victory: askamanager.com is mine! by Alison Green on November 5, 2010 After years of harassing the owner of the domain askamanager.com to sell it to me, victory has been achieved! I finally own askamanager.com, albeit at a somewhat extravagant expense. (Side note: People need to say “albeit” more. It’s a very useful word.) So now, the question: What to do? It was only two months ago […] Read the full article →
what does this interview question mean? by Alison Green on November 5, 2010 A reader writes: Right now my current job is terrible and I’ve been lucky enough to snag an interview here and there. During the last interview, I was asked by the manager if I was currently applying for other positions at other companies. I was taken aback as the question could be taken two ways […] Read the full article →
bad candidate behavior: “sorry about 4 years ago, but can I have a job now?” by Alison Green on November 4, 2010 The year: 2006 The situation: I’ve made a job offer to a senior-level candidate, who seemed enthusiastic and asked for a couple of days to get back to me with a formal answer. It’s now been several days, and he hasn’t gotten back to me with an answer. I’ve reach out by phone and email, […] Read the full article →
the magic interview question gets featured on ABC News by Alison Green on November 4, 2010 Regular readers know what a fan I am of this magic question to ask your interviewer: Thinking back to people who have been in this position previously, what differentiated the ones who were good from the ones who were really great? I have now spread the gospel about it to ABCnews.com, and it’s mentioned in […] Read the full article →
how can we respond to an employee who won’t stop asking for a raise? by Alison Green on November 3, 2010 A reader writes: I have an employee who has been with us since 2008 in our small municipality (read: no money) who is constantly dissatisfied with his salary. He has gone to his manager (who is now on maternity leave), his acting manager, and the manager of HR (behind his manager’s back) several times about a […] Read the full article →
one complaint about bosses that doesn’t hold water by Alison Green on November 1, 2010 Evil HR Lady is so good that I want to link to everything she writes, but I don’t because that would be ridiculous. However, sometimes I cannot resist. In her BNET column today, she answers a question from someone frustrated that she keeps getting poor performance evaluations and can’t get promoted. The entire thing is […] Read the full article →
5 reasons your co-worker makes more money than you do by Alison Green on November 1, 2010 Learning that a coworker earns more than you do can be infuriating, particularly if you’re doing roughly the same work at roughly the same level. Here are five reasons that might explain the disparity. 1. Your coworker negotiated better than you did when she was hired. There’s a wide variation in whether and how people negotiate […] Read the full article →
2 reasons your cover letter sucks by Alison Green on October 29, 2010 Two reasons your cover letter sucks: 1. It doesn’t exist. You just send your resume. Adding a three-sentence note in the email doesn’t count. 2. It exists, but it might as well not, because it just repeats the same info that’s on your resume. Think about this for a minute: Why would an employer want […] Read the full article →
application deadlines are misleading you by Alison Green on October 28, 2010 You know when you see a job posting and it lists an application deadline? And then you figure you have until that deadline to apply? Well, you might not. Here’s why: A lot of job sites require the employer to list a deadline or closing date when submitting a post. There’s often no option for […] Read the full article →
you should not do a phone interview at 55 miles an hour by Alison Green on October 28, 2010 I’m not sure why anyone would do a pre-scheduled phone interview while they were driving, but since I’ve recently discovered that some people do in fact engage in this behavior, please consider this a formal suggestion not to. It baffles me that this happens, because: 1. First of all, you can’t focus fully. Why, why, […] Read the full article →