So inspirational

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.”

So many bosses want excessive access to their employees in manners that cross some boundaries. On the first day of my first restaurant job, I asked one of the assistant managers if I could leave at 9 PM since, on the schedule, my shift ended at 9 PM. He laughed at me, said, “it's good you didn't ask that when the manager was around,” and we continued working. At the time, I felt like such an idiot because I had never had a job before, so I assumed all jobs were like that. Now I just realize thi…

It's usually not easy to pursue your hobbies as a career. Most hobbies are hobbies for a reason, and that reason is that they're more fun to do than your job. Often, people work years and years to ever financially get into a position where they can leave their day job in pursuit of their hobbies. However, sometimes you get a golden opportunity to switch careers that you can't pass up. For Redditor u/the_anecdotist135 , this didn't come in the form of a competitive job offer or even a concrete o…

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…

Not a bad idea

I do not envy anyone who has to fire others. Letting somebody down easy is a skill I simply don't have. Every time I've broken up with someone, I have done it clunkily and a bit insensitively, which is really not ideal for delivering bad news . You need to tell the other person what's happening directly, but not too directly. You need to be empathetic first and informative second. You need to make sure they cry after you fire them instead of when they're in the room with you. It's a tricky bala…

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…

Do you ever see somebody in your life going to law school and get genuinely worried that they're only doing it because they were inspired by Legally Blonde ? This has happened to me a non-zero number of times. I don't have these concerns because I don't think blonde women are capable of mastering the legal profession. However, after one too many Elle Woods quotes posted on their Instagram story while studying for the LSATs, I got a little concerned. Being a lawyer is really difficult. It's not…

Ah, Valentine's Day, the holiday where couples with 9 to 5 jobs get to terrorize people in various industries. If you work in entertainment, service, or hospitality, I am so sorry. You do not deserve the chaos, madness, and terror that is coming to you during this Hallmark card of a holiday. For most people in the hospitality industry, January and February are chill months! Unless your hotel is hosting a convention or you worked at an Arizona Hotel last weekend, your hotels are likely pretty em…

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?

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…

You can tell a lot about a workplace by how upper management speaks about people who have left the company. It's not too difficult to pick up on a boss struggling to maintain employees because of their poor management style. While it's normal to have a few wacko former employees, it's a red flag when every former employee is discussed with derision and disgust. I've only quit jobs a couple of times, but the reaction from management was very different. When I put my two weeks in while working at…

Employment can be a real piece of work. Being the underling of your boss can go sour quickly. As anyone in the workforce knows, employers are often more than willing to take advantage of their employees because they think they can get away with it. Horrible bosses believe they can squeeze the life out of their workers and continue doing so because they don't think they will ever quit. Who among us hasn't had a boss who watches our every move, making you terrified of making one error to risk bei…

Overreact much?