Someone Asked People To Share Red Flags From Employers That Potential Workers Might Not Immediately Spot, 30 Deliver

"Thanks for bringing up that scenario! It reminds me to ask: what is the company policy for overtime/reimbursement in this circumstance? (assuming I'm able to clear my weekend schedule on such short notice, of course)"

If that was an actual interview question, I would assume that they'd be doing that on the regular. Have I had to work evenings or weekends now and then because of some emergency? Yes. People in this industry do expect that will happen. That's typically when there's some issue that's in the field and affecting customers. Then it's all hands on deck. It should be rare in a well run organization, and it's normal to get comped with extra paid time off for it. If they're asking me this in an interview, that tells me they're short staffed, poorly organized, or both. Heck, I even pulled an all-nighter once that was over 30 hours straight. Once. In over 20 years in the industry. Once. Would I be prepared to do it again if it was a massive emergency? Yes. If that was just the plan for how my work was supposed to be? Heck no.

I'd propose getting this to them Monday morning and taking the rest of the week off. If that doesn't work for them, it doesn't really NEED to be done.

I would say, "Boy, you have serious planning problems in your department."

"Well, obviously you are charging them more for work that is on such short notice. I mean you don't normally have scheduling issues like this do you? In this case I would expect a percentage of the contract for my over time with the ability to say "no" without any fallout."

Same with a family company when the entire executive is related...no room for upward mobility.

How about two older male doctors running the show with a collection of young, lovely looking female nurse practitioners? Not a good look, noped out of that one.

Or they pay subpar wages, and as soon as anyone reaches a certain pay level—-or just dares to ask for a raise—-management makes up excuses to fire them and hire young kids fresh out of school to do the same job for next to nothing.

I worked for a Hospital conglomerate just like this. Found many questionable ways to get rid of anyone over 40-ish Nursing included. Then hired new grads in every profession. They do work soooo much cheaper than say a Nurse or Tech. All they've heard during school and clinicals is, "to even make it in nursing you gotta be 'tuff'....". Bla Bla Bla. So New Grads are worked to death they're super short handed. And they believe their job is indeed one of the hardest thing they've ever done. But they've been groomed to think this is normal. Because their admin says oh we're only shot staffed due to Covid. NO THEY'RE SHORT STAFFED BECAUSE ANY OF THE EXPERIENCED STAFF KNOW THE CO. IS TAKING FULL ADVANTAGE OF THEM. Therefore they leave and WILL NOT GO BACK to that type of treatment. Even in a Right to Work State like TN workers have limits. The Medical field has crossed the line to their own demise

Worked for a bigger company that is local that was like this. They do low pay, low benefits, and there is no upward movement, and lateral movement is very difficult.

This is the reason, “other tasks as necessary“ is the last line on most job descriptions.

Oh god, my first job out of graduate school was like this. I was doing the work of three different people and getting paid table-scraps. Companies like these prey on recent graduates who are eager to prove themselves and get a foot in the door for their career field. They could care less about the mental health of their employees. Their mantra is: "If you're not constantly doing something, you must be doing your job wrong". Needless to say burnout is a very real reality when working for companies like this.

Depends on the company, and whether you're paid for each hat 🤣. There have been places where I wore every hat and made $17/hr and there are places like where I am now, where I wear multiple hats and make 120k annually. Keeps work interesting, but gotta be compensated

M. William Bell

M. William Bell

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While that may be the case for some jobs, I’d say that I actively seek out companies that encourage cross-training and require people to be fluid in their roles. Startups are especially prone to having too many 15 hr/week roles that require some regular attention, but won’t be enough work as to require a full time employee for months or even years down the road. Not all employers are looking to take advantage of people, it’s entirely possible that they are looking to find the self-starter type of candidate who can legitimately take on a multitude of challenges.

It's means you are working with narcissistic cheapskates who will treat you like s**t under their shoe heel every, single day you work at their wretched company.

Is work the only reason you pay?

I don't live to work, I work to live. If I had enough money to live comfortably, I wouldn't proffer a feeble squirt of tepid urine to any boss if they were engulfed in flames.

Generally, I like my job. When I don't, I actually say to myself, "...and this is why you get paid." It helps.

We work for money, but we work harder for a cause we believe in. That makes all the difference.

I don't want money for work. I want the supreme gratification of discipline and the underlying frustration of paying bills, never saving money, and having the titillating idea of a house, life, and family just beyond my reach.

'I'll take 17 dollars until I can prove to you that I'm worth the $20'.......Said Nobody Ever

ALWAYS say.$23, that's your STARTING POINT for negotiation! Let THEM try to talk you down.

Yeah the odds that anyone actually says "I'll start at less" is... No.

Dodged a bullet

I see this as a "can we bully you?" test. They fully expect interviewees to ask for the 20 (since that's what they explicitly advertised), then they give that spiel about how you should only ask for 17 and earn 20 so that you'll feel embarrassed and go along with it. If you do, then they know they can string you along for years with negligible raises while you constantly seek their approval. If you don't go along with that BS, then they'll realize they can't bully you, in which case they want nothing to do with you.

“Competitive” means the lowest amount they can pay you so that they can save money and use the difference of what you’re really worth to spend on things that they think would make them competitive to the competition. Ironically, failure to get the best talent because they’re cheap means that their competitors end up getting a great employee.

One of my wife's former employers called her to try and get her back. They said they could offer a very competitive wage to what she was making now. She just straight up told them what she was making now and they were like, well, we can't pay that. Bye

Always a red flag. It’s just another one of their baits to get you to interview in hopes they change your mind.

I understand sometimes in the advert...okay but why not in the interview? I am constantly asked what's my "desired salary" but never "this is what we pay".

But funnily enough, when they want to know your previous salaries and you put "competitive", they don't consider that an acceptable answer.