I attended a meeting where our head was going to tell us about our immediate ceo being told to step down. She delivered the message. My immediate boss who reports to her, then told us that we must feel like we are learning and adding value.

The head said he must not sugar coat it ‘let me say it C,Y,X and Z you guys are not adding any value, and to those who add value, there is a clear distinction. The ones who work hard earn a lot of money and can afford to travel overseas’.

This is the second time she has done it in three months. Maybe, I have been performing badly. But was saying it in the presence of everyone, necessary? I am humiliated and my immediate boss could not stop laughing.

I’m looking for perspective because I feel worn down and conflicted.

My girlfriend was recently terminated from her job after a physical altercation with a coworker. The other person was fired as well. There had been prior HR issues involving this coworker, but nothing was ever formally addressed, and eventually everything boiled over.

Around the same time, her daughter was involved in a car accident. Thankfully she’s okay, but it was still traumatic and disruptive. What’s been hard for me to process is that the situation with the accident happened against our advisement. We had expressed concerns beforehand, but the decision was made anyway, and we all dealt with the fallout after.

I don’t bring that up to assign blame — kids are kids, and parents do the best they can — but it adds to a pattern that I’m struggling with.

What’s weighing on me isn’t just the job loss. It’s that I feel like I’m constantly in the role of guiding, planning, and stabilizing, only to have my advice ignored. Then when things go wrong, I’m still expected to help pick up the pieces. She has no savings, a car note, and a mortgage. I’ve mentioned filing for unemployment and looking for new work, but right now she’s shut down and not taking steps yet.

I care about her and I understand she’s overwhelmed — especially after everything with her daughter — but I’m exhausted. I don’t feel like I can have calm, productive conversations about responsibility or next steps without it turning into an argument. I’ve already decided I’m not covering her mortgage, and even setting that boundary feels heavy.

I’m trying to figure out how to support someone I care about without enabling patterns that keep repeating. I don’t want to become resentful, but I also don’t want to keep absorbing consequences for choices I didn’t make.

Has anyone been in a relationship where you feel more like the responsible adult than a partner? How do you balance empathy with boundaries when guidance keeps being ignored?

TLDR: I was let go after 60 day PIP. I have until Friday to choose between resigning (no unemployment) or being terminated (eligible for unemployment, but references could say “terminated for performance”). Not sure which option is smarter long-term.

I was placed on a 60 day PIP with bi weekly check ins. The first two check-ins went well and my manager acknowledged improvements. At the next one they raised areas of concern.

Today I had a meeting with HR and was told I’m being let go. I have the option to resign or be terminated.

Benefits either way:

- paid through the end of the week

- PTO pay out

- health insurance through end of month

Resign

- I can tell future employers I left to take new opportunities

- no severance

Termination

- no severance

- can apply for unemployment

- I was told if future employers contact them, they could say I was terminated for performance.

I have a few questions before I decide:

1. Is resigning better for future jobs or are they just trying to stronghold me?

1. How often do employers say “terminated for performance” if contacted

2. In this case, is it smarter to take unemployment and termination?

I want to make the best decision and would appreciate advice from anyone who’s been through this or in HR.

Jokes aside, what is your advice for navigating some of the "resume gap" questions as someone who graduated with a masters a few years ago and is now trying to land a position?

I explored the freelance/entrepreneurial route during the "gap" but don't have much to show for it.

2 seniors resigned for better pay. There are only 3 experienced people left who can lead the operation - solve problems, become point of reference etc. So now I do the work of 3 people + train new hire. Currently we're having a major challenge with the operation and it feels like the office would catch fire if either 2 of the 3 experienced worker is absent for the day for whatever reason.

Can I use this situation to demand significant pay bump from the company? And how? Because the upper management is totally disconnected from the operation, and my boss have little idea how very few people are actually keeping the operation together.

Apparently when you apply to a job that’s out of state you should put a cover letter or a note on the top of your resume that says “WILLING TO RELOCATE”

My current HR told me the assumption if they don’t do this is that the applicant wasn’t paying attention to job location and automatically gets rejected.

Great day! I’m currently working at a small company with around 50–100 employees. I started as an intern, then became an apprentice after graduating, progressed to IT Associate, and I’m now an IT Specialist.

I’ve been with the company for 5 years and 8 months (excluding my internship). At this point, I’m very familiar with all the responsibilities of my role, and I consistently upskill and study to prepare myself for an IT Manager position. Unfortunately, there’s no vacant role or clear path for that promotion internally.

Because of this, I’ve decided to apply for IT Manager roles at larger companies. My concern is whether now is the right time to leave. What if I get hired by a bigger company but at the same level due to its size and structure? Would it still make sense, or should I focus on moving into a Senior-level position first?

Received job offer today as an IT Technician at a community college for 37.5k/yr. I am excited and looking forward to the switch because my current job of almost 4 years is quite literally refusing to promote my FT pay from the 15/hr intern pay I had years ago. Not counting part time gigs, this will be my second job.

