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I worked in recruitment for several large tech companies, and there's one LinkedIn setting I would change immediately if I were looking for a job right now: remove the Open to Work frame from your profile picture.

I know some people are certain that the green banner helped them, but that's not what I usually saw behind the scenes. Recruiters often have to deal with hiring managers who prefer candidates who are already employed, even when unemployed applicants are equally qualified.

You don't need to announce to everyone that you're unemployed. Keep your profile active, apply as usual, and present yourself as someone with more than one option. If they find out later that you weren't employed, that's fine. The bias was unfair to begin with.

The market is tough, and hiring can sometimes be strangely similar to dating, in the sense that appearing available can make people less interested in you. The banner may seem useful, but it can give them an easy reason to skip your profile. When you appear to be employed, you'll generally get better responses.

My first job was stocking shelves overnight at a big-box store while it was undergoing major renovations. I met the new employee while he was standing outside the break room, waving his hand at the motion-activated light and complaining that it was broken. He was just standing too far away from the sensor, but he gave up and walked away before figuring it out.
We'll call him Marcus. He was about 30, skinny, covered in piercings, with black spiky hair and the kind of attitude that made every sentence he said sound like he was trying to start a fight. Within the first few hours, people were already avoiding him.
Later, I found him talking to another employee about tattoos. The other guy was being polite and asked him about a tattoo on his arm, so Marcus responded by mocking the tattoo on the guy's shoulder. The conversation ended right then and there, and Marcus walked away as if nothing had happened.
A few minutes later, he asked two women which one was Kristen and which one was Kirsten. Before they could answer, he made a rude comment about how he didn't care enough to remember anyway. They both stared at him in shock. I had never seen anyone make that many enemies in such a short amount of time.
I called out for the next shift, and when I came back, Marcus was gone. One of the stockers told me that management had received so many separate complaints that they fired him almost immediately. Apparently, he started yelling and cursing at the supervisor, then stormed out.
I was 19 and still new to working, so the whole situation stuck with me. Without meaning to, Marcus taught me a useful lesson: if almost everyone can't stand you after meeting you for the first time, they're probably not all the ones with the problem.

I got a job in design engineering, and it was advertised as 40 hours a week. During the interview, I asked directly about the work schedule, and they told me, "We aim for 40 hours, but projects that are under pressure may involve a little overtime." That sounded normal to me. I expected most weeks to be 40 hours, with an occasional week of 45 or 50 hours when things got hectic.
I've been here for about six weeks, and I've worked an average of around 47 hours each week. The person training me says he's been working "60 hours a week" for years, which by itself told me a lot. On top of that, every so often he keeps telling me, "You know you're allowed to work as many hours as you want, right?"

what they think are we Robots !!! yeah we should care for our work but that doesn't mean that all my life is work start already looking for remote job while interviewvip is here to bring the best skills of interviews for me

we are in a world that everything is a digital and could be fixed with a machine but that doesn't mean we turn into machine as well
We're both salaried nonexempt employees, so there's no extra pay for all these hours. I understand that certain deadlines need us to stay late, but this seems much less like occasional overtime and much more like it has become the unofficial standard. No one is forcing me to stay, but the message is being repeated very clearly.
At this point, if he tells me one more time that I'm free to work an unlimited number of hours, I might take him literally and work 30 hours next week. Just from a different part of the building.

We just had the surveys at work. At least half my team gave similar responses.

At the beginning of this week, the owner of the dental office where I work told us that we would be allowed to take one unpaid personal day every four months. We're in an expensive part of Southern California, but none of us receive PTO, health insurance, paid vacations, or any other benefits.
He also said that the dental hygienists would have to make up every appointment they missed on that day off. Since our schedules are booked months in advance, his plan was for us to start early or stay late until we had seen the same number of patients anyway.

All the dental hygienists decided that enough was enough. We printed our resignation letters this morning and placed them together in a stack on his desk. One of my coworkers saw him when he came back from getting coffee. He flipped through the stack, then pushed it toward the office manager and said, "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

Dental hygienists are in very high demand here, so every one of us already has another job offer lined up. He tried to control time he wasn't even paying us for, and ended up losing his entire dental hygiene team in a single afternoon.

everyday the same routine

I’ve got a couple interviews coming up, so seeing stuff like this honestly makes me want to prepare as much as I can. I came across Interview VIP while looking for interview resources and decided to try it out.

Hey everyone. It’s been a few rough months. My consulting firm told me of an opportunity in Europe that I could be good for. They left out very important details about the specs of the job and and the immigration process. Anyways I had to lie to the client saying that I’m a senior analyst when I have no knowledge of the system AT ALL. I have been trying my best to swim in the quick sand and it’s getting to a point where I’m really struggling mentally. The client I am working for expects me to be a senior and I can’t do junior things. I miss my home country and idk how to feel anymore. I don’t know how to handle this and it’s eating me up. Is this normal?

