Ask a Manager

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. My boss asked my employee how often I’m in the office

I am a program manager for government entities in 4 states. Within the past year, my boss for over 2 years left the company and I was reassigned a new one.

My job requires me to meet with clients and suppliers off-site, and I live in a large city which involves substantial travel time to do so. I schedule my appointments either on my way in to the office or my way home so as to avoid wasting long periods of my work day in traffic and best utilize my time. Recently, my supervisor who is located out of state, sent a message to my assistant here at the office asking her how often I have been in the office.

I have worked for this company for almost 3 years and have never had attendance issues or even used sick or vacation time and have grown my program, as well as the relationships within them, so not only do I take offense to his distrust by questioning my work ethic that has never been in question, but also that he would resort to asking someone that reports directly to me.I feel that it was disrespectful and discredits me as her supervisor. Am I correct in feeling this way and what would the best recourse be?

It depends on the context and what was behind your manager’s question, since it’s possible that there was some innocuous reason for asking (although I’m admittedly having trouble coming up with one).

But it would be perfectly reasonable to say something to your manager like this: “Lavinia told me that you asked her about how often I’m in the office, which I know can be hard to track since I have to meet with clients and suppliers so often. Was there a concern about my schedule or how I’m allocating my time that I can shed any light on?”

2. Interviewing to replace someone being fired for lacking a can-do attitude

I am being recruited for a job at an organization where I’ve always wanted to work. (I was rejected for another position there, but made a good impression on the hiring manager, who shared my resume internally.)

During my first meeting with the person recruiting me — my would-be manager — I inferred that he is preparing to dismiss the person who currently holds the role. Her not having a “can-do attitude” was the closest he got to explaining why he is searching for a replacement. It’s not like I have a “can’t-do” attitude, but I find this concerning. Is it appropriate for me to press for details on what’s happening here? Dwelling on the protocol for firing people seems like a bad look during an interview, but I don’t want to take a job where I risk getting axed for something so nebulous.

Ugh, I’ve managed those people, and believe me, it’s not nebulous. (Or at least it’s not always nebulous.) It’s about people who always have reasons why they can’t do something (usually things that their colleagues or eventual replacements manage to do just fine), who look for reasons to say no rather than reasons to say yes, who need cajoling and convincing to do even small things, who always have a reason why they weren’t able to do something — and ultimately it adds up to a pattern of things not happening in their realm. I wouldn’t take it as a red flag unless you see additional signs that the manager is unreasonable or unrealistic.

You can, however, certainly say in the interview, “Can you tell me about what kind of people do well in this role and what kinds of people struggle or don’t excel?” The person being fired is going to be on the hiring manager’s mind, and you’ll probably get some good insight into what he’s looking to avoid with the next hire.

3. I don’t want my coworker to move to the desk next to mine

One guy I work with is friendly and helpful and I need his support for my projects. He now wants to move to a spare desk next to me and I’m wondering whether I should raise my concerns with my boss or not. I feel uncomfortable because he is very loud and quite needy, and he doesn’t take the hint when I say I need to concentrate on my work. Lastly, although we are both married, he contacted me to ask me out out by email and text (he had asked for my number to support me with an IT problem at home while I was on leave). I made light of it and turned him down, and he then said it was a joke. I previously turned down a social media request, saying that I keep that separate from my working life.

Just writing the question makes me think it’s best to say something now if I don’t want it to happen but I’m wary that he is easily offended and if it seems like it’s my decision that his request is refused it makes my project more difficult to handle.

Yes, talk to your boss. Say this: “Bob has mentioned he wants to move to the spare desk next to me. I don’t want him to, because I’ve already had problems with him talking to me too much when I’m working, even when I’ve told him I need to focus on something else. Additionally, he asked me out at one point, despite us both being married, and I’d prefer not to have increased contact with him beyond our work projects. Can you help me ensure that he doesn’t move to the desk next to mine?”

You can also say that you’re concerned about causing tension with him if he learns you said something about his request, and ask your boss to handle it discreetly.

A good boss will take care of this for you.

4. Getting a to-do list tattoo

My daughter who is in her second year at University of Waterloo wants to get a “To Do List” tattoo (with bullets but no text/content, basically a template) on her left forearm for purposes of practically in her lifestyle, school work, etc. so she can write on her forearm, with pen, what she needs to get done.

