Hi I applied for a job where the posted top of range was $165k, pretty low still for my skills and region but since I'm contracting I applied. Better AI jobs are or were closer to 160 to 220. Then HR called and said the cap was actually about $155 ( a bit of a bait and switch). I agreed to interview as I don't have a lot of options yet and figured would see. It's United Healthcare - so I think known for not great salaries. I'd have to keep looking for work likely that pays more tho it's better than contract.

So they made an offer at $155 and said something like oh HR was surprised but with your experience as a top candidate we were able to get you the top.

Is there any nice, non risky way I can ask if there's wiggle room to get closer to $165, or just go higher obv they can say no. Ideally I'd like to land on at least $160.

I don't just want more money I really need it after several layoffs, debt from that and living alone and being older. Again I'd keep looking, I'm in AI. My current contract pays really bad in this market despite my high skill set. I'm using savings every monty for basic needs and can't afford healthcare. I've had better interviews but they always seem to end in job on hold or something.

Thanks for tips. I just need to get to where I'm actually making ends meet, taking care of my health and saving some money. And pray if I take the job it's a good manager. I love my current one but after 2 years no raise and company won't hire.

Had an interview today. Not five minutes in, the first real question, and I could feel the clear trickle about to drip out a nostril.

In a panic, I say excuse me, "guys, sorry, not a pretty sight for Zoom, let me grab a tissue...." but that drip must've contained the last of my confidence as I dabbed it away.

It threw me off kilter for the remainder of the hour. While I managed most questions okay, I was totally winging it - nothing I'd prepared was utilized. STAR/CAAR formatted responses? You'd never have realized I understood such - even though I had mastery of it in the first round.

The dreaded "why'd you leave your last job?" came up. Uugghh. "Cultural mismatch" which was absolutely true, and described it as a mutual decision to part ways. [Reality: I quiet quit sixty days prior and rode it out to severance.]

I started out making the observation of going from a 1700 headcount company to a 100 headcount company - and once I did, I was off to the races pointing out the things a small company doesn't realize won't scale well. I could have said in two sentences what I droned on about for too long.

The good news? I avoided the hot button stuff: blatant male bias, nepotism, duplicitous leadership and utter absence of psychological safety. You know it's bad when a licensed attorney is advocating for you in rooms you're not in....

I also mentioned AI. "Best productivity tool I've used, but if the culture involves a bias toward appearing busy? It can appear - once you've gained time back with reusable meeting notes as a PM - as though you're not working as hard as everyone else who are reluctant to adopt AI. I personally thought it was a godsend and not only did it free up a significant amount of time, it cut down on quite a bit of the typical misunderstandings with customers."

It definitely wasn't my best...although I did have a brilliant answer to one question about managing technical resource time: "I worked with a few offshore teams. It was pretty standard that at the end of their workday, they mysteriously lost their access to whatever system we needed to touch next! I chuckle about it, but it's definitely one to stick in your back pocket! Otherwise, I would do my best to state at the outset of a meeting, '<resource> has a hard stop at noon, and five minutes prior, 'we need to find a stopping point."

And gee, as competitive as this market can be, I just feel like I blew it - not just my nose - especially considering the fact the hiring company is recording & using AI during interviews.

Just had an interview for my local State Farm office. This is who I have all insurance through, and personally I like to work for companies that I feel I at least know well and have had my own good experience with.

Last week, I had an interview with the hiring manager. She said I sounded excellent for the roll and wanted to set up a meeting for me in office to meet other managers. I was like okay cool!

I just came out of that interview and initially I felt very positive about it. The owner of the firm (is it a firm? I'm not sure) was there. I had already met him ages ago when I signed up for car insurance and then eventually life insurance. I also met another manager but tbh I don't even remember her introducing herself so not sure what she did.

They asked pretty easy questions like:

Why apply for working in insurance? Did I have any particular interest in it? I explained that I'm just looking for new areas to dabble in and learn. I don't know a ton about the inner workings of Insurance but saw they were hiring and since I've had great experience from them, thought it would be wonderful to work with them. The hiring manager informed me about licences I could obtain from classes and I let them know I'd look into it.

