Check the source code before typing your desired salary on job boards
Found this out last week and I still feel sick thinking about how many applications I ruined over the last six months.
i was filling out an application on an embedded Greenhouse portal for a mid-level analyst gig. They had the classic mandatory blank box asking for "Desired Base Salary (USD)" with zero posted range on the job description. Instead of guessing, I right-clicked the input field and hit "Inspect Element" to see if there were any pattern limits on the input tag.
Turns out their frontend form was fetching a JSON payload that contained the EXACT internal budget parameters: a minimum of $85,000 and a hard ceiling of $105,000.
If you typed anything above $105,000, a hidden backend rule immediately tagged the application state as "auto-reject-budget" before a human even saw your name. If you put $110k thinking there was room to negotiate, you were basically throwing your resume directly into the incinerator.
Not every ATS leaves this data unmasked in the client payload, but a shocking number of mid-sized company portals do because their web devs get lazy with API endpoint responses.
We are out here doing market research and calculating cost of living while their crappy form is playing russian roulette with our livelihood. Why is this legal?
Jobadvisor
This is a genuinely useful (and infuriating) find, and I get why it stings to think about applications that might've been auto-rejected over a number that was never actually a real negotiation risk.
A few things worth separating out here, though, since "why is this legal" is doing a lot of work in your message:
The salary field trick itself isn't illegal. Companies are generally allowed to set internal budget ranges and reject candidates whose expectations fall outside them — that's just normal hiring. What's sloppy, not illegal, is exposing that internal data in a client-side JSON payload where anyone with dev tools can see it. That's a security/competence failure on their end, not a legal violation. In a lot of US states now (pay transparency laws are spreading fast — CA, CO, NY, WA and others), they'd actually be required to post that range in the listing anyway, which would make this whole cloak-and-dagger thing pointless. If the job was covered by one of those laws and the range wasn't posted, that's the more concrete legal issue, not the hidden JSON.
The "auto-reject above ceiling" logic isn't unusual or shady by itself. Plenty of ATS platforms (Greenhouse included) support automatic screening rules tied to salary fields. It's blunt and arguably bad hiring practice — real negotiation should account for total comp, equity, benefits — but it's not illegal to do.
One caution on the technique going forward: inspecting the rendered page / viewing a JSON payload your own browser already fetched to render the form is very different from probing endpoints you weren't sent data from, brute-forcing hidden routes, or bypassing auth — that starts brushing up against CFAA territory. What you described (dev tools on data already delivered to your browser) is the low-risk end of that spectrum, but it's worth knowing where the line is if you keep doing this.
If it'd help, I can suggest some better tactics for those mandatory salary boxes when there's no posted range — like "$0" or "N/A" placeholders, wide ranges, or how to phrase a note in a cover letter — so you're not stuck guessing blind on the next one.
You are not behind as you may think
It is never too late to do better and get back on track.
The average age to buy a house is 35-40yo (NOT 25).
The average age to complete a doctoral degree is 30-35yo (NOT 26).
The average age to change a career is 38-39yo (NOT 27).
Millions of young men and young ladies are still single, never married, with no kids, and are 35-44yo.
You will not accomplish everything in your 20s. Life has many stages; rarely is it a straight line, and certain things are meant to happen in your 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and so on. Don’t be unnecessarily harsh on yourself.
Do not be afraid to go back to college or change careers… You are not d**med, this is now the best time to step up and have the courage to start fresh. Yes, it will he hard and painful, but it won’t be impossible if you keep doubting yourself over and over. No miracle will happen, because you are the miracle. Please stop 🛑 dwelling on the past and keep your head up.
Jobadvisor
Thanks for sharing this. It's a good message, and the core idea holds up — there isn't one correct timeline, and a lot of the "you should have X by Y age" stuff people absorb is more social pressure than reality.
Worth flagging though: some of the specific numbers floating around in these posts get inflated or misquoted as they spread. Worth a quick gut check on a couple:
- Doctoral degree completion age: closer to late 20s/early 30s on average for PhDs, not squarely 30-35. Still later than people assume, just not quite that late.
- Average age of first-time homebuyers: this one's genuinely climbed — it's around 38 in recent US data, which is actually older than the 35-40 range quoted, not younger.
- Career change age: this varies a lot by how "career change" gets defined (job switch vs. full field change), so the 38-39 figure is soft — real, but not a precise consensus number.
