Ask a Manager

It’s your Friday good news!

1.  “I’ve been meaning to write in with this good news — my household has benefited from AAM twice in the past year! First, last fall my husband’s manager took a new job, and after some deliberation my husband decided to throw his proverbial hat in the ring for the position. He wasn’t sure where to start with his cover letter, so I sent him a list of your most popular posts, including the cover letter template (he commented multiple times about how useful that was the weekend he was working on his application!). Lo and behold, a couple of months later he was offered the position, and the pay bump was much higher than he intended to ask for. Again, using advice from this site, he decided to go back and negotiate for more PTO, which was way more valuable for him, and he got it! He’s learning a lot about being a manager in the new position, and we are already making travel plans to take advantage of the increased time off.

For me, I had a long, frustrating eight-month job hunt when I decided to leave academia and education behind. Changing industries is hard, but I drew on your advice for cover letter writing and interviewing, trying to draw direct lines between my previous working experience and what I could bring to the newer roles. I finally got a great offer a couple of months ago, and I’ve been really happy with the new role. I got a 25% pay bump, much better benefits, and am reaching something like work-life balance after years of it being heavily skewed towards the former.”

2.  “A few years ago, I was pretty fed up with the politics in my field and was desperate for a way out. Like most people, I couldn’t leave my industry without retraining and new experiences to add to my resume as I have worked in the same field my entire professional life and have only worked at two companies over the last 15 years. I was pretty stuck.

I decided to pursue a national certification for a mostly unrelated field that I was barely dabbling in but had a lot of transferable skills. I took a course from the local college to see if I was even interested in moving forward and after having a great experience, I took another course and then the National Certification Preparation Course. In total, it took me a year and a half, three classes, and $6,000 to gain the certification.

While I have never used the certification in a professional capacity, I have been able to use the certificate as a way to leverage more money and title changes at my current job. I quite literally do an entirely different job than I was doing before, with skills I already had. I simply needed a piece of paper to prove I could handle it. My salary is now 48% higher yearly and have an entirely new title. While there are still political issues, they are on the periphery vs front and center in my daily tasks and duties.

I know many people may not be able to drop $6k on retraining but my investment in myself paid off the first year and has steadily grown to a salary that allowed me to auto-pay my bills for the first time in my life. I would encourage your readers, even if it takes longer than a year and a half, to invest in themselves and try for new opportunities.”

3.  “A small but meaningful update: I had a phone screen for a job this past Friday and I got the HR rep to name the salary range first! (Unfortunately a little lower than I’d like but I could work with it depending on benefits.) I have a second round interview later this week.”

4.  “I was part of the first batch of Friday good news and things have changed in the last 3 years. I changed jobs twice since then and while I have been a bit anxious about the perceived job hopping, its been ok!

I switched from my agency role to corporate and then followed my partner in a bicoastal move! It was hectic to say the least with a lot of stress on interviewing with the recent work history. I had hoped to remain remote at the previous job in order to get the time in for my resume but it wasn’t approved by HR and leadership. With your advice and a revamped resume, I managed to go from $35k to $120k across all those jobs. (Holy flipping shitballs, that’s a significant change.)

I’m now settling in as a contract to hire and loving the company I’m assigned to, with praise from leadership on my work. Everyone is looking at budget to get headcount and I’m currently sitting at 1 number spot to get flipped. While things could change, I feel confident that I have the skills to get another job without the significant amount of stress involved.

I’ve been reading your blog since college, and when I was stuck so many years ago as an assistant manager in retail and thinking I would never get out, your advice helped me stay sane and keep striving to leave for better pastures. Thank you thank you thank you.”