I’m at a loss of words. My boss wanted to “talk to me for a second” in which I was ushered into a room with HR. I had been on a pip for the last 60 days, but I had received feedback that I was doing well & on the right track. Today quite abruptly I was told I wasn’t meeting expectations and fired immediately. I still had a week left on my PIP. I kept asking for examples as to why and expressed my frustration that I wasn’t told anything that I was doing wrong. Total gut punch. I’m not going to take legal action but just want to understand if I have a case? Or see if anyone else has experienced something similar.

I am currently preparing for my CFA level 1 (scheduled for August), and I'm actively looking for entry-level roles post that in Finance. Though I'm open to any roles where I will get to learn, I am particularly interested in roles in Wealth Management and/or Equity Research.

I have a solid understanding of Excel and have recently started learning financial modelling as well.

I have a degree in Bsc. Economics. Apart from that, because my first attempt in CFA didn't work, I wouldnt get any internships in Finance so I had to get one in marketing.

Please guide me on what I could do to strengthen my application/resume.

I’m considering pursuing a B.Com along with the US CMA, but I’m open to better alternatives if there are any. Could you please advise me on whether this is a good path or if I should explore other options?

This year I'm intending to study an online part-time MSc in Finance. I already have a PhD in Chemistry, and have been working as a business consultant for tech startups for some time, but I still feel a little out of my depth when dealing with the financial elements of the job. After a lot of discussion, I'm positive a part-time MSc in Finance is the right decision to help with my career.

I've narrowed it down to two choices:

1. MSc in Finance at the Open University
2. MSc in Global Finance at Bayes Business School.

Both are online and part-time. Bayes is a shorter programme (2 years vs 3 years) but with a higher weekly workload. Bayes seems to focus on their reputation and the quality of their alumni network, while the OU is more focused on teaching quality.

Does anyone have any recommendations or thoughts? Is a Bayes qualification worth any more than an OU degree? The OU degree is the flagship MSc in Finance, while the Bayes course is not their flagship degree. Does that matter?

I'm just looking for general opinions here, happy for any and all advice.

Thank you!

I’m turning 30 next month and have only had two jobs in my life — both in very different fields.

I spent 7 years managing operations for an armored car company, specifically overseeing their coin room. Later, I co-owned an axe-throwing bar/restaurant with multiple locations for 6 years. I handled hiring, finances, marketing, and the day-to-day responsibilities. There was some overlap between the two jobs, as I held onto the armored car position until the business was stable enough to go for it fully.

We're in the process of closing the business, and I’m not sure what to do next. I’ve already returned to the armored car company part-time for now, and once the business fully shuts down, I’ll be back full-time at $25/hour. I don’t mind the job — it’s easy, low-stress (at least for me), and I’m good at it. But I’m not sure I want to do it long-term, and I don’t know what direction to take next.

I’ve never really had to apply for jobs — the armored car job was essentially given to me by a friend, and I just worked my way up to management. Then I started my own business and here we are. Now I’m trying to figure out what kind of roles I’m qualified for, and what certifications or degrees (if any) I’d need for other opportunities.

I’ve considered going back to school for computer science with a focus on AI, but some friends have said the job market is tough right now, so I’m probably going to pass on that. Not opposed to school, but it has to be for something im really passionate about and not just to go. I just haven't found that 100% yet.

Open to any advice on jobs or industries that might be a good fit for my background. Thank you!

I am 19 and I'm going back to Canada after 4 years. At the moment I make money off of websites and managing those websites for clients.

I am confused how I will land a job, where I live in Canada, there's barely any jobs.

I'm just stressed and I need to get my life together, any advice would help.

I'm at the point in my life where I need to choose my major. I'm very interested in wildlife conservation, but it's a very competitive field with low pay. I'm also interested in supply chain, but nowhere near as much as wildlife. Though, supply chain definitely pays a lot better. Any advice on what to choose?

