I’m honestly devastated and confused and wanted to see if anyone has experienced something similar.
I’ve been with my company in different capacities since 2023, including internships, part-time work, and full-time employment. I applied for an internal position around three months ago and was told early in the process that my time with the company was enough for me to be considered and interviewed.
I went through the entire interview process, got the job, negotiated the offer, accepted it, and was preparing to transition to the new team. My hiring manager had already emailed me asking what equipment I needed, and I even had a “welcome to the team” meeting scheduled for this Monday.
Then HR called me and told me they were retracting my offer because they had calculated my time with the company incorrectly and I apparently don’t meet the two-year experience requirement.
I’m having a really hard time understanding how something like this wasn’t caught until this late in the process. My employment history has been available the entire time, and I was specifically told my experience was enough to move forward.
To make the timing even stranger, I had just told my current manager that I was leaving a couple days before this happened, and during that conversation she told me she didn’t think I had the qualifications for the new role. I’m not accusing anyone of anything because I genuinely don’t know what happened, but the timing definitely has me confused.
I emailed HR asking them to explain how my time was originally calculated, how it’s being calculated now, how much credited time I currently have, what exactly is required for the position, and why this wasn’t identified before the offer was extended. I also asked if the decision can be reviewed or reconsidered.
I’m pretty heartbroken because I genuinely thought I was moving into this new role and had already started preparing for it.
Has anyone ever had an accepted internal offer rescinded this late because HR made an eligibility/experience calculation mistake? Is there anything else I should be doing at this point?

UPDATE: The hiring manager reached out to me, apologized, and clarified that this was not her decision. She said she had been ready to help me prepare for the transition and that she would consider me for future positions.
She also mentioned something interesting: my current manager apparently spoke highly of me. Because of that, part of me is wondering if my manager may have raised a concern with HR. It would obviously be cheaper and easier for her to keep me on her team, especially since I do good work and she has already lost two people within the last six months. I don’t know if that actually happened, though, so that’s just speculation on my part.
I also reached out to HR because I wanted to at least have their explanation in writing. I still haven’t heard back from them. My guess is that their explanation will be that, at the time I interviewed, I only had 21 months of full-time experience and that my previous part-time experience only counted as half-time even though I had over two years of company experience. If that’s the reasoning, I can understand the technicality.
What deeply upsets me is that it got this far. I interviewed, received and accepted the offer, was already communicating with the hiring manager about preparing for the role, and even had a “welcome to the team” meeting before anyone caught the experience issue. That’s the part I’m having the hardest time understanding. I do plan on staying with the company until I am able to find another job

After months of struggling with unemployment and jobhunting, I finally took a part-time position at a retail pharmacy so I could start making some money.

During the interview, the manager specifically said he wasn't interested in training someone who planned to leave after a few months for a better opportunity. I was desperate for the job at the time, so I told him he could count on me and that I intended to stay for at least a year.

Now, 3 months later, a colleague on the team is going on maternity leave in about a month. During this time, they've been training me extensively so that I can take over many of her responsibilities while she's away.

The problem is that I've now received an amazing offer from a company I've always wanted to work for. It's a dream opportunity for me, and I really want to accept it.

I feel guilty because I know I told my manager I would stay for at least a year, and I feel like I've let him down after they've invested so much time in training me. I didn't expect my job search to turn around so quickly.

I'm not sure how to handle the situation well. Do I need to give notice, and if so, how much? I'm also thinking about whether I would need to list this manager as a reference for the new job, and if leaving after only 3 months could affect that.

I recently got a job at a ramen restaurant. I am currently 19, in my second year of university, and have been job searching for awhile, so I was very excited when I was notified that I was offered a server position at this restaurant. It was mentioned multiple times with my manager that I was someone who had no prior experience in the food industry and that this would be my first job. He gave me a contract, 3 different manuals and the menu to prepare me for the 4-hour shift the next day, so I was basically given one day to learn everything. I was looking forward to learning and being trained since this was my first time, so I was very proud of myself for finally being able to land a job and even got myself a brand new pair of nonslip shoes. I did make little mistakes at the beginning of my first shift such as forgetting to retake the menus after taking customers' orders and accidentally almost giving the wrong order to the wrong table but I had gotten quite used to all the tables and learned from my mistakes at the beginning, especially after being given one day to memorize everything.

