What would possess someone

[swamp]

To ask for a significant signing bonus (like 25% of the yearly pay) when they haven’t worked in over 15 years and have non relevant experience?

[engineerdoe]

They are being told it is an employee's market right now and they can ask for the moon and get it!  

[busymom]

Is he/she related to Trump?  It sounds like THAT mindset.  I'm speshul...  

[Tennesseer]

An over-inflated opinion of one's value.

[grumpyhermit]

God, to have even a small FRACTION of that level of self-confidence/delusion.

[billisonboard]

Being 15 and getting pressure from a bulldozer parent to get a job when they just want to sit in the basement and  play video games? 

[Tiny]

If Amazon and McDonalds can give their low wage new hires a signing bonus - then it must be common and white collar jobs must get a higher bonus.

I wonder if "signing bonus" means what people think it means... 

I'm sure there's a way to word the legalese for what is required to be awarded the signing bonus that makes it impossible to get the full 25% - but perhaps a consolation "bonus" of a $25 or $50 one can be earned.   I once received a "signing bonus" but there were many many many strings attached - one of which was that I had to reach my 1 year anniversary AND had to comply/complete/achieve a set of milestones (performance appraisals).  But it really came down to one's manager OKing it and putting in the paper work for it AFTER one's 1 year anniversary.  It then took up to 3 months for it get ok'd and to have a check cut.   If you quit before the signing bonus got into your bank account you forfeited it.    It was basically a "handcuff" of sorts.   

[Deleted]

My manager and I once interviewed a candidate for manager of our team in India. (He'd been based in the US for decades but he and his wife were born in India.) It turned out he wanted a pretty insane amount of money, plus regular travel back to the US for the 2 of them to visit their daughters (in Business Class, of course), PLUS the anticipated lost income of his wife, who was currently looking for work. She was in the same field and had been out of the workforce for years.

He wasn't all that impressive anyway. We hired a local guy who turned out to be an absolute gem and has risen higher in the company than I ever did. Other candidate's wife never did find employment in the US- we're all actuaries and I looked her up in our Directory.

Yeah, some people have nerve!

[andi9899]

Jun 7, 2021 10:37:47 GMT -5 swamp said:

To ask for a significant signing bonus (like 25% of the yearly pay) when they haven’t worked in over 15 years and have non relevant experience?

Please share your response to this. I'm intrigued.

[Tiny]

Other than my first 2 years of my career - I've always worked for "mega corps" or employers that were like "mega corps".  So, there are "rules" to follow when hiring people (and going out side the rules requires HR and paperwork and time). 

From what I hear from acquaintances/friends/coworkers (so second hand at best) smaller employers sometimes generously pay underqualified people.  Perhaps they have more leeway when bringing on new employees as to what compensation can be offered.

So, perhaps, asking for something outlandish might actually pay off. They may find an employer with money to burn who will hire them.

(There's also that thing where women tend to not ask for as much as they should from employers (and perhaps employers expect to not pay women as much) so what might seem outlandish to us women might be perfectly acceptable for a man to ask for). 

[swamp]

I should clarify this. The request was in the cover letter. The applicant has not even been granted an interview.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Jun 7, 2021 12:44:30 GMT -5 swamp said:

I should clarify this. The request was in the cover letter. The applicant has not even been granted an interview.

So THAT is what a cover letter is for!  Here I've been doing it all wrong.  Think of the money I've lost out on! 

[Deleted]

I agree with grumpyhermit- I wish I had a SHRED of that applicant's sense of self-importance.

OTOH, I'm guessing it landed in the circular file.

[billisonboard]

I am reminded of a story about the guy who has the opening pick-up line of,  "Let’s go ****." Ninety-nine times out of a hundred he gets slapped but that one out of ninety-nine makes it worth it.

[resolution]

Sounds like they are required to apply for a certain amount of jobs to qualify for unemployment or food stamps or something.

[susana1954]

When I was on the hiring committee at the small private school that my kids attended, we had a teacher reapply who had left a few years before.  She wasn't that good as a teacher, by the way.  When she reapplied, we interviewed as a courtesy.  She wanted the moon (twice the salary, advanced classes, etc.) because she had been so badly taken advantage of previously.

I think there are people who feel like this.

[justme]

Jun 7, 2021 13:19:47 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

I am reminded of a story about the guy who has the opening pick-up line of,  "Let’s go ****." Ninety-nine times out of a hundred he gets slapped but that one out of ninety-nine makes it worth it.

Also the argument why guys keep sending unsolicited dick pics. 

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Jun 7, 2021 12:55:45 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

I agree with grumpyhermit- I wish I had a SHRED of that applicant's sense of self-importance.

OTOH, I'm guessing it landed in the circular file.

Not until everyone got a good laugh at the cojones of this person!

[Deleted]

Jun 7, 2021 13:38:22 GMT -5 susana1954 said:

When I was on the hiring committee at the small private school that my kids attended, we had a teacher reapply who had left a few years before.  She wasn't that good as a teacher, by the way.  When she reapplied, we interviewed as a courtesy.  She wanted the moon (twice the salary, advanced classes, etc.) because she had been so badly taken advantage of previously.

