Job searching can be a stressful step for anyone, no matter what their experience is or how old they are. It seems like we’ve all dealt with the struggle of sending in application after application only to hear radio silence or be told that they’ve already filled the position. This viral TikTok proves that the whole process can be made even more difficult when companies want decades of experience for minimum-wage jobs. If people who have been working in the industry for years can barely make a living, what is everyone else supposed to do?
Em posted a throwback of her very first job search during which she found a listing for a project management position that required twenty-plus years of experience. On top of that, the highly experienced professional was set to make approximately fifteen to twenty dollars an hour, which in many states is minimum wage. On top of that, the company was listed as confidential.
Commenters shared her outrage, lamenting over entry-level positions that they have tried to apply for, many of which still required three to five years of experience. Apparently, searching for jobs on sites like LinkedIn or Indeed only to find unlivable wages for decades of experience is a situation that unites us all. Some people even said that job sites should have comment sections so that applicants can lament together. “Does that job take place in 1987?” someone added.
According to Nerd Wallet, the average wage of a person with the level of experience that the job listing was asking for is actually well above fifteen to twenty dollars an hour. The median wage for an American with a Master’s degree is eighty thousand dollars which breaks down to around forty dollars an hour. Even with just a high school diploma, the median wage is around forty thousand dollars, which still pulls on the upper end of the fifteen to twenty bracket, at about nineteen dollars an hour. Job postings like this one seem to be banking on applicants not knowing their value.
It’s unclear whether the TikToker found a job after such a disastrous job search, but hopefully, she was able to sift her way through the application red flags and find employment. Unfortunately for those still searching, it may be a long and miserable road ahead. At the very least you can find some humor and maybe even a viral TikTok if you can’t find a job.