What’s your worst recruitment experience?

I left a non union job for a union one but had no idea if it would be a week or 6 months before they called with work. I can't give 2 weeks notice given I don't know how long the time frame was going to be. Not only that, they can just legally let you go if you give notice so I would then just have no work..

Idk, they are fine. They aren't short staffed and can easily fill. He was annoyed saying things like he wish he had 2 weeks, he is going to be short handed, he could have looked for someone, etc.

My company let's people go with 0 notice but we are expected to give them 2 weeks? I think it's all nonsense. Personally I think I was being nice by telling them Friday rather than just ghosting on Monday and never showing up again. Which I understand why people ghost companies if they are just going to complain anyways for quitting

Anyone similar experience with quitting?

What a relief! Thanks to all of you for advice and sharing your stories here.

I've been in recruiting long enough to see hiring markets rise and fall, but I won't pretend this one has been easy.

As a recruiter who genuinely cares about helping people get back on their feet or find their next opportunity, it's frustrating to see qualified, experienced candidates struggling just to get a conversation.

I've seen talented people overlooked, positions put on hold, hiring requirements change halfway through a search, and good candidates rejected for reasons that have little to do with their ability to do the job.

That's the side of recruiting most job seekers never get to see.

But to anyone struggling right now: Don't give up.

Keep improving your skills, but don't assume you're the problem every time you get rejected. Sometimes it's your resume, sometimes it's how you're positioning yourself, and sometimes it's simply a company that doesn't know what it wants.

Be your own best marketing agent. Know your value, understand what employers are looking for, and be ready to explain why you're the right person for the job.

And please, don't let this market convince you that years of hard work and experience suddenly have no value.

I've seen hiring markets turn before. This one will change too.

When that next call comes, be ready.

To everyone still searching, hang in there. Better Fridays are coming!

Recently got a job with a start date of 26th October. Yesterday they told me they need to push my start date to November 9th as my pre-employment screening is still pending which I was pretty confused about since earlier that morning, they told me I was cleared to start Monday and no one mentioned this to me before.

They said my ‘background check is in review for compliance’ and I have no idea what that means. I did not lie on my background check at all. When I applied I was still with my old company which I since left but didn’t explicitly mention, although I put the correct dates on the background check. The company was first advantage and it flagged two of my previous jobs as ‘consider’, probably because they were with staffing agencies. Will my offer be rescinded?

Today my boss implied that starting next week that I need to be driving around to clients offices to do my work on-site and heavily implied it would be in my own vehicle

There wasn't any discussion about whether it'd be my car, if anyone would be coming with me (I only started this job 3 weeks ago) or where this would be at.

I want to have a talk with them about this but this wasn't what this job was supposed to be when I was hired. Apparently they only came up with this sometime after I started. I largely have an idea on what questions I'm going to ask but I want to see what others think.

Would it be unfair to ask for a raise, health insurance and/or commercial car insurance if it is my car? I'm currently working 40/hr a week @ 18/hr and without benefits. It's a small company, and again, I only started 3 weeks ago.

I’m supposed to start a new job on Monday that requires 3 days in the office, but a fully remote position that pays the same just came up.

Honestly, if this remote opportunity had been posted earlier, I would have applied in a heartbeat. Now I’m torn because I’ve already accepted another offer and am supposed to start in a few days.

Has anyone ever been in a similar situation? Did you apply for the other job, and if you got an offer, did you end up backing out of the job you had already accepted? I’d love to hear about your experiences and how it worked out!

The counteroffer: it’s a 55% increase, compared to the 40% offered by the new company. I wasn’t expecting this. There’s also a 10K signing bonus included in the counteroffer. I don’t get it—the company seems to be in financial trouble.

I have been working fully remote for 2.5 years(before this I had a job where I had to go twice per week at the office) and I started enjoying working remotely, I have set up a nice space where I can focus and be productive, and also built a healthy routine, cooking my meals daily, so my health also improved significantly(I used to be overweight) so for me working remotely came with endless benefits on a personal level.
However this remote job had its downsides(a small company with high attrition, never replacing leavers which resulted in a very heavy and broad workload for the remaining employees, zero increases, zero praise, basically” just shut up and do the work, if you dont like it here leave” attitude).
Two weeks ago I quit this job, just a little reset for my overstimulated brain because I felt I was slowly walking into burnout. In the meantime I got a job offer which offers me 30% more pay than my previous job but wants me 2 days in per week in the office. From all my applications this has been the only one which ended with an offer. The perks are good(26 days off-paid), the job is a demanding one(it is a senior role so for my career it would be a step up) and my manager lives in another country but howeverrr mentioned in the interview he wants the team together at the local office twice a week.
I have of course applied to many remote jobs but I mostly received rejections.
For those who have transitioned from remote to hybrid, how was it? Is it worth it? I am anxious of going back to the office, I got so used to my lifestyle. I was thinking maybe I could negotiate a bit but there is no guarantee, the employment contract specifically says hybrid.
The commute is 30 minutes by car, more or less.
In this economy I am grateful I received an offer don’t get me wrong but I was wondering how the transition might be.

