Vent - job postings *UPDATE POST 57*

[disneystacy]

I am soooo frustrated. I resigned from my job last month(hours were cut and drama central) and thankfully I can take my time finding a new one. I have applied for many jobs on Craigslist and have received many calls to interview. They all seem interested and then comes the problem......they only want to pay minimum wage

Why oh Why can't they just put that in the ad. No way could I even afford to work for minimum wage. Waste of my time.

This morning I got a call to interview at a holistic doctors office. The owner was telling me the job description (basically run around doing everything, computer, billing, cleaning). Something made me ask the salary.......minumum wage Told her "no thanks, I couldn't possibly work for such a low wage". She tried to tell me what a great place it was to work, blah,blah,blah....great people don't pay bills. Maybe someone else would take the job, but at least be upfront about it.

Vent over

 

[dakcp2001]

It used to be taboo to ask about the pay before getting an offer, but now it seems to be a prescreening necessity.


Perhaps you should be looking somewhere other than CL, those are typically low paying jobs. If you have some type of skills that warrant higher wages, there are better places to look. I think Monster has turned into all headhunters. Have you tried indeed dot com?

 

[marcyinPA]

I can so totally relate!! My DH was laid off in February, and went for a job interview a couple of weeks later. The interview lasted about four hours, with an off-site tour, etc. Towards the END, they asked my DH about his salary requirements. He told them, the interview ended, they said they would call. They never did.

It used to be rude or inappropriate to ask about the salary up front, but you know, in today's day and age, I really think that needs to be the FIRST thing discussed. Don't waste my time and I won't waste yours!

 

[dakcp2001]

OMG and what is with the new trend of marathon interviews? They seem to go all day now and insist you meet every single person from the CEO to the janitor. Then come back for second. Ugh. Glad I have a job. I dont love it, but it will do for now.

 

[disneystacy]

The best one was a job posting at a VERY high end dealer. Ad was for a greeter. Turns out that yes you will be greeting, but you will be doing it outside in all weather while the client throws the keys at you and you need to pull the car into the service station.

Come on people. List wht the job REALLY is.

 

[disneystacy]

It used to be taboo to ask about the pay before getting an offer, but now it seems to be a prescreening necessity.


Perhaps you should be looking somewhere other than CL, those are typically low paying jobs. If you have some type of skills that warrant higher wages, there are better places to look. I think Monster has turned into all headhunters. Have you tried indeed dot com?

Yes I have looked other places besides Craigslist, but no one hardly posts the salary range. Crazy.

 

[RUDisney]

I had an interview a while back that was at a university. It was a management position and one requirement was that you have an MBA. The interviewer told me that the starting salary was $27,500, but because of my experience, she'd go to bat to get me $30,000. That was the end of that interview.

No wonder the interviewer also had told me that she works a second job at Penneys.

 

[Christine]

Interesting. When my college-age daughter was applying last spring, she was heavily using Craigslist and all of the ads (well, about 99% of them anyway) had an hourly rate or a pay rate range listed.

I guess it varies is different localities on how to post a job ad on Craigslist but it seems that in the DC area, the pay rate was definitely there.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

It's pretty sad. Many of the ads I see say, "4-year bachelor's degree or higher...minimum 5 years experience," then, "$8.75-$9.00 per hour depending on experience" and "No benefits."

 

[SueInBoston]

I had an interview a while back that was at a university. It was a management position and one requirement was that you have an MBA. The interviewer told me that the starting salary was $27,500, but because of my experience, she'd go to bat to get me $30,000. That was the end of that interview.

No wonder the interviewer also had told me that she works a second job at Penneys.

Management position? $30,000 for an MBA?? Please tell me that is not the norm

 

[RUDisney]

Management position? $30,000 for an MBA?? Please tell me that is not the norm

Thankfully, no, it's not.

 

[Hannathy]

It is the economy. They all know there are so many people out of work that they are taking a chance you are desperate enough to bite at anything to get a job. They are doing it at all levels of jobs from entry up to higher management. They are asking for amazing amounts of experience/skills/certifications then wanting to pay what a few years ago someone with half those skills would be getting. Don't take it personal.

My DH recently started back to work after being out for quite a while and he and his other friends that were all downsized at the same time are just now slowly finding positions and all of them are at lower than they were making with much more responsibility.

As far as the interviews they are taking forever both in length and number and how long it is taking the companies to decide He was the top candidate for the job he got BUT even with that (and the hiring manager and corporate PR person both told him after he accepted) It took the company over 3 months to go thru all the interviews with 3 candidates and he had about 6 separate days of interviews with about 15 or so people minimum.

 

[twinklebug]

It is no longer taboo to put the expected salary/pay rate on your resume & application. This will weed out the cheapskates and positions you are really overqualified for. Many companies I've been interviewing for ask me right up front what I was making at my last position. I have the awkward task of explaining the 40% pay cut we all endured before a 5th round of layoffs got me.

