Do NOT let inconsiderate employers take advantage of you or waste your time.
The economy is humming along right now. Things are great. You should be able to find a job easily making a decent amount commensurate with your experience. That said, you need to avoid potential employers that want to take advantage of you!
I am a software developer. Currently, I do not need a job, however, I was looking for something during the week so that I could pay off a few bills. I haven’t looked for a job for a while, and a few things have surprised me lately. I have been an employer and a hiring manager, so I understand both sides. There are a lot of flaky and entitled employees, but right now I’m going to focus on the flaky employers.
1) SCAM JOBS
There are a lot of employers advertising for JUNIOR positions with low pay, but asking for senior level experience. I have no idea why this is happening in such a strong economy. The only thing I can say is that there must be people with senior experience that are willing to whore themselves out for a low salary. This is not only counterproductive for the job seeker, but it hurts the industry as a whole and brings wages down.
Let me give you an example. I have been on the other side. I was a hiring manager about 8 years ago. I was seeking JUNIOR web developers with 1-2 years experience and paying a starting salary of 60-70k per year. This was the norm at the time. Senior people were getting anywhere from 95k-140k, depending on the job location and the company.
Today, I have seen MANY job postings for JUNIOR web developers, some for 50k or less. But get this, they are asking for at least 5 years experience. That is not JUNIOR level!
The only way that employers can justify paying for ads for these scam positions is if people are actually applying for them. If you are one of those people whoring themselves out, STOP. JUST STOP! You are doing everyone a disservice.
2) ARMY OF ONE JOBS
This is a big pet peeve for me. Some companies are so clueless and so cheap that they think they can get an all-in-one employee for a single salary. This happens across many industries. However, in software development, it is commonly known that, with very, very few exceptions, graphic designers do not make coders and coders cannot make a good design if their lives depended on it. In fact, in the past two decades, after interviewing hundreds of candidates for both web design and web development, I have never encountered a single person that is good at both. That doesn’t stop the cheapskate companies from trying to get the most bang for their buck.
This week I came across a Web Designer/Developer Job.
These guys want a three (or four) for one employee that does it all. I imagine that qualified applicants for this position might ride in on a rainbow unicorn.
They ONLY want a person who is proficient at:
– Web Design
– Web Development
– Marketing and Analytics
– and Social Media
Perhaps I should apply and ask for 250k to start. However, as clueless as they are, I’m guessing that they might try to pay someone $60k a year for this position. No thank you.
Guys and girls, if you see a 4 person job like this, run away as fast as you can. Whoever gets hired for this position is being set up to fail.
3) NO RESPECT GIVEN
Employers should respect your time. I recently applied for a position. I have a lot of experience, so I get a lot of call-backs. However, I don’t want to waste my valuable time interviewing for these scam positions that want to pay a junior level salary for senior level experience. One thing I need to mention is to know your worth and to avoid being bullied. Time is money, so spend your time wisely. It is perfectly okay to ask what the salary range is before you give up your personal time to go in for an interview.
About a week ago, I applied for a position and got a call back within 24 hours. They had time slots that you could select to come in for an interview. Everything was clearly defind; skills required, job responsibilities, etc. Everything, that is, except for salary. I emailed the job and selected a time. In my email I asked about the salary range. My question was ignored. I had a family emergency and had to cancel and select a new time, which was no problem. This time I told the company that, in order to confirm that I would be there, I would need to know the salary range. My request was ignored once again.
The employer has no consideration for my time. That can only mean that this is not a good employer to work for. Of course, the company needs come first, I get that, but if the company has no respect or consideration for an applicant’s time, that is not going to improve once the applicant is hired.
There are lots of great employers out there. If an employer is inconsiderate before you are even hired, you should run! Respect the company’s time, but have some respect for yourself and you fellow job seekers. Don’t be bullied and don’t accept a scam job, or a senior level job for junior level pay!