About

Fast-paced Environment is a catchphrase that is often seen in job postings as companies look to attract applicants able to keep up with new and urgent tasks on a daily basis. The phrase became a subject of jokes on Twitter in July of 2021 after a user joked that a "fast-paced work environment" means an employee will be sitting in a cubicle doing slow-paced work. Others remarked that the phrase could be considered a red flag for applicants, as it may mean the company overworks their employees.

Origin

On July 6th, 2021, Twitter user @_RobertSchultz^[1] posted a joke reading, "job description: must be willing to work in a fast-paced unpredictable high-energy environment / the environment:" followed by a picture of an average-looking office cubicle. The tweet gained over 45,000 retweets and 407,000 likes (shown below).

Spread

The tweet was a catalyst for people discussing and making jokes about the phrase "fast paced environment." Many users noted that the phrase may be a red flag. User @amyistrying^[2] remarked, "'a fast paced environment' means the job is actually 3-5 jobs," gaining over 24,000 retweets and 213,000 likes (shown below, left). Similarly, user @kefimochi^[3] wrote, "A “fast paced environment” just means they need 3 engineers for a budget of one" (shown below, right).

Others made parodies about so-called "Fast-paced environments." User @monozayns^[4] recreated @_Robertschultz's original tweet but used a picture of BTS in an office (shown below, left). @Bethesda_ANZ^[5] did the same but used a screenshot from Doom (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References