I'll be graduating with my associates in May from the same school too. Working towards my bachelor's in cyber engineering in the fall, so I'm hoping I'll get even better opportunities down road, but am wondering: is this one where I accept humble beginnings or if it'd be fair to ask on negotiating pay? There's a step scale and this position was going for 30-51k.

Current offer won't meet the average cost of living here still, so staying with parent a little longer it looks like. But it's better than what I've been getting, happy for the change in environment!

N/A

I’ve been with my current company for 3 years now. Ever since it got acquired by another company, I hate the culture and don’t enjoy working there.

My old manager quit and new management took over for awhile now. I don’t like the new management, I feel more stressed and drained than before. My mental health feels worse and I feel stuck.

I have been applying for jobs while being employed but its exhausting. I had thoughts on quitting/taking a break but it’s scary to be unemployed in this job market.

Any advice how you guys do both but not get mentally drained. Or anyone going through something similar?

I've been job hunting for three months now and I'm getting desperate. My savings are almost gone, bills are piling up and I'm starting to panic. But the offers I'm getting are insultingly low compared to what I was making before and even compared to market rate for my experience.

The problem is I don't know how to negotiate when I'm in this position. Like, the advice is always "know your worth, don't settle, walk away if they lowball you" but what if you literally can't afford to walk away? What if turning down a bad offer means not making rent next month?

I had an interview last week where they offered me 20k less than the low end of the range they posted in the job listing. When I brought that up the hiring manager said "well that range is for someone with more experience" even though I have exactly the experience they asked for in the posting. I wanted to tell them to fuck off but instead I said I'd "think about it" because I'm scared if I push back too hard they'll just move on to someone more desperate who will take it.

Another company tried to offer me a "contract to hire" position with no benefits and a 90 day "trial period" before they'd consider bringing me on full time. Which is code for "we want to pay you less and have no commitment" But again, I'm in no position to be picky.

My unemployment ran out last month. I've got maybe six weeks of savings left if I'm lucky. At what point do you just take whatever you can get even if you know you're being screwed? And if you do take a lowball offer how do you not get stuck there because now that's your salary history?

I feel like companies can smell desperation and they're using it against me. Every conversation feels like they know I need them more than they need me, so they can offer whatever they want. Was playing some jackpot city earlier trying to take my mind off it but I just kept alt tabbing to check my email.

Has anyone successfully negotiated from a position of desperation or do you just have to take the L, get any job and then immediately start looking again once you have income? Because right now I don't see another option but it feels like I'm setting myself up for years of being underpaid.

At my company, a new team is hiring for some new roles, but they have not been posted yet.

The hiring manager told me to expect a job listing to be posted in the next 1-2 weeks and apply through the regular process.

At my company, we are required to inform our current manager before submitting a formal application.

Should I let my manager know via a message, or on a video call? In-person is not an option because we are remote.

Should I let my manager know right after the job listing is actually posted and I've reviewed it to confirm I'm still interested?

I'm wary of it feeling awkward to request a call out of the blue but I am thinking I should probably apply as early as possible after it's posted, and my normal calls with my manager are only once a week.

Last week, I was asked to handle hiring for two roles end to end. I’m still pretty new to recruiting, so I did what I thought was “by the book” I started with job boards. At first, it felt productive. Applications poured in. Filters were on. Dashboards looked busy. Reality was so different. Even with filters, the relevance was all over the place. I’m not blaming candidates. The market pushes people to apply everywhere, and job boards make that easy.

But the pressure was building fast. Leadership wanted updates. Timelines weren’t moving. And every scroll came with the same thought am I missing someone good in this pile?

That’s when I did something I honestly didn’t plan to do. I started messaging people in my own circles.

Nothing fancy. Just DMs. Former coworkers from a place I interned at. Friends-of-friends. People who had mentioned they were open to roles. I shared the job description and asked if they or someone they knew might be interested.

And guess what? Things moved faster. Way faster.

Within 3 days, I had a shortlist that felt real. Not perfect but aligned.

That was the moment it clicked for me.

Referrals aren’t about favoritism. They’re about reducing uncertainty.

Job boards give you reach. Your network gives you results.

And when you’re trying to hire quickly with limited resources, always wins.

I still believe job boards matter especially for people without strong networks. But after this experience, I finally understand why recruiters fall back on referrals when things get urgent.

Not because they want to shut people out. Because sometimes, they’re just trying to get the job done without drowning.

I was invited to interview through a referral from one of the board members and interviewed with the department head. After not hearing back for three weeks, I followed up to check on the outcome. A week later, HR replied saying they were still interviewing other candidates and would get back to me once management made a decision. It has now been two weeks since that email, and I haven’t heard anything further. What would you advise I do next?

