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After a few months of job hunting<\/u><\/a>, I drastically reduced my time on TikTok and Instagram. LinkedIn became\u00a0my preferred social media app<\/u><\/a>, less for entertainment and more for anything that looked like it might turn into a paycheck. A couple of weeks ago, I stepped away from the search and fired up Threads, hoping to find something lighter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I didn\u2019t. Instead, I stumbled upon\u00a0a job posting that was trending<\/u><\/a>\u00a0for all of the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n The post sought a remote full-time creative strategist to join a Charlotte-based baby product retailer. The role sits at the content, branding, and social media crossroads, word to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. \u201cYou need to be sharp, fast, and actually understand what makes people stop scrolling and buy,\u201d the since-deleted post read. \u201cThis is . . . not a sit-back-and-brainstorm role.\u201d<\/p>\n At face value, it read like a dope opportunity for someone willing to roll up their sleeves and market the hell out of some burping cushions. That is, until you consider the proposed salary: $55,000. Yes, 55,000 American dollars. For a mid-to-senior level marketing gig. Yikes. Talk about a recession indicator.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Threads tore it to shreds. And I understood the outrage. Some called the poster\u2014who happened to be a Black woman\u2014exploitative. Others said the salary was fair for some regions. One of my former colleagues jumped in with constructive criticism, suggesting that the startup biz owner reconfigure the role into a fractional executive or part-time contracted gig. And then, of course, there were jokes, with people mocking the post with a flood of quips and ridiculous pseudo-listings. (One of my faves<\/u><\/a>: \u201cHey Congress, there\u2019s a creative strategist role available since you don\u2019t seem to want to do your current job.\u201d)<\/p>\n I hated to see a Black woman dogpiled while major corporations are out here lowballing employees worse than Facebook Marketplace negotiations. But she stood on (small) business. She said she made the same salary after getting her master\u2019s degree and insisted lots of people would happily take the role, benefits and all, with room to grow. Her inbox, she added, was already full. Anyone who disapproved was free to get the hell on and keep scrolling.<\/p>\n Once I was done procrastinating, I got reflective. It\u2019s been more than six months since I\u2019ve had a full-time role. Should I be laughing a little less and tweaking my resume to drop into this business owner\u2019s DMs? Is it time to start considering jobs like this for less than half of what I used to make? Is this what my search has come to?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n