r/careeradvice

Im saying this with love, you guys need to ask for more money. You can do it. even if you get told no, you dont get what you dont ask for. I know people are usually asking for advice here, but im going to give some.

usually you're being offered the lowest end of the budget (especially for women. it's the unfortunate truth, but we do typically get low ball offers more often than men), and they dont anticipate that you'll ask for more. however, 9 times out of then, if you DO ask, you'll get more. if you dont youre genuinely leaving money on the table.

anyways, heres a base template of asking for a higher salary when that job offer comes in.

"Hello (hiring manager),

Thank you so much for the offer, I'm grateful for the opportunity.

Before I sign, I did want to ask if there is any flexibility regarding the budget for this role. After reviewing the offer and considering the current cost of living in (city), the average salary for similar roles, and (add something about your specific skillset that adds value), I would feel most comfortable with a rate of (salary range). I'm confident that my skills will add value to the team, and I look forward to finding a number that works well for both parties.

Thank you again for the opportunity, looking forward to working together."

Aaaand there you go. get your money.

Saw the news this morning that one of the big consulting firms just laid off somewhere around two thousand people across a few of their service lines, in a group video call apparently with someone reading names off a list, and it has put me in a properly reflective mood.

Ive been on the wrong side of one of these myself about four years ago and the gut punch of getting added to a meeting at four in the afternoon and being told its over is something i wouldnt wish on anyone. So my heart genuinely goes out to everyone who opened their laptop today and got dropped.

Here is the thing though. No company is your family. Not the one that puts ping pong tables in the breakout room, not the one that does the cute little wellbeing emails on a tuesday, not the one whose manager keeps telling you youre "indispensable." Every single one of them will let you go on a wednesday afternoon over a zoom call when the spreadsheet says they need to and they will not lose a minute of sleep about it.

So please, take the holiday you have been sitting on. Use the full PTO. If your kid is off school sick stay with them and dont apologise for it. Stop replying to slack at half nine on a sunday because nobody will remember you did when the redundancy list gets drawn up. The dedication you are pouring in is being noted exactly nowhere.

Real job security is not loyalty to a company because they have no equivalent loyalty to give back. Its having an emergency fund, having a bit of side income, knowing the recruiters in your industry, and keeping your CV current. The proper Plan B that means a layoff is a setback rather than a crisis.

Because the call always comes from companies you didnt think would do it.

For the fields that actually afford you to live, none of them actually seem tolerable to me if I’m honest. I guess that’s why they pay money, because no one really wants to do them.

I thought tech might be cool. You’re just staring at a computer your whole life with layoffs happening all the time. Massive job insecurity. Maybe medicine, at least your helping people and the human body is fascinating. But the hospitals treat their employees like shit and med school has massive loan debt. Everything else didn’t pique my interest intellectually in any way.

So we’re just supposed to pick one of these fields and that’s our whole life? Slave away til we’re 65 just to retire and have a bunch of health problems? I don’t see the point or purpose in any of this if I’m honest. Who cares if I have a bunch of money when I’m too old to enjoy it.

I probably would have liked something with music. But that’s clearly not gonna pay the bills. I guess all the real work that pays any decent money just sucks through and through.

I (42f) am out of work at present. I have an interview for an attractive job tomorrow.

I can handle any question they throw at me, but I'm not sure how to handle the matter of my last job.

I was fired, ostensibly because I didn't know how their systems worked (I spent about 8 weeks looking for training on them, and was brushed off).

I've never been fired before, so I'm not sure how to broach that subject.

I'd welcome the advice of anyone who has ever had to deal with the same situation.

Thank you all in advance.

Edit: worth mentioning that I was hired to assist with processing an oncoming client. Client didn't come on board as anticipated, and they lost another major client a few days before i was axed. As it was, they were blatantly overstaffed, and had at least 5 more people that you need to that job. no idea why they thought they needed me in the first place.

They kept singling things out that i was "underperforming" on, I would work on the thing they singled out, and be the best on the team at it within the week. they were clearly looking for an excuse.

Currently make $130K salary in CA with a 4% 401k match. Got a job offer in FL for a $102K salary with a 10% 401k match. Been wanting to move to FL. Looked up the cost of living and it’s cheaper in FL and less taxes too. I’ve been looking to purchasing a house. With the CA salary, it will barely get me a small apt/condo for myself. In FL, I could get a decent sized home with the salary.

