Ask a Manager

It’s your Friday good news!

1.  “I’ve read your site for a few years now, and found it when I started searching up whether weird stuff my boss did in my student job was normal. Obviously it wasn’t, and from being paid below the legal minimum, to weird sexist stuff, it hasn’t been the best. Due to it being a highly specialised position and specific to the industry I’m entering now as a graduate, I stuck it out for a bit longer than I needed (employee discounts!). My first bit of good news is that after 6 years there I’ve given notice, and I’m so excited to be leaving! Your site helped me feel justified in my frustrations, but also to approach situations calmly and professionally, without teenage angst and anger showing through. Your advice has also helped temper my ongoing anxiety and spiralling thought patterns, and kept me grounded at work. I’ve managed to keep a good reference in an extremely insular industry thanks to that.

The second part and best news came 18 months ago, however, when I was headhunted for a related job at a wonderful institution that I’d always thought would come later in my career. I was specifically praised for my ‘formality-only-but-still-offical’ interview and resume (thank you!).

The pay is triple what I made at my other job, their Covid response has been phenomenal across the board, and they make real and long-term moves to be allies to marginalised groups (I had never imagined being out at work but here we are!). The best part though, is that even 18 months later when the job isn’t shiny and new anymore, I still get excited about going to work because everyone is so genuinely kind and supportive! Sometimes I just grin thinking about it. Like I didn’t think that was actually a thing?”

2.  “I’ve been working in academia in a rural town of 7000 for the last 8 years after following my spouse for their (academic) job. I’ve been a temporary or contingent employee the whole time, and have been increasingly frustrated while looking for a different job. This past spring, I took to heart your advice about targeted job searching and writing a strong, specific cover letter, and applied to several technical and/or training job. One of the ads I clicked on a whim- for a trainer in all my professional specialties- just offered me a wonderful remote position with a 75% salary increase and people who seem like really the best co-workers. I’m still pinching myself! Thank you for providing such a great resource.”

3.  “I wrote in for myself in early 2021 and now, I’m thrilled to report good job news for my husband!

For the last 11 years, he’d been working at a small urban university in mental health counseling, a job he was grateful to get at the time. But over time it became clear that the university administration didn’t support them and that there were no regular raises or appreciation to be found — and he wasn’t paid well in the first place. A decade later, he had the same low pay and a new director who turned out to be a bad manager who lived and died on petty grudges and didn’t have her staff’s back. He wanted to move on, but felt stuck and unsure how to proceed.

So, with help drawn from years of reading AAM, I helped him with his resume and cover letters and he found two similar positions to apply for. He applied in March and then it was radio silence for awhile. He’d just about given up when the semester ended and then boom! He got interviews for both and an offer from one, the pay is over 50% more than he was making, and he was able to time it so he could make his last day before the end of the fiscal year — giving him 5 weeks of vacation time paid out.

He just started his new job and while he hopes to be there for awhile, he also knows now that he CAN find a new job and that his skills are marketable. Thanks for being a great resource and giving me good information I could share with him.”

4.  “I wrote in nearly 2 years ago for a Friday good news about my boss recognizing my work during the pandemic and that they had reduced the team size and giving me a $10k raise. Unfortunately, he left not long after that (redundant role after a merger) and things went to hell in a hand basket. In the last two years, I had 2 different VPs, 3 directors, and a manager come and go – some lasted 6 months and others only 2 weeks (sadly never got the tea on what happened there). All the while, as a senior analyst I had to keep the department running and train these people over me while being told they would hire more help and, when I applied for the manager role, that I would be a great candidate if only there was a strong leadership team in place (aka they wanted me to keep doing what I was doing and not replace me). It finally got to be too much so I started casually looking for a new job and was contacted by a number of recruiters.

It took 6 months of frustration (the number of recruiters who contacted me first then ghosted!) but about 6 weeks ago I started my new job. It’s a lateral move in terms of duties/title, but permanently remote, 40% more money, and a company less than a tenth the size of my last one! I realize I’m still in the honeymoon phase, but it’s been a great stress relief to have other people on my team and, shock of shocks, having a boss that thanks me for my help and hard work instead of just piling more on my plate! Plus the cherry on top is that scuttlebutt I’m hearing from my previous job is that they’re having to hire 2 people to keep up with my workload.

My company does quarterly bonuses so based on my start date I’m eligible for a prorated amount at the end of the month. However, as thanks for how quickly I’ve picked things up and everything I’m taking off my boss’s plate (mine is a new role), she got approval from her boss to get me a much larger bonus!”