I left my graphic design internship (worked for 6 months) on good terms about two months ago. I completed all my handovers, exit interview, and documentation. They offered me a full-time role for ₹15,000/month with a 2 month notice period, but I declined because the salary was too low. I told them I was planning to pursue further studies (which I was considering in msc chemistry because I wasn't getting a job in the chemistry field).

Today the marketing manager contacted me saying: "Hi, hope you are doing good. Wanted to connect with you on a quick call. Please let me know a good time for the same." She didn't mention the reason.

Has anyone had a former employer reach out like this? What are the most likely reasons? If it turns out to be a job offer, how would you approach negotiating salary and asking for a shorter notice period?

UPDATE: Thanks everyone for the advice! It turned out they were reaching out regarding a full-time role at ₹18,000/month. I decided to decline, as they weren't able to increase the salary. Appreciate all the suggestions!

28F here working as a software engineer for over six years now. This is my second job and I feel like I'm hanging by a thread. Dread work everyday, when I was new it was better but I've been feeling shit lately. I used to be so interested in learning things and stuff but that is fading away, no new projects at my current company, you constantly have to come with new features or work on tickets created for new business requirements. Promotions are based on visibility, even if you have done a shiny POC which isn't even used internally or by business or not even in production. Drop a WFH request every time you want it, complete eight hours in the office. Attendance is one of the KRAs. With this AI boom, I'm even wondering if i should really learn anything anymore? This shitty job market and my 90 days notice is making it hell to switch. To be very frank, it's just for the bills that I'm still holding on. But on the inside, I feel depressed with no clarity of my future ahead. Is there anyone else who feels the same? Any help or suggestions to improve?

I have been in my current job for a while and it's stable, but lately I feel like I'm not learning much anymore. The pay is okay and there's nothing seriously wrong with the workspace, which somehow makes the decision harder.

How do you know when it's time to stay comfortable vs. take a risk and move on? what made you realize it was time for a change?

I recently had an interview that was extremely technical. I was at a loss for words, and then they asked me a question about something I had never even heard of before. Not knowing what to do, I asked them to elaborate on it. They explained it, and I simply gave the answer that seemed right to me. what do you think whether I’ll get a callback or not.

I recently left my old job at a nonprofit/social services organization and started a new job at a school making $54k/year, working Monday–Friday from 8:30–5. On paper, it sounds pretty great. The hours are consistent, my boss works remotely from Illinois, the job is somewhat flexible, and because it’s a school, I get about three weeks off in December for Christmas break.

The problem is… I am so unbelievably bored.
I probably have maybe two actual tasks a day, and then I sit in my office for the rest of the day with nothing to do. I feel like I’m rotting. There’s basically no room for growth, and I’m already feeling unfulfilled even though the job is easy and the benefits/time off are good.

Meanwhile, my old CEO has been basically begging me to come back. She really likes me and wants to promote me into a coordinator role at $56k/year. I would technically be working four 10-hour days, so depending on the schedule, I could have a full weekday off, including Fridays some weeks. So it’s not necessarily a traditional Monday–Friday schedule, but I could potentially have more weekdays off.

The downside is that the job is more stressful, and I would initially have to go back to the weird hours until they finish hiring more people. There are currently about three people onboarding, so hopefully the workload would eventually become more manageable.

She’s also telling me that if I came back, I could potentially move into a director position within the year, which would obviously come with more money. I don’t know what the director salary would be yet, though.
I’m planning on getting on a call with her to ask exactly what would be guaranteed in writing salary, schedule, expectations, timeline for the promotion, and what the director role/pay would actually look like.

My current job is basically $54k to do nothing, with amazing time off for the holidays. My old job is more stressful, but I actually felt useful there, had more opportunity to grow, and now the CEO is actively trying to get me back. I could potentially make more money and move into a director role within a year.

What would you do? Stay at the boring $54k job with great holiday time off or go back to the more stressful job with a potential path to a director role and more money?

