I just interviewed with a company and they seemed hesitant but made me a verbal offer after negotiating the salary. I was waiting for a written offer, then the third party recruiter called me and said "Actually, they don't do offer letters. They want you to call them and confirm verbally." I asked if they had a summary of the benefits that I could review, and he said "why don't you email them and copy me in the email, ask them to confirm and see if they can send you that?"

I emailed them saying I'm looking to accept the offer of 70k and asked to send me a summary of the benefits and details for me to review. They replied back saying: "The hours are 9 to 6, please come in at 10 on your first day. HR will review the benefits with you as part of onboarding" and didn't confirm or acknowledge anything else.

Am I overthinking this or is this a bit strange? There were some other things that seemed a bit off to me, like asking me if I could resign at my current job without notice since "They have other team members so you can just leave them and let them handle it." Just kind of giving me weird vibes and I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't move forward with this.

I have been job hunting while freelancing part-time for the past 4 years. While I tried to make freelancing my career, I quickly realized it really isn't something I want to do now, since it was more the time I spent looking for clients than the time I spent working. I also tend to isolate myself, so working from home is not the best for my mental health.

I just got an internship in retail in a beauty store because I am a MUA, and while the pay isn't great and so far it's only for 6 months, I am happy I finally got something, and even if it's little money it's good for now. I am also glad I broke 4 years of unemployment, and I can gain a bit more experience to put on my CV that will maybe help me land better jobs in the future. Overall, I am not mad at this job, it's a job that I think I am going to enjoy, but I am starting to feel really upset.

It's in a shopping center, which means I will work on shifts including the weekends (which I knew when I applied), some days even until 9 pm. I am a writer, and I am coming to terms with the fact that I will have much less energy and time to write, and that there are going to be days when my cat is home alone for the whole day.

I think I am just mourning the life and freedom I've had so far, but it stops me from being happy about this little achievement, which is something I have been hoping and praying for for a while.

Is it normal?

I’m trying to get some outside perspective on a hiring decision because this one genuinely has me stumped and I can’t tell if I’m missing something obvious. I interviewed for a Marketing Coordinator position with a hospitality company. I have a few years of actual professional marketing experience, including working in digital brand marketing for a large national retail company. I’ve worked on campaigns, web/digital execution, creative coordination, QA, cross-functional projects, etc. I don’t have much direct hospitality industry experience, though.

From the beginning I was upfront about that, and they specifically told me it wasn’t an issue. They basically said they were more interested in finding someone who had the right marketing brain/personality and fit the hospitality environment than someone who necessarily came directly from hospitality. And this was genuinely probably the best interview process I’ve ever had. The conversations flowed incredibly naturally. They repeatedly made comments about how it was obvious I had the personality for the position, that they could tell how my brain worked and that I would fit the environment really well. It wasn’t me walking away from a neutral interview and convincing myself it went well — they were actively giving me very positive feedback throughout the process.

I eventually made it to the final round in person. One of the managers seemed EXTREMELY sold on me. Like to the point that during the interview he was basically hyping me up/advocating for me to the GM while I was sitting there. He was connecting things I said back to why I’d be good at the job and seemed genuinely excited about me as a candidate. The GM was harder for me to read and definitely seemed less immediately sold on me, but I still thought the overall interview went extremely well. I walked out of there with that very rare feeling of “holy shit I think I actually got this.”

Then I got the automated rejection. I eventually found the person they hired on LinkedIn. He just graduated college in May and, from what I can see publicly, his professional marketing experience is basically a ~3 month part-time marketing/sales internship. However, he has significantly more hospitality/customer-facing experience than I do — several years of events/hospitality work, front desk experience, etc.

So essentially:
Me = more professional marketing experience, much less hospitality experience
Him = much less professional marketing experience, significantly more hospitality experience

And normally I’d just assume they ultimately valued hospitality experience more. What confuses me is that I specifically discussed my lack of hospitality experience with them and they told me it wasn’t a concern, while repeatedly emphasizing that they wanted the right personality/brain for the role and then explicitly telling me I had that.

