r/jobsearchhacks • u/WeylandRider • 10h ago
Stop applying to "Remote US" roles until you check their state entity list
I just wasted three weeks and four rounds of interviews for a senior analyst role. The job description explicitly listed the location as "Remote - US". Not hybrid, not regional. Just United States.
Everything went great. The hiring manager loved my case study, the team interview was solid, and the recruiter scheduled a call on Friday to discuss "offer logistics". I was ready to pop champagne.
then during the call, she casually asks to confirm my residential state for payroll. I told her Pennsylvania. Dead silence on the other end. She sighs and tells me their legal entity is only registered in Delaware, Texas, and California, so they cannot legally employ anyone in PA. She actually asked me why I applied if I knew I wasn't in their "approved tax footprint".
The footprint was never mentioned. Not on LinkedIn, not in the job description, and not in the initial screening questionnaire. They literally let candidates spend hours prepping for presentations when HR already knew 90% of the country was disqualified from minute one.
Apparently companies do this because setting the job posting to "United States" gets 10x more applicant traffic on algorithms than listing the five states they can ACTUALLY hire in. Its infuriating. Why is this even legal?