Word it something like: Pay rate: $12-$20/hr, flexible according to benefits.

I'm a programmer, so wording's not my strong point... maybe someone here can fix that up

 

[RUDisney]

It is no longer taboo to put the expected salary/pay rate on your resume & application. This will weed out the cheapskates and positions you are really overqualified for. Many companies I've been interviewing for ask me right up front what I was making at my last position. I have the awkward task of explaining the 40% pay cut we all endured before a 5th round of layoffs got me.

Word it something like: Pay rate: $12-$20/hr, flexible according to benefits.

I'm a programmer, so wording's not my strong point... maybe someone here can fix that up

Honestly, I would just put "Negotiable" in the salary field. That gives them some room to go higher than the $20 you have listed.

Have you tried using www.dice.com to find a developer's job? I'm not a programmer, but I'm in IT. Dice has a ton of developer jobs listed. While some might be contract jobs, it doesn't hurt to take one of those because you may get hired in the long run by the firm that contracted you.

I've also found that by updating my resume every now and then on Dice, I get calls from recruiters who wouldn't have looked at my resume because it got old online.

 

[twinklebug]

Honestly, I would just put "Negotiable" in the salary field. That gives them some room to go higher than the $20 you have listed.

Good idea. I'm not sure how much the OP is looking for, but I think with hourly it's a little trickier to word than salary becuase benefits are always a selling point the companies will use when trying to negotiate a lower number.

Have you tried using www.dice.com to find a developer's job? I'm not a programmer, but I'm in IT. Dice has a ton of developer jobs listed. While some might be contract jobs, it doesn't hurt to take one of those because you may get hired in the long run by the firm that contracted you.

I've also found that by updating my resume every now and then on Dice, I get calls from recruiters who wouldn't have looked at my resume because it got old online.

I have been using Monster and the MA state site (name escapes me for now) as well as recruiters looking high and low for me. I have learned the trick of nudging the resume on the hit list with slight changes to it... even a space here or there will flag it as edited. My biggest issues are 1) location, I can't be more than a 45 min commute from home; and 2) Getting recruiters to READ the resume.

 

[pixiewings71]

Oh man I feel for you OP. I'm dealing with this as well and CL is the place to go for job listings. No one is filing with the papers anymore since CL is free. Well I know I'm not going to get a job making what I was making in my last position but I know what I need to make minimum and people just aren't paying that at all. Most ads don't describe the actual job, most ads don't list pay or benefits so you send your resume and they want to interview you, you get there and find out NO benefits (I have 2 kids at home, I need benefits), only 1 week of vacation per year, no sick time AND they want to pay you almost half what you were making previously. It's really bad right now. Good luck to you, I hope you find something you'll love!

 

[dismom2005]

OMG and what is with the new trend of marathon interviews? They seem to go all day now and insist you meet every single person from the CEO to the janitor. Then come back for second. Ugh. .

Yes, that is the worst....been there, done that. I once had to meet 6 people and I was only coming in as a temp....

 

[bdoyledimou]

I have had two experiences similar to this..

1) Back in 1997 (on the day my son was born) the company i was working at was bought by another company headquartered in another province. They immediately laid off(fired) 50 of the 70 employees, and kpet 20 of us to "transition" to their office.

Once the transition was done, i was invited to maintain my job at the company, in the new province, but for minimum wage!!!! Their reason was that was what everyone else in the company made, and it was cheaper in their province than my own.

Turns out everyone else in the new company was related to the owner, and had company owned homes, cares, education etc etc etc, and didn't NEED more than minimum wage... i wasn't getting those benefits on my move though.


The second, after working at another company for 5 years as a product manager/implementer i was laid off when the product was abandoned.

Another company trying to pick up the support on it called me and offered me a job.. I was the perfect fit, as NO ONE IN THE WORLD knew the software better than I did.. but once again, they offered minimum wage... and told me it was because i was a one trick pony to them..

I wanted to work, but not for a company like that...

 

[crazelion]

I love fact on CL that don't even post the company. I am not sending my resume off and on the net and knowing who getting it.

Get this apply for cook at new place opening up. They give my name out to a contractor. What h@ll. I did not apply for that job.


All these jobs make jump through hoops asking for extreme amount experience. Come on now I can cut veggies with the best of them.

 

[pixiewings71]

I love fact on CL that don't even post the company. I am not sending my resume off and on the net and knowing who getting it.

Get this apply for cook at new place opening up. They give my name out to a contractor. What h@ll. I did not apply for that job.


All these jobs make jump through hoops asking for extreme amount experience. Come on now I can cut veggies with the best of them.

yup! They don't tell you the company, how much you'll make, benefits or hours, then when you submit your resume they contact you and say you have to work weekends and nights, pay is $9 an hour, no benefits and you'll be commuting an hour and a half each way.......ummmmm no thanks! Why did they even bother contacting me? lol So frustrating!!!!