'Your life should be the company's mission': 22-year-old rejects job from tech startup because he wants work-life balance, founder can't understand why a 22-year-old would want work-life balance

Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor

Aug 29, 2025 8:00 AM EDT

Work-life balance is something that most of us want, but we're often hesitant to mention it in work settings. It's perfectly acceptable for a recruiter to claim that their company's culture promotes work-life balance, but the moment a candidate expresses interest in work-life balance first, the red flags start to fly.

I understand why some companies that expect their full-time employees to work overtime might be hesitant to bring someone on board who only wants to work from 9 to 5 exactly. This could all be sorted out if recruiters and candidates were completely candid about what they want from each other. If a company only wants people to work during work hours and nothing more, they should say that. If they expect employees to put in a little extra time during the busy season, they should also make this expectation clear. If they want their employees to work at the office and sleep around the clock, it's imperative that they say so. On the flip side, job seekers should also be able to be honest about what they want too, and if their expectations are different than the company's, that might be cause to reject them, but they shouldn't be dragged through the mud for their personal preference.

The tech startup founder in this story is a low blower. He publicly criticized an interviewee who declined to proceed with the interview process because he wanted to work for a company that offered a better work-life balance. The founder couldn't understand why a 22-year-old would want work-life balance.
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