How to lose candidates 101

They had the audacity to ask them to take the negative review down

A PhD gets $7/hour

Anyone who has applied for a job in the past couple of years knows it's a very tricky process. So much goes into job hunting, and it's not as simple as being the most qualified person for a position. Job interviews sometimes feel like they're taking place in an alternate reality; how you articulate yourself must be carefully curated to make you sound like a good worker. It's unnatural, but it's a bare necessity if you're going to get a job. With remote work becoming far more common, competition…

Salary negotiation is one of the most challenging parts of getting a new job. It can feel tough to assert yourself and fight for what you're worth, especially when the company is lowballing you. If you can stand your ground for a better salary, it can significantly help your career and your quality of life in the long run. Unfortunately, not all companies are open to negotiating salaries, even from candidates with excellent experience. Still, companies that aren't the most accepting of negotiat…

It's very easy to tell when a job recruiter is scamming you. Typically, they'll use extremely unprofessional language right off the bat. Either that or they will be extremely unspecific about anything. No great job has come from a recruiter messaging you on LinkedIn “Hello. When can you interview.”

Applying for jobs is tough; every entry-level position wants 3-5 years of experience, which makes the distinction of “entry-level” an oxymoron. Most career coaches will tell you to apply for jobs you're inexperienced in anyways because, usually, the people writing the job ads set the bar higher than they need to draw in more qualified applicants. Luckily, as time progresses in your career, you become overly qualified for those measly entry-level positions and begin to move up in the world. No l…

Quitting a job is hard. I've only done it twice in my life, and it's not as simple as waltzing in and yelling, “I quit!” It's much harder to leave a toxic workplace than a well functioning one. Nobody tries to guilt you when you're leaving a well-functioning workplace because they know that one less employee is not going to make much of a difference. The hardest jobs to quit are ones that beg you to stay. Each time I quit jobs, I tried to be as professional as possible because I wanted to maint…

It's no secret that some jobs discriminate based on age and gender. There's a reason that restaurants typically have teenage girls work as hostesses and servers and teenage boys washing dishes or bussing tables. It's not because one group is uniquely skilled at one of these jobs but because of industry conventions. There are still incredibly legal ways jobs can discriminate against certain groups. For example, have you ever applied to a job where one of the requirements is “the ability to lift…

Why? Just why?

A "2nd chance"!?

When I was applying for jobs, I was a bit skeptical of any company that asked me to take a personality test before the interview. I understand wanting to hire somebody with good vibes, but isn't that what the multiple rounds of interviews are for? You would think companies might do such a test to understand someone's temperament and working style to ensure they're suitable for this position. That, unfortunately, is not usually the purpose. Although it's quite shady, many jobs that use "personal…

Scammers gonna scam!

So many job postings list very strange requirement for applying. Sometimes they're innocuous, like jobs that anyone could learn in 3 days needing applicants with 3-5 years of full time working experience. Other instances are shadier, like when jobs that require no manual labor whatsoever need employees who have the ability to life 30-50 pounds. That was a requirement for my job as a library security guard. The heaviest thing I had to lift in that job was a walkie talkie. It's far less socially…

If there is one thing workers must be, it's protective of their time. If you're not, people will surely take advantage of it. Unfortunately, everybody is on different pages regarding what is normal to ask of someone. Is it normal for somebody to arrive to work an hour early and leave an hour late? Is it normal to only work during allotted hours and make no exceptions? What about being available at all times? Nobody knows! It's a weird game of 3D Chess that none of us are winning. This time of t…

250 words of nothing