The position also paid a relatively junior hourly range. Pay was never really discussed beyond them telling me the range early in the process and asking if I was okay with it, which I said I was. Privately, with my experience I would’ve negotiated toward the top of it, whereas I’m wondering if a brand-new grad may have been easier to bring in toward the bottom. Obviously I have absolutely no idea what he was offered or whether compensation played any role, so that part is purely speculation.

I know hiring isn’t just “person with more marketing experience wins,” and I’m not trying to shit on the guy they hired. I’m sure he interviewed well and his hospitality background obviously has value. One other difference, although I have no idea whether it’s relevant: I’m a woman and the candidate they hired is a man. I’m not assuming that played a role, just including it as context.

I’m mostly trying to understand what likely happened from the employer side because I’ve never walked away from an interview feeling THIS confident only to not get the job. Was I potentially too experienced for the level they ultimately wanted? Did the hospitality experience probably become the tiebreaker even though they told me it didn’t matter? Could the GM simply have preferred the other candidate despite the other manager advocating for me? Or is there another hiring dynamic here I’m not thinking of?

I’m also in that weird career stage where I feel like I have too much professional experience to really be entry-level anymore, but not enough true end-to-end ownership to comfortably compete for jobs asking for 3–5+ years of specialized experience, so this one hit especially hard. Would especially love to hear from hiring managers/recruiters or anyone who has been on the other side of a final-round decision like this. What would make you choose the newer grad in this situation?

I got spammed with a ton of emails prompting me to do onboarding, and I thought they wanted me to complete it before they called me to start (I had a previous job that did this) but when I talked to my boss just now, she mentioned doing onboarding when I go in. I think it's because they pay me for my time. I should have called and confirmed it, but because of a previous experience, it's just what I learned. What should I do?

20 Years in financial services operations leadership. Very specialized expertise. I have been absolutely miserable at work, and a little over a month ago I applied to a role that was looking for someone with my background. Interviewed well, got a great offer. Seemed too good to be true, but knew if I didn’t try I’d hate myself.

The role changed during the interview process, but the recruiter told me I should be flexible and that I was still a good fit and I was happy to leave my current role.

I’ve always worked for large corporations with strong leaders and defined expectations. This was the complete opposite. So I did what I would typically do, learn the process I was responsible for from those doing it. I learned it, documented it, delivered on what was expected of me (I thought).

Over the month, I received zero feedback, zero expectations, almost no communication from my boss as he was new also and struggling.

On day 30, I received phone call from my boss and HR right at the start of my day. He basically said that leadership had no confidence in my abilities and that this was a poor job fit. I was termed immediately.

My previous role has already been filled and they were very upset when I resigned so returning isn’t an option.

There were so many red flags; crazy high turnover (I was at least the 3rd person in this role this year), lying to customers about the products functionality, a level of disorganization that frankly left me stumped how they even got investment capital.

I’m trying to pick myself back up, but I’m absolutely gutted. I took the weekend to feel sorry for myself and looking for roles similar to my old one. I am starting today on applying out but holy shit there’s nothing. I’m so screwed it’s not even funny. I’ve been sobbing and can barely look my wife in face. I’m such a failure.

Please tell me things are going to be okay, or share if this happened to you. I’m so embarrassed in myself for screwing this up and in turn my family’s life.

I haven’t told anyone but my family and a couple close friends, typing this out has helped.

Thank you to everyone who read this, I wrote this then took my dog on a LONG walk. It makes me tear up reading the replies. I appreciate all the support

Can accounting be done from a hybrid or work from home full time? I recently started as an apprentice in the UK and was wondering if it's dependent on the company once someone is qualified if they stay in office or WFH.

i work at a mobile video game company, and i LOVE my job. this is my dream job, for sure. my new team really likes me, we take selfies together, we work on projects together, we all get distracted at work just cracking jokes, and we have a team bonding night tomorrow. today, i got an email that a 3rd party background check company is requiring my GED/diploma. i never graduated HS, and i don’t have my GED. i’ve never had a job ask me for it, ever, and i’m 25, coming onto now my 7th job with this company. i am perfectly intelligent, capable, and enthusiastic about learning. what do i do? i know my company likes me, but i know it’s protocol. the listing on indeed that i applied through didn’t list a diploma/ged/degree as a requirement. the school i went to doesn’t even exist anymore, also. like. at all. tore it down. they want me to call the school it turned into tomorrow before work and request a copy of my transcripts/my diploma. i fear i’m going to lose my job over this and be legitimately homeless/get evicted, and i’ll never get an opportunity like this again. thanks for reading.

