July 2013

what does it mean to be professional?

We talk a lot here about what it means to be professional, but we’ve never attempted to actually build a list explaining what that means … which I want to try to remedy, because for people just starting out in their careers, figuring it out as they go can be fraught with land mines. And […]

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resisting when asked to change offices, when a hiring manager cancels an interview, and more

It’s seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go… 1. Should I have resisted more when asked to move offices? After a tumultuous six months of departmental reorganization, my boss retired, leaving a vacant office space behind in a crowded, multi-story hospital clinic building. The director of our department gave the space to […]

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instructions

It is hot. All you should be doing is lounging around with some iced tea and a fan. Get off the Internet, as it is generating heat.

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should job candidates bring PowerPoint presentations to interviews?

A reader writes: A recent applicant brought a PowerPoint deck to an interview that basically walked through a presentation of her resume, information about herself, and why we should hire her. She referred to it as a “take-away presentation” and said her professors in college advised her to create one for each interview. The only […]

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should I be wary of this job offer?

A reader writes: I was recently offered a job at a small company doing what I love as a graphic designer. The offer was originally meant to be picked up in person (the hiring manager/company owner is particular with not sending it over email), but I was out of town and unable to pick it […]

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weird coworkers, weird interviewers, name-dropping, and more

It’s seven short answers to seven short questions, most of them about weird behavior of one form or another. Here we go… 1. Manager offered the job to someone else while we were still negotiating salary I was offered a position after conducting two interviews and was told by the hiring manager I was the […]

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my coworkers won’t stop asking why I’m walking with a cane

A reader writes: Recently (as in within the past five weeks or so), I’ve developed a rather painful foot condition and started using a cane to help keep from over-stressing the injured foot. I’m still young — mid-20s — and I’ve found that a lot of distant coworkers, people I have never spoken to before […]

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