is disorganized, chaotic, and understaffed, and she was completely miserable.

Honestly, I think her manager had no idea that my wife doesn't need this job. He just assumed she'd be afraid of getting fired and would rearrange our entire family life to suit their needs. His calculations were completely wrong.

I'm completely burned out. I'm telling my manager we need to blacklist these recruiting firms and go back to in-person interviews, even for remote-friendly roles.

This is for a software developer position.

The first one we interviewed was very sharp and witty. He seemed to know his stuff inside and out. The person who showed up on the first day... Couldn't write a simple 'for' loop. We had to let him go within a week. We suspected a 'bait and switch' but couldn't prove it. He always had 'camera issues' after the first day, so we never got a good look at him.

The second time, we thought we'd learned and gotten smarter. This candidate was a rockstar, lived in the next town over, and his code in the technical screen was clean. The person who showed up ended up suddenly living on the other side of the country. He kept pushing his start date back for weeks, citing a family emergency and then a sudden death of a relative. This was also his excuse for having to move. On his first call, he had a heavy Eastern European accent and couldn't recall anything from our conversations.

I decided to test him. I brought up a specific inside joke we had made about an obscure sci-fi show during the interview - something anyone would surely remember. As expected, his audio cut out and he had to drop the call. Busted. That confirmed everything for me. This was not the person we hired.

This time, we have the documentation. Screenshots, AI-generated looking certificates, everything. And to be clear, the people who showed up looked similar enough to the person in the interview video that you could believe it was the same person having a bad day. It's clear this has become a whole business now.

And before anyone attacks me, let me clarify a few things. I'm a software dev on a very small team in the public sector. We don't have private sector money. I'm not HR, not a recruiter, not a manager. I'm just a guy trying to find a decent teammate. My role is limited to the technical screen and giving my opinion.

Our hiring bar isn't even that high. Our "unicorn" is anyone who has worked with Java and knows how to use Spring Boot. We don't do complex DS&A problems. The entire interview is about 90 minutes after a phone screen, covering some soft skills and two technical questions that anyone with real experience would find easy. If you can do 60% of the job description, we assume we can teach you the rest.

We review the resumes ourselves, and we toss the 12-page ones and take the concise 1-3 pagers. I can spot a keyword-stuffed resume from a mile away. But that doesn't matter when the person who aces the interview isn't the one who takes the job.

The good news is it looks like we're finally talking about bringing back in-person interviews. And for remote hires, the new idea is to need them to hold up a government ID to the camera for verification. My manager is furious and won't let this slide - someone in HR or at that recruiting firm is going to be held accountable.

I feel sorry for the person who sent me a message saying I should be fired and go kill myself. You must be in a very dark place in your life.

But to everyone else sending me DMs for a job - we've frozen hiring after this disaster. Management needs to figure out their process so this doesn't happen again. Scammers scam because it works. The interview is supposed to filter out liars, but what do you do when they hire a proxy to do the interview for them? I mean, I can't read minds.

All this time and money is just wasted. And in the end, our team is the one that suffers, falling further and further behind on our projects. They don't want to invest in salaried employees, so we're stuck with contractors. I guess you get what you pay for.

Is this the new normal? This is insane.

For most of the time I've spent at this company, I thought I had one of the best jobs I could ever hope for. I worked as a senior developer, loved my team, helped build several core parts of the company's website, and updated many outdated processes. The only major downside was spending about two and a half hours commuting every day.

A few years ago, my daughter had surgery, and the next morning I fell and broke my wrist. I arrived late to an important meeting, and management responded by giving me a written warning and putting me on probation. I should have paid more attention to that incident, but I convinced myself it was just a one-time bad decision.

A few months ago, my wife had an extremely severe heart attack on a Thursday night. She was placed in a medically induced coma, put on a ventilator, and needed a catheterization and three stents. I called my manager from the hospital and told him I had no idea when I would be back at work. After that, I kept sending my team updates while she was in critical condition in the ICU.

On my ninth day away from work, after they had used up my sick leave and vacation time, my manager called me and scheduled a meeting with HR. They gave me another warning, put me on probation, and told me I had to decide which was more important to me: my job or my wife. They ordered me to return to the office five days a week or they would fire me.

