Ask a Manager

It’s your Friday good news!

1.  “A few weeks ago I left a place where I had worked for almost nine years. I had been keeping my eye on the market in my niche field for a while, but the pay and benefits were just so good that I couldn’t really wrap my head around leaving even though I was miserable. It was the final straw when a fourth person quit my team and leadership gave no indication that they were planning to replace any of them. I updated my resume and put together a great cover letter, and I ended up getting a bunch of interviews right away.

Eventually I got an offer that was a pay cut from what I had been making, which I fretted about for a while. But since I had been treating the interview process as a two-way street where I got to know them as well (a real game changer!), I was able to realize that what they showed me about their culture and management style would make me so much happier in my work than I had been at my last company. I started a few weeks ago, and it’s been amazing. I feel so appreciated by my teammates and managers, there’s a real onboarding structure, and being able to go fully remote without worrying about being called to the office is such a relief.

As a bonus victory, I took your advice about sticking to one thing in my exit interview, even though there were quite a few issues to complain about. I talked about short staffing in every conversation I had, and I was direct with H.R. in both a written survey and an in-person interview about the fact that I was taking a compensation cut to leave because of it. After I put in my notice, they posted multiple job listings to replace me and some of the vacated positions I had been picking up the slack for. My former manager said that my comments seem to have helped, she had been asking to open hiring for those vacancies without much luck until my exit interview. It makes me happy for the colleagues I left behind that they’re going to get some support, but at the same time highlights for me that I made the right decision leaving a place where I had to quit to get what we needed.

Update: The other day a meeting at the end of the day ran long, and my new manager apologized to me for keeping me until 5:05. I routinely fielded late meetings and after hours texts at my old job and am so relieved that I can breathe again. On Monday morning, I was actually excited to get out of bed!”

2.  “I’ve been reading AAM for about ten years, eight of which have been in my current role (non-US, higher education) and have often used your posts as help, inspiration and distraction, through 9 different line managers, 4 separate institution or department-wide reviews, and an environment that keeps promising positive change but has become increasingly toxic. More good colleagues than I can count have moved on.

Finally this year, I decided enough was enough. I went for 4 roles, interviewed for 3, was offered 2 and accepted 1, all based on advice from you and your commentariat.

I handed in my notice yesterday, and am ticking off my 3 months’ notice with glee. I’m looking forward to a different focus, kick-starting STEM careers, from the summer onwards.”

3.  “I’m writing to say I didn’t get a job! However, it’s thanks to your job-searching guide that I feel so good about my rejection. All the questions on your list were asked, but thanks to the extensive preparation you recommended, I was ready for them. I had good, thoughtful answers and asked good, thoughtful questions. The panel seemed sincerely disappointed that I would not be able to meet the in-person requirements at this time. They offered, unasked, to recommend me to other positions where the hybrid requirements are not so strict and asked me to reapply when I can meet their in-office terms.

So, I’m still job searching but honestly this interview was such a confidence boost. Thanks again.”

4.  “I’m an early 30s woman working in IT in Australia. I’ve only been officially in IT since late 2018 but I’ve always unofficially helped with IT in my jobs, whether removing printer paper jams or teaching colleagues how to do different tasks in programs such as Microsoft Office

Unfortunately my boss’ partner had a major health scare in 2021 so my boss was talking of shutting the business down. He decided not to but last year was again talking of closing the business and said that if I found another job to go for it. I found one being advertised at Bigger IT Company but there were a few items in the job description I didn’t have experience in. I remembered what you said about women being more likely to not go for jobs when they didn’t have 100% of the experience while men would and decided screw it, I would go for it! I called the owner of Bigger IT Company and we arranged a time for an interview.

The interview ended up going for two hours but didn’t feel like it at all. When Owner asked about experience in parts of the job I wasn’t sure about, either due to wording or experience wise, I asked them to give me an example of what they meant and I was then able to either give examples of my experience or honestly say that I had no experience. Owner said they would call me by Monday afternoon and let me know their decision. This was Thursday evening. Friday afternoon, Owner called and said they would like to offer me the job and did I want it. Yes I did!

I have now been there three and a half months. Part of my job description changed almost immediately as a colleague was going away for an extended period of time, so I got to learning and helping with a big client of theirs. Two or three weeks before my probation finished, my boss asked if I was comfortable taking on being the main tech for that client so my colleague could focus on a project they were doing. I am now the main tech for two more clients due to a colleague unfortunately having to quit. I am enjoying the work and being part of a bigger team.”