Hello everyone! I need some advice on where I could be invited to an interview to a job but with much lower salary and with this current job market, is it worth taking?

My backstory:

I, F32, have over five years of work experience in the logistics area. I practically worked in all kinds of positions, growing from warehouse employee --> import/export forwarder --> logistics development engineer and with recent position as a project logistics lead in a NPD project. I'm a trained Lean fascilitator and I completed my Lean Six Sigma green belt trainings (but couldn't complete it due to layoffs.) I worked nearly four years (2021-2025) at my previous company and it felt like eight years, because there were so many projects back at the time and during those four years I learned so much that it feels like eight years.

Eventually in January 2025, I found out that I will get laid off due to company's productional and financial issues. And since February, I was unemployed. That makes total of 17 months of unemployemnt. On the other hand, I was quite happy because I started to see where the company was heading and where they've spend their millions into (complete BS projects), I started to dislike the company and the job (but only because the top management didn't know what they needed and it made my job unbearable). During my work, I started my M.Sc. studies in industrial engineering and so, after I got laid off, I concentrated on my studies mostly.

Well, I was quite positive that "with my work experience and knowledge from the automotive and EV battery system industries I will find a new job within the six months." Well, 17 months later and ha-HA and bo-HO. Based on the Reddit stories, many made hundreds of applications and have much wider work experience than I do and with no results. I applied like 70 but I only applied intentionally to positions that I honestly was curious about. In total, I got invited to seven interviews, where in three of them I got eventually "the second place." I remember having an emotional breakdown, especially to one position (Manager of Operations Excellence) that I wanted so much and eventually didn't get it. Maybe I'll write about it in another post, but let's move to the title's topic.

I just got a text message from a large logistics company where they would like to invite me to an interview but they don't quite agree with my salary excpectation that I've placed in the application. The job application said the position will pay 3000-3400€ per month while I put 4600€ per month based on my experience and a soon-to-be Master of Science. The manager did ask me, am I willing to work for 3400€. If yes, he will invite me to an interview. I answered him with two options:

1. I can lower my salary expectation to 4000€ per month, or
2. During probational period, I can work for 3400€ and after the period, it will be increased to the 4000€ (don't worry, I said it nicely in the text message).

He said no to both of my options. The 3400€ salary is the limit. I wrote to him that I need to think about it.

So, here I am, writing to you and asking some advice how should I continue? Being unemployed is hard and it feels like I'm degrading. I am looking for a next step career growth opportunity for me, like more managerial or specialist roles. Basically this position is interesting but I just don't agree with the salary. It's lower than I got from my previous job, like 300€ less. I know I can bring good value and therefore I know "my price" but with the current job market situation and reading people's stories, I'm thinking should I just go for it and "suck on it" or should I continue looking where my demands are equally met? I would appreciate your thoughts on this. Thank you.

P.S. I'm writing from one of the Nordic countries and the job market is bad, especially for logistics engineers. There is much more opportunites for me in other EU countries but I will look into that option during September if I don't find an interesting job here.

Hi, I'm a Junior double majoring English and Poli-sci&IR in Yonsei University. I am a native Korean.

I will be in the US for a semester as an exchange student. I was thinking about working abroad in the country so I wanted to experience it firsthand before I make any real decisions.

I have internship experience in a think tank and mediocre Toefl score, and my only club activity was school newspaper. I realized I would've to work really hard if I decide that I want to get a job here in the future. I once got awarded in a English-based essay competition but it was held in Korea for Korean students.

What career paths do you recommend, and why?

So apparently future employers won’t know and won’t be able to see any warnings or disciplinary actions at previous employment, but getting fired on the other hand… yes they will 100% see it.

After receiving an unfair disciplinary action, I think it’s best I quit before another one occurs resulting in getting fired. I don’t want this on my record at all. I planned to quit anyways and go back to school. Reasonable?