Need advice on what to do please.

Job market has obviously been rough.

Had a good start to my career majoring in Management Information Systems and landing a job right out of college in 2021.

Was promoted a couple years later to program manager of a $140m program and did that for 2 years and was laid off in 2025.

Since then, I simply cannot get a job. I can get interviews here and there for entry roles and even director roles, but I'm in a weird spot where I don't hit 5 years of experience, and don't have a specific niche. I get auto filtered half the time getting denials at 2am.

I'm thinking of just picking up a part time job and waiting this market out by going back to school to get a master's degree in something specific that interests me (it's not MIS anymore), but genuinely lost a bit.

Any advice?

Lately I’ve been having a really hard time concentrating at work.
I can’t even get through simple tasks without my mind drifting.

I used to be sharp and productive, but now even opening emails or starting basic work feels mentally exhausting. It’s not that I don’t know how to do the work. I just can’t seem to focus long enough to do it.

I’m sleeping okay, exercising, and financially stable, so I’m confused why this is happening.

Has anyone else gone through this in their 30s?
Burnout? Depression? Too much screen time? Loss of motivation?

What actually helped you recover your focus?

Hey guys,

Have you ever been in that weird situation where you already know your time at the office is almost over?

I have about one month left at my current job because there’s no more related work available for my role. Nobody is toxic, nobody is forcing me out — it’s just the situation.

But honestly, it’s mentally strange. You keep showing up every day knowing the countdown has already started. It becomes hard to stay motivated while also worrying about what comes next.

I didn’t expect this phase to feel this emotionally exhausting.

Has anyone else gone through something similar? How did you handle it mentally?

*Edit to clarify: I’m not looking to stay at the company, I’m looking for a graceful exit. Ideally some kind of mutual separation with severance. I just don’t know how to do that.*

—

I’ve been a high performer at a fortune 100 company for almost 7 years. I’ve been promoted more quickly than all of my colleagues, and I’ve been recognized with raises and extra performance bonuses that I didn’t even ask for. I’ve owned major program areas that a more senior leader should have been owning, and when a new senior leader came in they actually did take over that work.

At 5 years in, I had a major family loss. I lost multiple immediate family members at once and took a few months off to regroup. When I came back, I powered through and was still able to perform and deliver, and I had a significant impact on my work area and my team.

A year later, the company did a restructuring. my role changed and I got a new manager. The role required a different skillset than what I had previously been doing and I couldn’t keep up, and now I’m underperforming and will likely be put on a PIP.

I really don’t want to be fired. Do I have any options here besides resigning? I have a strong legacy at the company and don’t want to go out like this. I know they have a history of offering severance alongside a PIP, and I want to know what I can do to maximize my outcomes here.

For context, I am just about to graduate high school. I have decided that at this time college is not the right move for me. I’m not opposed to it in a year or two, but for right now that is off the table.

I started in this company of grocery stores as a sophomore in high school. Since then I have worked as hard as possible and been moved up to a manager as soon as legally possible. I love this company. The flexibility, love, and support this company has given me is something I would have never thought was possible to a person in my age range. They have trained me in almost every department, I know the store inside out, and have gained deep relationships with the people that work here. I have recently been offered the assistant store director position at one of our locations. The pay would be a little under $60k/yr with benefits, the amazing flexibility someone my age could use, and basically the option to make my schedule. I would ideally work 7AM-3PM or 1PM-9PM 5 days a week.

On the other hand, I have been offered a job at Coca-Cola as a merchandiser which has amazing benefits, starting pay of 25.95/hr with tons of overtime opportunities. The drawback of this offer that is completely ruining it for me is a start time of 2 or 4AM depending on the route 4 days a week. With the overtime available, and from what I have heard this could be between $75k-$90k my first year. I am having serious doubts about the schedule and not really being able to have a life outside of work, however I feel this could be an amazing head start on life making that kind of money. Worth mentioning Coca-Cola has amazing room for growth and advancement in the company.

If you were in my shoes and valued time with loved ones, but were also presented an opportunity to get a jumpstart on your early life, what path would you pick?

Some context before the ask:

I'm a Planning Analyst at a large FinTech in India (~2 years post-MBA). My MBA was in Finance — my original goal was IB or core finance. Campus placements had other plans.