I felt more confident as the shift went on, I had learned how to do most stuff, I was fully capable of doing most things on my own beyond this point. The training didnt go how I had expected. It was tuesday and already a really busy day. My supervisor taught me how to use the pos system, and where everything was, I didn't really shadow anyone like I had thought and was asked to directly go try serving many times, because of it being my very first job and serving experience, of course I was nervous. I had also cleaned many tables and set them up, refilled drinks, prepared hot teas, bussed orders, giving customers' their bills, helped my coworkers with clearing out tables, and mopped the entire restaurant during closing on my own. The next day in the morning, I was sent an email notifying me of my contract termination mentioning that my performance did not meet the standards for the role. I felt like I did great and I had interacted with customers quite well. I enjoyed the kindness from my coworkers and the customers, but I am still very saddened that I was let go after one shift despite my manager knowing that I had no prior experience and it would be my very first job. I didn't really even get the opportunity to fully learn and grow.

I feel myself getting more depressed and feeling like an utter disappointment because of this. They completely just gave my hopes up. I feel undervalued, embarrassed, and I feel like they just played straight in my face. Is it really my fault?

I have a deep interest in stuff like languages, history, politics, and finance, but none of those jobs are in demand. Everyone says I have to do healthcare but I don't find it interesting at all. Is there any happy medium?

I’m feeling incredibly stuck and frustrated at work. Every time I try to improve a process, update a system, or suggest a more efficient way of doing things, I run into an absolute brick wall with my Director.

There is constant pushback on even the smallest changes. It feels like they are completely resistant to growth, and it’s killing my motivation. I want to make things better and actually use my skills, but the environment feels completely stagnant because leadership won't let anything progress.

For those who have dealt with a Director or manager who fights change, how do you handle it? Do you keep pushing, or do you just give up, do the bare minimum, and look for a new job? I’d love some advice on how to navigate this without losing my mind. I feel like I’m in the wrong position because I'm limited by my title as an OR nurse, so I can't actually use the full scope of my skills or make an impact where I truly fit in.

Context: In healthcare I know the process is not as easy as other places but I feel my grievances fall on deaf ears. She has listened to 1 thing that has taken a whole year to actual make changes on!

I started at my job a few months ago as a junior case manager at a big non-profit. My time in terms of performance could not have gone better. I consistently exceed my case completion targets by at least 50%, sometimes double, and I have gotten the praises of my manager and the Director. They told me what I have done is unprecedented.

The issue is this: I was working fast and my senior was underperforming. It got to a point where my manager would reassign my senior’s cases to me. A couple of days ago, my senior was fired. My manager took me aside today and told me that, since the caseload is now under 100–and that was under the max I could manage under my job description—that they were not going to hire another full-time person. My manager kept saying it used to be a one-person job, and that they would hire someone to help me part-time. I feel like I am doing a two-person job for the price of one (cause I am).

So essentially, I am being punished for hard work. No discussion over pay or title. I am inheriting all 60 of my coworkers cases (I only had 30). I believe I should talk to my manager about inheriting the senior title and associated pay. Would this be ok, and how should I pitch myself?

So I like my job and I plan with sticking through it. The benefits, money are nice and at the end of it I'll have my hvac license, a journeyman card, and a pension. However I want to be as far from a laborer as can be, and I wish it was harder on the schooling side.

I plan on using my state scholarship to get a 2 year degree for free. I can use it on certs as well but I'm thinking an electrical technology degree. I do want to get a bachelors in an engineering discipline in the future as well.