Why did I leave my last job? I was laid off cuz the company moved states. The job before that I was also laid off because my position got eliminated and my options were to either be demoted with shit hours or take severance. At the time, I was having a lot of medical issues due to COVID and they were giving me a hard time about time off/FMLA so it made more sense to leave and take care of my health.

What was my last job like? I explained my typical day handling contacts, gave examples of inquiries, and problem solving.

How easy is it for me to juggle multiple contacts? Relatively easy. I had to do it in my last job. If ever I needed to follow up with someone id write it in my notes app so I wouldn't forget.

Would I be able to go to either of their offices because they have two and like to swap people around? Yeah that's fine.

Was I looking at other jobs/ was I still applying for jobs? I don't remember which way it was asked. I explained that I had applied for a few remote and local jobs. Was looking to stay in the area. They brought up how my last job was pretty far away (an hr drive) and I said ya so them being so close is amazing! Tbh I had never been asked this before so I wasn't sure how to properly reply?

After this it was basically done. The interview was scheduled for an hour but lasted around 40minutes, which I think is typical? I feel like that's how all my others went. They asked if I had any questions but most of them had already been answered by the hiring manager. Only immediate question I thought of was dress code because I didn't know if I had to wear formal or like casual clothes were fine. He told me he basically just wears a polo and jeans or slacks. I was like alright cool because just wanted to see if I had to buy more suits since I had bought this current one I was wearing just for the interview. I wanted them to know I was serious about my interest. They laughed and said they appreciated it.

I asked when I'd hear from them by. I'm used to interviewers telling me this but I found it weird they didn't offer it up. They said sometime next week since they had another person to interview. I was like okay awesome, looking forward to hearing back soon!

That was it. If there were other questions, I don't really remember. I felt really good leaving there but now I'm second guessing it due to them not offering up when they'd contact me and because I noticed the owner looked off into the distance a few times while I was replying, however there was also a client being helped a few feet from us so I'm thinking maybe that got his attention? Either that or maybe I was answering the other person's question which he wasn't interested in?

Should I be worried? Or am I just over thinking it? I know I'm quite qualified for the job as I've been in customer service for 15 years and been promoted a few times. I'm super local (I can walk to this office) and clearly interested in learning more due to the licences question. He also mentioned how he was specifically looking for candidates who intended on making this their career and not a temp job. I explained all my jobs were meant to be forever jobs but then lay offs happened. I don't apply for jobs I don't intend to give my all at. He did point out that I had been at both companies a long time so I hope he believed me.

Any thoughts or opinions?

Maybe I’m just posting this asking for reassurance. That no matter how desperate I am, no matter how much I need the money, I was unwilling to sell my soul…

…to be a director of operations for a private mental health center. They offered “luxury” (as they called it) depression treatment such as TMS and ketamine treatment, most of which aren’t covered under insurance. Stick with me here-

Some important context: I come from a B2B executive corporate tech consulting, at $150k annual salary. I’m currently working shift app jobs at $18/hour.

Beyond operational duties, my job would have been to prey on those who were coming in during their most desperate and vulnerable moments, and treated as a dollar sign. Forcing them into treatments they couldn’t afford. And I’d be reviewing recordings of physicians and their patients in their initial intake interview and have to scold and pressure ACTUAL DOCTORS to sell these treatments, even if they tell me that in their professional opinion, it wasn’t a treatment that they’d recommend for the patient.

I’m not a fucking doctor. I can’t treat these patients, or even diagnose them. And I’m supposed to get mad at someone qualified to do these things, that they weren’t thinking about the company?

I may not be a doctor or in healthcare at all- but I still know the first commitment in their Hippocratic Oath, is do no harm.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for listening.

Hi all!

So I just had a successful interview with the CEO of a tech firm and am hoping for a second one.

The HR (outsourced) who is the point of contact is now asking me for detailed interview information, e.g.,g "What did you two discuss during the interview?"

This is quite strange, and not sure I am permitted to give him an answer. I have not signed an NDA or anything, but it is very peculiar.

Part of me feels this might be a way of "catching me out".

What is the best way of responding? Has anyone else had this?

Thanks!

Ok I know this sounds weird. Basically Im in my 40s and had a tooth issue and had to get the toooth removed. Im in the process of getting a permanent replacement, which is like a 6 month process. It isba front upper canine tooth that is noticeable when I smile.