Brilliant, I say.

But how will this impact her when she goes to an interview? Yes, she can cover it but I don’t want her to be judged by her peers or future employers.

I’m confused about the tattoo — if she’s really doing this to be practical and not for the purpose of self-expression, couldn’t she just write her to-do list on her arm without having a to-do list template tattooed there? You also might point out to her that people’s preferences for how they organize themselves often change multiple times; she’s likely to find herself at a point in life where she doesn’t want to hand-write her to-do lists, let alone on her arm.

As for what a hiring manager would think, different employers have different takes on tattoos (more on that here). In this particular case, though, it would raise alarms for me about whether this is really how she manages her to-do’s; it’s not a particularly professional organizational systems (and most professional employees have to-do lists a lot longer than what would fit on an arm — and the lists need to last longer than your next shower).

But it’s your daughter’s arm.

5. Can I put links in my resume?

I did some searching on your blog and couldn’t find an answer directly. Is it okay to have a few (say, less than 5) links in a resume? I’m thinking it will be useful for applying to jobs outside my industry, because our products are not well known outside the industry. I would use branded product names in my resume and link to the web pages of those products. Or, if people really care, will they look up the product names instead?

I work on cool technology in an industry that is often thought of as conservative/slow-moving. The cool technology aspect is slowly being noticed, but it’s taking a while. For applying to jobs outside my industry, I’m struggling about how to convey “Yes, I am good at working on cool modern technology even though you might not have heard of it.” I am thinking I will also have a few sentences in my cover letter about what I do and how it’s used.

Sure, you can include links. But make sure that your resume conveys what you want it to convey even if someone doesn’t click on those links — because while some people will, lots of people won’t. (And if it’s printed out, the links will obviously be moot.)

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Telling employees not to wear headphones

I have two I.T. employees who like to wear headphones, not earbuds, at their desks during business hours. I find the appearance awkward when someone approaches them for support and there’s a brief waiting period for the employee to remove the headphones and acknowledge the person. I find this unnerving when I approach either of them and have to wait, and suspect many of my users may feel the same. In addition, I think it simply looks bad for I.T. support.

With that, I met with one of those employees today to discuss and apply my management rule to use earbuds instead. 10 minutes after this meeting, I saw this employee with the headphones on in complete disregard. This employee was quite upset when I reminded him that we had just discussed it. He stated there wasn’t a company policy about it. At this point, I told him this was my rule and he then made a beeline to HR. So, can a manager make department rules? Do we have that flexibility?

Yes, of course. Unless you work at a dysfunctional company that doesn’t let you, of course, but in general you get to decide how you want to run your department, within reason. The question of headphones is generally something that a manager would be able to decide.

However, I’d encourage you to reconsider this one. People who wear headphones at work are generally doing it because it helps them concentrate (something you want your employees to be able to do), and really it takes about 5 seconds to take them off, so that’s not a huge waiting period.

Now, if their jobs center around being highly responsive to people who walk up out of nowhere or if your department is actively working to get people to perceive it as more approachable, then yeah, it’s a legitimate concern that the headphones might signal “don’t approach me” when you want them to signal the opposite. But if that’s not the case, I’d rethink your stance.

2. My manager is BFFs with someone she manages

I’ve been working in pretty good environment for the past two and a half years. My boss is about 10 years younger than me, married, with two teenage boys. She’s risen quickly up the ranks. She’s gracious, upbeat, and a hard worker. She’s also generally professional, with one glaring exception. Her best buddy at the office (who also reports to her) sits across from her office, and they chat loudly every morning, share all sorts of things about their lives, and then have lunch together several times a week.

Meanwhile, my boss hired another woman (someone she knew outside the office) and this woman started a few months ago. She is also married, with teenage kids. Just as I thought would happen, this woman is now invited to lunch with my boss and the other woman I mentioned.

