A million girls would kill for this job
...if the hours were flexible and the pay moved the needle.
Ooh, this Slate story! 🔥 It’s about how hiring managers are suddenly having to contend with job candidates ghosting them. They’re ghosting responses to their applications, they’re ghosting for interviews, they’re even ghosting before the first (or second) day on the job.
The point of the piece is to underscore the schadenfreude the rest of us feel now, given how long the ghosting has happened in the reverse. You take the time off work, you prepare in front of the mirror, you spend a weekend of your life doing unpaid tests (which sometimes result in the theft of your ideas), you buy a new suit (uh, 1996 called…), whatever — and you never hear back from the hiring party again.
It’s so, so, so not OK — and it’s never been OK for any party. (In what world have we accepted this as professionally appropriate behavior?!)
Right after I read this story, the same thing happened to my husband as he’s trying to fill many roles at his company. Job seeker came in for interview, the company matched her salary request and her vision for the position, she called out for her first day of work with an “emergency,” and then emailed on the second day to say never mind, actually, I’m not taking the job.
Who are these people?! Like I would literally never. And I certainly sympathize with the plight of the fair, earnest, hard-working small business owner in these upside-down times. But here we are.
On the macro level, people are very introspective about work these days and I’m here for it. It’s a time to be mindful about the what and why and how we do our jobs. It’s not about square pegs and round holes, it’s about authenticity and fulfillment at work. (And it’s also about acknowledging burnout and fatigue, which I’m here for, too.) It’s about being a human and a professional at the same time, not about sacrificing one for the other.
I came of age in the a million girls would kill for this job climate of glossy magazines. Apparently people aren’t killing for any job anymore if the pay is tragic and the expectations demand subhuman working conditions — and sometimes even when it is a great job all around. It’s still a job, and it seems people are kind of over it.
This is all such juicy food for thought!
Open Press Opportunities
I recently started contributing to Best Life in a more regular capacity. I’m writing daily stories hung on newsy pegs, so feel free to pitch me your relationship, travel, health, and other lifestyle experts/angles.
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Et Cetera
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That's just crazy!! The entitlement kills me.