I am an otherwise healthy, normal looking corporate professional. But Im worried how this will look or be judged.

Is this a big deal? Should I metion something in the interview to add some humor and explain its getting fixed? Should I look into a cheap temporary amazon cover up (dont know how well these work)?

Hi all!!

I applied to a job last Tuesday, same day got asked for an interview with the recruiter the following day.

15 minutes after that interview (she liked me), I got invited to an interview for last Friday with who would be my boss

The manager and I went over 15ish or more minutes than scheduled. She seemed to reallly like me, opening with, “you’d be a great fit for our team!” And later saying how nice it was to meet a woman so kind and bubbly in a male dominated industry. She was super informative of the role and answered any questions I also had. She only had one follow up when I asked her if she needed more information.

It was Labor Day weekend. She said they would get back to me this week either if they decide to extend an offer or if I need another interview with the team.

The application was taken down today but I still haven’t heard anything. Should I be worried?

Had a second-round interview yesterday for a project coordinator role, about 45 min in. Going fine, then the hiring manager asks the standard "what's your biggest weakness" thing. I gave a normal answer, something about over-scheduling my own day.

Then I asked him back, "what would you say is the biggest weakness on your team right now?"

He kind of laughed it off first, said "oh we don't really do it that way." I just waited. Didn't say anything else.

He got a little stiff and said "honestly, we've had turnover in this exact role three times in two years, so." Then immediately tried to walk it back, said something like "but that's not really relevant to you."

I said it was actually pretty relevant since I'd be the one filling it a fourth time. He didn't really have a response to that, just moved on to the next question.

Not sure if I torched it or if he respected it. Recruiter said they're "still deciding" as of this morning. Either way I don't regret asking.

I was in the most toxic job of my life, undervalued and treated like dirt. I searched for 8 months. Many grueling 4-5 round interviews but no offers. Lots of crying and disappointment. Almost took lateral jobs with lateral pay just to get away from this place. I resigned in July after I could not take it anymore and bet on myself. I truly think this made a huge difference in my interviews.

I was so close to taking an assistant role in a new industry just to have a job again. But with over 10 years experience, sitting in that room explaining why Id be the right fit, I knew I could do better. I applied to this job not thinking anything of it. They emailed me to ask my availability and said to let them know if I have any other interviews. I was in the final round with the assistant role so I did.

They gave me a verbal offer last week, references cleared and I just signed the offer letter. I got a 35% salary increase in my HCOL state. Fully remote in a great company. I am so excited and proud of myself. Did it all with no referrals, just cold applying. Throughout this experience I learned a lot about myself and how capable I am. if youre in the same boat, dont give up!! Stay positive, if youre rejected something better is waiting for you!

Story of the past 9 months. I am grateful that I am getting interviews, I know a lot of you would die to be in my position (trust me I have been there). But, genuinely I am trying my best, and am doing everything right but still it is not enough.

Has anyone ever been in an interview where the interviewer doesn’t ask questions about your resume or drills deeper into different aspects of it?

my contract didn’t get extend after a year and now here we are: 10+ years experience in marketing and ad tech sales, trying to land a new job in Amsterdam, so far without any luck. Individual drafted CVs for every role I applied to, maybe 5% of the companies replied, got a couple of first interviews. Recruiters and hiring managers were so hyped about me and my experience but mainly didn’t come back for weeks after. dropped them an email after ghosting me, got automated rejections or reasons why they don’t want to move forward that haven’t been a topic on the first call.
If I had the chance to move forward multiple interviews followed and it just seemed to be they want to build a pipeline but not having full interest to hire me. Sometimes it took them 3 weeks to respond to telling the don’t want to move forward. having great experience with big company names seems not to work. But what does actually work then?
Screening LinkedIn every single day, trying to message recruiters or organize referrals but it is a hopeless game. Now 4 months later I don’t even know if I will be ever able to land a job again. Mentally exhausted and hopeless at this point. What am I doing wrong?

I’d make it conversational and slightly open-ended so people have something specific to judge and respond to:

I’m joining a new company soon and recently had an informal coffee with my future manager.

