Ask a Manager

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “I was headhunted for my current job as the only person in the world at the time to do what I do, and after 3.5 years received a raise that brought me to more than double what I had been at the old job. I really enjoy the people […]

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “I’ve been a religious reader of your blog since I finished my PhD and stumbled into the ‘real’ world more than a decade ago. Without your advice I’m not sure I would have: 1) applied for a UK Civil Service job that had 3000 applicants for 5 available posts, […]

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “I discovered your column while working one of the worst jobs of my life (I lasted 8 months, and was their longest term employee in the role in over 5 years). My job history since has felt like a series of unfortunate events – highlights from different jobs include: […]

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “I worked for a small company (less than 20 people) for 10 years. Right from the start, it was obvious that the workload would be crushing; my responsibilities and roles were overwhelming, my phone never stopped ringing 24/7, and all this for meager pay. I was young and naïve. […]

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “I felt I was being underpaid by my organization, so started asking around about what my peers were being compensated. After about a year of research, I discovered that I was being underpaid by quite a bit compared to peers with equal experience, and was even being paid less […]

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “I’ve been reading your column for years. Your column made me realize that my job/company was, while not the worst, fairly unreasonable. My boss was nice but ineffectual… she didn’t set goals with me, made me take more & more job duties after other people left (By the time […]

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “I manage a technical group within a large academic medical center. We’ve been trying to fill several positions for a while. As is the case in a lot of university/research/public settings, our salaries are low relative to the private sector and our HR seems to believe that our benefits […]

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “I am an ‘older’ worker, and had gotten to a comfortable position in a government agency (let’s say llama inspector) that, while not the best, I thought I could ride to retirement. It had its frustrations, but the autonomy that I was given made me think that was worth […]

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “I spent the past 8.5 years in an interesting but emotionally draining management role, with 6 of those years based overseas. In January 2020, we moved to my husband’s home state for him to take a fantastic new job; I was offered a short-term remote contract by my overseas […]

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “I’ve had a full-time career for about 13 years, working different jobs in that time, and working my way up in terms of knowledge/title/pay. My most recent job wasn’t the best company or the most challenging job, but the pay was great for what I was doing, I was […]