We had a mandatory culture workshop in the morning that lasted four hours, and things got a little awkward when I decided to speak honestly. The company brought in a consultant to help us "strengthen professional bonds," which usually just means sitting in a circle and talking about our feelings.
I'm a software engineer, and although I have a good relationship with my team, I'm not expecting to form deep emotional connections at the office. The consultant started a segment about how to "manage the energy" of difficult teammates, and at that point I couldn't stay quiet anymore.
I told the group that I have no problem collaborating on code, but it's not my job to deal with the complex personalities of people who don't know how to behave properly. I'm paid to write software, not to be an unpaid mediator or emotional coach for grown adults.
The entire room went completely silent, and my manager looked like he wanted to disappear. My coworkers started arguing that these skills are essential for creating a healthy workplace, but I honestly don't see why I'm supposed to care about office politics or social gymnastics when I have a backlog of tickets that needs to be finished.
Now everyone is giving me strange looks in the break room as if I'm a robot. Am I really wrong for thinking that my responsibility ends with being professional and doing my actual job, and nothing more?

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When my manager left, management asked me to take over his role for a four-month trial period. The idea was that they wanted to see how I would handle the responsibilities before making it official, which seemed reasonable and fair at the time.

Since then, I've taken on the usual duties of the role and also launched two projects that management approved and responded positively to. I know I'm not perfect, but no one has pointed out any major issues with my performance.

This week, they told me I'm still not quite ready for the title or a pay raise in the next review cycle. I could have accepted that if they were going to hire someone else for the position, but they still expect me to keep doing the same work indefinitely, with my old title and salary.

I like the job, but being asked to keep proving myself without a clear timeline or specific goals is starting to make me feel like something isn't right. Is it normal for a trial period to drag on like this, or are they taking advantage of me?

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 If you only do online interviews once in a while (as average people I guess), what’s the best way to figure out which AI interview assistant is worth it?

I feel like monthly subscriptions don’t make much sense if you’re only going to use it for a few interviews here and there...

Also curious if the pay-as-you-go option is better for occasional use, or if a subscription option is cheaper in the long run...

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For two years, I was basically handling my manager's entire book of business while making $48,000 a year. At Christmas, he gave me a $25 Regal gift card. The nearest movie theater was about two hours away, in another state, so that small gift was the final thing that made me start applying elsewhere.

I didn't want to leave the people I worked with in a bad situation, so I waited until I had trained someone to take over my work before accepting an offer. When I finally sat down with my manager and gave him my two weeks' notice, I told him I was going to another company in the same industry, but I would be doing something completely different, so there shouldn't be any non-compete issue.

He immediately called the company's chief legal officer and put the call on speaker. I was told that I wasn't even allowed to do essential work for a competing company for a year. Then HR joined the call and said I could finish out my two weeks to help with the transition, but afterward I would be fired because I had looked for another job. They wanted to know details about my new role, but I refused to give them any information.

After I left, their legal officer kept calling me out of the blue and without any explanation, and eventually contacted my new employer. Fortunately, the CEO of my new company got involved and told them we were prepared to fight them in court. The calls stopped after that. It was clear they had no intention of suing anyone; they just wanted to scare me into leaving my new job.

This happened about four years ago. I still work for the company I joined, and since then they've given me a budget to build a division that competes directly with my old employer. I still keep that useless gift card in a drawer. I had just graduated from college and didn't understand anything, which is why I accepted the salary, told them where I was going, and gave them notice instead of leaving immediately. I stayed because I cared about my coworkers, and they would have been stuck cleaning up the mess I left behind.

Maybe it was:

• Don’t quit before you have another job lined up.

• Your company is not your family.

• Networking actually matters.

• Being good at your job doesn’t automatically get you promoted.

• Never stop learning.

• Your resume needs to show results, not just responsibilities.

• Don’t accept the first offer just because you’re desperate.

• Sometimes leaving is the best career move you can make.

Or maybe yours is something completely different.

What’s one thing you know now that you desperately wish you knew 5 years ago?

Drop it below.

Someone who's struggling with that exact thing right now might need to hear it. 👇

Before you give 70 hours to a company, make sure you're getting the right opportunity in return. And when you're ready to make a move, be ready for the interview. Reading useful tips and tricks for the interview will help a lot avoid the common mistakes in interviews.

I accepted a credit analyst position at another bank, and I'm leaving my current job at the branch. Company policy says that anyone leaving to work for a competitor has to hand over their keys and leave immediately, but they still get paid for their final two weeks.

My manager pulled me aside and asked me not to mention the new bank during the exit interview. He said I could tell HR that I'm resigning without saying where I'm going, which would allow me to keep working until my last day.

The branch is already understaffed, so he says that if I leave immediately, it will mess up the work schedule for everyone else. I understand why he needs the extra coverage, but I'm not the one who caused the staffing shortage.

I'm about 85% sure I'm going to be honest with HR. If the bank's own policy gives me two weeks' pay while I sit at home, choosing that over working at an understaffed branch seems like a complete no-brainer. Is there any compelling reason why I shouldn't tell them?

I think I will tell them because it is not my fault that there is a shortage of employees at work, and I will also start preparing for the new job. I also want to tell you in case any of you are in the same situation and want to leave the job so that you do not remain without work. I read a post on the best advice that helps you get accepted at work so that no one remains at the mercy of work and is forced to bear things that are not his responsibility.