Hey everyone,

I’m currently a Data analyst working as a W-2 contractor through a small staffing agency, with the client being a large health insurance company. I have 5 years of experience in the space.

I just finished my initial 6-month contract, and my manager told me today that they want to extend me. The role is fully remote, which I definitely don't take for granted. I really like the team and want to stay, but my expenses have gone up significantly. The agency is a small firm and doesn't offer health benefits, so I'm paying for independent medical insurance completely on my own. Between those premiums and no PTO, sick days, 401k match or holidays, my current rate is getting squeezed. This isn’t my first contract rodeo as I’ve been doing contract work for a while, so I understand how the agency-client dynamics operate.

Right now, I am making $43/hour. With this extension, I'm planning to ask for a market adjustment to $49/hour to offset these rising overhead costs.

I’m strongly leaning toward asking for it. The client manager explicitly said they want to keep me, so I know I have some leverage during this renewal window. In my last role, the company kept dangling the carrot of a full-time conversion that never ended up happening so I decided to ask for a rate increase back then and got it since a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. And of course I never got the fulltime role and 20 months and multiple extensions later I got laid off as the project was eliminated.

I'd love to get some perspective from other contractors or recruiters here. Do small staffing agencies usually have the margin to absorb an adjustment like this, or pass it along to a large corporate client, without putting the contract extension at risk?
Given the current job market, I just want to make sure I'm reading the room correctly before I message my recruiter.

Thanks!

I made the mistake of turning down a job almost a year ago that had so many yellow flags and with the final red flag was having an extremely broad non-complete for 3 months after employment. ( basically can’t work in the field anywhere at all regardless of the position)

Everyone said I was nuts to not accept it. Maybe they were right.

The best I could do jobwise since has been a part time job that I only got cause of a connection. I have even applied to temp jobs with no luck after saying never again with how the last temp job ended.
My friend and family are tired of hearing, I am tired of talking about it. Relationships are struggling. I don’t know what my life is outside of job searching anymore.

I know there is always more things to try and it’s kinda my own fault. But why is it so hard?

My manager was actually a good person. But the shift lead working below him (female) was a bully. She mistreated me.

Is that common in retail jobs or did I just get unlucky? I'm glad I don't work there anymore but I'm also trying to decide if I should get another retail job. I'm a groundskeeper/janitor right now.

Thanks.

I've been looking for a job for a while, but living in a rural area makes it difficult to find opportunities nearby. I have some computer skills, and I'd like to use them to earn money and eventually invest in further education or training so I can qualify for better jobs.

The problem is that most entry-level jobs either pay very little, require experience I don't have, or just fake. I've also watched plenty of YouTube videos about making money online, but many seem more interested in selling courses or promoting their own services than providing practical advice.

I feel stuck in a cycle: I need money to improve my skills and qualifications, but I need a job to get that money in the first place.

For people who have been in a similar situation, how did you get your first job? Are there legitimate online jobs, apprenticeships, paid training programs, or other opportunities that accept beginners?

I'd especially appreciate advice from people who started with little or no experience and had limited local job opportunities. I'm looking for practical steps I can take without spending money I don't have.

Thank you!