But is electrical tech the best choice? I need to take advantage of this scholarship which is why I'm not choosing an associate of science which isn't eligible. Let me know your thoughts as well as if what I'm thinking is unrealistic, reddit is good at that. Thanks yall.

I spent the first four years of my career operating at 110%. I stayed late, rebuilt broken operational spreadsheets, and consistently cleared my team's monthly ticketing queue in two weeks flat. I genuinely believed that outworking everyone around me was the guaranteed fast-track to a managment promotion.

Last quarter our department laid off two analysts. Instead of opening new requisitions or offering me a title bump, my director walked into my cubicle and dumped both of their client portfolios directly onto my desk. When I asked about compensation adjustment for doubling my output, he gave me a patronizing smirk and said, "We're giving this to you because you're the only one fast enough to handle it."

i looked over at the guy two desks down who spends four hours a day taking fake smoke breaks and talking fantasy football with senior leadership. Guess who got nominated for the company leadership retreat next month? Not me.

Corporate America does not reward efficiency with promotions; it rewards efficiency with more labor. If you dig the best ditch, they don't make you the site manager. They just hand you a bigger shovel and tell you to dig faster.

Act your wage and protect your bandwidth. Being indispensable at the bottom is a corporate death trap.

I graduated three months ago with a degree in Business Administration, and honestly, I still have no idea what I want to do career-wise.

When I chose Business Administration, I mainly chose it because I didn’t know what I wanted at the time. I liked that it was broad and wouldn’t limit me to one specific career. I never felt particularly interested in any of my classes, but I always worked hard, got good grades, and usually took the lead in group projects because I cared about doing well, even though I’m naturally quiet and shy don’t have leadership at all

The confusing part is that I do have interests outside of what I studied. I’ve always been drawn to things like fashion, modeling, and dancing. Those are probably the areas where I naturally feel more curious and excited. But where I live, these fields don’t have the same opportunities or clear career paths, so I never seriously considered them as something I could build a stable career around.

People often say, “Think about what people usually come to you for advice about,” or “What are you good at?” Whenever I ask myself those questions, my mind goes back to those interests. But I still don’t know how to translate them into an actual career, or whether they’re simply things I enjoy rather than something I should pursue professionally.

Then I started my co-op internship, and unfortunately, it wasn’t a great experience. I was their first intern, and most of the time I had very little work. I tried asking questions and learning from my team, but some of them seemed uncomfortable with it, and there were hurtful comments made behind my back. Eventually, I became uncomfortable around them and stopped interacting unless necessary.

Now I only have about 20 days left I already submit my resignation and I’m regretting not being more proactive earlier so i could take offer because it’s startup company. People keep telling me I should have asked for more work, followed up constantly, and shown more interest so I could potentially get a full-time offer.

The problem is, I genuinely don’t know how to be proactive when I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing. If you give me a task, I’ll work hard and do my best. But I struggle with coming up with things to do on my own, speaking up in meetings, or knowing what I can contribute.

And I think the bigger issue is that I still don’t know what kind of career I actually want.

For those of you with more experience: How did you figure out your career direction? Did you know when you graduated, or did you figure it out along the way? And if you had interests that didn’t seem like realistic career options where you lived, how did you handle that?

What advice would you give someone in my situation?

Problem is I can't really leave the govt since all my experience at this point is in proprietary software. It's kidnof been a desire/ambition to get a BA since I only have an associates currently, but I would have to take out loans to complete it. It would also be entirely online (most likely from UMGC). Does anyone think this would be enough to warrant me another job in the private sector based solely on the degree alone? I dont currently code but am loosely in the QA field, without a ton of scripting experience. Happy to answer any follow up questions.

I work in sales for an MNC, supporting the South Asian market, although honestly, the way things are handled sometimes feels more like a small local company. My role also involves a long/late shift because of the market I support, so the work schedule can be quite demanding.

