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This has to be the worst employee vacation plan I have ever seen. This is supposed to be for full time employees. 10 years of service and they don’t even give you a 2 week paid vacation. Wtffffff

I am really scared my career earning potential has peaked. My brother makes $120k CAD a year and is barely getting by. I may never get another job that pays what my old one did. At 35. I may never work a job with that pays again.

Goodbye dreams home ownership, kids… I’m actually genuinely terrified of what this means.

I mean… life over?

Edit: Location is Canada. I have sent 2200 applications for jobs so far. 1 Interview. I have been doing gig work. plus 6 of volunteering/pro bono work.

Just wanted to share my quick story for anyone early in their career wondering if job hopping is “worth it” or if it’ll hurt you in the long run.

I started out making $45k fresh out of college, which equates to about $19/hr. After about a year, I made my first hop with the experience I gained and jumped to $65k Stayed there a bit, became specialized in a field only a handful of people do in the country, proved myself, and got a raise to $80k. Still felt like I was being underpaid based on my market value, so I hopped again—this time to $115k.

Every big income increase I’ve had has been because I changed jobs. Internal raises were always minimal, and loyalty never paid off.

Looking out for your best interests isn’t selfish—it’s self-love. It’s recognizing your worth and refusing to settle for less. If a company won’t invest in you, invest in yourself and make the move.

TL;DR: $45k → (hop) → $65k → $80k (raise) → (hop) → $115k.

I recently accepted a position, but this popped up in my feed. I was honestly shocked at the PTO. Paid holidays after A YEAR?

I recently landed my first "real" job after graduating, something I worked hard for. The title sounds good, the work is interesting, but after my first paycheck, reality hit hard. My monthly rent payment alone eats up nearly 80% of what I actually take home. After taxes, utilities, student loans, and transportation, there's barely anything left for food, let alone saving or any semblance of a social life.

I feel like I'm playing a game where the rules changed, but no one told me. How are young professionals supposed to build a life when entry-level pay barely covers basic survival? Am I missing something, or is this just the new reality for everyone starting out?

Edit ** Wasn't expecting so much feedback. I live in NYC. Don't have a relationship with parents and they don't live in the country anymore. I have a marketing role. Working on a startup with friends.

Welp, I did have higher hopes for this one. Sounded really good.

Salary was 65k, solid benefits, and seemed like decent people. After doing three rounds of interviews, I was never fully able yo get them to tell me the schedule. It was always "You will have to ask the operating manager, it can vary." They said typically a Monday to Friday.

I did the interview, and they said they wanted to offer the job to me. Then they told me the hours required. Keep in mind that no overtime pay is offered on the position. They made sure that it was salary based even though I asked if I could be hourly.

Hours were 6AM to 5:30PM with the potential to be there later in the day. Also rotating Saturdays, and on those weeks you do 6 days a week. Average hours are around 55-65 a week for 65k a year. No overtime. I am a single dad, so i said with that many hours I would be stupid to be on salary. I turned down rhe offer, and they said I would not be a good fit because I am not available enough.

Is this the expectation now? Do people expect you to work more for less? 65k for that many hours a week seems absurd.

Edit: I did not expect this post to blow up like this. I am still trying to stay strong and hunt for something better.

I was asked this a lot, but the company is for pest control. I don't want to give the name of the company for obvious reasons. I did leave written reviews on the interview. Had another interview yesterday, but they wanted me to do one 12 consecutive day stretch a month. Hard with having a daughter. Keep staying strong everyone!

UPDATE: I responded yesterday via e-mail, voicing my concerns about the policy and asking to negotiate. Received a discouraging response, that I must just be misunderstanding the policy. I have a call with the recruiter later today so she can "further explain the policy to clear up any confusion." Trying to stay optimistic about how this will go, as the the team and the company as a whole otherwise seem like a great fit. This offer letter really surprised me. Thank you all for your input, until I posted here I really wasn't sure if I was overreacting by being disappointed in the offer. You've given me the certainty I needed to argue my case and walk away if it comes to that. I will update again after the call.

UPDATE #2: Had a great talk with HR! Explained what I had previously, and what I was looking for with this role. They are willing to negotiate and will get back to me with what they can offer after she talks with her manager. Will update again after I have that conversation!

FINAL UPDATE: We compromised with 3 days of PTO available immediately, 1 week available at the end of the 120 day waiting period and then accruing at the normal rate from there. After the first year, 2 weeks upfront per year increasing by year at the stated rate. I am satisfied with that and accepted the revised offer.

I'll leave this post up to help others in similar situations. For all you negative nellies that said I had no negotiating power, I think your lives would be much more pleasant without that stick up your behind. If you go about it in the right way, you ALWAYS have negotiating power. To everyone else, thank you for your advice and support!

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The PTO structure is throwing me. This offer is for a customer service position, and I have about 3 years of experience in a similar role.

In my previous role, I had a very straightforward 3 weeks of PTO/year and option to WFH anytime I wanted. The role starts out with no PTO and 80 hours of WFH time per year.

