Anyone else seeing very low salary offers?

[Anonymous]

Yes - I am seeing this, too. I've [desperately] applied for roles that pay 1/2 - 2/3 of my last salary but the level of expertise and expectations are almost identical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An unemployed person or visa person will take it, I underpaid prior role as prior mgt wanted that. We would post 10-15 years experience MBA and CPA required for 85k and I get people who were bottom of barrel and I either have to fire them or they used it to get back in job market and after 9-12 months quit.

Bad business model

What "visa person" has an active secret clearance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just got an interview for a job in program management for a federal contractor that required:
- 15+ years of experience in fed systems integration
- MBA
- PMP certification
- Active secret clearance
- SME knowledge in data centers

All hard and fast requirements.

This would be simultaneously managing 10+ data center equipment installations in the IC world.

Okay, so far so good. The salary they had budgeted? $115k.

Is anyone else seeing offered salaries ground down to 90s levels? Maybe due to the flood of ex-feds in the marketplace?

That's pretty normal. The smaller companies pay much better as less overhead. But, most are looking for more technical skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got an interview for a job in program management for a federal contractor that required:
- 15+ years of experience in fed systems integration
- MBA
- PMP certification
- Active secret clearance
- SME knowledge in data centers

All hard and fast requirements.

This would be simultaneously managing 10+ data center equipment installations in the IC world.

Okay, so far so good. The salary they had budgeted? $115k.

Is anyone else seeing offered salaries ground down to 90s levels? Maybe due to the flood of ex-feds in the marketplace?

This is a very expensive place to live. High home prices, high rent, etc. New cars cost $50k. Child care can be $1,700+ a month. Kids activities cost a fortune. Food, electricity, mobile phone, student loans.

$115k for a mid career professional doesn't cut it. Not by a long shot.

Then you have to change your lifestyle if that's the only job you can get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got an interview for a job in program management for a federal contractor that required:
- 15+ years of experience in fed systems integration
- MBA
- PMP certification
- Active secret clearance
- SME knowledge in data centers

All hard and fast requirements.

This would be simultaneously managing 10+ data center equipment installations in the IC world.

Okay, so far so good. The salary they had budgeted? $115k.

Is anyone else seeing offered salaries ground down to 90s levels? Maybe due to the flood of ex-feds in the marketplace?

This is a very expensive place to live. High home prices, high rent, etc. New cars cost $50k. Child care can be $1,700+ a month. Kids activities cost a fortune. Food, electricity, mobile phone, student loans.

$115k for a mid career professional doesn't cut it. Not by a long shot.

Then you have to change your lifestyle if that's the only job you can get.

Most dont have one job, they sometimes have two full time jobs but most dog walk, uber eats, uber, babysit, snowshovel, manage rental properties, do investments, be a social media influencer whatever it takes When you have a 9-5 job paying 95K but you need 105k to pay your bills you need to hustle .

And lower income people dont pay for childcare, that is a rich person thing. One spouse is cop, fireman, nurse, waitress, works airport at night etc and other works days. That is how two blue collar people with kids do it.

I worked 4 pm to 11:30pm shift in back office bank operations job where we handled paper work to settle everything in college. There was a lot of women no HS degrees working that shift with kids whose husband were in constuction who work like 7am to 3 pm and and one lady told me this was her day.

Husband up at 545am to get ready for work and leave. Sometimes still there to wake kids up.
She get up 630 am get kids ready for school, get them fed on bus, she do some housework, make kids lunches for next day, laundry and prep dinner.
Husband gets home around 330pm she gives him a kiss, then off to work

Husband then makes sure kids do homework, heats up dinner, cleans up kitchen, get kids into bed. He for to bed by 10:30 pm.

She get home around midnight. Some nights he wake up they watch 30 minutes of tonight show.

It repeat everyday. For awhile she only had one car and they switch off. The kids had a parent home 24/7.

[Anonymous]

For those of you complaining, wondering if you voted for the orange head ? If you, you deserve it

[Anonymous]

There are so few job offers, many applicants are offering to work for less. It’s a bad idea. Then it lowers the bracket for all applicants.