My day-to-day is workforce planning: manpower forecasting models, headcount budgeting, joiner-delay savings calculations. It's structured and I've gotten good at it. But the ceiling is real. The team isn't encouraged to evolve the model, there's almost no appetite for innovation, and I'm effectively self-mentoring at this point.

I'm at what feels like a critical window — early enough to pivot, experienced enough to tell a story. But I keep second-guessing whether I'm wasting that window in the wrong seat.

The pivot I'm targeting: Investment banking — ideally M&A or capital markets. I know that's a big ask from a planning background. But I'm actively building toward it: CFA in progress, working on a self-initiated equity research project (DCF + sector analysis), and I've got a Credit Suisse CFO-function internship on my CV from during the UBS acquisition — which feels like the closest thing I have to a "real finance" signal.

Honest questions I'd love input on:

1. Is a direct pivot to IB from planning/forecasting realistic, or do I need a stepping stone (ER, corporate banking, Big 4 deals)?
2. Should boutique IB firms be the first target rather than bulge brackets?
3. Does CFA Level 1/2 actually move the needle here, or is it mostly noise to IB recruiters?
4. Is networking the only real path in, given my non-traditional background?

And I had also attempted CFA L1 in Aug but missed the passing cut-off barely because of two courses. Did not reattempt it afterwards. Had a thought that I should take a break and focus on work and travel for a while.

Not looking for reassurance. If the honest answer is "this is a 3-year project, not a 6-month one," I'd rather hear that now.

Would really appreciate perspective from anyone who's made a similar move — or from anyone in IB/ER who screens candidates like me. 🙏

Hi, just retired after 35 years in the industry. My son told me Reddit is where people actually talk about this stuff, so here I am. I have been going through the posts here a bit and realised I could provide some guidance.

For ref: Spent a great time in recruiting, mainly across US, Australia, Asia.
Mainly Tech, then shifted to Series A and up startups. Happy to answer some questions if it helps.
P.S - Still getting used to this platform so might be a bit slow in replying.

I am Chinese and earned a PhD in fluid mechanics from the University of Tokyo at 30.

My publication list is kind of fine, 4 first-author papers. One of Journal of Fluid Mechanics, one of Journal of Computational Physics, and two of Physics of Fluids.

After graduation, I worked as an IT consultant in Tokyo for half a year, and somehow, an urge is growing inside me to pursue an academic job.

I applied for a postdoc position around, finally got one offer from France, a 2-year contract, and one from Korea, a 3-year contract.

Should I leave my current job in Tokyo and go for a postdoc, with a high chance that I will try to find a professorship back in China?

But I also have a girlfriend whom I love very much. She works in Tokyo, but she is from Europe. So basically, she cannot find a visa in China that allows her to work there.

The urge to leave Japan mainly comes from pursuing an academic job, but also from the fact that Japan's Yen is so weak, and high inflation is incoming, and they kind of blame foreigners now

I was fired today by my manager, I'm 26M, 1.5 yrs exp in communication engineering (software) . I don't accept this and I was pressured by the manager to go through PIP or accept resignation. She is very toxic and tells me in the workplace. She never treated me as a person. I'm not sure about how I can get a job in this market as I was majorly into testing... I'm feeling like I quit from life. I'm worried about the job market and what if I'm unplaced forever. She demotivated me. Gave very bad feedback. I have all contradictory points and clarification but higher management was manipulated by her.

What should I do? GOD Help me... How should I get out of this phase and start applying or prepare? I'm constantly seeing layoff news and bad market conditions. I had an ill father and mother whom I should take care of.

So, I found out today that the new hire on my team is making about 20% more than I am for the exact same role. On top of that, my manager just asked me to spend the next two weeks onboarding and training them. I’ve been at this company for two years, always get great performance reviews, and was told last month that a raise "isn't in the budget right now."

I want to be a team player, but it feels incredibly insulting to teach someone how to do a job that they are getting paid way more to do. I’m trying not to let my frustration show, but I don’t know how to navigate this without ruining my relationship with my boss or making things awkward with the new person. Should I bring up the salary gap now, or should I just start looking for a new job? Any advice on what to say to my manager would be appreciated.

I’m a 34 year old guy living in the SLC, Utah area and honestly feeling stuck in life/career-wise.

