short answer Saturday — 7 short answers to 7 short questions by Alison Green on April 13, 2013 It’s short answer Saturday — seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go… 1. Asking for a far-off start date I have an interview coming up soon for a job that is a little over two hours away from where I currently live. The job site is in a popular beach location notorious […] Read the full article →
how to address junior employees loudly complaining about their work by Alison Green on April 12, 2013 A reader writes: I work for a small company where all of our junior-level employees (all in our early 20s) are encouraged to act as a unit — e.g. we communicate among ourselves to split work, address administrative things, and fix issues before going to more senior staff. We also manage a number of semi-mundane, […] Read the full article →
my boss is requiring us to let him be our “life coach” by Alison Green on April 12, 2013 A reader writes: I currently work for a very small family business where there is basically one man in charge — the CEO. He has just decided to start requiring his staff to participate in a “life coaching” practice every week that he will be leading. He said he wanted us to share our personal […] Read the full article →
fast answer Friday — 7 short answers to 7 short questions by Alison Green on April 12, 2013 It’s fast answer Friday — seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go… 1. Former boss is aggressively mining my contacts on LinkedIn I have a former boss who recruited me for a job from my profile on LinkedIn. (I believe he found me through another employee’s contact list.) Since hiring me, he […] Read the full article →
update from the reader who needed to fire someone who was trying hard by Alison Green on April 11, 2013 Remember the reader who needed to fire a low performer who was trying hard? Here’s her update. I told the employee a few weeks ago that we needed to let her go because the position required skills and experience she doesn’t possess. I asked her for a few weeks transition period. I offered that if […] Read the full article →
how many interviews are too many? by Alison Green on April 11, 2013 A reader writes: I applied for a job that I thought I’d be a good fit for. It turned out that I was applying to a recruiter, and he phoned me the next day and wanted to meet. We had a coffee meeting at one of the outlets the company I was applying to is […] Read the full article →
can I stop taking phone calls at work and direct everyone to email me? by Alison Green on April 11, 2013 A reader writes: I hate taking phone calls. I find them intrusive — they require 100% of your attention (it’s almost impossible to multitask while on the phone), immediate responses to questions, and I for one find it awkward and difficult to talk in real-time to someone whom I can’t see face-to-face. Phone conversations also […] Read the full article →
terse answer Thursday — 7 short answers to 7 short questions by Alison Green on April 11, 2013 It’s terse answer Thursday — seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go… 1. How can I reach out to a great candidate who I had to reject? I conducted an interview screen recently that resulted in a no-hire decision for the candidate. It was, however, an extremely difficult decision, and the candidate, […] Read the full article →
my manager is excluding me from important conversations by Alison Green on April 10, 2013 A reader writes: I need to have a conversation with my manager about why I continue to get excluded from strategic conversations when my teammates are included. My colleague, who is just a bit senior than me, has mentioned on more than one occasion conversations she has had with our manager about overall strategic goals […] Read the full article →
to get hired, will I have to take a job outside my field? by Alison Green on April 10, 2013 A reader writes: I’ve been told by some professionals in my field that in order for me to get hired in this tight job market I would have to take a position that I don’t want. My field is environmental science, and they have suggested that I try similar fields such as environmental health, public […] Read the full article →