A woman looking for work says that she came across an interviewer for a position who said that they were looking for an employee who doesn’t value a work-life balance.
A TikToker named Janice (@travelwithjann) posted a clip explaining why she is “unemployed in 2023” after sharing the anecdote about a job interview she went on.
In the viral video, which has accrued over 44,000 views on the popular social media platform as of Tuesday morning, Janice delineates how the interviewer essentially was asking for an employee who doesn’t value a “work-life balance” with their position, effectively devoting all of their time to the gig.
Commenters who replied to her video shared Janice’s frustration. Some argued that employers are looking to take advantage of the fact that the “great resignation” has turned into the “great regret” for a lot of workers who ventured out of their jobs in search of greener employment pastures.
“So a couple of weeks ago, I had an interview where the employer told me that they’re looking for someone who doesn’t value work-life balance to fill that role,” Janice says. “The exact quote was, ‘some people might want work-life balance but that’s really not the person I’m looking for to fill this role. I need someone who’s driven and ambitious and essentially be my partner to grow this company.'”
Janice notes that the interview was largely representative of what the job market looks like in present day. “If that doesn’t sum up what it’s like looking for a job in 2023, I don’t really know what does,” she concludes.
One commenter argued that if the interviewer was looking for an employee who was essentially a partner of the company, then Janice could’ve asked for partner pay or benefits. “‘Does it come with partner pay? Whats my equity?'” they suggested that the TikToker request in their interviewer.
This sentiment was expressed by another user on the site, who wrote, “‘Be a partner’ better come with Partner pay lolol. People are outrageous.”
In a comment, Janice delineated what the salary was for the job. “The range she gave me was $68k-72k even after laying off 2 head execs. Wild,” she wrote.
@travelwithjannn ALSO listed as hybrid but with the expectations of being on site 5 days a week #unemploymentlife #jobmarket2023 #jobsearch ♬ original sound – Janice | Travel, Food, & Hikes
Someone else remarked that businesses are now trying to take advantage of the slew of layoffs that occurred in 2023. The House Budget Committee published a report that states the jobs politicians are boasting about creating, for the most part, were simply vocations that were restored after government-issued mandates implemented in response to COVID-19, and that job growth has still yet to match pre-pandemic numbers.
“Nearly 72 percent of all job gains since 2021 were simply jobs that were being recovered from the pandemic, not new job creation. In fact, when looking at today’s economy compared to pre-pandemic levels, employment is up only by 3.7 million,” the report claims.
There have been throngs of job-seekers who’ve aired their gripes in applying to positions on social media, calling the search “depressing.” Some folks have even said that despite applying to hundreds of positions, they’ve only heard back from a handful and have secured interviews with only a small portion of those who’ve responded.
One viewer who replied to Janice’s post said they were receiving unrealistic asks from interviewees with food service jobs they didn’t believe should demand so much from their workers. “One time at an interview at CRUMBL they asked if i was ‘just doing it for the paycheck’ like??? why else,” they claimed.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Janice via TikTok comment for further information.