Recruiter Messages Job Applicant Asking Where He’d Live If He Got The Position Because ‘This Job Would Not Pay Enough’
It was a strange thing for a recruiter to say, but maybe they were just looking out for the applicant.
Prostock-studio | Shutterstock One of the biggest concerns when looking for a job is what the salary will be. Some people are in a situation where they’ll take any job regardless of the salary, while others have some room to negotiate.
One applicant thought he’d found a solid opportunity until he got a strange message from the recruiter inquiring about his living arrangements because the pay was so low.
A job applicant received a message from a recruiter telling him that the job did not pay enough for him to live independently.
A man applying for jobs took to Reddit to share the bizarre message he received from a recruiter at one job that had seemed like a good option.
“Actual response I got from a job I applied to,” he wrote. “At least they are honest? I guess.”
The applicant shared a screenshot of the message he received from the recruiter.
Reddit
“We live in a very expensive area of the country,” they argued. “This job would not pay enough for you to support an apartment.”
While some may view this warning as a friendly reminder, the message got much more personal from there.
“Do you have family here or people you could live with?” they asked. “What would you do if you moved here, and it did not work out?”
The job applicant was confused by the message. “Just pay a living wage,” he insisted.
“And I thought $18 an hour was ok, but apparently, in [Massachusetts], you need a lot more,” he continued.
“I’m so, so, so very burnt out now,” he concluded.
The job applicant’s fellow Reddit users had differing opinions on why the recruiter seemed to be warning the applicant about the low salary.
People who commented on the man’s Reddit post shared some different thoughts about why a recruiter would disclose this information.
“Sounds like someone who has no power over wages but actually cares about people,” one person mused.
AndreyPopov | Canva Pro
Similarly, someone else said, “I kinda find that refreshing.”
Another added, “That is a crazy thing to just admit/knowingly offer an employee.”
One commenter really got to the heart of the issue. “It should literally be illegal for a full-time job to pay less than what it would take to survive,” they stated. “If you can’t afford to pay a living wage, then sorry, you can’t afford to be in business.”
Many jobs today don’t pay a living wage.
While this recruiter’s message might have seemed strange, it may have actually been a courtesy. As several Redditors pointed out in the comments, the recruiter seemed to actually care about how much people were making and if they were able to support themselves.
While the United States does not have a set living wage like some other countries, MIT calculated that the average living wage in the U.S. was $25.02 an hour in 2022, which amounts to $104,077.70 annually.
Meanwhile, the Social Security Administration reported that most Americans made around $63,795.13 in 2022. That’s a difference of $40,282.57.
According to Truthout, the three most popular jobs in the United States are home healthcare aide, retail salesperson, and fast-food and counter worker. “However,” they said, “the 2023 median salaries listed for the top three most common jobs — and many others — do not offer a living wage in any state across the county.”
With statistics like these, it’s not surprising that so many people are struggling. However, it does cause one to question why a recruiter would seem to dissuade someone from taking a job when the company likely can’t, or won’t, pay more. It seems like they would be getting a pretty good deal.
Maybe it’s as Redditors suspected, and this recruiter really was just a good person who was trying to look out for job candidates.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.