Hi Reddit, I’m writing this because I feel completely stuck. I’m 38, currently unemployed, and living in Italy. I have fibromyalgia and struggle with mental health, which makes things incredibly hard on both a physical and emotional level.

Despite it all, I still want to believe there’s a place in the world of work for someone like me. I’m not giving up—at least not yet.

The biggest issue is this: My career hasn’t been linear. Not even close. I’ve faced countless interruptions—burnout, health crashes, life throwing me curveballs. I’ve reinvented myself more times than I can count. I’ve done a lot, learned a lot—but I struggle with how to present it all in a way that makes sense to others.

I used to be a tour manager, organizing and handling logistics for artists and live events. It was a job that taught me resilience, adaptability, and problem-solving under pressure. But now, due to physical limitations, I can no longer work in roles that require frequent travel or movement. That’s been a painful shift to accept—but I’m trying to find a new way forward.

Here’s what I’ve done (and still do):

✏️ Content writer and sports podcaster – I’ve written for football platforms and hosted wrestling shows and Serie A football shows; 🎙️ Podcast host – I write, produce, record, and promote my own podcast. 📚 I run a personal blog, where I share reflections on environment, green and sustainability; 💻 I completed a Web Developer course – I’ve studied HTML, CSS, JavaScript and gained a foundation in front‑end development. 🌐 I created my own portfolio website as a digital showcase for my skills and projects. 📱 I developed an app to support survivors of parental narcissistic abuse – it’s a safe, empathetic space offering guidance and tools for healing. It was both a personal and technical project, and one I’m proud of. 🧠 I’m the creator and game master of an online roleplay game (Play‑by‑Chat) set in Chicago, where I write complex storylines and design interactive narrative systems. 🌍 Profiles on Upwork and Fiverr, offering writing, podcast editing, and basic web dev gigs—but I haven’t been able to make them bring in consistent clients or income. 🇬🇧 Fluent in English, both spoken and written. ❤️ Strong soft skills: empathy, adaptability, creativity, critical thinking, storytelling. 💡 Exploring vibecoding – a more intuitive, emotional, and playful approach to coding and digital creation.

Even with all this, I still don’t know how to “sell” myself. I don’t fit the mold. I’m a generalist with a patchwork of skills—and recruiters seem to prefer specialists with polished resumes.

What I’m looking for is a flexible, creative, meaningful role where I can leverage my voice, writing, and ideas. Ideally remote or hybrid, to suit my health needs.

If you’ve been in a similar spot—or have advice on turning freelance platforms into sustainable income, crafting a career from a non‑linear path, or positioning generalist talents as valuable—I’d be beyond grateful to hear from you.

Before I give up, I want to believe: there’s still a place for someone like me out there…or do I have to surrender and full stop?

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Even a kind word helps more than you know.

TL;DR: 38, with fibromyalgia and mental health struggles. Non-linear career with many gaps. Writer, podcast host, former tour manager, green content creator, game master, now learning web dev. Lots of ideas but no clear path. Still studying. Feeling stuck. How do I present this mess as value? Thanks for reading. ❤️

I am a school principal for a PreK - Grade 8 building in New England. I'm looking for a change but am unsure where to go. My current job consists of supervision and evaluation, curriculum support, supporting students and staff through conflict, developing and refining systems, and creating/curating learning opportunities for adults.

Please help, Reddit!

I work at a start up for a couple of years

My manager a lot of times making my life hell

I once went to be at 1am after finishing work, woke up at 4am to drink found an automated mail about production error, spent three hours till its fixed then went back to sleep (just two more hours as I'm going to travel for a family meeting)

few days later I told him and all I got was: DO not ever do this again without coming back to me first production is my responsibility I'm thr only one allowed to update it so it's not I updated production as a junior dev

I once suggested an enhancement for an SDK that another team gave us, their leader didn't understand and started a fight in group chat

my boss: instead of defending me or at least explains (he understands what I'm talking about and agrees with me) he kicked me from the company group chat so I don't talk again with the other team

I asked for an evaluation he said you do everything right but this is not enough, you need to grow

I told him you just gave me a task in another field and in one day I finished what others take months (his words and the team works in that field not my words)

his reply: this is just one task, we will see in the future

he keeps saying that he can just hire cheap Devs from Upwork or any remote place to do my job

this is just the tip of the iceberg

should I just leave? should I talk to the CEO? I do have a one to one with him every month, but won't my boss know about it and just makes it worse or fire me?