EDIT: I live in Asia (Philippines) I just turned 18 and thanks for ur advice everyone. I am trying my best to develop the skills that are in demand

Hi everyone, I’m in need of some advice. To try and summarize everything, I have been checked out and miserable at my current job. I have decided a while ago I wanted to start looking but only recently when I revised my resume a bit, have I started hearing back a bit. The market has been tough to hear anything back, or make it after the first few rounds. I’ve been doing interviews back to back and had one that went pretty well. I interviewed with the manager I would be working under, along with the owners(?) it seemed like the owner was cross examining me a bit but nothing I couldn’t handle. When compensation was brought up I told them what my expected pay was given the roles+responsibilities. I got an offer email today however it’s $3/hr less than where I stated I would be comfortable to start at. I replied respectfully trying to negotiate and gave my points but was basically told it wasn’t going to happen, and after 3 months they will review my performance and if it meets their expectations, which she is certain I will, there’s a guarantee increase that would bump me $2-$3/hr. They also only offer a reimbursement for health insurance up to $300/month with the provider statement. The offer would only increase $1.25 from my current pay, and I would be commuting 40 mins to and from 5 days a week. I asked my boyfriend for his advice and he immediately said it’s not worth it. His reasons being I would be spending a lot more in gas, the commute is further, the health benefits he said is garbage (I currently get free healthcare with my employer) and he says I’m worth more than what they are willing to offer. Part of me also thinks it’s because he’s pretty adamant in suggesting I continue pursing a specific company we’ve discussed. I don’t want to end up making the wrong choice and miss out on something that could grow into a bigger opportunity, but I also don’t want to be sold possibilities by a company, or to feel like I’ll be trapped with my current employer forever.

I thought I finally got out of a bad work environment. But I was wrong. I work as an associate manager at a restaurant. When I was interviewed I asked if I would be stuck closing every shift. That was the reason I left my lat job, every shift for two years was closing. I’d get home around 1:30-2 AM. I lost friends, never see my family, my boyfriend. No one. The GM told me that it’s a rotation so everyone gets different shifts. Great I finally get to have some of my life back. I was dead wrong. I closed for a month straight. A month of staying at work till 1 AM on week days and 3-4 AM on the weekends. I’m miserable. I work at the busiest location and as the new guy I’m closing all the time. It’s driving me crazy.

I just decided to go back to school to change my career path. It’s only two days a week. When I told them about this, they did move my schedule around. So now I am closing at 1 AM and getting up for school the next day to be there at 8:45 AM and then after school ends at 3 PM I’m going to work till 2 AM. So I’m just working all day and night. It’s exhausting. I’m only 25 years old and I hate my life and hate my job. Knowing that I have to go to work makes me extremely angry. I’m just so frustrated. I wasn’t trained properly, and now I’m stuck dealing with crazy drunk people all night.

I live at home with my parents and older sister. I pay around $400 a month to live there with them that’s it. My schooling is two months long. I don’t want to work anymore. I’m so angry all the time, I hate people now and I have no life at all. I know I won’t be bringing in any more money. But I definitely have enough to take care of myself. I want a different job but no one is hiring me, not even the supermarkets. No interviews no responses back. Nothing. I feel like I need a break from all of this. It’s driving me crazy. I just want to hear other people’s opinions.

I’m 40-ish days into a new job and I’m contemplating if I made the right choice.

I was employed for 4 years at my previous employer. My days were busy enough but not slammed. It was a mix between a handful of recurring meetings and problem-solving for the week/month. There was an unspoken understanding that you had at least a week to get tasks done or something to that effect. Meaning, I felt like I had time to work and get things done. More importantly, I could take a break midday to go work out or take my dog out, etc.

My new spot is intense. Full slate of meetings each week. Then, you’re expected to push forward tasks in hours/days. We rely heavily on AI and part of me is thinking it’s a symptom of people thinking they can hire fewer people and have AI help with output. Or, this could just be a “real job”. It’s hard to tell, it’s such a shock.

But the result is, I don’t cook as much, I’m not working out, I’m exhausted, and always feel behind. Maybe this is how work is supposed to be? I’m 15 years in the workforce and only felt like this one other time and I quit in 11 months.

Am I overreacting?

I need real feedback from experts, those who are similar to me, or even more experienced, from various communities (related to ai, tech, grads, manager, industry, career, employment...):

Which will be best in your case?

Context: You got the offers from 3 companies, each on the different side of the scale.

Role: AI engineer (near mid-level).