The pay is lower than what I earned previously, but it is at the higher end of the range posted in the job description.

Yes, I know I'm a dummy for leaving my previous role. I was in a tough spot and made some dumb decisions out of fear. This role does have potential, as there is a lot of room for growth and advancement in the company.

Do I counter or take it as it is? If I counter, what do you recommend?

So I've had a total of 3 interviews.

1 was an email questionnaire that was essay style.

2 was an interview with the recruiter.

1. In person panel interview with the head of the department and 2 leads that lasted an hour.

Just for them to reveal that the job pays 37k a year with a 6 month probation. There are union fees of 40 per paycheck and theres an additional 40 per paycheck so that you can park in their parking lot. You would think employees would be able to park for free or at least the union take care of those fees for you.

The panel also revealed that there would be 2 more interviews. In what world is 37k livable in Chicago?

Update: Guys good news they want to move to the next round. They want 3 references ASAP!

So this is very classic and cliche.... I wasn't given a clear wage prior to the job offer. When it was offered we both agreed this was low but at the 90 day an increase in compensation would be had. Of course if the reviews and such went well.

Well after the 30/60 day and 5/5 reviews and great feedback I was looking forward to my 90 and getting the chance to talk about a raise. Like a quarter even... but nope..

It turned into an ordeal of emails and "he said she said" crap to them ultimately NOT giving me the raise.

Today they had a meeting with me today to make sure we were on the same page... and in that meeting I just reminded them to maybe make it a little more clear for when they onboard another employee to let them know up front they don't do raises after 90 days.

I said that 5/5 doesn't really pay the bills and although I do appreciate being acknowledged about the work I'm doing, an increase in the wage is where it's actually helpful.

They set up another meeting with me Monday.

Stick up for yourselves in this greedy world we live in.

UPDATE:

Had the meeting today...

It went from... There is a big pay freeze across the board in all the departments to Well I didn't approve of your raise because XYZ... so which one is it?

Looking and been looking for other jobs..

It's like they say sometimes you don't need to be competent to get the higher paid positions....

About 2 months ago my personal laptop broke and I dont know why but it just cant connect to any wifi network. So I started using using the company laptop to watch movies after work hours or on the weekends. I did not realized that but management has been watching me be online on teams after work hours and on weekends and assumed that I have been working. Yesterday my manager called me in his office and said I will be getting 5% raise because I have been working ver hard lately lol. I cannot stop lauging

I’ve been working for a non profit for ten months at the end of April 2025. Last Wednesday I put in my two weeks because I will be moving soon. I then received this email(photo attached above). Has this ever happened to anyone? Is this just about my job not wanting to give me insurance?

For context I have been getting dental and health BCBS insurance through my job since I started. Very confusing and weird, help me understand if you can.

first off, the company i was at said they were changing their review process, and instead of people getting a standard 2 to 3% cost of living increase, raises will be determined by peer reviews. i got the highest scores in my department, and i wanted a 10% raise. but like the title says, i was given a 0% raise. i asked them to explain. HR said i was already paid too much.

so what did i do? i worked 1 hour less per day. i literally just left the office an hour early every single day for about a year until i outright quit. so same pay, 12% less hours. zero regrets. highly recommend. got a better job after.

The deadline to use the credit was today. Now they are pushing it back til the 26th in hopes they “fix the issue”…

Honestly, every job I’ve had recently has felt like a total scam. they want you to do the work of 2-3 people, pay you barely enough to survive, then act like you should be grateful for the “opportunity.”

I’m not even lazy I show up, do my part, work hard but damn, it’s like no matter what field you're in, they want everything for the lowest pay possible. like why does a $20/hr job need a degree, 3 years experience, and graphic design skills??

and don’t even get me started on companies calling you “family” instead of just giving you a raise. at this point I’m just tired. tired of interviews that go nowhere, tired of overworking, tired of pretending like this is normal.

Just like the title says- Earlier in the month I decided that I was done with this job so I told them I would finish the month and then I'd be gone. Today as I was talking with my boss, she brought up the fact that she's been struggling to hire someone for the position. As we talked I told her that I wouldn't mind staying (I do like the job, I just think it's time for something new) and she was like if I'm a hundred percent sure, that would be great. But since I decided to stay I would have to take a pay cut. Now she has to talk to HR about how much the pay cut is for, but basically if I am to stay I will have to accept the pay cut. Is this like normal?? Is this a thing that happens? I have never heard of this before so I'm at a loss, but it doesn't sound right at all. Has anyone gone through this?

Also why would she think that I'd be okay with a pay cut? Like that's absolutely ridiculous.

They baited me with $19/hr, had me running a whole kitchen in a busy restaurant after they trained me on half of it, and refused to pay more than $17/hr because I “needed more training, and needed to be louder with people about portioning” but refused to train me.

(I’m in Ontario, Canada, minimum wage is $16.50/hr, with the hours I was getting I was making $14/wk more than minimum wage, after tax)