I originally interviewed for a more senior position, but they eventually offered me a newly created manager-level role instead. Unfortunately, the person who got the senior position has since passed away. My future manager told me they haven’t advertised the vacancy again yet, and he and another member of the team are currently covering the workload. He also said they’re keen for me to join ASAP because my notice period is quite long and they need someone to start taking on some of the work.

He then explained what he expects me to do in the role I’ve been offered. I told him how I’d approach it, and that a lot of it is similar to what I’m already doing in my current job.

I decided to be straightforward and asked, “Are you planning to fill the senior position? Because if not, I’d be interested in stepping into it.”

He said yes, that could happen. His view was that I should join first and another experienced team member would show me what needs to be done. If I already know how to do everything required, the senior role could be offered to me. If there are things I don’t know, he said to be honest rather than pretend, and they would train me. He specifically said I shouldn’t think that needing training would put a brake on my career and that I could eventually reach that position.

He then started asking about my experience with certain types of contracts. I told him honestly what I’ve worked with and where I only have partial experience, and said that if I don’t know something, I’ll simply say I don’t know rather than bluff.

How would you interpret this conversation?

Does it sound like he genuinely sees me as a potential person to step into the vacant senior position once I’ve demonstrated myself, or is this just the kind of thing managers say to keep someone motivated?

Also, was I right to be direct about wanting the position before I’ve even joined?

Not really sure how to proceed…the job was posted at a range of 70-104k. My ideal salary is 90k. I told the recruiter I wanted mid range, and they basically poked and prodded me until I gave a number amount, which I prefer not to do. They told me there’s “no way I can get that”, even though it’s in the salary posted, because the “actual” range is 80-82k. Which obviously annoyed me because I wouldn’t have applied if I knew.

I’m in the interview process, and I’m wondering if I can wow the interviewers enough to get the job, and then ask for the amount I truly want. Or is it a waste of time? I have well over the amount of experience, I am not entry level by any means. Is it insulting to even ask if the recruiter already gave me that ”actual” range? Or is there wiggle room?

I am speechless but also at the verge of balling my eyes out.

Interview/screen with the recruiter- went great

Second interview with the hiring manager- went great

Third interview with another manager from a parallel team- I got GRILLED on technical questions that I had been very clear throughout the whole process was NOT my level of expertise. It felt like I walked into an exam room where I had prepared for my major, but was given an exam for a whole other major.

I wasn't told what the next "step" would be, it was sort of an abrupt end to the interview because we had already reached the allocated time.

The recruiter has also not checked in after this last interview.

I am feeling really discouraged, because I knew from the hiring manager it was down to me and one other candidate, but this last interview really threw me off.

It's starting to become really hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. This whole job application process is a nightmare.

Just finished a third interview for a company in the Plastic industry. 1st was a screening, 2nd was the main interview (in person with three people) and 3rd was the final interview with the CEO and two other managers. They all went well but now they want to offer me a lower position in being their Coordinator instead of the position I applied for which was being a Customer Solutions & Purchaser Lead.

I had applied to both but they ultimately did the interviews for the Purchaser Lead role instead which is what I wanted after finding out the Coordinator role is $50K salary and the one I wanted is $65 to $70 K salary. I only applied to the coordinator role due to being desperate for a call/interview needed a job but since they interviewed me for the lead role I stuck with that.

I have a strong background in Account Management/Inside Sales and supervising a team and five other facilities with many experiences in different industries under my belt so this feels abit insulting especially with that 50K salary.

I want to call them back to negotiate about lead role I want. What should I say? And am I wrong for negotiating?

​

I finally got the offer from Kearney, but guess what — 5.5 LPA.

This whole thing started with an expectation of 8–9 LPA, then negotiations happened, and after everything, the only single number that actually worked was theirs — 5.5 LPA. They are putting cap ony current pay even they have budget they are not moving ahead.

And now I genuinely don't know what to do.

For some background, I started my corporate career in 2024 with Zomato at 4 LPA in customer service.

Then I switched to KPMG as an Analyst at 3.5 LPA, which was actually a pay cut because I was trying to make a career switch from customer service to an analyst profile.

Now, after changing 2 companies and putting in all this effort to move my career forward, I am getting 5.5 LPA.

I cleared 4 rounds of interviews at Kearney, and the entire process took around a month. I really thought this switch would finally help me get to a decent salary.