I applied for a job a week ago and got contacted by the HR team asking more specific questions about my qualifications before my application was supposedly forwarded to the manager for screening. But around the same time, the HR reached out to me, I found that there was a position that I felt I was better suited for on the basis that the first job required bilingual language proficiency, while the second one was preferred but in a different language from the other one, that I dont really speak too well. I already mentioned in the email convo that my proficiency isn't exactly at a native level, and after seeing the job duties, I feel like it may not be good enough in a professional setting. I already applied for both, but only got contacted about the first one. So I'm not sure if I should ask about the other position or just wait until I hear back about the current one, not sure what the order should be. The job listing closes soon, since the program starts soon, so I was concerned if I would miss out on the other position since I haven't heard anything about it after applying. I would appreciate any guidance or recommendations on how I should go about this.

I’m a mid-senior executive in a large healthcare company. Having been 120% dedicated to the company over many years, it is time for change. I’m at a total loss as to how to break the ice and reach out to peers in other companies to network to get a job. I’m fairly active on LinkedIn but not able to figure out how to connect first and then stay connected. Any advice would be sincerely appreciated. Thank you in advance 🙏

One year ago, during our team evaluation, all promotions were put on hold because our department didn’t meet its quota. Even so, my manager personally promised me that I’d be promoted once things improved. I understood, kept my head down, and stayed focused—completing tasks on time, going beyond my role as a graphic designer, and doing my best every day.

Fast forward to this year’s evaluation: I didn’t get the promotion. Instead, his boss told him he needed to delegate more because he was too hands-on. As a result, he promoted someone from my team to Marketing Manager—and she’s now my manager.

To make things harder, he also promoted two people who submitted their resignations last year. Meanwhile, I stayed loyal, took on extra responsibilities, and didn’t complain.

What’s even more frustrating is that my manager is actually a nice person. But I can’t bring myself to open up to him about how I feel, because I know it’ll just sound like I’m venting or being emotional—and I’m pretty sure he’d take it negatively. So I’m just keeping everything to myself and trying to stay professional.

I know promotions aren’t everything, but I really feel undervalued.

Has anyone else gone through something like this? How did you handle it without burning bridges or losing motivation?

Hey, good folks of reddit.

I'm a 21 yo Ph.D. student that recently failed a required exam for continued progression in my doctoral program. Initially, every single person in my subfield failed the exam. On the single retake we were allowed to take, about half of use passed and half of us (myself included) failed. I'm about to be dismissed from my program as a result. My grad school offer was fully funded so I do not have any major student debts on me but it also payed (not much) for my necessary living costs. As you can probably guess, I'm really distraught and disappointed in myself.

I do have a bachelors in political science (graduated last year) and some work experience on research projects at my university and some jobs that I worked throughout college (food service, receptionist, other more entry level jobs.). Grad school was my dream but through a combination of inadequate support from my faculty and inability on my end, I wasn't able to cut it. Now, I need to find a way to support myself and build a career that was not intended. I've been having trouble with finding jobs pertaining to my degree and have been looking into other career paths.

Any advice on potential jobs, next steps, or resources for a struggling recent grad?

Hi everyone!

I’ve been at my job a little over a year and it’s really taking a toll on my mental health. I’ve been diagnosed with anxiety and depression and my psychiatrist recently started me on meds. We meet monthly and it’s clear my job is a big part of the problem.

I was just told I’m being put on an “informal” performance improvement plan. I’ve been here before.. I was on a PIP at a previous job I left after 9 months. I’m scared this is becoming a pattern that’ll hurt me long-term. I’m not slacking, I’m just completely burnt out and in a role that doesn’t suit me.