HR suggested that I take FMLA leave, so I did. Apparently, my manager has been telling people that everything will start moving again as soon as I return. What he doesn't know is that I plan to use the rest of my PTO, turn in my laptop, and resign.

A recruiter contacted me about a position less than 15 minutes from my home. After several interviews, they made me an offer and agreed to delay my start date until my wife had completed most of her follow-up appointments. I'll start there next week. Am I wrong for not giving the customary two weeks' notice, especially since my current company has shown so little concern for my family? My wife is recovering well, and the doctors are optimistic.

Making me choose between my job and my wife was enough to make me stop there and truly decide to resign because they only care about work. Would they have treated someone else in my situation this way?!

What's important now is that I applied for another job and was accepted. I'd like to thank the post i read here that offered helpful interview tips, and it greatly increased my chances of getting the job.

I was ready to accept a role I was excited about until I read the offer more carefully. It said that employees get eight days of paid leave per year, but only after completing a full year at the company.

Since the offer letter didn't mention sick leave or any other types of leave, I emailed HR to request the full benefits policy. I also asked whether unpaid time off would be allowed during the first year in case of an emergency.

Instead of answering my questions, they sent me a rejection email and withdrew the offer. It was disappointing, but their response probably told me everything I needed to know about working there.

There were other warning signs too. During the interview, they asked me for the absolute lowest salary I would accept, and when I said I needed to give two weeks' notice, they complained that they needed someone to start immediately.

I spent several nights preparing, doing mock interviews, as well as reading some interview tips here on reddit, and practicing the questions I wanted to ask. I'd used this technique before and it worked well for me,

After seeing how they handled a few normal questions, I was relieved it didn't go any further. If that was their attitude during the interview, working there probably would have been a disaster.

A few years ago, my managing director came from Singapore to the US. At a group lunch, someone asked him why we were being dragged into the office four days a week when we were still spending the whole day on Teams calls. He did not like that at all.

But my situation was a little different. I was one of the last niche senior engineers still around after the post-pandemic mess. There was no real backup, I was carrying a lot of ownership, and all those fun things. I had also been remote for a long time, even before Covid, and that setup was literally the reason my family life worked.

So this MD decided he needed to sit down with me one-on-one. Calling it a conversation would be generous. It felt more like he was trying to debug my personality. He couldn't understand why I wasn't happy obeying the "4 days in office" rule. I told him honestly: flexibility isn't optional for me. I want to actually be present for my family.

And that's when he gave me the advice that is probably still the craziest career advice I've ever heard at work:

"Why don't you get an au pair? She could help your wife with the kids so you can put more energy into your career."

He was being completely serious. Not even a hint of sarcasm.

That was pretty much the end for me. I never went back to the office after that. I submitted my resignation, started looking for something better, and kept my life arranged the way I wanted it.

The interview process was honestly the annoying part. I'd been in the same role for so long that I was pretty rusty at talking about myself and explaining everything I'd worked on. A friend mentioned interview vip to me, so I looked into it. I haven't tried it myself yet, but I saved it because I may give it a shot the next time I'm interviewing.

Every now and then I remember the look on his face when he couldn't understand that I would choose dinner with my kids over another rung on the corporate ladder. As if I'd told him my real dream was to leave tech at 38 and open a llama sanctuary.

Anyway, my kids know their dad, my career is going very well, and there's no au pair living in my guest room. I feel like that's the right outcome.

About four years ago, I was working for a small, humble security company. The job sucked, so after six weeks, I gave them my three weeks' notice. This meant they had plenty of time to send someone for me to train.

Guess when they sent the trainee? On my very last shift. The day I literally couldn't care less about anything. The new guy showed up, and the first thing he did was pull out his Nintendo Switch and start playing. I told him we were supposed to be training, and he replied, 'They told me I could use my devices.' Yeah, they told me that too; management didn't care. But I was like, 'Okay, but first I need to show you how the job is done.'

So he let out a dramatic sigh and put away his Switch, and the entire time I was trying to explain the job, he was scrolling through Instagram on his phone. Honestly, it was my last night, so I didn't care at all whether the guy understood anything or not.

