April 2017

weekend free-for-all – April 8-9, 2017

This comment section is open for any non-work-related discussion you’d like to have with other readers, by popular demand. (This one is truly no work and no school. If you have a work question, you can email it to me or post it in the work-related open thread on Fridays.) Recommendation of the week:  All […]

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I don’t like to share my personal life with my coworkers

A reader writes: Early on in my career, I had a couple of very bad experiences with forming friendships with coworkers. After those experiences, I decided that I wouldn’t befriend my coworkers anymore. I consider myself friendly and outgoing, and I have a lot of friends outside of work, but am starting to feel that […]

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open thread – April 7-8, 2017

It’s the Friday open thread! The comment section on this post is open for discussion with other readers on anything work-related that you want to talk about. If you want an answer from me, emailing me is still your best bet*, but this is a chance to talk to other readers. * If you submitted […]

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what do application deadlines really mean?

A reader writes: I’m confused about job closing dates. I recently saw a listing online for a position that was posted on the company’s website in February and was said to be posted until mid-April. This is a private company, so not one that is regulated by federal guidelines dictating how long the job should […]

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update: telling a difficult, pushy employee that she’s right … without undermining your own authority

Remember the letter last month about how to tell an overly pushy employee that she was right, without undermining her manager? Here’s the update. Just a quick update. While I really appreciated your great advice, and all the suggestions in the comment section, unfortunately we didn’t get to put much of it into practice. Megan […]

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ask the readers: how to refuse to share your salary history

A reader writes: I wondered if readers could share stories about successfully refusing to share their salary history. It’s advice I hear all the time, and that makes sense, but having just been hired by a sizable corporation, it’s hard for me to imagine getting companies to go against their own policies. Aside from simply […]

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how do I mentally move on after not getting the job?

A reader writes: I just found out that a position I was a finalist for was offered to another candidate. While I tried not to get my hopes up throughout the interview process, as I moved further along I inevitably started to get excited about the possibility of working at this new company. The company […]

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how can managers get “alone time”?

A reader writes: I work for a busy law office that manages hundreds of files for large corporations daily. The work is very detail oriented, and even the slightest issues can set us back tremendously. I supervise a group of 5 other people, all of whom have been with the firm for less than 9 […]

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