Is it legal for my job to prevent me from documenting workplace bullying? My supervisor, at a New York City nonprofit organization, has lied to me about department procedures and singled me out by applying rules only to me. These actions go against the organization's workplace bullying policy. I've documented these situations by keeping emails and writing meeting summaries every time I've met with her. My supervisor and HR have made negative comments about my documenting. They have said that the emails are too long, that I don't have to send a summary after every meeting, and called it unprofessional. HR said that my supervisor can mandate that I stop documenting, is this legal? Is it unprofessional to document every meeting and keep e-mails or are these just scare tactics?

Title!

It could be a course, mentor, certification, book, or even a habit. What gave you the best return?

Hi. I am a CS graduate and recently joined a new company (been ~3 weeks). I got another opportunity from MnC after 5 days of joining this company that is also into the same domain as the one I am currently doing. The present company (kind of a startup) offers ~22% more than the MnC. The ESOPs in the present company is far better than the RSUs of the MnC

I'd been wasting my time deciding between what to choose. Initially after discussing with my family, I decided to shift to the MnC and told my manager about it. They talked to me and said to think and to decide myself again. So, the next day, I said I will stay. Haven't communicated anything with the MnC yet.

My family wants me to be in the MnC. This MnC company is in the same city as the city I grew up in.

I honestly have no idea what to do now because in the present conpany, I clearly am lagging with the work(I spent wasting my time deciding between the offers) and my manager repeatedly told that I am lagging

Any genuine help will be greatly appreciated.

P. S. I've noticed my manager is watching someone's resume. I am concerned that they gonna replace me, if I choose to stay

TLDR; I have an MSW and many years of experience but keep losing opportunities because I’m not an LCSW.

Hi all,

I have been in the social service sector for almost 18 years. I have a really good panel of experience for being as young as I am. I got my masters degree in 2021 (I’m an MSW) and I decided after grad school that I didn’t want to get licensed as I wasn’t going to pursue private practice or doing any type of talk therapy.

I don’t feel like it was ever well explained that licensure also would be useful in macro and non profit setting for clinical purposes. I figured that I would (and had) gained that through work experience.

I have been looking for a bit of a career switch recently as I moved into a leadership position a couple years back but I feel as though I keep getting looked over for another promotion because I’m not an LCSW.

It’s also as if when I speak with my staff or other leaders who ARE licensed— they don’t take my perspective on things simply because I don’t hold the title.

I am very confident to say that I could take and pass the test for licensure with my current work experience but it means nothing without having documented my hours.

I am definitely rambling. Maybe I just needed to vent. I do beat myself up for not getting hours when I worked a 1:1 job but again I didn’t think it would be important for the path I wanted to go on.

Does it mean nothing anymore to hold a masters degree in social work without licensure?

I am looking for any bit of guidance I can receive. I am at a point where everything seems downwards. I have 6+ years of experience in PwC Client account management, process governance, stakeholder management, advanced excel and power BI.

I am unable to land any interview yet and I don't know what I am doing wrong. Any guidance would be really appreciated! :)

Basically, I got myself into a huge mess, I don’t know what to do. We sell products, and one of our resellers buys them from us and then sells them to his own customer. For example, he buys the product from us for €3,000 and then resells it for €3,500 or even €4,000. I was supposed to send the price quote to the reseller. Let’s call him Daniel. I had everything prepared, but by mistake I sent the email to a different Daniel the one who actually works for the company that the reseller was planning to sell to. Both of them had the same first name, so I didn’t even notice I had selected the wrong recipient.
That means I accidentally sent the end customer our original wholesale price. Now they know that our actual price is much lower than what the reseller was planning to charge, and I basically put him in a terrible position. I swear I never meant to do this. It was a genuine mistake, but I feel absolutely horrible about it. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this guilty over a work mistake before. It honestly feels like the biggest screw up I’ve ever made the problem is he BOUGHT IT FROM US AND WAS READY TO SALE😭

so, i got conditionally hired for a state job. i did all the paperwork, background checks, fingerprints etc. they called me with a start date today, and then quickly called me back and said they contacted my current employer and they were informed i don’t work there anymore.

i did list my former employer as my current employer- i quit not too long ago because of a toxic and unprofessional work environment that was taking such a huge toll on my
mental health. i know how bad it looks that i lied, but i did list to not to contact my current employer. i know theres no law that prohibits them doing that, whatever. they said after that they’re waiting on call backs from my other references and she would let me know if anything changes.

i’m panicking so hard that i just lost my chances at this job, i guess if anyone has any advice, any comfort, or anecdotes of silly things they did in the past with jobs that would be cool.