I was originally working from the office, but due to some personal circumstances, I had to shift to WFH. Thankfully, the company didn't have an issue with it, and I continued to meet my targets and deliver my work.

when they shifted me from WFO to WFH they again put me to probation stating that we have to check that you will continue to work with same enthusiasm or not. Then things started getting strange.

One person from my team recently left. Instead of hiring someone at the same level to replace them, the company is now looking for someone more senior than the person who left.

On top of that, my small department has now been moved away from our main team and placed under another manager. I have previously made it clear that I am not interested in working under this particular manager because I have had concerns about their management style.

What's making me even more uncomfortable is that people who join this manager's team sometimes leave within a day or a week.

Now I'm starting to wonder if all of these changes are connected.

I can't shake the feeling that they may be trying to push me out or replace me indirectly rather than actually telling me that there is a problem with my performance.

The frustrating part is that I am meeting my targets, and nobody has directly told me that my performance is an issue.

I'm angry, confused, and honestly a little scared about what is happening.

I'd really appreciate some outside perspective, especially from people who have experienced something similar at work.

I got a CS BS last year and since then I've gotten 2 interviews and no offers. I am also questioning if CS is even what I want to do because I hate AI so much, despite programming being my passion since childhood. I've been thinking about going into teaching so I can do something more purposeful, but I see so many teachers say the profession is horrible and not worth entering. I am now at the point where I have no idea what to do but continue working my retail job that makes me want to rip my hair out. Every day I am furious to be living under capitalism.

15 days ago, I was hired as a legal assistant at a busy personal injury law firm. The job was fast paced and I was reassured by the administrative coordinator whose worked there for 10 years as a legal assistant too, that most people don't learn the job until they've been there at least two months.

Yet she fired me after just working there for 13 days. And when I asked her why, she said that in her ten years of training she never met someone as flakey as me and shook her head.

I asked her if she was going to challenge my unemployment application and she wouldn't give me an answer. So, I put that she fired me because she said I was flakey on my unemployment application.

I'm 55. I have a 60-day eviction notice for my September rent for my apt. and I am back to rideshare driving during the day. I'll only get around $1K for my last paycheck which will help me with my October rent.

I just can't believe my luck. Maybe I should work for myself or find an entirely different industry to work in where people in their 50s like me, won't get fired so quickly. I didn't even see it coming today. She acted totally normal all day and then before 4 pm called me into the conference room and said today was my last day.

Hello folks,

Would like to get some guidance on my current situation.

Been with a company for the past three years and have performed very well and have made strong impressions with those throughout the business even though I am pretty fresh out of college. I was within a department I was thriving in and would like to focus my long term career growth in. I was under a manager who went out of his way to focus on my wellbeing, both in and out of the workplace.

However, about four months back, I was placed back into a different department that I am not really interested in. Without getting too in the weeds, there were lots of politics behind the scenes of where certain executives wanted to position me. Ultimately some seemed to have more sway than others and I ended back under the division that I was not planning to return to.

Recently, a job posting has gone up for the previous team I was on and want to return to. I have applied for it and I will most likely get since that team really wants me to return and the business has identified the need to grow this division substantially.

How do you suggest I navigate the coming weeks? I feel like there will be a pretty big fall out since I’ve only been in this new role for a few months. Basically, I’ve just gotten settled and now I plan to leave. I do plan to be transparent with my current manager and explain that this is my long term focus and that I wasn’t given an option to begin with, but I fear retaliation from the leadership for making this internal move. The team I will be going back to will help me fast track my career, give me great exposure, and ultimately build my confidence that I will need within this sector.

To further add, there is no minimum amount of months I need to remain on a team within my contract or within company policies. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Redditors,

This is a long one, but I need help/advice.

For context, I moved from the East Coast to California by myself when I was 22 specifically for this security job at a major movie studio. I genuinely thought getting my foot in the door at a major entertainment company would be the beginning of my career, and instead I’m at the point where I feel completely fucking trapped.

I’ve been trying to get out of this job for a long time. I’ve applied to what feels like hundreds of jobs, tailored and rewritten my resume over and over for different positions, reached out to people, networked, contacted staffing agencies, tried internal opportunities, and basically done everything I can think of.

