u/Impressive_String898

I had an interview once and the manager said, "We treat everyone like family," and then spent a few minutes explaining that they "don't really track hours" because people are expected to be willing to stay late when needed. So... Unpaid overtime, but phrased more nicely.

Another time, the person interviewing me kept looking at Slack on his laptop, and in the middle of the conversation asked me which role I was there for. But the weirdest one? A startup said the first four months would be an "unpaid trial period," and after that they'd "reevaluate the compensation" 💀

What interview red flag made you immediately think: nope, I'm out?

Hey everyone,

I'm seriously thinking about leaving my job on the spot, and I want to know what you would do if you were in my place.

This is an internship because I'm still in college, at a big company in a very respected industry. They can't renew the internship again, so if the company wants me to stay, they have to move me into a full-time role. Since I started, all the feedback I've gotten from the team has been positive. Everyone says they "enjoy working with me," that I'm "reliable" and "professional," and all the usual nice things. But over time, the only real reward was more work. I kept taking on more tasks, including responsibilities that were clearly above intern level.

Now my contract ends in a few weeks, and no one has brought up a promotion or even hinted that they want me to continue. Honestly, I thought doing good work and proving myself would make a difference, but apparently I'm learning that's not how corporate life works. So I finally gathered my courage and spoke to my manager and my manager's manager separately, and both of them gave me a bunch of excuses: "budget is tight," "there's no open headcount," "HR probably won't sign off on it."

Fine. Bad timing. I was upset, but I tried to be logical. Then about a week later, the whole team received a calendar invite for a meeting. I asked a few people what the meeting was about, and suddenly everyone acted like they didn't know anything. I didn't know what to expect, but when the meeting happened, I was shocked. They had gathered everyone to announce that another intern on the team was being converted to full-time.

The door was completely slammed in my face. He works on different things than I do, but we started around the same time. We have different managers, but both report to the same director. I carried more work than he did, was part of more initiatives, and took on more responsibility. I know this might sound arrogant, but my impact was bigger. Honestly, straight up.

I feel like they lied to me, honestly. And I feel betrayed too. Maybe there really is a "budget issue," but clearly there was a way to make it work for someone else. I don't know whether they got used to having me do higher-level work for intern pay, or whether they thought I'd quietly accept it.

I don't know what to do now. Burn the bridge? Stay professional and leave quietly? Say something before I go? I'm open to any advice.

In short, I paid out of pocket for a specialized master's program so I could do this work at a higher level, and the company I work for didn't help with the expenses at all. Over time, I became efficient enough that they're now moving me into my manager's role because he's retiring, but at the same time they want me to keep handling most of my current responsibilities too.

The part that's bothering me is that the raise they offered was only a few thousand dollars, even though I'll practically be handling the work of two positions. I calculated what it would probably cost them if they brought in someone else to take over my old role, and it came out to about $135,000 when factoring in salary and benefits.

I'm planning to ask for a $45,000 raise, which is roughly one-third of the amount I'd be saving the company. In other words, even if they paid me an extra $45,000, they'd still be avoiding about $90,000 in expenses by not hiring someone else. On top of that, handling both roles will probably add 6 to 12 extra hours of work to my week.

Am I thinking about this the right way, or does this seem completely out of touch with reality? I'd appreciate any opinions.

Every now and then I see people criticizing Gen Z because they change jobs, or don't show loyalty, or refuse to keep running and working nonstop, and as a 38-year-old mother trying to rebuild my career, I truly don't understand. Are people seeing the same job market I'm seeing???

I took some time away to be with my child, and when I started applying again, I felt like someone had turned the entire hiring process into expert mode. Six-stage interviews for jobs that used to be simple and straightforward, roles labeled "junior" that need case studies for someone in the middle of their career, layoffs every now and then, and companies offering one person's salary while expecting the output of four people. Honestly, this is the hardest period I've seen since I started working.

And Gen Z didn't build any of this. They're entering the workforce at a time when it's already cracking from a hundred different directions. So no, I don't blame them when they leave a job that doesn't make sense. I don't blame them for protecting their future. I don't blame them for refusing to treat company loyalty as some great virtue, while that same company could let them go before lunch. I'm here trying to restart my career at 38, and I'm using things like ChatGPT and Claude just to organize my applications and figure out which companies are normal and which companies turn interviews into Survivor. I also use Interview Vip in hard interviews and it help organize your answers and present your experience in the best way. If I need this much tracking with years of experience behind me, I can't imagine how exhausting it is for someone completely new.

If anything, I admire Gen Z for saying what so many people stayed silent about. They're setting boundaries that many of us only understood after burning out from work. Before everyone attacks them, maybe we need to acknowledge the obvious: the system is broken, and Gen Z simply aren't interested in pretending everything is fine.