[Anonymous]

If you're talking primarily about government contractor jobs, guess they're uncertain about whether their own contracts will be cut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got an interview for a job in program management for a federal contractor that required:
- 15+ years of experience in fed systems integration
- MBA
- PMP certification
- Active secret clearance
- SME knowledge in data centers

All hard and fast requirements.

This would be simultaneously managing 10+ data center equipment installations in the IC world.

Okay, so far so good. The salary they had budgeted? $115k.

Is anyone else seeing offered salaries ground down to 90s levels? Maybe due to the flood of ex-feds in the marketplace?

This is a very expensive place to live. High home prices, high rent, etc. New cars cost $50k. Child care can be $1,700+ a month. Kids activities cost a fortune. Food, electricity, mobile phone, student loans.

$115k for a mid career professional doesn't cut it. Not by a long shot.

Except it does not mean Mid Career. Someone laid of at 59 with a SAHM wife, kids in college still on family medical plan, still saving for retirement mayb have a paid off house paid off car, obvious no child care costs, no student loans. He might jump on a 115K job if a good medical plan and a good 401k match. If he finds better he leaves, if not he stays. with a small raise that is $120,000 which is 10K a month pay with medical and a 401k. Not working medical insurance can run up to $36,000 with dental and vision on a family plan and he lose out on that 10K a mont salary and he be pulling from 401k instead of putting in. Plus he have no short term or long term disability if not working.

My old job that paid low they put 7-15 years experience, MBA, maybe CPA and wanted you working BIG at Mgt level or higher and worked at big name brand companies, IBM, Apple, Microsoft, JP Morgan, Goldman, PwC etc and they get plenty of guys 55-64 willing to do it until they found better or just last rodeo.

But few mid career people with that level of experience 35-52 would do it. They had bills to pay and not yet at point of career age bias hits them.

AND DC is NOT an expensive place to live at all depending on age. I have plenty of neighbors married younger then me at 55 sitting in paid off house, paid off cars, kids already out of college more than happy to take a job with a pay cut if unemployed. They already earned their big money and their big bills are long gone.

it is like Manhattan people are always shocked how little average rent or monthly housing costs are for a lot of people. Anyone who bought their place or rented a rent stabalized apt in the 1970s to around end of 2001 and stayed it is pretty cheap to live. Like under $1,000 a month for many. People moving there in 2026 and buying at 2026 prices or renting at 2026 prices dont get double pay cause of sky high housing. Life is not fair. My school teacher relative has a Brownstone in Park Slope she bought in 1978 for peanuts and owns mortgage free. Since a SFH with no recent resales her property tax also low. Her new neighbors are all investment bankers, law partners, traders on wall street, tech millionaires. But that is life. BTW whe paid $40,000 in a tax lien sale in 1978.

Are you a firmer h1b worker?

[Anonymous]

The new thing is Fractional people no benefits.

[Anonymous]

Even 20 years ago, Project Managers with a collateral clearance were a dime a dozen at the periodic career fair at the Tysons Embassy Suites.

Part of the problem for some posting here is that a project manager with 5 years experience is "good enough" for almost all project manager positions. One with 15-20 years experience is not worth $1 more than one with 5 yrs experience - most of the time. Exceptions exist, but are rare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new thing is Fractional people no benefits.

Ahh, the Burger King model. Great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even 20 years ago, Project Managers with a collateral clearance were a dime a dozen at the periodic career fair at the Tysons Embassy Suites.

Part of the problem for some posting here is that a project manager with 5 years experience is "good enough" for almost all project manager positions. One with 15-20 years experience is not worth $1 more than one with 5 yrs experience - most of the time. Exceptions exist, but are rare.

Sorta agree. I’m a program manager with a clearance. If I’m still a program manager in five years or so, something’s wrong. But, there are people who are intrinsically good at the role and are worth the money. They aren’t necessarily rare but they often aren’t as recognized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new thing is Fractional people no benefits.

Ahh, the Burger King model. Great.

The even better one is paying to work there. My friend joined a very early stage start up as an Angel Investor. He had to buy $100,000 of the stock to get job. He works for free but gets stock grants that if company does well he can sell.