Now the two of them have access to my boss in ways that I (and two of my coworkers) do not. I also see favoritism happening quite a bit already. It’s demoralizing to work in this atmosphere, and I feel most days like I’m back in junior high. I don’t want to join this clique, but I mightily resent it and resent the fact that they’re well aware several of us are excluded from their little lunch club. I should also add that they travel together for work – or should I say, arrange their travel so that they can go out of town together, stay in the same hotel, yada yada yada. I don’t know if there’s anything that I can say or do, but it makes want to leave my job.

Yeah, this sucks. It’s one of the many reasons why managers need to have professional boundaries with people who report to them. They can be friendly, but not friends. Even if they handle all the other potential land mines perfectly (like impartially assessing their work, giving critical feedback when needed, and not favoring them when it comes to doling out assignments or perks), there’s still the issue of imbalanced access, as well as the way it makes other people feel.

Your manager is allowing her interest in being friends with these two employees to trump her ability to be an effective manager. There’s not a lot you can do about that (although you could mention it if your manager’s manager solicits feedback on her at some point or if your manager herself solicits feedback), but I hope managers who think they can be friends with employees think about what you’re saying here.

3. Do I need to tailor my resume to each job I apply for?

Is it critically important to tailor resumes to the job description, or is the cover letter the only document that truly gets tailored?

It depends. Does your resume speak directly to what the employer is looking for in as clear terms as possible? If so, you’re fine. If not, you should tailor it so that it does. It just depends on how well your resume already matches up.

For example, if the job posting has a heavy emphasis on X, and your resume only mentions X in passing even though you have a lot of experience with X, it would make sense to better highlight X for that particular job. You probably don’t need to do that for every job you apply for, but I’d be surprised if you never needed to.

A lot of people keep one long master resume, which lists everything they’ve accomplished everywhere they’ve worked (which could be pages and pages) but then edit that down into one actual resume to send (which should be 1-2 pages), pulling the bullet points from the master version which present the strongest case for the particular job they’re applying for.

4. If our HR manager was fired for lying about his qualifications, should his hiring decisions be reversed?

I work part-time for large company and i recently applied for a full-time position. The interviews came down to me and another part-time employee who doesn’t even put in a quarter of the effort I do. We were both interviewed by the HR manager and our supervisor. During my interview, the HR manager didn’t even understand the questions himself, which was weird. Well, the other employee got the job, which was okay because I at least got to keep my hours and overtime.

Later I found out that the corporate office visited the store and fired the HR manager because he lied about his qualifications and experience. So if he was not qualified to do the job or make those kinds of decisions, then shouldn’t the hiring decision be invalid? I really hope for an answer soon to see if I need to get ahold of my attorney or what other actions can be taken.

That’s totally up to the company, but it’s highly unlikely that they’d reverse hiring decisions unless they uncovered major hiring-related malfeasance (and even then, it would be tough to do, since people have already accepted those jobs and presumably started working in them).

There’s definitely no legal requirement that they reverse those decisions, and this is not the sort of situation where you need a lawyer. This is the sort of situation where you think, “Well, that sucks” and then try again next time.

5. Asking employers what skills they look for in job applicants

I went back to school for computer science (my previous degree did not really pay off and I would like to add tech skills to my resume to compliment my previous degree). Because technology can change quickly, is it alright to contact an employer well in advance of receiving my degree to find out what skills they look for in a tech grad or what skills they have a chronic shortage of? I want to be sure that I learn what is needed or that I start teaching myself what is needed (certain programming languages are not always taught in school).

You can, but a lot of times employer don’t respond to these requests (simply because they’re busy juggling more pressing priorities). But you can get this information a different way: by looking at ads for the types of jobs you’re interested in and seeing what qualifications they’re asking for. This is also something that informational interviews are great for. (Of course, as you point out, tech changes quickly so the skills that are in-demand when you graduate might be different from the ones that are in-demand now — but by keeping up with your field, you should be able to follow along with that.)

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Will interviewing on a Friday afternoon interview kill my chances?

I am scheduled to interview with a large multinational corporation on Friday at 4 p.m. I had a phone interview with their recruiter a couple of weeks ago, and it went well. After much (and I mean MUCH) back and forth (on their part) and waiting (on my part), we were finally able to agree on time and date. Unfortunately, this time is Friday at 4 p.m. I accepted that, because I was worried that if we try to reschedule, again, it may never happen or they’ll bring someone else in and lose their interest in me.