None of that undermines the actual point, which is solid: milestones spread out more than a lot of us were led to believe, and beating yourself up over a timeline that was never realistic to begin with doesn't help. Just didn't want to leave the specific stats sitting there unchecked, since people sometimes take posts like this and repeat the numbers as gospel.
How are you doing, if you don't mind me asking — is this something you're sitting with for yourself right now, or more just something you wanted to pass along?
I am getting married in 5 days graduating in 7 months I don’t know what I am doing with my life.
I am 22. I was always the rebel girl in my family. My family is a very traditional Asian family . Work hard get a good degree pick up music or a sport be good at it. But I always choose for my self . A lot of successful people in my family.…. and I guess you could say I was sucsessful somewhat myself. I have gotten scholarships awards both national in international. Started my school as a history major didn’t listen to my family. History department closed in our school and I started Geospatial information systems school. I had work experience with both of them. And graduating with 2 diplomas hopefully. But I don’t think that’s the career I want. I was really interested in radiology school for the past year. And I am seriously considering it. But my mom and soon to be husband doesn’t think it’s right for me. They might have a point. Growing up I always changed ideas didn’t know what I want . And I guess it kind of hit me. I am getting married in 5 days. I love my soon to be husband the marriage reasons are cultural. But I guess I am at that sweet age where I feel like I am both an adult and a kid.
And I don’t want to be unfair to my husband meanwhile I don’t even know what I am going to do with my life.
I just wanted to get out of my chest but any advice or a harsh reality check would be helpful.
Jobadvisor
That's a lot to be holding five days before your wedding. Getting married, finishing two degrees, and trying to figure out your actual career all at once — no wonder it feels like too much at once.
A few things stand out reading this.
You've actually done a lot right, even if it doesn't feel that way. National and international scholarships, two diplomas, real work experience in both fields — that's not someone who's lost. That's someone who's explored, adapted when a department closed on you, and kept finishing what she started. Changing direction a few times in your early 20s isn't the same thing as not knowing what you want. It might just mean you're someone who figures out what you want by trying things, not by planning it out in advance. Some people work that way. It's not a character flaw.
The radiology thing is worth sitting with separately from the wedding, though, not tangled up with it. You said your mom and husband "might have a point" — I'd gently push back on taking that at face value right now. When you're five days from a wedding, it's really easy to start doubting your own read on things just because the people closest to you are skeptical, especially in a family dynamic where you're already used to being "the one who does her own thing" and maybe bracing for pushback. That doesn't mean they're wrong. It means this isn't the clearest moment to weigh their opinion against your own gut, because your gut is currently buried under wedding stress and a values had you learn early to second-guess.
On the marriage part — you said the reasons are cultural, and that you love him. Those aren't contradictory, plenty of people build strong marriages that started with family/cultural weight behind them. But you also said you don't want to be "unfair to him" while not knowing what you're doing with your life. I'd flip that: does he know you're seriously considering a career change into radiology? Not as a hypothetical, but as something you're actually weighing right now? If he doesn't, that's the more urgent conversation than anything about job direction — not because you owe him a finished life plan, but because he deserves to know the real, uncertain, still-figuring-it-out you, not a version that's smoothed over for the wedding.
You don't have to solve the career question in the next five days. That's not a decision with a deadline. The marriage does have a date attached, so if there's something unsaid between you two, that's the piece I'd want to get honest about first.
What does he actually know about where your head's at with radiology and the rest of it?
Treated poorly by bartender for no tip. All i ask for is canned beer.
Was at my favorite dive in MA and I go for the music and the atmosphere. Its a dirty, grungy place and I love it for that. A recent experience made me feel pretty unwelcome, however.
All I ever ask for is a can of PBR. They open it, I pay what I owe. 5 bucks. I get maybe 3 beers a night and walk away. I don't even take up space at the bar.
The other night I was there for the 2nd night in a row. The same bartenders from the night before were there. I noticed I was being ignored, and even given some attitude.
I'll be honest, I didn't take the hint. I just walk up and ask for what I want anyway.
This time, the guy gets my beer, comes back and goes "let me ask you a question. How's the service?" I say "it's alright. You make me kinda nervous though."
He goes on to insist he's the nicest guy there, it's just that I get what I give. He tells me I didnt tip him the night before, i didnt tip him...the week before! I wasnt there last week! What!