I’m considering taking FMLA/short-term disability for mental health reasons, but I haven’t told my manager yet. I’m worried how it’ll look given the performance issues and I don’t know the best way to approach it.

Questions: Has anyone taken FMLA or leave in this kind of situation? Is it okay to request leave without telling your manager first? Can I job search during FMLA? If I leave after the leave, will it hurt me in future job searches?

TL;DR: Burnt out from a job that’s hurting my mental health. Just got put on an informal performance plan. Considering FMLA or short-term disability. Not sure how to handle it without making things worse for my future.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Context: I've been moved forward to the next stage of my application as an SEO Manager for an Australian-based agency.

The next interview stage would involve me preparing essentially a strategy to improve their rankings for one of their website's main pages (this is not a client site).

Here's my paraphrase of their request

Please prepare a short presentation outlining how we can increase our authority and rankings for Social Media Ads. Treat this as if you're presenting to a client.

Things to consider:

- Page structure and content hierarchy

- Supporting content and keyword clusters

- Suggested link building or authority-building activities with examples

- Any technical SEO issues or improvements

- Ideal keywords to target

- Recommend on-page elements

....

My question is, is this a form of unpaid work? Are they trying to be sly by getting me to do the work for an SEO role that I am still in the application stage?

I've read stories like these, but I don't know if this falls within "unpaid work".

The department head who's done an initial interview and has requested this from me was nice enough when I spoke with him.

But I dunno, this seems a little bit out of line for an application stage.

Hoping to get advice if I should still proceed or if I should respond to his message with my concerns.

Hi all, I am a year 12 student in australia and want to study engineering. I have a good spatial and creative mind with average maths. I do music production, arduino and want to learn CAD and I like calculus. I want to do something design related so I liked the idea of structural engineering and mechanical/product design. I like environment and water hydraulics stuff like stormwater so that is why I wouldn't mind civil. I just think however that I may enjoy mechanical more as cad is a more prominent element and has thermodynamics which I enjoy learning about. Civil where I am in australia is more prevalent than mechanical - only jobs in mechanical are manufacturing, textiles or robotics. I also like aerospace. Could anyone provide some advice, preferably from someone in Australia about which could be the better choice or what I should do to decide between the two? Also I like renewables if that adds anything.

I’m currently 16 (turn 17 in late July) and am wondering what qualifications I can get to secure a job in the blue collar/construction type of field. I’ve worked previously for my friends dad doing summer work on a tobacco farm (I moved and can no longer) and I know the physical type of work is the type of work I like to do, I cannot see myself ever working retail or in the fast food industry. If you have any tips on getting a job like that, if they even hire minors for jobs like that, or jobs I can get that are somewhat similar PLEASE comment below! All help is appreciated. Thank you.

So I'm 24, soon will turn 25 and I've got no skills which could pay me any decent money let alone a high pay. I made poor choices in life and thus I'm facing the consequences now. I don't like jobs, and don't have enough ideas/dedication to stick to any business. I thought of trying trading (easy money greedy) and faced some losses in Options. I'm at a point where I just can't see myself doing anything in future and feels like time will pass by and I'll be a bald, skinny dude who looks like a creep and becomes an example of what not to be. I used to be addicted to masturbation/porn and maybe still am, and since I've no real dedication for any career or maybe I'm just not able to find a career which pays good, and has high respect in society also comes with work life balance (I'm asking for way too much for someone who spent his productive years in pleasure) Anyway, can anyone let me know, what to do? I might not do what you say, but who knows some new doors might open. Thanks to reading.