I think there are people who feel like this.

My Ex was downsized when his company changed direction and they no longer had need for his expertise.  He had successful consulting gigs for a few years and those fizzled out as well- classic mistake of getting complacent with only two major clients and not marketing for more.

Any time a lead came up and they asked him what he wanted, he asked for double what he was making at his previous job.  In one place were he was actually brought in for an interview he bluntly told them what they were doing wrong.  (He was a brilliant precious metals chemist so he might have been right but that's not how to ace an interview.)

Since no one recognized his brilliance, he remained unemployed the last 5 years of the marriage and pretty much lived on social programs after that.

[Opti]

Jun 7, 2021 10:37:47 GMT -5 swamp said:

To ask for a significant signing bonus (like 25% of the yearly pay) when they haven’t worked in over 15 years and have non relevant experience?

I'm going to go with 'they need major money now' for $500.

[Opti]

Jun 7, 2021 13:38:22 GMT -5 susana1954 said:

When I was on the hiring committee at the small private school that my kids attended, we had a teacher reapply who had left a few years before.  She wasn't that good as a teacher, by the way.  When she reapplied, we interviewed as a courtesy.  She wanted the moon (twice the salary, advanced classes, etc.) because she had been so badly taken advantage of previously.

I think there are people who feel like this.

There are people like this. I had someone complain that I disrespected them when I corrected something they said. Over an objective fact, i.e. no person X is not Y. They are lower title Z. 

[Opti]

Jun 7, 2021 10:50:43 GMT -5 busymom said:

Is he/she related to Trump?  It sounds like THAT mindset.  I'm speshul...  

There is that Trumpian emotional center of the universe POV. I work with someone like that. Their ability to accurately self assess is low.

[Opti]

Jun 7, 2021 12:44:30 GMT -5 swamp said:

I should clarify this. The request was in the cover letter. The applicant has not even been granted an interview.

Wait .... what!  Not even at or after an interview.    WTE.
Working on new answer for entitled person Jeopardy.................................

[Deleted]

Cojones larger than cerebrum

[giramomma]

Jun 7, 2021 17:10:34 GMT -5 @donethat said:

Cojones larger than cerebrum

Damn. You beat me to it.

[sesfw]

The same type of guy that asked for a $1K weekly increase of his pay so he could send his three kids to daycare.  He is just coming back to the facility after working from home for the last year.

His last day is this Friday.  Actually he's a smart guy so I'm thinking this was a planned exit strategy ...........

[Opti]

Jun 7, 2021 13:37:24 GMT -5 resolution said:

Sounds like they are required to apply for a certain amount of jobs to qualify for unemployment or food stamps or something.

UE. Food stamps are based on income and assets, not employment.

[NastyWoman]

Jun 7, 2021 12:53:20 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

Jun 7, 2021 12:44:30 GMT -5 swamp said:

I should clarify this. The request was in the cover letter. The applicant has not even been granted an interview.

So THAT is what a cover letter is for!  Here I've been doing it all wrong.  Think of the money I've lost out on! 

Damn it. Another thing I am learning about job applications just months before I retire. First I found out that I should have been wearing pearls to job interviews and now this! Is it any wonder I will never be stinking rich...

[dannylion]

Many years ago, one of my reports (very young, entry-level hire, on-board about 2 years, slow learner, not likely to be seeing a promotion for quite a while) insisted he had to have a promotion immediately (fed job) because the warranty on his Volvo was about to expire and he would not be able to afford repairs.  He couldn't afford the fancy condo he was renting or the expensive clothes he wore, either, but that's another story.  (He came from a modest background and longed to be rich and socially prominent but had no idea how to achieve it so he just tried to fake it).  For some reason, he really, truly believed that he deserved a promotion because of his Volvo.  We had many conversations about what he needed to do to make himself eligible for promotion and many conversations about how he could go about achieving that goal, and he, just like everyone else, was offered many opportunities to improve his skills and take on more responsibility, but he never seemed to get the message.  When his initial 18-month assignment to our project ended, I declined to allow him to continue and he went off to be someone else's problem in a different department.  He quit soon afterward for what he thought was going to be a better opportunity.  Every now and then I wonder whatever became of him, but not for very long.  

[Mardi Gras Audrey]

Jun 8, 2021 17:21:51 GMT -5 sesfw said:

The same type of guy that asked for a $1K weekly increase of his pay so he could send his three kids to daycare.  He is just coming back to the facility after working from home for the last year.

His last day is this Friday.  Actually he's a smart guy so I'm thinking this was a planned exit strategy ...........

This isn’t as crazy as it sounds. With all the childcare shortages, it met cost close to that (or the after tax amount he would get with $4k extra/mon gross) to pay for daycare.

I just got my kids into care moving across the country. Only a few places even had openings and several of them were like $2800 a month for 2 kids (age 2 and 4). Child care for under 2 is usually a lot more so I could see 3 kids running $4k, depending on their ages.

Would I ask for that? No. But if u have limited options and need care to work, u take what you can get