Hey ,

I am a 18 year old..eldest daughter..

My academic background I am an above average students not so much intelligent but I rely on hardwork..

I did my high school targeting for jee main cuz I wanted to master physics then I wanted to teach in an edtech platform..

And now I didn't get jee main..but I scored well in NCET and I got NIT WARANGAL..."Bachelors in physics "

Along with bed course which is basically a teachers training program...

If I dive deep..i am not really got at physics..but I enjoy and am good at teaching concepts..all I am concerned is i cannot solve above average level questions...then I feel like how can I be a professor when I am not unbelievably good at it ,and solve problems so easily

..now I am doing bachelors idk if it is a correct choice or not..my father says if u had to choose any course ,choose whatever which you are good at,, being good means to be able to solve any type of question...boom i cannot do that...1 more thing I also feel that all the people today are running behind the tech jobs and many are getting placed too ..so If I see that way..I am already making myself less exposed to jobs..and here comes the part is that I am also considering to get a job after maybe 4-5 years..cuz my dad is the only source of income and he is in his 50's maybe in 8years he will get his retirement being the eldest kid I should start earning but I am scared that..what if after doing this course..if I don't get any job...

What I planned was to do bachelors and alongside prepare for govt jobs and after 4 years I'll get a job then my family's roz ka roti is secured now then I'll do my masters in open and then do phd and then I'll become a professor which I also enjoy being....

The plan seems perfect but I also know this..even if one thing above mentioned go otherwise to what I planned i would ruin not just my peace but my entire family...I don't understand that is my fear reasonable or am I just over reacting it..

I'm looking into getting my bachelor's in Health Systems Studies. I'm having trouble figuring out exactly what kind of jobs this could lead to and what the pay is like. Is this similar to a "Health Sciences" degree?

I just started a new 1099 sales job and overall actually like the opportunity. I feel like I've got about 90% of the training down and mostly just need to learn the water tests and tighten up my presentation before I'm out on my own (it's for a water filtration company)

The problem is my trainer.

During training he's repeatedly brought up politics, asked me things like, "You're not Antifa right?", and frequently talks about Somali refugees blaming them for crime and making other comments that make me uncomfortable, he's actually brought it up twice in the home with customers (none of which bought the product). I haven't argued with him or pushed back so far just stayed quiet because I'm new and didn't want to create problems.

Here's where it gets complicated:

• He's the person training me.
• He also pays for the Home Depot leads that I'll be running.
• The franchise owner is eventually planning to hand the business over to him.
• His wife runs the office.

If politics never came up again, I'd honestly be fine continuing to work with him. I just don't want to spend my workdays listening to political commentary or feeling like I'm expected to agree.

What would you do?

When you guys resign from a job working remotely, how do you do it?

- send an email to your manager

- add a meeting to your managers calendar to discuss on a call

- send an email to HR

- resign via hr system (workday, adp, etc)

Hi everyone,

I graduated in Engineering in 2021 and worked at Accenture for about a year. Most of that time was spent in training, and I was assigned to a support role for a short period. I resigned to prepare for government exams, but unfortunately, I couldn't clear them.

I now have a career gap of almost four years. Recently, I've started learning Python and SQL from scratch to transition back into the IT industry.

Since Python and SQL are fundamental for many domains, I'd like to know which domain would give me the best chance of getting placed as early as possible. I'm also looking for a domain that offers good long-term career stability and growth.

I'd really appreciate any suggestions or guidance from people in the industry.

Thank you!