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 featured my content without credit or permission, I got a call today from the head of their communications department. He said he felt “absolute embarrassment and anger” that it had happened, and they’ve taken down the entire blog until they can check every post for additional instances of plagiarism. I’m pretty impressed with how seriously they took it and how swiftly they moved to fix it, so yay to the NY DOL.

2. My advice about how to handle an unresponsive colleague is featured in this post by the wonderful Alexandra Levit.

3. In case you didn’t spot it in the comments, I have officially changed the term “thank-you notes” to “follow-up notes,” since that more accurately describes what you should be sending after an interview. So no more complaining about how you shouldn’t have to thank them for interviewing you! It’s not about thanking them; it’s about following up on your conversation.

4. And last, BlogHer put together a list of 25 career and business women bloggers who you should be reading, and were nice enough to include me. It’s a good list; check it out.

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{ 13 comments }

{ 13 comments… read them below }

  2. Christine*

    RE the NY DOL: I had a feeling that the management might’ve been unaware that their communications staff were using unauthorized content. Really glad to see they took quick action.

  3. Star*

    Someone’s head is going to roll at NY DOL (and rightly so!). What kind of communications staffer in his/her right mind plagiarizes content??

  4. Diana*

    Item 1 about ripping off your content “with permission or attribution” I think you meant “without”.

  5. Anonymous*

    I’ve never gotten responses to thank-you notes that I’ve sent… except one company, where something like 80% of the interviewers (including a VP) emailed back responses. I was floored. Oddly, I ended up rejecting the offer, although it was the hardest rejection I’ve ever had to make.

  6. Anonymous J*

    AAM, I’m wondering how you would respond to the commenter on what to do if the unresponsive party is your boss? That’s something I have a problem with (among others. LOL!)

    1. Ask a Manager* Post author

      I’d say accept that you probably can’t change it so need to figure out how to work around it. So for instance, if you know that your boss is going to skip the meeting you’re supposed to have tomorrow, which is going to prevent you from getting answers you need to move forward with a project, anticipate that that’s likely to happen and grab her when you see her in the hallway and ask your most important question so that you can move forward anyway. Or if she’s holding up a project by not doing some task that she needs to do, talk to her directly about it: “I know you’re swamped, so would it help if I did X instead to get it off your plate?”

      1. Anonymous J*

        Thanks. These are strategies I do use, and they usually work, but I’ve been “dinged” for asking too many questions.

        At least I know I was on the right track as to how to deal with the issue up front.

  7. Vicki*

    I once had a contract where I was asked to work with another exec’s favorite “helper”… who had no interest in helping in any way other than punditry. I’m afraid we had a bit of a showdown one afternon in a meeting when I found out he’d been ying about the work he’d been doing (he said “up to date” reality was: zero).

    I told my manager. Apparently we couldn’t remove the deadweight from the project. We canceled my contract before the whole thing went down in flames.

    Sometimes, you have to walk away.

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