Well, now I’m reading all these articles saying that Monday mornings and Friday afternoons are absolute interview killers. Have I just royally messed up? Can I win their attention back by pointing out that I know it’s Friday afternoon and I appreciate their taking time to meet me while they must be looking forward to the weekend? Yikes! Help!

Please ignore those articles. Anyone telling you that interviews at particular times are “interview killers” has never hired, or hires really badly. If you’re the best candidate, the fact that you interviewed at the start or end of the week isn’t going to obscure that.

I wouldn’t say anything about being grateful they’re meeting with you so close to the weekend either. If you think about it, it’s akin to saying “I don’t focus on work on Friday afternoons myself and assume no one else does either.” It’ll be insulting to them and won’t reflect well on you. Friday’s a work day; they’re at work; it’s fine.

2. Letting a prospective employer know I’ll be out of town when they might be conducting final interviews

I’m a finalist for a director-level position that I really want, thanks in large part to your advice and the advice of your commenters. It’s been a long but respectful hiring process, and I think we are in the home stretch. I’ve had several interviews with various members of their hiring team – the most recently with an external “culture consultant.. That person mentioned there is yet another round to complete and that he felt I was a very strong candidate and would be passing me along in the process.

Sounds great, right? They’ve indicated they want to get an offer on the table by July 15 but my hunch is that it will take a bit longer. My challenge is that I’m going to travelling for my current role from the 15th through the end of the month and won’t be available for in-person meetings. Would it be okay to email the HR person, letting them know that “Percival mentioned there was another round of interviews and FYI I’ll be traveling after the 15th”? Or it that presumptuous and awful? As you can tell, I really want this job and don’t want to do anything to hinder my chances.

Nope, that’s totally fine to do, and helpful, and candidates do that all the time.

Read an update to this letter here.

3. Applying to a job where you know the hiring manager

I found a job posting I’d like to apply for, but I noticed that the person to whom I’m supposed to send my resume and cover letter is someone I know. We belong to the same religious congregation, and I taught her young son in religious school last year and will teach him again this year, so we’ve interacted a few times at pick-up time and other school events. It’s pretty likely that I’ll want to mention my work at religious school in the letter as an illustration of my skills (the organization is faith-based, so it’s relevant).

Should I address the fact that we know each other in my cover letter? I think I would feel weird not acknowledging it at all, since she’s definitely going to know who I am when she reads my resume, but I have no idea how to bring it up in an appropriate way.

Yes — it would be weird to send a job application to someone you know without acknowledging that you know them. Actually, I’d do it this way — in the email where you’re attaching your cover letter and resume, write something like this in the body of the email: “Jane, I was so excited to see the X position you have open, and I’d love to be considered for it. I’m attaching a resume and cover letter here, and look forward to hearing from you.”

(Normally I don’t much care if you attach your cover letter or just put it in the body of the email, but in this case attaching it allows you to then include a less formal note in the email itself.)

4. Interviewing with a lazy eye

I have a lazy eye, and I’ve had it since I was a child. I try to manage it with magnesium supplements, which is supposed to strengthen your nerves and muscles, but inevitably, it still happens sometimes that one of my eyes just floats to the side. It’s incredibly embarrassing, and I absolutely hate it, but it becomes even more of a problem when I’m in a situation – such as a job interview – where eye contact is important. I don’t know when my eyes are going out of focus – I don’t feel any kind of difference – people just point it out to me sometimes.

Do you have any advice on how to deal with this?

The vast majority of job interviewers aren’t going to hold this against you, and the ones that do are breaking the law. I would just put it out of your mind as much as you can, and trust that you’re talking to a decent person who isn’t going to be concerned by it. Good luck!

5. Can we be required to work on a paid company holiday?

Hypothetical – Friday, July 3rd is a paid company holiday in observation of Independence Day, but the client your team services is open and expecting service “business as usual” while other team’s clients are closed. Can your employer force you to work on a paid company holiday to provide coverage for your client? Or does that coverage have to be voluntary?

No, they can indeed require you to work that day. If they’re smart managers, they’ll give you an extra vacation day for it or arrange for you to take the holiday time on a different day so that you don’t lose out, but they can certainly tell you that your job requires you to work that particular day.