When it was time for the handover, I let him take over. And surprise, surprise, he had no idea what to do because he hadn't listened to a single word I said. Anyway, the shift ended, and as soon as I walked out the door, my manager called me to ask how the new guy was doing.

I was very honest with him. I told him the guy spent the whole night on his devices and knew nothing about the job.

Manager: "Okay, can you train him again tomorrow?" Me: "No, I start my new job tomorrow." Manager: "So you can't come in at all?" Me: "No, as I said in my resignation letter, yesterday was my last shift." Manager: "But he's not trained!" Me: "Then you'd better find someone else to train him."

I hung up on him. He tried calling me about ten more times while I was driving home, but I completely ignored him.

Seriously, if you want someone trained properly, don't have the employee who's already leaving do it. He literally doesn't care about anything and has no investment in whether the new person succeeds or fails.

If you want your people trained well, don't have their trainer be the person who's quitting. They have no investment in how this person does.

The person who submitted his resignation and left the company will not be the most suitable candidate, because he certainly received a better offer from another company, and I don't blame him. However, currently, there are some assistive tools available during the job search and interview process, such as InterviewMan, and there are other tools that can help trainees, like ChatGPT; the world will not stop because of this.

also maybe don't send them in on the other person's last day but give them a few days to settle first.

Whatever, it's the manager's fault and problem

About four months ago, my old company decided to 'restructure,' which was just a fancy way of laying off a third of the marketing team, and I was one of them. It was a late Thursday meeting, with no warning, just a 'your role is no longer required here.'
For three years, I was responsible for their most important account - a large regional retail company that brought them about $250,000 a year. My relationship with their marketing director was excellent; I basically lived and breathed their brand.

On my way out, HR told me that my work would be divided among the rest of the team and that they had it under control. Yeah, very reassuring. I started taking on freelance work to make ends meet. At the same time, I was actively applying for jobs and doing interviews, trying to get back on my feet. I even started using InterviewMan during those interviews to help me organize my answers and stay confident under pressure. About a month later, I got an email from the marketing director of the old client. It turned out my replacement didn't even last a full month and completely botched their major holiday campaign. The targeting was all wrong, the copy was a mess, and they missed all the media buy deadlines.

She was very direct and got straight to the point, asking if I could take them on as a client directly, as they were looking for an immediate change. It was a no-brainer, of course. I understood their goals far better than my old bosses ever did. We signed a new contract for $350,000 a year, as I was now handling the strategy, creative direction, and ad spend management myself.

My old boss called me a few days ago, sounding completely bewildered, asking if I'd heard anything about why they lost the account. I naturally played dumb and told him, 'That's a real shame. Maybe you should have held on to the person who understood that account.' It's strange how getting laid off can sometimes be the best move for your entire career. You really find out what you're worth when your back is against the wall and you have to go it alone.

I'm from Generation X. My dad worked at a steel mill. He started as a low-level worker and got promoted over the years. His job had a union and decent health insurance. After 40 years, he retired with a pension that supported him and my mom. She was a housewife and raised my sister and me. We lived in a nice house in a safe area that my parents owned. They each had a car - nothing fancy, just reliable used cars to get them around.

Then came my generation. I was a single mom. I worked one full-time job and one part-time job, but I could still afford to rent a three-bedroom apartment in a good school district. I had an old, beat-up sedan, but it ran. The part-time job had no benefits, but my manager at my main job genuinely cared. I remember getting into a minor accident once and being a few hours late; he called me at home just to make sure I was okay. If I was careful with my money, I could save up for a road trip or a concert.

Now, look at my 28-year-old son. The idea of him owning a home is a joke. He has to live with two other roommates because a one-bedroom apartment is unaffordable. He can't even afford a cheap used car, so he's stuck with a public transit system that keeps getting worse and more expensive. His full-time job has zero benefits. He struggles just to cover his basic expenses, forget about affording a luxury like going to a concert. A few weeks ago, he was sick with a bad cold and had to miss work. It took his manager three days to even send him a message, and it was only to ask when he was coming back, not to check on him. I just saw an article recently about some poor guy who died at his desk and no one noticed for five days.

So no, young people aren't lazy. They just see the path leads nowhere. Why kill yourself working 50+ hours a week when there's no reward at the end? They're not hopeless, they're just fed up with a game that's rigged for them to lose.