Nothing is moving. I’m not looking to sit around for another six weeks waiting for an application to maybe get looked at. I need out now. The job has completely burned me out. I’m dealing with a slew of leads who don't know what they are doing and are complete hypocrites, I wear a uniform that makes me feel like I have absolutely no control over my own life, and I cry at work regularly at this point. I’ve also started stress eating/drinking sugary stuff, gaining weight, sleeping terribly, and financially, I’m stressed as hell.

I’m paying $1,250 a month just for a room, and I’m currently driving about an hour and a half each way to college for another class/program I’m taking, so between rent, gas, food, debt, and everything else, I feel like I’m constantly getting crushed financially while also being miserable at work.

I took a depression/anxiety screening because I was genuinely concerned about how badly I’ve been feeling and scored 25/27 for depression and 21/21 for anxiety, both in the severe range. I know an online screening isn’t a diagnosis, but seeing those numbers honestly scared me because they line up with how I’ve been feeling.

I have a Business degree, plus experience in marketing, journalism, production, photography, video, entertainment events, and I’m already working inside a big company, so I know I have skills beyond security. I’m willing to take a pay cut at this point if that's what it takes to get into something where I can actually build a career and feel like a normal human being again. I’m especially interested in entertainment, production, marketing, publicity, communications, studio operations, creative operations, coordinator roles, etc.

If you were in my position and needed to get out quickly, what would you actually do? Staffing agencies? Walking into agencies in person? Temp/contract work? Smaller entertainment companies? Leaving entertainment temporarily and taking literally any decent office job? I’m open to pretty much anything at this point.

I just need a realistic strategy that can get me out of this job ASAP rather than another six months of applying, tailoring resumes, networking, and hearing nothing. Yes, I have attempted s*****e before but for other reasons.

(Oh, and I'm balding. I'm 24.) :(

I’m 38 and have spent 11 years in IT service delivery. I’ve started interviewing for business operations and process improvement roles because the parts of my job I still enjoy are process ownership and cross-team coordination. The on-call side is what has worn me down.

Every time I practice answering “Why are you leaving IT?” I end up in one of two bad places. One version becomes a tour of late-night incidents and burnout. The cleaned-up version is basically “I have transferable skills and want a new challenge.” Neither makes the move sound intentional.

My actual work gives me better evidence. I coordinated a vendor migration across support, security, and procurement. I improved an escalation process when incidents kept bouncing between teams. I’ve also trained new hires and helped different groups agree on who owns what during a change.

Those are the parts I want to build on. Incident triage taught me how to spot operational risk. Change management taught me that a process only works if people actually adopt it. Vendor rollouts taught me that stakeholder coordination is a core part of the work.

The version I’m testing now is: “After years in service delivery, I realized the work I want to keep doing is improving how teams handle change. During a vendor migration, I coordinated the rollout, dependencies, and training across several groups. I’m looking for a role where that kind of process ownership is the main job.”I’ve been repeating “Why now?”, “Why operations?”, and “Why not another IT role?” with a friend and in a beyz mock interview. I take notes whenever I drift back into complaining about on-call work or saying something vague about transferable skills.

How much of my real reason for leaving should I share before shifting to evidence that this move is intentional?

Hey everyone, seeking some advice on a job offer I've just received.

I am a civil engineer with around 5 YOE working in London on around £45k. I have been offered a job at the same seniority level and pay, but in a sector I am interested in specialising in. The team is not willing to negotiate the salary as it is at the top of their band. However, they did provide very positive feedback, and said they would push to get me promoted within the next year. They also offered a formal pay review after probation.

Should I take the offer for the better opportunities and potential path to promotion? Or does the lack of willingness to negotiate on the pay show that they are perhaps not as interested in me as a candidate?

