Ask a Manager

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

1. Wearing a Halloween costume to an interview

I have an interview on Halloween. Would it be ok to wear a costume to show my fun spirit?

Nooooo. Unless you’re interviewing someone where “fun spirit” is a major and key job requirement, this would be a very bad idea (and even then, I wouldn’t do it).

While I’m sure there’s some interviewer out there who would appreciate it and think it’s awesome, there are far more who will find it off-key and inappropriate for a professional situation. Plus, you want the focus on your qualifications, not what you’re wearing.

2. How to address performance problems with an employee who makes excuses

I have a new director’s role at a large-ish nonprofit and will soon “inherit” some staff. One of these employees has a pattern of executing tasks we hadn’t agreed on, misinterpreting things, and in one notable, recent case, not remembering something he’d emailed me the day before. When I ask for clarification or otherwise address these, he often claims to be “not thinking clearly.”

Over a month ago, I was also contacted by a former manager and a former colleague of this employee. They both reached out to warn me this staff person is not up to the job and not to be trusted.

I have been trying to be as fair as possible but I must confess, the “not thinking clearly” excuse distracts me. I need to set forth some performance expectations but “clear thinking” can’t be one of them. I’d love to hear any advice on how to handle this.

If he has a pattern of performance problems, the fact that he attributes it to “not thinking clearly” isn’t an excuse. You need him meeting the requirements of his job, regardless of whether he’s thinking clearly or not. And that’s the way to approach this: by sitting down with him and laying out what you need him to do differently, period.

I agree with you that “clear thinking” isn’t an especially measurable performance metric, but it’s certainly an issue that you can raise, because you need him thinking clearly and you can say that. It’s perfectly reasonable to say something like, “I’m concerned by the pattern I’m seeing of incidences like X, Y, and Z. I need you to do ___ differently. When we’ve discussed that in that past, you’ve mentioned that you weren’t thinking clearly. I know we all have moments like that, but going forward, I do need clear thinking in this role.” Also, be explicit that your concerns are serious and that the problems will jeopardize his job if not resolved.

Ultimately, the thing to keep in mind is that you want to describe what great performance looks like in the role, and how he’s currently falling short of that. It’s absolutely reasonable to hold him to that bar; don’t get distracted by the “not thinking clearly” response.

3. Am I obligated to give a witness statement about an incident with a coworker?

At my place of employment, there was a situation between two coworkers. Two other women and I were around at the time. So when one employee went to the manager to complain, she named me as a witness to the situation. I was pulled into the office 8 days later and, to be honest, do not remember word for word what happened because I was carrying out my own business. I can’t even remember what I did 8 hours ago, let alone what someone else said 8 days ago! But I was asked to write a statement of the event to help determine proper disciplinary action! Am I obligated to write this statement being as though I am uncomfortable with the fact that I may be causing someone to lose their job over something I do not fully recall?

Yes, you’re obligated to share what you know; that’s a perfectly reasonable thing of your employer to require of you when trying to sort out an incident that happened in the office. However, you’re not obligated to claim certainty that you don’t have; you’re only obligated to tell the truth. It would be perfectly reasonable to say, “I wasn’t paying a lot of attention when it happened and my memory is hazy. What I recall for sure is ___.”

4. Including quotes from performance reviews on LinkedIn

What do you think about quoting performance reviews in the experience section of LinkedIn? Yay or nay?

Meh. In general, I don’t even typically advise it for resumes — although if the quote is truly phenomenal (and contains real substance and concrete specifics), it can be effective. The problem is that more often than not, when people do it, the quotes just aren’t that superlative and they end up sounding like they don’t really know what top performance looks like. I’m even wary of telling people that it’s okay to use one if it’s truly superlative, because some people have a much lower bar for “superlative” than they should and if the quote is anything less than unusually fantastic, it can really leave the wrong note.

But back to LinkedIn: As with your resume, it’s going to be all in the execution. I can imagine it done well, but I can also imagine it done pretty poorly.

5. Bullet points in cover letters

You’ve got a lot written about good cover letters, but I haven’t seen any addressing bullet points. Is it okay to use bullet points in a cover letter? Someone is suggesting that instead of wordy paragraphs, I highlight my skills and accomplishments with a few bullet points. He used them successfully, so I think I’ll try it out, but I’m curious what you think.

Skills and accomplishments belong in your resume. Your cover letter shouldn’t repeat what’s on your resume (since that would be squandering the opportunity to say something additional).

If you can use bullet points as part of a compelling narrative that isn’t just regurgitating what’s on your resume, then sure, go for it — but the most important thing is your content, not its format. (That said, in general, I think it’s a little harder to write a great cover letter that’s heavily focused around bullet points, although not impossible.)

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

1. Interviewer asked me about personal items from my Facebook page

I’ve recently started a job search. I had a scheduled phone interview with an attorney for an executive assistant position. When she called, she put me on speakerphone with herself and a colleague. The first thing out of her mouth was, “Do you like horeseback riding?” I said, “How do you know that?” She didn’t answer and proceeded with more questions, like, “Describe yourself in three words” and “Where do you see yourself in 3-5 years?” I was surprised and not prepared because I haven’t heard that question in about 15 years! They asked some other questions and she ended by saying, “Well, it matters if you can make a good potato salad.” I was so dumbfounded I didn’t know what to say!

It was only after I hung up that I realized she went to my Facebook page and was commenting about a horseback riding trip I took recently and a picture from about 10 years ago about potato salad. I was so weirded out. Where do we draw the line? My Facebook/personal life doesn’t have any reason coming up in an interview! It’s not relevant! My Linkedin does, not Facebook. Where are we going with technology and the professionalism of interviewers?