I still live with my dad (I pay rent) and currently work for Grubhub/UberEats. I actually make decent money doing it, but I know it’s kind of a dead-end long term and I don’t really have any strong marketable skills.

I’ve been looking into affordable online schools like Western Governors University and Southern New Hampshire University because I’d realistically need something flexible and affordable while continuing to work.

My problem is I genuinely don’t know what degrees/certifications/skills are actually worth pursuing in 2026.

If you were starting over at 34 with no real career skills, what would you focus on that is:

* Actually marketable

* Realistic to complete while working

* Not insanely oversaturated

* Has decent long-term income potential

* Ideally doesn’t require going into massive debt

I’m open to:

* Degrees

* Certifications

* Trades

* Tech

* Healthcare

* Anything practical honestly

Would really appreciate advice from people who turned things around later in life or found a path that actually worked.

I am currently in one of the most hostile work environments I have been in. In the beginning I was praised as this wonderful great employee, then it shifted quickly.

I’ve only been here for 3 months (on the dot today) and I have had rumors spread about me, told I don’t do anything, my boss has removed duties from me and refuses to give me clarification when I ask, she isolated me and put my office away from everyone else, I’ve been yelled at by multiple team members, I’ve been shoulder checked, told to do overtime without paperwork or written confirmation as I was told upon hire by my boss and HR that overtime is not an option, and my team is now acting like I’m not there.

I’m trying to get out, but jobs take their time. I am very worried about things escalating and my team setting me up or something as they were discussing with my boss about me getting fired.

I have never had my work ethic questioned anywhere before. I inherited years of backlog, I’ve been keeping things up to date from when I started, but somehow I am still treated very poorly.

Any advice?

Hi, I'm in final year of MSc CS (completed BSc CS before this). Will finish MSc by mid-2027.

My situation:

• Working a part time non-IT job currently for basic income
• Practical coding skills are weak right now — mostly theory from college
• 3-4 free hours daily available

What I want:

• Job security + decent pay
• A backup if one plan fails

My confusion:

1. I'm eligible for IBPS/SBI SO IT Officer after MSc CS. But I can only apply in 2027-28. Should this be my main goal?
2. Should I build skills, get a junior IT job first as backup, and prepare for SO IT simultaneously while working?
3. Is SO IT worth targeting over SBI/IBPS PO? I've read SO IT selection rate is around 3-5% vs PO which is 0.08-0.65%. Does CS background actually help in SO IT?
4. Is preparing for SO IT manageable while working full time?
5. Or just forget govt exams and go full private IT career?

Anyone who has cleared SO IT while working or been in similar situation — please give honest advice. No sugarcoating needed.

I’ve been seriously applying for about 9 months now, after graduating with my masters last year. I’ve tweaked my strategy, gotten a handful of interviews (including a few final rounds) and come up short every time. I’ve asked for feedback, practiced for interviews, even used my old university’s career coach to help so I feel like I’m just getting unlucky in a competitive field that’s been hit by layoffs — the perfect candidate is always in the pool and I’m just never quite there, if that makes sense. Anyway, I’m just really frustrated and taking a bit of a break due to burnout. I’m fortunate enough to be living with my parents, so I’m not worries about finances or anything like that, but they’re obviously concerned and starting to ask me what alternatives I have. Here’s the thing: lMO, doing another degree like an MBA or PhD is just delaying unemployment, and doing a short-term course seems kinda useless. So I guess I’m just not sure what to do. Do I keep applying and hope something sticks? When do I call it quits and what would I even do instead? Any advice is appreciated!

I am very new to corporate America. I’ve always been in a union of some kind up to this point, but if recently decided to look for something different. I received an offer letter from company A - is it had been quite a long time since I had interviewed with company B and hadn’t gotten any type of response, I accepted the offer. A week later, long after I would’ve expected to hear from them, company B contacted me and offered me a job at a significantly higher rate of pay.
Would it be acceptable for me to contact company A, let them know that I’d rather work for them, but I have been offered a position with another company, at a higher rate of compensation, and would it be possible for them to meet me 1/2 the difference?
I don’t want to jeopardize the job offer from company A because I would much rather work there, but it’s difficult to ignore how much more money I could be making with company B. To what degree of poor form, would it be if I tried to negotiate up after accepting the offer letter? I don’t wanna go in with something negative hanging over my head.