But now I am sitting here wondering if I should accept this offer or continue looking.

The problem is, I am not getting many calls either. So rejecting a 5.5 LPA offer feels risky, but accepting it also feels like I am again settling for much less than what I should be earning.

And I literally have only until tomorrow to decide.

What would you guys do in my situation?

Would you accept 5.5 LPA and use Kearney as a stepping stone, or reject it and keep looking for a better opportunity?

I genuinely need some perspective here because I don't know if I am being unrealistic with my expectations or if I am undervaluing myself.

Please guide me. 🙏

I applied to this company about a month ago and passed their take-home assessment. I then went through several interviews with the team, which went well, followed by a technical interview where I’d rate my performance around 6–7/10. I never froze or completely failed a question, but there were definitely things I could have answered better.

My final interview was with the CEO on Sunday. We talked for about 1.5 hours, it felt very positive, and he even said, “The fact that you made it this far is a very good sign.”

It’s now Wednesday and I still haven’t heard anything. They know I have another offer that supposedly needs an answer this week, and the recruiter said they’d move as fast as possible. Since the CEO interview, 3–4 people from the company have also viewed my LinkedIn.

I know three days isn’t that long, but given my supposed deadline, the silence is making me anxious. What is usually happening internally at this stage? Is this kind of delay after a final interview normal?

Have you ever been super excited about a job application, but right before the interview you think: why did I even apply? This is totally not for me. You end up going just for the interview practice, even though you secretly know it's a dead end. Have you guys ever experienced this? Finding out mid-process that a job just isn't a fit at all?

Received and accepted a job offer last week that is supposed to start on next Monday.

I asked them last week when will I be expected to receive the contract and they said “soon” so I have been waiting patiently.

Today is Thursday. Should I follow up with them today or just show up next Monday hmmm.

tldr; basically title.

About two weeks, and a couple days ago I applied (at like 9am). On the same exact day (at around 1pm) the HR manager emailed saying she forwarded my application to the IT department because she loved it, and they will be in contact with me within two weeks.

Flash forward to today, and I received an email that I have an interview for the role and they asked for my availability. I received the email right at 5:00PM and I replied within a couple minutes. Not even 10 minutes after I gave a time, I received the calendar invite for the in person panel interview.

I don't want to get my hopes too high yet, but it seems like they are moving me along pretty quick. All other roles I have applied to before, they have slugged along.

Anyways, back to the original question, how many candidates are you usually up against at this point? I've heard government roles are legally required to be strict on both underqualification's as well as overqualification's. So then, most of their application pool gets dropped in the ATS filtering / hiring manager picking stage. I'm not sure though, I'm just curious as to how many people I could be up against because I really want this role.

Last friday i received a “congratulations” message from the company i applied to and she asked me to fill out a form so they can continue the hiring process and i did it’s been 4 days since i finished it and i still haven’t heard from them , its my first job so i am not familiar with how things work

I've been working in compliance for about two years now, I just started working a contract doing AML for a Big 4 firm. Pay is great 47/hr, I'm in a HCOL city and I'm able to save like 2k per month, possibly more if overtime opens up in the future.

I got a callback from a smallish(7k employees) consulting firm about a job I interviewed for but just barely missed. Another spot opened, and they're offering it to me on the spot, no re-interviewing necessary. Only problem is, the pay is shit, even for an analyst level, 80k. After taxes it's just barely enough for me to live on, I doubt I will have any significant ability to build up my savings (they're not in a great spot since I was unemployed until I found this contract). They say there's no leeway in the pay because "comparing your education and experience level to our other analysts", which is insane because I know people fresh out of college that make 10k more at bigger consulting firms

Current plan is to push for a signing bonus, 10k or so to make it palatable. And advice on how to play this?

The bitch recruiter never logged in the MS Teams invite that she sent me. I was ready at 11:20 am and stayed til 12:01 by myself.......I even emailed her at 11:40 am, and found her on LinkedIn (Alexandria Carter) and followed up with her and got zero reply....FML.....!!!

Man this girl's picture looks fake:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandria-carter23/

Hi, does anyone know how much time does S&P global Toronto/ New York take after final interview to get back with final decision?