things I wish I hadn’t seen on your resume or in your cover letter by Alison Green on August 31, 2011 It’s true that your resume should market your accomplishments, but declaring that you are a “visionary leader” — as I read on two candidates’ resumes recently — is going a bit far. (Besides, if you’re really a visionary leader, I’ll see it in your accomplishments, right?) And “I have a very charismatic personality” is a […] Read the full article →
how can I make my boss stop talking to me? by Alison Green on August 31, 2011 A reader writes: My boss and I work together in a small office. We get on well and have a great relationship, and she is easily a contender for the best boss I have ever had. The problem is that she is VERY chatty, usually about mundane personal things but also often about unimportant work-related […] Read the full article →
righting a copyright wrong, unresponsive colleagues, thank-you notes, and some ladies by Alison Green on August 30, 2011 So many miscellaneous things: 1. First, since I slammed the New York Department of Labor last week for ripping off my content without permission or attribution, I want to recognize them for how they handled it when I brought it to their attention: After forwarding them five more links to posts on their site that […] Read the full article →
manager wants to take back my raise by Alison Green on August 30, 2011 A reader writes: My boss gave me a raise to do the schedule when the manager of our call center quit. Now that he has hired a manager, he wants to take the raise back. I told him it wasn’t fair and he said he would talk to me about it later. That was 2 […] Read the full article →
top 10 mistakes interviewers make when hiring by Alison Green on August 29, 2011 Hiring someone on to your team is one of the most important decisions that managers make, but it’s easy to flub it if you aren’t trained and prepared for interviewing. Here are the 10 most common mistakes that job interviewers make in the interview process. 1. Not being clear on what’s really needed to excel […] Read the full article →
when a job ad doesn’t list the true qualifications the employer is seeking by Alison Green on August 28, 2011 A reader writes: I’ve been working for the same company for over 7 years, and recently I applied for a position posted on the company website. It was a training position and I met the qualifications that were listed and it seemed to me I would be a good fit for the job. However, the […] Read the full article →
a quick lesson in not stealing by Alison Green on August 26, 2011 I spent several hours this evening tracking down and emailing sites that have reprinted my content without permission, so please indulge me in a brief public service announcement: You cannot take someone’s content off the web and put it on your own site without their permission. It is not yours to use as you wish; […] Read the full article →
terse answer Thursday: 7 short answers to 7 short questions by Alison Green on August 25, 2011 It’s terse answer Thursday — seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go… My boss forgot a major detail of my personal life I have worked with my boss, Nancy, for 4.5 years. We are a two-person department in a 24-person bureau. We work extremely closely and well together. We frequently discuss what’s […] Read the full article →
what do you like about your job, part 2 by Alison Green on August 24, 2011 I loved reading the responses to the “what do you like about your job?” post. We traffic so frequently in bad workplace situations here that reading about positive elements was a nice change of pace. I have a step 2 to propose: Why not tell whoever’s responsible for the thing you cited how much you appreciate […] Read the full article →
how much do thank-you notes really matter after a job interview? by Alison Green on August 24, 2011 A reader writes: Last week, I had a phone interview with a very well-respected company in my area. After the interview, I sent thank you emails and cards to multiple people who were involved in the process. I customized each one based on how they helped me, and I sent them the same day of […] Read the full article →