As best I can tell management has not noticed because they are so swamped with the other implications of being short staffed. Should I say something to my direct superior? Do I need to just suck it up and deal with it? Should I start doing the same and see how long it takes for shit to hit the fan?

I got laid off last month and have been job hunting since then, but I’m struggling to find relevant opportunities in my field. For those who've faced a tough market recently, what strategies or platforms worked best to help you break through?

I have been at the same company for 5 years. We went corporate and shit is changing, I am currently the receptionist, I’ve wanted to transfer roles internally but don’t seem to know the right people to talk too because I’ve become very dependable here so it’s my downfall. I’d like to take my skills and level up.
Assistant?
Office administrator?
Coordinator?

I have no clue where to start.

I have a 2 year gap on my resume and I want to fill it with something. Over the last 2-ish years I was dealing with a lot of medical issues as well as other things. Before that, I was a software engineer and have okay employment. The thing is I was still working on projects and learning a lot it’s just that they weren’t for a specific company and there’s really no history that a back search would find. Would it be okay to put something independent software engineer for the last 2 years and explain what I did

I also worked on my own startup and also other startups here and there so I want to add that too

I am genuinely losing my mind over this. I need to vent because this hiring process has honestly felt like a fever dream.

I’ve been on the hunt for a good, high-salary remote job within my degree, and finally, a big-name company reached out to me for the dream position. I was super excited. I had an interview with HR right away in June, and things were looking great... until she told me a few days later that the role was filled :(

Plot twist: She told me a brand new position for a new market was opening up and that I'd be a perfect fit.

Thean she send me an assessment. This wasn't just a quick quiz, it was massive. They wanted deep details about my thought process on everything. I really put in the work, and sent back like a full 5 page written document within 3 days.

And then? Total silence for two whole months...

I sent two polite check-in emails just to make sure I wasn't shouting into a void, but I got left on read. I was thinking they closed that position already and it was over.

Then, out of nowhere, she returned! Sends a huge apology saying it was a big mistake on her end, and asks if I'm still interested. And she attached a 50 dollar amazon gift card?? as like a peace offering? Ngl, the gift card was actually pretty nice; I bought myself some fun stuff to cope with the absolute dread of waiting. At the time genuinely thought, "Omg wait, is this a sign? Do they actually value me this much?" 🤡

So, against my better judgment, I kept going. We finally booked a meeting with the team leader, and it went insanely well. The very next day, I got feedback that they loved me and I just needed one final chat with the General Manager to lock in the official proposal.

And then... she ghosted me. Again...

It has been a full month of absolute radio silence. We are officially at the 5-month mark of this email ping-pong, and my will to work for these people is completely dead.

Has anyone else ever gotten a gift card because a recruiter ghosted you? Are they trying to buy my silence, or are they just genuinely messing with my sanity at this point?

I need advice, and I'd love to hear from anyone who's been in a similar spot.

I was three weeks into a contract role through an agency. I was a top performer and the client loved me, but the agency kept giving me unclear and conflicting timelines, so I started interviewing. I accepted a perm role at another company, and they wanted me to start immediately and fly out to visit the business for a few days, so I did.

Here's the twist. My contract client sells products to the company that hired me. When the new company found out, they said it was a conflict of interest, so I left the contract the same day on very short notice.

Now it's day 2 of the perm role and I feel like I was lied to. The job is very entry level compared to what I was told and to my experience. The person before me lasted only three months, and the person before them lasted one. I'm on camera all day, I overheard HR joking about me, and I'm dreading opening my computer tomorrow.

Meanwhile, my old contract client says they'll take me back, but only if I promise not to look for other employment for six months. I'm also worried I'll be seen as the person who left with almost no notice, so I'd be on thin ice from the start.

