Is This for Real?! Minimum Wage Job Post
This was originally posted on 2/4/22 on my original blog.
Keeping Current
One of the things I like to do for fun as a Career Coach is to peruse different job search sites to keep current on job trends: industries hiring, types of jobs available, average salaries/wages, etc.
I was checking out Indeed today when I discovered this atrocity:
They’re paying how much?!
The Horror!!!
It’s job posting for a job coach/job developer that starts at $15 an hour at a social service organization serving people with disabilities. That’s minimum wage here in New York City! For those who don’t know, job developers are professionals who help people with job placement, usually in social service or educational settings. This position requires an associate degree and experience in the field. This job developer would be earning the same as someone who flips burgers at McDonald’s! Nothing against fast food workers (an important job in my book), but they don’t need college degrees! It’s appalling that they’re only offering $15 – 17.50 an hour for the job developer position, especially considering the cost of living in NYC and the recent salary/wage growth across the U.S.
It’s Not Enough
It’s a well-known fact that social service jobs don’t pay very well, and people who go into this type of work aren’t doing it for the money. People who decide to work in human services usually do it out of a genuine desire to help others. That being said, people should be compensated adequately for the work that they do. Minimum wage for a job developer just won’t cut it.
The agency that posted this job is a large non-profit social service organization with a pretty good reputation. Surely, they could afford to pay workers more than minimum wage for this type of work. In fact, most other agencies do. I looked up job developer postings at other agencies, and most appear to pay at least $20 an hour, which isn’t ideal, but still better than minimum wage.
I suspect there won’t be too many people applying for this position and hopefully this organization will decide to offer more.