Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Red Flags From Job Listings That Scream 'Stay Away'

Reddit user Zdvj asked: 'What are some job-posting red flags that scream “Stay away”?'

Being able to work and make enough money to pay bills and get groceries is harder and more important than ever, but finding a good quality job where someone feels appreciated is being to feel as rare as, well, seeing a unicorn.

Ironically, it's the workplaces you'd want to avoid that are the exact ones who are seeking a unicorn themselves.


Redditor Zdvj asked:

"What are some job-posting red flags that scream 'Stay away'?"

"We're Looking For a Unicorn."

"Any use of the word 'Rockstar.'"

- Jsmith0730

"Or 'Ninja.'"

- Pumpkinspicepolice

"Also, 'Guru.'"

- nocolon

"Don't forget 'Wizard.'"

- ilikewc3

A Can-Do Attitude

"I’m finding a 'can-do attitude' to be problematic recently."

- chamomilky

The False Interview

"I agreed to a Zoom interview, showed up looking professional, and noticed eight other guys attending as well."

"The guy who called me said, 'Okay, guys, the presentation starts in 10 minutes; take notes because there will be questions at the end.'"

"I noped right out then and there."

- jimes00

"This happened to me once. They advertised for sales agents for home appliances."

"When I got there, it was a warehouse full of people who all thought they had a job interview, but it was a demonstration for one of those water companies. It was incredibly awkward."

- ishouldbefolding

"Anytime you enter a Zoom job interview,' and someone starts off with, 'Hello, everyone,' just disconnect immediately, because they are wasting your time."

- Effingehh

Signs of a High Turnover Rate

"'Urgently hiring multiple candidates.'"

- smurfsundermybed

"AKA: the entire last crew got p**sed and quit."

- miraculous-

To Be Determined

"'Salary to be discussed.'"

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

- Mobile_Prune_3207

"When I was younger and recruiters reached out to me without a salary chat, I just took the interviews being naïve."

"Now I’ve learned the call doesn’t go any further until I know the salary band."

- toronto_programmer

Competitive for Whom?

"'Competitive wages.'"

- ACaffeinatedWandress

"Competitive pay means your pay will be competing against your bills."

- Random_Guy_47

A Fast-Paced Environment

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

- Spellflinger2019

"Translation: 'It’s so f**king busy and stressful that multiple people recently quit.'"

- md22mdrx

Team Player Culture

"'Work hard, play hard,' meaning, 'We’re all alcoholics.'"

- PaintedLady5519

"And even if they aren't alcoholics, they still schedule a lot of evening and weekend get-togethers that are unofficially mandatory."

- notthesedays

"And if you don't show up, you are 'not a team player.'"

- OldMork

Flexible Schedules

"And even if they aren't, they schedule a lot of evening and weekend get-togethers that are unofficially mandatory."

- missypierce

Degree and Pay Disagreement

"'Bachelor's degree required; starting pay $12.50 per hour.'"

- DeathSpiral321

A Variety of Factors

"A job listing written in all caps."

"A litany of technologies listed."

"'No job hoppers!'"

"If they ever suggest that you should care 'more about the work than compensation,' no, you shouldn't."

"'Some weekends' means, 'every weekend.'"

- template009

Start-Up Culture

"'Start-up culture,' means, 'a disorganized hot mess of egos."

- LeSmeg47

A Bubbly Personality

"Must have a bubbly personality."

"F**k off."

- silentwhim

"I wonder if this is code for, 'We want to hire an attractive young woman.'"

- beka13

"That's EXACTLY what that means."

- VivaLaCon88

"We're Family."

"'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..."

- Zitson5150

From the Other Side of the Desk

"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 to describe some things. Then she was complaining that they can’t get anyone to hire on or stay hired on, and that they had eight candidates file and get screened, and that day of, only two showed up."

"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 b***hing about it from a nice office position. You don’t have to work in the factory with no climate control, lifting heavy s**t, or dealing with all the other countless bulls**t. You get to sit in a nice office and gossip with the other office people while making three times what those line workers get."

"I don’t know if I have the heart to place people in these positions."

- Jay-G

While we all need to make money and have a job in order to make that happen, we all deserve to have standards for our workplaces, just like the standards for how we are treated in our other relationships.

Though some of these characteristics have been on job listings for a long time, some of these tactics and phrases are pretty new and something to look out for, for those who haven't been job hunting for a while.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Gavin Newsom; Donald Trump
Patrick J. Fallon/Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Gavin Newsom Hits Trump Over His Threat To Send National Guard To San Francisco With A Blunt Reality Check

California Governor Gavin Newsom shut down President Donald Trump's claim that the people of San Francisco "want" the National Guard there as the Trump administration's immigration crackdown continues.

In a Fox News interview, Trump said "I think they want us in San Francisco," contrasting this claim with ongoing ICE operations in Chicago, where citizens have clashed with immigration agents over the last several weeks.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @gabymixco's TikTok video
@gabymixco/TikTok

Woman Puts The Gap On Blast After Her New Leather Pants Make Hilariously Unfortunate Sound

It's an interesting time for clothing. Micro-thin thongs are now sporting faux hair, and faux leather pants apparently aren't creaking like the leather pants from the '80s—instead, they're quacking like ducks.

This hilarious and embarrassing discovery was made by TikToker @gabymixco, who shared a video on the platform while sporting her loose-fitting faux leather pants, just to call The Gap out on their production design.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of @kumee's X post; X user @inkobell's tweet
@kumee/Twitter (X); @inkobell/Twitter (X)

Some People Use The 'Caps Lock' Key Every Time To Capitalize A Single Letter—And The Internet Is Shook

It has come to our attention that there are people in the world double-tapping the caps lock button every time they want to capitalize a single letter, and we are not okay.

Millennials were the first student body population to be widely educated on how to properly type with a standard QWERTY keyboard, with many students being required to take and pass at least one "typing" or "computer" class.

Keep ReadingShow less
Kristi Noem
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

DHS Blasted After Buying $172 Million Luxury Jets For Kristi Noem Amid Government Shutdown

According to publicly available documents reviewed by The New York Times, the United States Coast Guard purchased two Gulfstream private jets on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's and other top officials' use, at an estimated cost of about $172 million.

The Coast Guard put in a request for a single $50 million jet for Noem's use in its budget for fiscal year 2025—the proposed purchase was discussed in congressional hearings in May—making the expenditure unrelated to the current government shutdown.

Keep ReadingShow less
Alexander Skarsgård turned his latest film, Pillion, red carpet premiere into a full-blown thirst event.
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for BFI

Skarsgård Rocks Kinky Look, Fans Thirsty

Ever since his Zoolander modeling days, Alexander Skarsgård has been fueling fan thirst like it’s a full-time job, and his latest red-carpet look might be his steamiest shift yet.

Over the weekend, Skarsgård had the sexy-man audacity to show up at the BFI London Film Festival to promote his latest film, Pillion, in Ludovic de Saint Sernin’s Fall 2025 collection—fashion speak for a white, backless halter-neck shirt and bare shoulders paired with a leather tie, lace-up leather pants, and Jimmy Choo boots.

Keep ReadingShow less