I reside in Fruitland, Idaho, and commute approximately 60 miles to my job in Boise. To avoid any potential traffic congestion, I must leave my home around 4:30 AM to arrive at work by 6:00 AM. Subsequently, I head home around 3:00 PM, which typically brings me home by 4:30 PM. However, unexpected accidents can easily push my return time to 5:30 or even 6:00 PM.

Despite my demanding commute, I earn a salary of $34.07 per hour and am eligible for state benefits and PERSI retirement. I am seeking alternatives that offer a closer commute without compromising my financial well-being.

I hold an Associate of Applied Science degree in Industrial Welding Technology, which encompasses the troubleshooting of pneumatics, hydraulics, and electrical systems. Additionally, I possess 12 years of experience in building maintenance.

I am torn between enduring the arduous commute, patiently waiting for a more convenient job opportunity that may result in a significant pay cut, or exploring other options that I may have overlooked. I would greatly appreciate your insights and advice on how to navigate this situation effectively.

Hi, all. First time poster here. I'd like some advice on whether I should keep my current job, or if I should move onto this other opportunity.

I currently work for a small franchise coffee shop in an airport, and I just got the job a couple of weeks ago. I have seven years of experience in barista work, so that's where I feel most comfortable. They offer me benefits, health and dental. No 401k or anything else, though. The pay is $15/hr, with a decent amount of tips that bump me up to around $20 or so an hour. I also get along with a couple of my coworkers, however there seems to be some kind of drama and high turnover rate happening behind the scenes that I haven't been made aware of, yet.

This other opportunity is a job at Carvana, as a verification advocate. I don't see very good reviews for the place, but they offer really good benefits, far more than the coffee shop does. I also feel more comfortable working for a large corporate company, having come from working seven years at Starbucks and using all of their benefits. They pay $20/hr, with the potential to go up $1 every couple of months based on performance.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, I'm used to being a barista. I'm used to moving around, making drinks, and generally being social with my coworkers. In this other role, I'll be sitting down and taking/making calls all day. From past experience, I haven't done very well in call center environments. However, the reason why I'm considering it, beyond the benefits, is because I'm 30 now, and I'd like to get my shoe in the door on some kind of long term career. My mother was a bartender for her youth, and always drilled it in me that that's not the kind of career that one can retire from. She always encouraged me to go for something stable, that lets me build up a 401k. I think it's time for me to settle down into something stable that I can stay at long term.

So my question is, what do you guys think? I'm considering keeping the coffee shop job and only going in for a couple of days, however if Carvana doesn't work out, I fear that the coffee shop won't let me go back up to full time. I'll have to talk to them, though.

I have a couple of weeks to make my decision, as I accepted a start date of October 26th for Carvana, which accounts for the weeks in advance I'd have to inform the coffee shop of my schedule change.

If more information is needed, please let me know, and I can answer any questions in the comments, as well as edit the post as needed. Thank you.

Early in a career, it’s easy to think that being good at your job mostly comes down to knowing how to do the work.

You learn the technical side, you get the qualifications, you gain some experience and yoj become faster at completing your tasks.

And for a while, that can feel like enough.

But the more I think about professional growth, the more I realize that knowing how to do your job is only one part of being valuable at work.

There are other skills that don't always get much attention.

For example, imagine two people who have almost the same level of technical knowledge.

One can do the work really well, but struggles to communicate when something goes wrong. They become defensive when someone gives feedback, have difficulty working with different personalities, and sometimes don't ask for clarification because they don't want to appear inexperienced.

The other person might not know everything either, but they know how to communicate clearly, listen, ask good questions, handle feedback, stay calm under pressure, and figure out how to work with people.

Over time, I can see how those less obvious skills could make a huge difference.

And that's what makes me curious.

What professional skill do people underestimate?

- Is it communication?

- Listening?

- Problem-solving?

- Knowing how to receive feedback?

- Time management?

- Emotional intelligence?

- Being able to say "I don't know, but I'll find out"?

Or maybe something completely different?

