Work & Money

Posted on Jul 17, 2023

These 15 Companies With Ridiculous Recruiting Expectations Prove That The Whole "No One Wants To Work Anymore" Excuse Is Nonsense

Oh, I see you have a degree in quantum physics. I can offer you a salary of $15,000.

by Molly Capobianco

BuzzFeed Staff

1. Applicants must own expensive equipment but will be paid only $6 an hour:

Job requires two monitors, workstation with an Intel i5 equivalent or newer and 16GB or more RAM, and high-speed internet but pays $6/hr, and they're looking for a "committed, full-time, and long-term partnership"

2. Applicants must be available basically whenever I decide:

Work schedule is weekdays from 12 am–12 pm, weekends from 12 am–12 pm — "honestly really just depends on the situation, not sure exactly what a job would entail, depends on the trajectory of the company"

3. Hired applicants are required to pay for...literally everything:

Deductions from employee server's pay include $10 handbook, $50 file processing fee, $5 payroll processing fee, $10 W-2 processing fee, $12 T-shirt/uniform, $25/day of training, and $25 for hiring processing

4. Applicants can't be nervous AT ALL:

Recruiter interviewed person virtually and said they looked nervous — "See, I just saw you swallow" — and called the next day to say person didn't make enough eye contact; she wanted them to do the interview again before sending the footage to management

5. Applicants are required to have gotten their driver's license by 18 because people who didn't get it right away are lazy:

Good interview question: "How old were you when you got your 1st driver's license?" If it's 19+, don't hire them if the "role requires a high internal locus of control with a dash of grit"; preferred answer: "The day I turned 16"

6. Applicants must have a literal degree in quantum physics, but we're only gonna pay you $15,253 for eight months of work:

8-month hybrid internship based in Toronto pays $20,000 CAD requires a master's or PhD in quantum physics, mathematics, or related field

7. Applicants are required to be okay with getting lied to:

Person has encounter with "fake receptionist" (who turned out to be the interviewer) who asked if they were nervous and then had them sit there for 10 minutes; person said respect goes both ways and they were trying to trap them into being rude

8. Applicants must work in-office even though I didn't include anything about it in my job listing:

Person says they're not able to relocate and their family are "digital nomads" and have an Iowa address for mail, and response is, "Enjoy your 'digital life'; we operate in reality"

9. Applicants must go through an entire interview process before even finding out the ballpark salary:

Person asks twice for the "budgeted monetary compensation range" to be respectful of everyone's time and is told both times that "the hiring manager will discuss and determine the compensation during the interview process"

10. Applicants must give me their credit card information (don't worry, I won't do anything with it):

They ask person to go to their site, submit a booking request for an RV, along with their credit card info, write about when they went camping and why they're great for the job, "but don't worry, you won't be charged" 'cause they won't accept the booking

11. Applicants must accept $20 an hour...for this CFO position:

A full-time CFO job pays $20/hour, master's degree preferred, previous CFO or similar role, deep understanding of corporate finance

12. Applicants have to move to Saudi Arabia even though I said the job was on-site in Canada:

YouTube video producer ad says job is on-site in Toronto, but the job description says the role requires candidate to "permanently relocate" to Saudi Arabia

13. Applicants must give me free ideas for how to improve my company:

Job is director of marketing, salary is $150–200K, applicants must review all company's social media pages and bring to the interview "ideas and recommendations on how we can enhance and drive our business"

14. Applicants are expected to have immediately started working after college:

Recruiter focused on their résumé entries from 15 years ago instead of the past 5–7 years because they didn't have much career progression for the first 8 years (it was during the Great Recession), so they wouldn't recommend them for an interview

15. And finally, applicants are required to take this assessment to see if "work is one of the most important things in [your] life":

Questions on survey: "I do not enjoy talking about my work with others," "If I were financially secure, I would continue with my current line of work even if I was no longer paid," and "My work is one of the most important things in my life"

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These 15 Companies With Ridiculous Recruiting Expectations Prove That The Whole "No One Wants To Work Anymore" Excuse Is Nonsense

1. Applicants must own expensive equipment but will be paid only $6 an hour:

2. Applicants must be available basically whenever I decide:

3. Hired applicants are required to pay for...literally everything:

4. Applicants can't be nervous AT ALL:

5. Applicants are required to have gotten their driver's license by 18 because people who didn't get it right away are lazy:

6. Applicants must have a literal degree in quantum physics, but we're only gonna pay you $15,253 for eight months of work:

7. Applicants are required to be okay with getting lied to:

8. Applicants must work in-office even though I didn't include anything about it in my job listing:

9. Applicants must go through an entire interview process before even finding out the ballpark salary:

10. Applicants must give me their credit card information (don't worry, I won't do anything with it):

11. Applicants must accept $20 an hour...for this CFO position:

12. Applicants have to move to Saudi Arabia even though I said the job was on-site in Canada:

13. Applicants must give me free ideas for how to improve my company:

14. Applicants are expected to have immediately started working after college:

15. And finally, applicants are required to take this assessment to see if "work is one of the most important things in [your] life":

H/T: r/recruitinghell and r/antiwork.

These 15 Companies With Ridiculous Recruiting Expectations Prove That The Whole "No One Wants To Work Anymore" Excuse Is Nonsense

1. Applicants must own expensive equipment but will be paid only $6 an hour:

2. Applicants must be available basically whenever I decide:

3. Hired applicants are required to pay for...literally everything:

4. Applicants can't be nervous AT ALL:

5. Applicants are required to have gotten their driver's license by 18 because people who didn't get it right away are lazy:

6. Applicants must have a literal degree in quantum physics, but we're only gonna pay you $15,253 for eight months of work:

7. Applicants are required to be okay with getting lied to:

8. Applicants must work in-office even though I didn't include anything about it in my job listing:

9. Applicants must go through an entire interview process before even finding out the ballpark salary:

10. Applicants must give me their credit card information (don't worry, I won't do anything with it):

11. Applicants must accept $20 an hour...for this CFO position:

12. Applicants have to move to Saudi Arabia even though I said the job was on-site in Canada:

13. Applicants must give me free ideas for how to improve my company:

14. Applicants are expected to have immediately started working after college:

15. And finally, applicants are required to take this assessment to see if "work is one of the most important things in [your] life":

H/T: r/recruitinghell and r/antiwork.

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