the best “ask the readers” posts in 2013

by Alison Green on December 25, 2013

We have an inexplicably awesome community of commenters at Ask a Manager — and that’s especially evident in the response to “ask the readers” posts. Here are some of the most popular “ask the readers” posts in 2013:

10. how do you start feeling more like an adult when you’re still pretty young?

9. I’m struggling to balance my work and family life

8. my employee won’t go on repair calls when only a teenager is home

7. what was your most cringe-worthy career mistake?

6. what’s the worst career advice you ever received?

5. office holiday gift giving stories: unburden yourself here

4. what’s the coolest Excel trick you know?

3. tell us your awkward work moments

2. who was your weirdest coworker?

1. bad interviews and weird candidates

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  1. Windchime*

    I’ll revisit these later this afternoon when I emerge from my fudge-induced coma. I was really surprised that the Excel thread was so popular, and I learned a ton from that one (mostly that everyone here is way better at Excel than I am!).

    1. Julie*

      I agree about the Excel thread. It was excellent! I haven’t had time to finish reading the whole thing, but I plan to go back and read all of the comments. I consider myself an Excel expert, but I can always learn something new (and I DID, even with just the 30 minutes or so of reading I already did).

      1. Jamie*

        I appreciate the reminder too…I’ve been saving that one when I had time to read everything.

        You can never know too much about excel and it’s wizardry.

  2. recruitergirl*

    When reading the bad interviews and weird candidates thread, it conjured up some good ones…

    1. When interviewing for a recruiting role at a well-known company in my hometown, one of the interviewers had soaking wet hair. The interview was probably the first thing on their schedules that morning, but it wouldn’t have been as weird if her hair was pulled back.

    2. Crazy candidates:

    – I too had a candidate show up in a bathing suit for her interview. Amazingly, the hiring manager still agreed to interview her. She did not get the job.

    – I was reviewing a candidate’s resume and asked her why she wanted to leave X company. Her response was that she was going to leave whether she got this job or not, because it was awful and since she was going to get her tax return she would be fine for a while.

    – For some of our areas due to high-volume hiring (think hiring 400+ people in a month) we give offers on the spot. One candidate started screaming and thanked the lord jesus several times. We frequently see a large range of emotions, and normally no big deal, but she was SO LOUD that she was disrupting other interviews going on. She then proceeded to high five everyone who was still waiting to speak with us, singing some sort of celebratory song, and those waiting had no idea they would be getting offers. We finally had to have a conversation with her that her behavior was inappropriate and it would not be tolerated and that she would be working in a professional environment. Needless to say, when her offer was rescinded for not disclosing several serious felonies on her background, WE were singing the celebratory song!

    – Open interview events frequently attracted crazies, but we still did them since our company was new to the area and at that point we didn’t have an employment brand, so we were able to speak with many people at once. In particular I recall one woman who decided to wear see-through white pants with her red underwear pulled up even over the waistband. The interview was only weirder. She was oddly flirty with me the whole time and was concerned that I was taking notes and wanted to see them (I explain at the beginning of the interview that I would be taking notes so they are not surprised) and was concerned that I was writing bad things about her. She had also not been employed for several years and tried to get me to go to her website where she made and sold gifts.

    Sooooooo many more, but it feels good to get some of these gems out there :)

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