how can we get people to stop applying for every open position we have? by Alison Green on March 20, 2024 A reader writes: My organization receives hundreds of applications from candidates looking to fill our vacant positions. Hiring can be a very time-consuming process. How can I get applicants to stop applying if we have already declined them multiple times? There are various reasons for this. Some of the applicants have had negative references and […] Read the full article →
my coworker doesn’t take the hint that she’s interrupting me by Alison Green on March 18, 2024 A reader writes: My company is generally pretty casual, collegial, and “open-door.” An employee on my team (not a direct report, but I review a lot of her work and am senior to her) who seems to lack a lot of common sense about professional norms has a tendency to walk right into my office […] Read the full article →
how do I turn down a persistent favor-asker? by Alison Green on March 12, 2024 A reader writes: About a year and a half ago, I agreed to have coffee with a company intern who was finishing up her internship and preparing to graduate. I did this as a favor to a colleague — this intern never did any work with my team or department and we never interacted prior […] Read the full article →
does my staff resent me for being frequently out of the office? by Alison Green on March 11, 2024 A reader writes: I am the director of a small organization. Since we’re so small, I have day-to-day tasks along with more responsibilities such as board meetings, weekend and evening events, media relations, and external meetings. As we grow, I am finding more demands on my time, and I am often on the run, headed […] Read the full article →
employee keeps trash-talking her own work by Alison Green on March 6, 2024 A reader writes: I’m working a large project with Hank, another manager who is my peer. We have divided our workload, and I am primarily supervising three of our staff, while Hank is supervising the remaining two. I have a friendly relationship with Samantha, one of the staff members who Hank supervises. She regularly complains […] Read the full article →
how should we handle a dog-phobic employee in a dog-friendly office? by Alison Green on March 4, 2024 A reader writes: We’ve recently moved into a new office space which is dog-friendly. This is great news for many of our employees, who are able to avoid costly sitters and walkers. However, one employee, Jane, is really dog-phobic. Today another colleague (Lucille) brought her dog in for the first time. I warned her that […] Read the full article →
our company has an annual golf trip … but the women don’t play by Alison Green on February 27, 2024 A reader writes: Our smallish family-owned business has been taking our sales team on a long weekend golf trip on and off for many years. It is intended to be a reward, and little if any business is discussed when we are there. It’s mostly beer drinking, side betting golf, in a beach town with […] Read the full article →
video calls are the worst way to do job rejections by Alison Green on February 26, 2024 Imagine you’ve interviewed for a job you really and have been waiting to hear back. When the hiring manager messages you to invite you to a video call, you’re thrilled—this must be the offer, you think, so you clear your afternoon, make yourself look presentable, and log into Zoom … only for the hiring manager […] Read the full article →
my employee eavesdrops on me by Alison Green on February 21, 2024 A reader writes: At first I thought I was being paranoid, but on three separate occasions, I’ve wrapped up a closed door conversation others in our C-suite, only to discover my employee directly outside my door. Our office set-up is odd; we’re essentially one huge office that was cut into thirds–one side is her office […] Read the full article →
how to give constructive criticism at work by Alison Green on February 20, 2024 If you’re like a lot of people, having to tell someone their work isn’t good enough can feel awkward, even when the feedback is necessary and constructive — and even if you’re a manager whose job it is to have those conversations. But if you approach it in the right way, asking for changes to […] Read the full article →