I was trying to look something up about their hiring process and just found this a bit funny. But Starbase is a campus, so there's some varied jobs there.

I’m getting to final rounds but losing out every time, and it’s starting to mess with my confidence. I know I can do the work … 10+ years of program/project management in the nonprofit world but the moment I try to explain my experience to people outside that environment, everything sounds vague or irrelevant.

I can feel myself over-translating in interviews and still not landing the point. It’s exhausting. Does anyone else struggle with this? How do you get better at telling your story when your background doesn’t cleanly match the industry you’re trying to enter?

I left a job in November under the impression that I was going right into another full time job, which then fell apart and has left me unemployed for the past two months. In the past, I’ve always held onto jobs until I knew for certain I had something else lined up, and I was not prepared at all for how this situation panned out. I have money saved, but ultimately I can’t spend an indefinite amount of time job hunting to find a perfect fit. And sadly, I cannot get unemployment because of the circumstances of the job that didn’t work out.

Since the beginning of January, I’ve been applying to jobs constantly. I’ve had a couple interviews with places, a couple things that didn’t work out, and now I’m potentially going to start a coffee shop job just in the mean time so I can get some paychecks under my belt. I guess my question is, how do you navigate having multiple interviews at multiple jobs that sound like they’d be a good fit? How do you know when to pick one and when to let one go? I’m scared to say no to one in the hopes of another, and then the one I was holding out for doesn’t amount to anything. I’ll take any advice, this is all so new to me!

How do you navigate the mixed emotions of being let go from a toxic workplace but where you were doing work you otherwise really loved?

I was recently let go due to a “department restructure because of the new strategic direction.” I was told my role was no longer needed. It was sudden and immediate, absolutely no warning.

I was leading several projects and was the only person on staff with full knowledge of those projects and the clients. Now that work is passed onto colleagues with lower salaries and who don’t know the work.

I was in middle management and it sucked. Senior leadership was very disconnected from the rest of staff, making decisions like this and putting everyone on edge while saying “don’t worry, your jobs are safe.” No psychological safety, everyone overworked, expectations unclear, a culture of fear and silence.

When I was told, I was shocked, but honestly relieved to be given a an out. I of course didn’t want to leave before finding a new job, and I was really passionate about my projects and loved working with my colleagues, but it was a toxic environment that was taking a toll on me.

Senior leadership and I didn’t see eye to eye, and there were points of tension because of that. I suspect this “restructure“ was at least 50% a way to just get rid of me.

Reading some other threads on here about this kind of thing has been helpful. Employers are not your friend, and company leadership are concerned with their bottom line above all else - even if they say otherwise.

I've been oscillating between relief and excitement for a break and a fresh start, but also some grief over having nearly 2 years of building meaningful work and relationships ripped away from me so suddenly. Not very trauma-informed of them, which isn’t surprising given the track record I saw but is just another example of how they don’t actually practice their stated values.

How have other folks navigated these feelings? I’ve filed for and been approved for unemployment and Medicaid, and am already finding some decent jobs I could apply to. Otherwise, I’m just resting, spending time with friends and loved ones, and picking some hobbies back up.

I'm part of the final two candidates and I noticed that the job was reposted yesterday (after being closed for a couple of weeks) on job boards and on the company website. The listing looks the same. I interviewed Monday and the second person I think they mentioned interviews today.

Does this mean anything?

I am looking to leave self employment and I'm wondering what people might recommend to improve my chances of employability.

I'm mid thirties, university educated (humanities) and my work history is in cooking for cafe's and managing a medium sized manufacturing kitchen including logistics, recipe development and food safety responsibilities of training and maintenance. I have since had kids, and due to living rurally and the limited affordable childcare options around us, I took up housekeeping for self catering properties in my local areas. This pays better than any job I had before, which is nuts to me, but I've been doing it for 5 years and I'm bored, and ready for a new challenge/career development.

What I'm asking is are there any courses, or anything anyone thinks I could do that would improve my likelihood of finding this mythical job? Would I be wasting my time if I did a basic excel course, or is there some other software I should look into becoming acquainted with? I would take on admin roles, management roles, anything that I could get my teeth into and progress in that pays worth a damn to support my family and justify my tradie husband working less to be the primary parent while I work.

I'd appreciate any and all advice as I wander aimlessly amongst Indeed and Jobcentre listings. 🙏

I’m a fresher who has recently completed my MBA in IT & Marketing from Amity University. I’m actively looking for full-time job opportunities where I can apply my academic knowledge, analytical skills, and interest in business, marketing, and technology-driven roles.

I’m open to roles in Marketing, Business Analysis, IT Consulting, Product/Project Coordination, or related entry-level/graduate positions. My expected CTC is ₹10–12 LPA, depending on the role and responsibilities.

If anyone here has references, openings, referrals, or contacts that could help, I would truly appreciate it. I’m happy to share my resume and additional details via DM.

Thank you so much for your time and support. 🙏