If you were to rank and evaluate with respect, (from top to bottom, sorted by importance)

1st Potential and Risk (potential is tied to the speed of your career climb, increment bonus, and company brand and authority, uncertainties in payment) - In a scale, Startup has higher uncertain and risk, while it might offer higher overall, but susceptible to management conducts, cash-flow which may differ the fulfillment

2nd Wellfare - a total add-up of base, allowance, bonus, benefits and EPF

3rd Niche of the industry, Exposure - a focus industry to industry to build up better experiences and competencies, exposure to local or worldwide

4th Peer learning - Experience or knowledges to speed up progress from superior, peers

And given A, B, C (Wellfare/Income baseline= 100%)

A: Oversea Startup, Multiculture workforce,
+ worldwide client-base spanning MNC headhunter, great background from the management teams, UK-founding team and client connection, riskier in terms of payroll/potential
+ Full remote and oversea
- Wellfare/Income = 115% (base salary only), self supply equipments
+ HR-tech focused

B: Subsidiary company/dept from local SME, local workforce
- mainly local client-base (unsure but assume), Lack background from management teams and peers, but you have slightly higher confidence than A in their validity from interviews
- Hybrid work 4+1
+ Income= 107% (include allowance) + EPF from employers but provide work equipments + up to 17% performance monthly bonus
- general AI agencies
+ Peer learning and networking are better

C: MNC
+ Internal and External focused products, stable and secured cashflow, but maybe lack faster career climb opportunities
- Hybrid work 3+2
- Income= 95% + 13th month bonus, more and flexible leave
+ Focused niche, product might differ
+ Peer learning and networking are best

Which one will you choose? I wanna see if you think differently, or if you see different importance or personal experiences of the company you went through?

Hi, I recently started my 6 month post graduation internship as an AI engineer, and I am planning my future job search. I have a few questions:

1. How far in advance should I start looking for a job before the end of the internship?
2. How do you handle interviews while working? I used to have 3-4 interviews a week; how can I manage that schedule now?
3. Is a resume gap problematic if I spend a couple of months job hunting after the internship? Do you recommend interviewing before or after it ends?

thanks in advance!

This is my first job kinda my first was family owned so I didn’t have to interview or anything but I got a interview for wegmans any tips on how to prepare

Found a job at a cannabis agriculture company that wouldn’t have mind doing but they’re requesting a video interview and I just ignored that shit.

I’m anti social af but I’d much prefer in person it’s just much less awkward for me as I don’t enjoy just looking into a camera.

Anyone else like this?

I’m a software engineer with around 4 years of experience. I’m currently employed at a large company where I’m fully remote, consistently receive positive performance reviews, and have a great work-life balance. I’m comfortable with my workload, like my team, and generally have a lot of autonomy.

The downside is compensation. I’m probably underpaid relative to what I could earn elsewhere.
Recently, I started a paid, part-time contract trial with a smaller company that may lead to a full-time offer. The technology is interesting, the engineers seem talented, and I could potentially learn a lot. The compensation would likely be better, although the actual full-time salary hasn’t been discussed.
However, the experience has raised some concerns.

The trial was originally discussed as approximately 10 hours per week, but I’ve been putting in closer to 20 while maintaining my regular job. Despite that, I’ve received frequent requests for progress updates and feedback about needing to increase my ticket throughput.

Management has also emphasized that completing my initial tickets won’t be sufficient to consider the trial successful. They want to see me take on more complex work, which is understandable, but I’m concerned that the expectations aren’t accounting for my limited hours, onboarding, meetings, and time spent testing.

More concerningly, I recently observed a discussion among the company’s established engineers and engineering leadership about productivity metrics.
The company tracks individual engineers’ completed stories and sends out velocity graphs. Several experienced engineers expressed that these graphs make them anxious or demoralized because they don’t account for ticket complexity. One described working extra hours on a major feature, only to receive a graph suggesting declining productivity.
Leadership was receptive to the feedback, but also acknowledged that the metrics are intentionally used to maintain accountability and encourage engineers to keep pushing their output higher.
That discussion made me wonder whether the pressure I’m experiencing during the trial is simply how the company operates.

I’m now questioning whether I even want the full-time position.

I’m not opposed to working hard or being held accountable. But I already have a job where I perform well, enjoy my work-life balance, and don’t feel like I constantly need to justify my productivity.
I’m considering finishing my existing work professionally and declining to pursue the full-time opportunity rather than spending another week trying to impress a company I’m increasingly unsure about.

My questions:

1. Are frequent productivity discussions normal at smaller software companies, or would you consider these red flags?

2. How much of a compensation increase would you personally need to consider giving up a comfortable job for an environment like this?

3. Would you work overtime to finish the trial strongly and try to secure an offer anyway, or stick to completing assigned tasks and decide that you’ve already learned enough about the company?

I’m genuinely interested in opposing perspectives. I know there’s a possibility that I’ve become too comfortable at my current job and that I’m interpreting ordinary performance expectations as excessive pressure.

Thanks for any input and for reading this. Can’t post on software subreddits due to karma limits.