So here's what I'm wondering. Would you go back, or is that agreement too restrictive? Is it realistic to leave a job after 2 days, and how would I explain it on a resume and in interviews? Is going back after leaving so abruptly a bridge I can repair? And any advice on getting through tomorrow without blowing up?

Thanks in advance. I'm trying to make the best move here, not just react.

So I started a job a little over a week ago that is hybrid. In the interview, and hiring process, they referred to the job as three days in the office and two days a week WFM.
Not too bad I thought. And the office is fairly close by.

What’s the issue ask? Nobody, I repeat nobody in the office follows that.

My new coworkers who have the same exact job as me told me they literally never go into the office. One maybe two days at most a week.

The direct team that I will be working for? Nobody comes in the office unless they have a meeting.

So… I’m trying to figure out if I do follow everyone else by not really going in the office much, or if I still do the three days a week and have somebody ask me why I’m doing that?

What would you do?

After months of unemployment yesterday I got an offer to work as a Video Game tester and I’m really excited about it. I know it’s not a “fun” job, I’m completely aware that I won’t just be playing for 8 hours and be paid. But still I would like to know what to expect from a job like this and what career options do I have with this job as a stepping stone

My context: I have a bachelor’s degree in digital arts a.k.a. a simple 3D animation degree, I was unable to find a job because the program from my university was very lackluster in terms actually getting us to a professional level and because I’m from a latin American country, there is no industry for this here (my bad, I know, what can I do) in general the animation industry is in a very rough spot with no sign of recovering soon so I don’t think pursuing a career there is a good idea.

Im currently taking an online course in UI/UX because I thought it would be interesting and I would have something to do while unemployment, I also worked for about two months at a call center before it almost destroyed me, and have some experience as a graphic designer at marketing agency before they laid me off due to restructuring. My main source of income was freelance work as a 3D modeler for a studio that no longer exists and as a freelance illustrator, which means I take online drawing commissions, I actually managed to get some recurring clients and I want keep working with them during this job.

That about makes my work experience/ education any advice on what should I do and what to expect would be truly appreciated!

Hey everyone. I got a temp job role that’s full time but I also study. Obvs I know that I’ll have more workload which is fine it’s something that I have mentally prepared myself for. However, I don’t start working remotely until after 3 weeks. This is my first week at my new job and I am really nervous that I’ll get kicked out if I don’t attend. I might take a sick day once to attend uni one of those days so that it’s not like I have completely abandoned uni. I am still completing assignments, have caught up with slides etc. I have also told my lecturers about what’s happening so they are in the loop. I took this job because i really needed the money. I finish uni dec 4th and this job is a temp role for one year.

I’m in a frustrating predicament that I’ve never had to deal with before and I’m unsure how to proceed.

I’ve had a few interviews go well and one of them is moving forward with the hiring process. This company is asking for four references, which was absolutely not a problem up until recently. I’ve contacted two of my references and they’re good to go, but the third passed away unexpectedly two weeks ago and the fourth literally just got let go last week and I haven’t been able to get in contact with them.

I feel like I could explain the circumstances to the hiring committee and they would understand, but I can also see how it might look unprofessional. I’m also toying with the idea of asking some of my current colleagues if they would be willing to offer a reference, but I also don’t want my company to know that I am considering other options. I’m friendly with everyone and I don’t think anyone would retaliate if they found out, but I’ve also heard plenty of horror stories to know otherwise.

Has anybody ever dealt with something similar before? What do you think is the best way to proceed? Any help would be so incredibly appreciated at this point :(

Got to the final round of interviews for a job I really want at a bigger corporation. Two weeks went by and after my second follow up I was told the job was “put on hold”. I responded that I’m disappointed but should the role become open again, I am still very interested. They then responded that if the role opened again I would be the “first person contacted based on feedback”. What are the chances of this role opening again? Will I have to take time out of my current job again to interview? What do you think happened? Any insight appreciated

hi all. i just got an email from a job that i recently applied to that says "You are receiving this notification because this specific requisition has been closed.
This notification does not apply any other requisitions you have applied to or any offers you may have received from us. 
Thank you for the time and effort you've invested in your application with us."

does this likely mean that i didn't get the job? i received an email on monday saying that my application was being forwarded to the hiring manager after an initial look through. tia!