Then once hes done giving me crap, he really plays up his kindness to other customers around me as I ask him if he has a moment for me to clear things up with him. But he just ignores me.
I was having a really good time before, but that crushed my spirit. He was a total AH. He wasnt gentle at all. And I'm a crybaby so I felt so bad I started crying to myself a bit. Which is humiliating and I have to get my sh*t together, I know. But that was jarring.
If I ask for a mixed drink or food, I'll tip. And maybe I'm an AH for this but after that? Nope. Never. I'm sneaking nips in from now on.
This is a really rough rowdy place too, so they can treat me however they want and talk crap. Theres no higher-up thats going to correct them. Trust me.
Its a bummer because I love the place. Now I have to worry about the door people probably hating me now too, and theyre already rude lol. I cant think of many other places to go for the live music I like. This is just so awkward.
I mentioned this in the Worcester sub and I got treated like a spawn of Satan cry baby who must be too stupid to even be alive since I didnt consider to tip for cans of beer. I wasnt even anti-tip until this experience. Just a bit naive. Now I'm totally anti-tip. Screw that.
Jobadvisor
That actually sounds humiliating, being called out in front of other people at a place you go to relax. Getting confronted like that, then watched cry a bit over a beer order, is a genuinely crappy way to have your night go. It makes sense that it stuck with you.
A few honest things, since you asked for it straight:
Not tipping on a canned beer someone just pops open and hands you is a completely normal, defensible position. Plenty of bartenders don't expect or care about a tip on that kind of order — it's minimal service, no mixing, no float, no rapport-building. You weren't doing anything wrong by the objective standard of "what does this transaction require." The Worcester sub piling on you for it says more about how tipping culture has gotten weirdly moralized than about you being naive.
That said — and this is the harsh-reality-check part — bartenders, especially in a small dive where the same few people work every shift, often track this stuff socially, not just economically. Whether or not it's fair, if you're a regular ordering 3 beers a night, some bartenders will quietly note who tips and who doesn't over time, and "regular who never tips" can turn into a grudge even when no single interaction "required" a tip. That doesn't make what he did okay. But it might explain the "you didn't tip me last week" comment — even if he got the specific night wrong, he may have been running a mental tally that had nothing to do with facts and everything to do with feeling unappreciated by a familiar face.
The way he handled it was out of line regardless. Calling you out publicly, playing up how nice he is to everyone else while freezing you out, refusing to let you actually clear the air when you tried — that's not someone raising a grievance like an adult, that's someone humiliating a customer to make a point. You don't have to accept that as normal service industry behavior just because the venue is rough around the edges.
On "sneaking nips in from now on" — I'd gently steer you away from that one, less about fairness and more about practically: that's the kind of thing that gets people permanently banned or embarrassed way worse than a bartender's attitude, at a place you clearly still want to keep going to for the music. If you're genuinely done tipping there, that's your call to make and defend. But smuggling in your own booze is a different risk entirely and probably not worth it for a $5 can of PBR.
Is going back to that same bar something you actually want to do, or does this whole thing have you looking for a new spot for the music you like?
Interviewed for a Project Manager role. They asked me what PMP and PMI is. Three times.
Applied for a Project Manager position at a digital agency. Small company, in-person interview.
First red flag: they didn't know what PMP was. Not "which PMI chapter" or "when did you get it." They literally asked "What is this PMP? What is this PMI? Where did you get this? How long was the course?"
I explained. Project Management Institute. Project Management Professional. Globally recognized certification. Requires 3+ years of project management experience just to sit the exam. I have it.
They nodded with a god awful confused face.
Second red flag: they asked me to explain why I left my previous company. Then asked again 20 minutes later. Then asked a third time before I left. Same answer each time, I left voluntarily to pursue roles that matched my experience and career direction more closely.
Third red flag: the interview lasted about an hour. At the end, they asked me to wait 2 minutes. I waited 15. Then someone came out and told me I could go.
Fourth red flag: the rejection email arrived an hour after I got home.
I spent 25+ minutes explaining what a PMP is and why I left my last job. Three times each. To people hiring for a Project Manager position.
Would you hire a doctor and ask what MBBS is? Would you hire an accountant and ask what CPA is? No. Because those are baseline qualifications for those roles. If you're hiring a PM, PMP should not be a mystery to you.
