30 Warning Signs In Job Listings That Signal Trouble Ahead, According To Reddit Users

The term "Rockstar" raises red flags among users.

Damjan

• Published in Interesting
• March 12, 2024

Embarking on the quest for a new job begins, undeniably, with scrutinizing the job listing. This initial step is crucial in determining whether the role's duties align with one's career aspirations, whether one's qualifications match the requirements, and what the organization has to offer in terms of remuneration and perks.

It's essential to carefully evaluate if the role and the company's offerings resonate with your professional goals and personal needs. However, it's vital to approach this with a degree of skepticism, as the allure of the job description doesn't always match the reality of what the company is prepared to provide.

Moreover, it's easy to overlook seemingly minor details in the job advertisement that could hint at less desirable aspects of the position or workplace—details that are often only recognized by those who have encountered such disappointments firsthand.

The conversation around recognizing warning signs in job postings gained momentum recently when a question posed in a Reddit community invited users to share their insights on red flags that serve as a clear indication to steer clear of certain employers.

This discussion unearthed cautionary signals, offering a wealth of advice to help job seekers sidestep potentially toxic work environments upon spotting any of these warning signs.

Finding a good job can be hard

1. Lack of online presence.

2. "Be your own boss". Stay away."

3. Accepting low pay for excessive work and ego boosts.

“Looking to hire a rock star” is code for overworked, underpaid, and willing to accept ego strokes over fair working conditions.

“Salary based on experience” is code for lowest possible salary.

If it is a government job and the salary range is 35,000-50,000…the salary is 35,000. No negotiations.

If the job has a date range that states when they will be accepting applications, and that range is less than seven days, they most likely already have an internal candidate for the job and are legally required to post the job for other applicants. State government and public universities do this all the time."

4. "Competitive wages"

5. "Occasional overtime"

"salary to be discussed"

This means they ARE going to lowball the daylights out of you.

"occasional overtime"

This means plan on working several evenings or Saturdays....sometimes on short notice.

6. “Start up culture” : a disorganised hot mess of egos."

7. GTFO

8. "They've been growing rapidly for the last fifty years, but you've never heard of them. It's probably going to be an MLM recruiting session, not an actual job interview. "

9. Delayed or absent response post-final job interview indicates the position has been filled.

10. "Entry level" and "3-5 years experience required" don't belong in the same job posting.

11. "Work hard, play hard - we’re all alcoholics "

12. Any use of the word “Rockstar”.

13. "Now hiring" signs painted on buildings/trucks. It just means you can't keep staff. "

14. All for a salary of 38k.

"I saw one job posting that was front desk administrator at a retirement home.

Requires a bachelors degree, 10 year experience.

Your role was a/p, a/r, payroll, journal entry, bank recs. Then to add to that, SEO management, social media management, updating the website. Oh and if that wasn’t enough there was an HR requirement too. Hiring, training new staff, outlying policies, reviews, payroll, etc.

so basically doing the work of 3 departments all for the great wage of 38k"

15. Challenges in job placement.

"My job partially includes job placement. I went on a tour today with one of the higher ups and she used the word “nightmare” several times describing some things. Then she was complaining that they can’t get anyone to hire on or stay hired on. That they had 8 candidates file, get screened and the day of only 2 showed up. And I wanted to ask so badly what they were paying, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to control my reaction so I refrained. Then she complained later that people “didn’t want to work, wanted to take days off during the middle of the week, and didn’t want to work over 40 hours”. I was getting nauseous. I don’t want want to deal with that s**t either, especially for half of my pay that I get now. Not to mention dealing with deadlines and back breaking work. On top of that they were bitching about it from a nice office position. Like you don’t have to work in the factory with no climate control, lifting heavy s**t, or dealing with all the other countless b******t. You get to sit in a nice office and gossip with the other office people, while making 3x what those line workers get. I don’t know if I have the heart to place people in these positions."

16. "Bachelor's degree required. Starting pay $12.50/hr"

17. Job interview in a hotel room.

"I applied for a position on indeed, guy called me like an hour after I sent my resume, said he was traveling and was only going to be in town through today, but wanted me to come to his hotel room for an interview. I told him that sounds like how you get human trafficked and he immediately hung up. So, that, I guess."

18. "Fast paced environment. That usually means absolute chaos with no one in charge. "

19. "Occasional overtime" equals sacrificing family time as you're chained to the office indefinitely.

""Fast paced enviornment" means insane deadlines and bosses breathing down your neck.

"Unique challenges" means constant clusterf**k.

"Occasional overtime" means just say goodbye to your family because you'll never leave the office again."

20. schedule means we expect you to be very flexible with our poor scheduling "

21. "Requires you to be bilingual and have experience but pay is 15 dollars an hour. If my skills as a bilingual worker with experience only gets me minimum wage f**k you"

22. "Too many HR buzzwords "

23. "salary to be discussed". Every single interview I've gone for that didn't disclose the salary upfront was severely underpaid.

24. Wheelchair users avoid job ads asking for lifting.

As a wheelchair user, I stay away from job postings that require applicants to be able to lift 50 lbs, but the position is something like graphic designer, web content specialist, etc. I've even seen that listed for remote positions. It's code for "we don't want to hire disabled people but it's illegal to say that overtly."

25. “Urgently hiring multiple candidates”

26. Occasional weekends are required.

"All caps.

A litany of technologies.

"no job hoppers!"

If they ever suggest that you should care "more about the work than compensation"

"Some weekends"

27. "*We are a family* companies expect you to be fine with getting underpaid and doing endless overtime because hey, they order food once in a while for the team which is soo cool... "

28. "When the pay is advertised as "up to $XX" instead of actually saying the starting base pay amount. "

29. wear many hats”, we expect you to do the job of like 4 people and we’re going to under pay you "

30. "Must have a bubbly personality. F**k off."

Finding a good job is about more than just liking what the job ad says. You need to look closely and be on the lookout for little signs that might show the job isn't as great as it seems.

Some people who've had bad experiences shared tips on Reddit about what to watch out for, and this helps others avoid bad workplaces.

Damjan