Rage-Applying is All the Rage

01.23.23
Rage-Applying is All the Rage (Getty Images)

Young workers are finding more money with a new practice known as “rage-applying.”

The term stems from when workers who are not happy with their jobs decide to seek new jobs and apply for new positions, often finding themselves with higher paying salaries, according to Yahoo Finance.

Rage-applying is when people begin applying to multiple jobs when they are fed up with their current one. The message has resonated with workers who are feeling burned out and underappreciated by their employers. 

“This is your sign to keep rage-applying to jobs,” a TikTok user Redweez said in a video. “I got mad at work, and I rage-applied to, like, 15 jobs. And then I got a job that gave me a $25,000 raise, and it’s a great place to work. So keep rage-applying. It’ll happen.”

Fifty-two percent of people who were surveyed last spring by employee management software platform Lattice had been working at the company for three months or less but were actively trying to leave their positions. There were even more people who wanted to leave, particularly those who had been working between three and six months. Fifty-nine percent of those workers were contemplating resignation.

A vast majority (74%) of all 2,000 respondents said they’d leave their current position — regardless of how long they’ve been there — in the following six to twelve months. In 2021, significantly fewer (47%) had said the same.

The shared sentiment between folks that jobs aren’t compensating enough is not something people want to deal with. Some people express how unnecessarily volatile their professional situations are. “Even so, you should apply AT LEAST every two years, even if you’re happy,” one TikTok commenter wrote. “Treat your job like anything else in the market, like auto or home insurance [or a] cable provider.”

There is a clear desire for young workers to leave their positions or want more pay from their employers. Even with the strong potential of a recession in the near future, workers are still leaving their jobs or at least planning to resign or seek new job opportunities this year. Considering that the vast majority of workers are looking for better opportunities, it's a no-brainer that people are doing things like “rage-applying.”

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