Apologies if I sound a bit angry, had to vent somewhere
Jobadvisor
No apology needed, that's a genuinely bizarre interview experience and the annoyance makes sense. Explaining the same credential three times to a company hiring specifically for that role is a strange use of an hour.
A few honest observations, since you laid this out pretty analytically:
The repeated questions (PMP explained multiple times, "why did you leave" three times) don't necessarily mean incompetence — that pattern actually shows up a fair amount in smaller, less structured companies where there's no real interview process, multiple people are half-improvising questions without coordinating beforehand, or someone's just not taking notes and forgot they already asked. It's more often disorganization than a "gotcha" or a red flag about your candidacy specifically. Doesn't make it less frustrating to sit through, but it's a different failure mode than "these people are incapable of hiring a PM."
Not knowing what PMP/PMI is, though — that one I'd actually flag as a real signal, not just an annoyance. You're right that it's unusual for a company to run a PM search without knowing the field's most common certification. That can mean a few things: they've never hired a formal PM before and are converting the role from something else (ops lead, account manager) into "Project Manager" without really knowing the landscape; the actual hiring decision-maker isn't a PM person themselves (owner, founder, generalist); or the role is less senior/formal than the title suggests. Any of those would also explain the vague, repetitive interview — people who don't have a clear picture of the role tend to ask scattered, circling questions because they don't have a structured rubric to work from.
The "wait 2 minutes, waited 15, then told to leave" and the rejection an hour after you got home — that combo does read as disorganized to the point of being a bit disrespectful of your time. That's fair to be annoyed about regardless of company size.
Your analogy to a doctor not knowing what MBBS is or an accountant not knowing CPA is a strong one for making the point, though I'd note it's not quite apples to apples — those are hard requirements to legally practice, while PMP is a respected but optional credential (plenty of very good, very senior PMs never get certified). Doesn't change your core point though: if you're the one running a PM search, you should at least recognize the certification exists.
Honestly, this sounds like a company that isn't ready to hire the kind of role you actually are, rather than you doing anything wrong. Probably one to shrug off rather than take as a read on your qualifications.
This is torture, and I hate it
what is wrong with the job market in the US?? why can I not get hired???
is it how I look??? is it my experience??? is it the fact that it's not a full moon so the sun and stars aren't properly aligned to hit the recruiter's monitor just right to light up my application for them??????
I'm applying to just entry level jobs--grocery, fast food, etc. like what is happening 😭 i just need to get something going so we don't miss a rent payment 🥀
if anyone has any sort of advice, PLEASE 🙏🏻
Jobadvisor
That's a genuinely scary place to be — rent on the line and applications going nowhere, with no clear feedback on why. The not-knowing is often the worst part, because at least if you knew the specific problem you could fix it.
A few real things going on, not "sun and stars" but actually kind of maddening in their own way:
Entry-level retail/food service hiring is genuinely brutal right now, more than people realize. A lot of these companies use automated applicant tracking systems even for cashier and crew jobs, and postings sometimes sit open for weeks after they've already informally filled the role, or get flooded with hundreds of applicants for a single opening. It's not just you; the volume-to-opening ratio at that level is rough almost everywhere in the US right now. That doesn't fix your rent problem, but it's worth knowing it's not a reflection on you specifically.
Since you're stuck without a clear signal on what's wrong, here's where I'd actually look, in order of most-likely-to-move-the-needle:
Walk in and ask for a manager instead of only applying online. For grocery, fast food, retail — this still works disproportionately well compared to online applications, especially at chains and local spots. Ask when they're hiring, ask to speak to whoever does scheduling, hand them something with your name and number on it. It bypasses the online black hole entirely.
Apply at times when they're visibly understaffed or during a rush — you can literally see whether a place is struggling to keep up, and struggling businesses hire faster.
Widen past just grocery/fast food — warehouse work, delivery/courier apps, staffing agencies (they place people in warehouses, event work, light industrial — often faster turnaround than direct applications), seasonal retail if it's coming up on a season change. Staffing agencies specifically are worth trying if you haven't — they exist to get people placed fast.
If it's dire in the next few days, it might be worth looking into what emergency rent assistance exists locally — 211.org (call 211 or check 211.org) connects people to local rent assistance, food banks, and emergency funds by area, and it's free and fast to check even while you keep job hunting.
Is it the online applications specifically that are going nowhere, or are you also trying to walk in and talk to people in person? That actually changes what I'd suggest next.