October 2015

I was left waiting for two hours at an interview

A reader writes: I’m a corporate recruiter. I was referred to the CEO of a small company by a former coworker who said they were hiring and that I might be the right fit for a recruiting opening they have. The CEO’s communication was via email and sporadic at best, but we scheduled time to meet […]

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is it okay to leave work right at 5 p.m. every day?

A reader writes: Is it okay to leave the office right at 5 p.m.? I feel silly for asking, but more and more I feel as though it’s frowned upon to come in right at 9 and leave right at 5. I’ve been at my job for about 4 years now. In the beginning, I was […]

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my manager wants to advertise for “rock stars,” my employees aren’t volunteering for work, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My manager wants to advertise for “rock stars” I’m a few weeks into a job where we’re recruiting developers. I’m super junior. My boss wants to “jazz up” our job descriptions–we’re a casual environment, so I softened the language to sound less formal. Cool. But […]

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what to say if you want to walk out of a horrible interview

One thing I’ve noticed in years of writing this blog is that people when find themselves in terrible, ridiculous job interviews where they’re being mistreated — or even just interviews where it’s clear really early on that this isn’t the right match — they feel obligated to stick it out until the end. You’re not […]

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my team needs better communication — where do I start?

Does any of this sound familiar? People on your team frequently have no idea what anyone else is working on. People are duplicating efforts without realizing it. Opportunities for efficiencies or collaboration are regularly missed. People don’t understand the value of other people’s work. Priorities aren’t aligned across your team. Information isn’t being shared.   […]

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new employee invited her spouse to an office lunch

A reader writes: I have an administrator who I recently hired (about a month ago) and I’m not sure how to handle this situation. We had a local vendor of ours provide lunch on a Friday to the entire company as a customer service gesture. There are approximately 400 people in our building, so they […]

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