It's not easy to remember your worth when you're desperate for work. The working world is engineered to make us feel grateful for signing any sort of contract in a highly competitive market with next to no jobs. That being said, even if you finally landed in a decent position after months and months of searching, always be sure to remember that if you end up taking on more responsibilities than the ones that were initially outlined upon getting hired, that means you have the right to advocate f…

Job searching can be a painful process, and trying to stand out from a crowd through an electronic submission is difficult to do, meaning that you'll probably submit hundreds of applications to jobs—most of which you'll never hear back from. In a hundred submissions, you might hear back from a few—let's say 5%—so five interviews per 100 applications, which is a generous estimate. Of these five, you'll actually sit a first-round interview for three, hopefully getting asked to come back by two of…

Hopefully, this dude doesn't need a letter of recommendation any time soon. He certainly won't be getting one from his former employers after saying literally everything he could say in the most dramatic email since that time I asked my therapist to resume sessions because the “job search was proving stressful.” But that's another story! As for this employee's resignation email, there is definitely a vicarious fulfillment we got from reading this, as I'm sure like many of you, we all have forme…

Paid time off should never be met with these kinds of invasive questions. When you sign a contract that entitled you to paid vacation time, there simply should not be any sort of explanation necessary, as you are granted a set number of days to do whatever you like in that free time. Now, some employers think that they are owed an explanation for every choice you make. Or perhaps they throw shade at the fact that you are using those days. Or perhaps it's all just societal pressure in your head!…

Welcome to the working world, where even your former bosses think that they're always in charge of you well after you leave. What happened to this security officer, unfortunately, is not an industry-specific experience. No matter what field you're in, you have probably dealt with a supervisor who thinks it's okay to call you whenever they'd like or who has even tried to manipulate you to stay as their underling until the end of time. Even at 22, I knew that it was not cool for my former employe…

You wake up every day and drive into the office to do your job… and there's a comfort in that dull mundanity, a consistency. You've got a mortgage to pay and a family to feed, so you're happy (enough) and more or less resigned to the arrangement. Yet, as time goes on, you find yourself doing more and more work, your coworkers are leaving, and no one is being hired to replace them, leaving their workload split up amongst those remaining. The company is floundering—that's easy enough to see—and u…

When you go out of your way to attend an interview, no one really owes you anything, but you might expect that you'd be treated with a little common decency—and that a little thing called decorum would be followed. Sure, there's nothing in writing, and no commitments have been made, but by going out of your way—and out of pocket—to put a vote of confidence in them and their process, you'd hope that you might actually get to sit down in a room with them… Not receiving a cancellation via text and…

It's never too late to realize your colleagues and managers do not have your back. As a younger person in the 21st century, it's fairly easy to enter the working world armed with cynicism about everything, but for many people, the deluded notion of “your work is your life” is a hard one to shake. Despite all the signs around you saying otherwise, there are still some folks out there who foolishly cling to the idea that all the hard work will be worth it when you get that one promotion. Of cours…

It should be no surprise to any worker in this day and age that companies usually have a far greater hiring budget than the budget for retention and raises for existing workers. Hiring and filling positions is a priority, and there is little consideration of the fact that they fail to offer competitive rates and incentives to their workers to encourage them to stay, which is the reason why they need to hire so many new workers in the first place. It makes logical sense when you quickly lay it o…

There is nothing more eye-roll-inducing than confirming your suspicions that your boss does not follow the same rules you are expected to follow. It's like when you're in school and you're expected to complete the math test without a calculator. Then, later that day, you see your math teacher grading the same test with a calculator right by her side. If authority figures are unable to lead by example and to live up to the same set of expectations they enforce onto others, then they shouldn't be…

This person quit their job due to a miscommunication. They thought they were about to be hired at a new place… only to realize the company didn't actually feel that certain about hiring them after all. There may come a time in your life where you despise your job so much that it's hard to go to work every day. When you start complaining about this to your friends and family, they'll eventually tell you to start looking for work elsewhere. Many people spend at least 40 hours per week on the job.…

There are strict bosses and then there are bosses who make outlandish demands that simply shouldn't be allowed. I've had my fair share of difficult managers over the years. You know, the kinds that call you on a Saturday night about something that really is not urgent whatsoever. When this kind of situation occurs, it is usually a test to see if you will, in fact, answer, and if you do, this communicates all the wrong things to your boss. It gives them the sense that they have full control over…

Imagine getting away with this kind of corporate sorcery! We know that most companies that have since gone through the whole “return to office” process are pretty strict about in-person policies. Often what happens in a corporate environment is a gradual return to in-person work. It might start at a couple of days a week, but it also may gradually increase to a set period of mandatory days in a largely vacant office environment. Remember: it's all about the “culture.” Just kidding, it's all abo…

They say you're supposed to work hard for the money, but there is a special satisfaction that comes with not working hard for as much money as possible. Now, personally speaking, I am not slick enough to pull off something like this. I have too much “rule follower” energy in me to be able to create a plan that pays me as much as possible for doing as little work as possible. Blame it on how I behaved as a student in school or blame it on millennial anxiety! Regardless, I just don't have the aud…

Never forget that when it comes to your working agreement, you have to get everything in writing. I'm not one to be cynical about everyone that I work for, but I will always at the very least protect myself, and yes, I have learned this the hard way. This is especially true for jobs where the workload is inconsistent, such as a freelance position. If you want to be promised some semblance of stability with the workflow, you have to lay all your cards on the table from the get-go. It's not that…

Hiring for a position as a regular manager is an exhaustive process, draining your time and resources, so it's really hard to imagine something like this ever happening with a manager who is concerned about their own time. But, there are those within certain organizations whose job it is to recruit full-time, and these recruiters and certain members of HR constantly scout and search for strong talent even if the organization really doesn't need them. This works in large corporations that are li…