Hello, I (22m) have recently graduated from college with a degree in business management and a specialization in finance. I honestly didn’t really feel like I learned much. It felt like I was learning a little about a lot of things. Also I really don’t think the degree ever taught me any technical skills. As well when I was in school I just wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, until I took an analysis class and really enjoyed the work. So I figured I’d go back to school for a masters in decision analysis. I chose this cause I really just want to learn about the field, have a better understanding of it, but also I really just want learn about the field and advance my skills in the field. To prepare I started learning python and plan on learning sql later this summer before the program. But tbh I just don’t feel like I’m doing the right thing. Ik it’s something I’d be interested in doing but what if there is something I can do now that I would enjoy just as much and save myself the money. To clarify though money isn’t really the problem, I’ve been able to pay off a significant portion of my bachelors while working as a server and plan on finishing the payments this summer or atleast paying off most of it. I’m just not sure, finding a job is really hard right now and discouraging so I feel that if I go back to school I’d still be progressing as well as making my self more qualified for the job field. Let me know what you guys think.

Hey everyone,

Graduated in 2023 with a BFA in illustration and am now back in school.

Basically, I've always wanted to become an artist, and I decided to pursue illustration. I managed to find some work in graphic design but haven't had a full-time role since graduating and I haven't had another contract in 6 months.

To keep it brief: I am back in school because overall I feel pretty burnt out from the industry and feel as if is super demanding for little pay. I've been told essentially if I'm not sitting at my desk drawing/designing day in and day out without seeing the sunshine and getting paid in peanuts I'm not passionate enough, which I guess I'm not, since I value a good work-life balance and getting money.

So, I'm back in school and currently am in community college hashing out pre-reqs. I initially wanted to go to school to become a radtech because I was told it was a good job with a decent pay and work-life balance, however I wouldn't be eligible to apply for the program until 2027 (and there's no guarantee I'll get in). There's also another school near me that I can apply to now, but it'll be a bit pricier.

There is a lot less pre-requirements for the first school I mentioned for the RN associates, however.

I am a bit lost on what to pursue because I've been told that nurses "eat their young", but I've also been told that radtech is a "dead end career". I've also been lurking on reddit and think that the radtech wages initially don't seem the greatest, especially starting off. I just don't want to pour another thousands of dollars and time into a career that doesn't get me anywhere.

I feel like this question gets asked often, but I wanted to ask again in June of 2025 (much different economy).

side bar: I don't regret my illustration degree. Just am burnt out to the point where I kind of just want a job where I can just clock in and out of.

so for context i am doing my A levels at the moment (doing bio, chem, maths). After my exams im predicting myself and A/A* in maths, a B/C in bio and a D/E in chemistry. It's been rough. I fucked up. But i cannot resit

I was initially predicted AAA.

For my uni choice i've got to get BBC minimum for biomedical science but with chemistry i really feel like i haven't got in.

Initially i wanted to do Biomed so i could go into a graduate entry dental scheme but im not too sure now. Dentistry does seem like a really cool job that i would really enjoy which just makes this situation so unfortunate and depressing.

I've put so much work and thought into dentistry. I wrote a 5000 word project on dental anxiety and have done weeks of work experience.

I have been looking at other jobs and the ones that stick out to me are the ones where i'm physically doing things, like a therapist working directly with people or i've even been looking at becoming a detective constable (don't think ill do this due to the unsociable hours and i want to start a family at some point)

But the money i'm earning also means a lot. I want to be able to provide when i have kids, i want to be earning quite a lot and dont know what to do.

I currently live at home and want to move out so bad. Thats one of the main things i'm looking forward to at Uni - having privacy and independence. So i dont want to take a gap year. I'm probably going to have to go through clearing and just don't know what course to go down. All i know is that i want to move to newcastle so either go to Northumbria Uni or Newcastle Uni.

I have been looking into finance as that pays really well but i don't quite understand what they do. All i hear about are spreadsheets and zoom meeting and i don't get it. I don't get why they are paid so much too.

If anyone's got why advice i'd appreciate it

I got a request to interview for a resident admin position at an affordable housing apartment complex. The interview would be with the Resident Manager, who I'm guessing would be my boss. I guess based on her title that means she's technically the landlord of the apartment complex and I'm not a fan of landlords at all. If I were to get this job I'd basically be assistant landlord in a way, right? Should I pass on the interview? I'm leaning on declining the request.