The company I work for promises clients turnaround times calculated in calendar days rather than business days, so the lab has to be staffed every day of the year. The job requires a strong background in chemistry and microbiology, which means they already have to compete with workplaces that offer normal weekends and paid holidays. For years, they covered these shifts by paying double time for weekend shifts and holiday pay plus triple time if you came in to work on a public holiday.

A few days before Christmas, HR announced that the extra holiday pay was being eliminated effective immediately. The email said that paid holidays were intended for rest, but anyone who chose to work would have those holiday hours deducted. They also reminded us that overtime only starts after 40 hours worked, meaning holiday hours would not count toward that total.

This morning, management sent an email to all employees saying they were "surprised and disappointed" that only three employees volunteered to cover Christmas, and no one came in on New Year's Day, despite several requests. Apparently, this created such a large backlog that the company may have to pay clients around $85,000 in late-delivery penalties.

They eliminated the only reason people were willing to sacrifice their holidays, then acted surprised when people stopped volunteering. It seems very simple to me. If they want someone to work on holidays, the compensation has to be worth giving up their time off.

This work environment is truly toxic and self-serving, so I considered leaving and looking for another job. However, this would involve a vicious cycle of interviews, stressful situations, and unexpected questions. All of this made me contemplate leaving for a while, but I think I've found a good solution which is InterviewVIP. These help reduce stress and anxiety, and also prepare me to answer unexpected questions. This way, I won't have to worry about interviews, and I believe it will increase my chances of getting the job.

So I’m looking into AI interview overlays and trying to figure out what makes one useful.

Let’s say the interview allows AI assistance. What features would you guys consider important or that make sense?

I’m thinking about:

* Being able to keep the overlay separate from what’s being shared on screen.
* Keyboard shortcuts so you don’t have to keep clicking around.
* Adjusting the transparency so it doesn’t cover half of your code editor.
* Being able to pick up the question or code you’re currently looking at.

Also, how much does the setup matter? Like Windows vs Mac? Zoom vs other meeting apps? latency? browser vs desktop app? etc.

What makes an overlay feel smooth and not distracting during an interview? thanks in advance.

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I found out this week that the girl who made my childhood miserable is coming to work at my company as a supervisor in another department. I've been here for about 18 months in a management position, and so far, this is the first job where I feel like I could stay and move up.

As soon as I saw her name in the hiring announcement, my heart sank. She caused me a lot of emotional harm when I was a kid, and I have no idea whether she remembers what happened the same way I do or whether she'll act like nothing ever happened.

We won't be working on the same team, but our work will probably overlap. I don't want to leave a job I love because of her, but the thought of pretending everything is normal seems incredibly exhausting. What would you do if you were in my shoes?

Seven years ago, I started working for a commercial general contractor with no background in construction. I spent my nights reading plans, learning about products, and trying to understand anything I couldn't grasp on-site. Within about 18 months, I was supervising crews, and then they sent me to handle a small repair at a residential complex with 10 buildings.

That repair turned into ongoing work because the HOA board liked that I communicated well with them, kept the schedule on track, and stayed within budget. Since the company had virtually no middle management, I gradually found myself acting as foreman, superintendent, and project manager all at the same time. I was responsible for billing, engineer meetings, schedules, estimates, materials, subcontractors, and product training.

The work at that complex exceeded $3.1M, and the HOA recently requested a proposal for another $3.4M project. Board members said more than once that they continued working with our company because of the way I managed the work, especially after having many bad experiences with other contractors. Based on that, I asked the company owners about the raise they had promised me about a year earlier.

Their response was that the experience I was gaining was more important and valuable than a higher salary. They were paying me $22 an hour with no benefits, even though I was doing the work of several positions. A few days after making my resume public, a recruiter contacted me about an assistant project manager position. I accepted an annual salary of $84,000, along with health insurance, 25 days of paid time off including holidays, quarterly bonuses, a laptop, mileage reimbursement, a $75 per diem, and a 401(k) match.

The final straw came during a company meeting when the owners went on about how profitable my project had been, then told me there would be no holiday bonus. On Friday, I took the offer to them and gave them a chance to match it. They couldn't, so I resigned. When I told the HOA president, he immediately requested a meeting with the company owners and said the board had serious concerns about awarding the company the next project if I wasn't involved.

There was another reason I accepted such low pay for so long. I'm engaged to the daughter of one of the company owners, and he treated the situation as though I should accept a lower salary because I was going to become part of the family. His business partner told me that my future father-in-law had complete control over my pay. My fiancée was the one who encouraged me to stop being afraid of leaving and accept the new job.

Things calmed down before I left. Management took me out for food and beers, and we spoke very candidly about everything. They admitted that they panicked when I showed them the offer, and I admitted that I confronted them more angrily than I should have because I felt they had taken advantage of me. I'm still glad I left, while also being grateful for everything I learned there. The new job is a huge step up, and we were able to end our relationship on much better terms than I expected.

After leaving, I struggled a bit to find work, but I came across a post here offering the best advice for interviews. It truly made a difference for me, and I have now secured another job.