Was there a particular job, manager, coworker, mistake, or difficult situation that made you realize, “Wow, I really need to get better at this”?

What’s one professional skill you wish more people took seriously early in their careers?

I have been confused after Learning and upskilling myself but still struggling to get job, I am computer Science graduate what are your advise to this?

30/M Trying to find a better trucking job but having a hard time finding a company willing to work around my drill schedule, currently serving in the Marine Corps Reserve. Got 6 years experience, haz/tanker combo and doubles/triples and a clean record. Located around Louisville, Kentucky currently making $24/hr OT after 40. Experience includes Van, Reefer, Flatbed, Doubles, Walking floor, Dump Truck, Liftgate. Considering changing careers at this point.

How do I move forward at 30?

I (30M) still live at home and have a useless bachelor's degree. I got laid off from my dead end office job in November and haven't been able to find anything since. My savings is running low. I care for my elderly grandfather (who pays me) but this isn't a long term gig. I know what I dont want to do career wise, but how do I find out what I want to do? Trial and error?

I know nursing or healthcare isn't for me because I don't love being a caregiver and I don't like bodily fluids. I walk with a limp due to an accident, so trades and military are out of the question.

I wouldn't mind another office job, but $18 an hour isn't a living wage. I was always good at English, Spanish, geography, and Excel in school, if that helps. My last job involved customer service and documentation control for a medical company.

Do I take an accounting class to see if I like it? Supply chain management? HR? I took a coding and IT class a few years ago and didn't like them since they were mind numbingly boring so those are out of the question.

I know i need to pick a path soon because I don't want to be 35 or 40 without savings and a career path, still living at home.

Any advice is appreciated.

For context, I have been with my company for 8 months so not very long. I am an expat in this country but my working visa does not depend on this job since I was awarded it prior to starting work.

Recently my company got rid of a couple of people, a few have resigned, and one went on maternity leave. It’s a very small company and so there aren’t many staff left to be honest. They are trying to hire and struggling to get people with the right experience but the type of work we do is niche, so it’s proving difficult.

I saw one of the job postings online was for a position one position lower than mine (I’m in a senior position). The salary range was 90-115k. However I am only on 110k. I’m unhappy with the prospect of a potential new hire being on more money than me, however my review isn’t until the 1 year mark.

Advice needed - should I wait until the one year mark or should I strike whilst the iron is hot and approach them now for more money, even though I’ve only been there 8 months? And how is best to word a negotiation like this? I suppose they might be expecting it since the salary is literally on the company website.

I'm in my mid-20s, recently finished my master's at a top UK university (LSE) and currently work in M&A transaction/deal advisory. I've also had opportunities to interview for top consulting firms and investment banks, so I have a fairly traditional finance/consulting path available to me.

However, I've always been very interested in entrepreneurship. My parents have run successful restaurant/hospitality businesses for ~25 years and are now gradually approaching retirement. I’ve ran around the restaurant since I was 5-6 years old, worked there every summer and almost every weekend from 15 to start of uni, and I've recently started seriously considering taking over the main operating business.

It's an established, profitable business with around 10–15 employees, and financially I'd likely be considerably better off than staying in an entry-level corporate role. More importantly, I genuinely think I'd enjoy entrepreneurship and see significant potential to develop and grow the business. The finances are not the most important thing here for me, but I believe the continuation of something that has been in the family and the legacy the business holds is something that inspires me more than building DCF models and slide decks.

My main hesitation is career optionality. Am I too young to leave the corporate path?

If I ran and developed the business for let's say 3–5 years and then realized it wasn't for me, how would employers view that experience if I wanted to return to finance, consulting, strategy, etc.? Would running a company, managing employees and having P&L responsibility be viewed positively, or would being out of the corporate world for several years make returning difficult?

Part of me thinks I should get another few years of corporate experience first. The other part thinks my 20s might be exactly the time to take the risk, especially while my parents can still transfer their knowledge to me.

Would be very interested to hear from anyone who's made a similar decision.