She was a bad interviewer; I wouldn’t read anything into it beyond that. (Well, actually, I’d also read into it that you might want to adjust your Facebook privacy settings.)

The “where do you see yourself in 3-5 years” question is a little hackneyed, but not terribly shocking; that’s one I’d be prepared for when interviewing because it’s a common one.

2. Colleague wants me to use special subject lines in every email I send her

I am working on a new project, which requires me to work with a contractor who has been working with my new client for years. Its been made clear to me that the contractor feels like I’m imposing and stepping on her turf, but I’ve done my best to be professional and polite.

I’ve noticed that she seems to be missing many of the emails I send to her, which are generally replies to emails from her or our client. When I followed up with her today to alert her that she missed an email, she responded by asking me to change the subject line in every email to her which requires action. She said my emails are getting lost in her inbox and that the new subject line will be easier for her.

Am I wrong to think this is a crazy request? I understand doing this for urgent actions items, but it seems ridiculous to do for every single email. 99% of emails I send to her have some kind of required action! And this totally defeats the purpose of replying to an email chain to keep all emails on the same subject together. How do I respond to this request in a way that is understanding and accommodating to her, while also explaining why this isn’t an ideal system?

It’s probably crazy. But your’e a new contractor and she’s a long-time contractor and unless you’ve come in at a much more senior level than she is (or unless the client has already expressed reservations to you about her work), you probably just need to suck it up and do it. But you can certainly say, “99% of what I send to you will have a needed action attached. I can try to do this, but can’t promise I’ll remember each time and it would probably be more efficient for us both if you assumed our emails will usually be things to take action on.”

3. I have a job offer in email — should I push for something more official?

I accepted a job offer yesterday from Company X, but haven’t put in my resignation to my current job yet. About a week ago, I was sent an offer from Company X through email stating that I’m being offered the position and the amount it pays annually, with some details on orientation date and first date in office. They also mentioned that their HR would be contacting me regarding next steps. All this was written in the body of the email.

From conversations with the hiring manager, I have been told that it’s an exempt position with benefits but I have nothing in writing. When I accepted the offer, I asked whether I will receive a formal offer letter. The hiring manager told me that her email is the official offer.

I’m afraid to ask her again to send me an official offer letter because I fear this will start off the relationship between us on the wrong foot – she’s already a bit condescending towards me. However at this point I’m very hesitant about leaving my current job and moving cross country for this position. What to do?

You already have the official offer — the one in email. That’s perfectly sufficient and there’s no need to press them for more. There’s nothing about one written in a separate document that would be any more official. You have the details in writing, and that’s what matters. The point of getting an offer in writing isn’t to create a binding contract — because it doesn’t do that — but rather just because it reduces the risk of mistakes or misunderstandings. You have the details in writing, so you’re covered there. (And this is a pretty common way to do it.)

That said, I’d think long and hard about whether you want to move across the country to work with a manager who’s already condescending to you. This is usually when people are on their best behavior, on both sides.

4. Is this mileage reimbursement policy weird?

I have a question for you about mileage reimbursement policies. I work for an agency that commutes about 50 miles away once a week to work onsite at the client’s office. Our company recently let us know that we are eligible for get reimbursed for this mileage when we use our own vehicles.

However, here are the details of the policy they just sent us: “If an employee business travels to a client that is a 40 mile one-way trip, the employee should deduct from this, the number of miles that represents a normal commute from home to the agency’s office. Thus, if a normal commute from home to the office for a given employee is 10 miles, the employee should submit an expense claim for the net of these two figures, which is 30 miles.”

This just seems…weird to me. I never drive to our office, and don’t expect to be reimbursed for regular commuting costs, but a 100-mile roundtrip drive once a week is very out of the ordinary. Also, my home is closer to the client’s office than the agency’s office. I don’t see why the two should be related at all, in this case. Is my company’s policy legal? Or just a way to save a little money?

Perfectly legal, and very common. The company is saying that they’ll reimburse your mileage for these trips, minus whatever your normal commute might have been. In other words, they’re paying for the portion of your drive that’s over and above what you would have doing anyway. It’s actually pretty fair.

5. Including work info in my email signature when applying for jobs

I am emailing potential employers my resume and cover letters. I was wondering what you think about email signatures in this situation. Specifically, should I include my current title and employer? In this case, it relates to the position I am applying for.

No. You’re not applying as a representative of your current employer, which is what signing your email with your title and employer would convey. You’re applying as a private individual, so you do that from your personal email account, without your work info attached. (And they’ll of course see your work info in your resume, which is the appropriate place for it.)

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

1. I was called “mean” for reporting a coworker for stealing

I’m a civilian office worker at a military-run veterinary clinic where I work with other civilians and military personnel. One night I noticed our civilian veterinarian gathering supplies in a bag, with a total supply value of about $6. (I purchase all the supplies with a government credit card so I know what everything costs.) I asked what she was doing, and she said she was visiting a friend after work and needed some stuff to work on the friend’s dog. I have no supervisory authority but told her she couldn’t take supplies; if she took them or not, I have no idea, but I did call our military supervisor and tell him what happened.

His first response (he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, and English isn’t his first language so we have some communication trouble) was, “If she needs supplies, tell her to make a list and we’ll get them for her.” I had to explain to him that we can’t fund her charity work and taking supplies from the clinic shouldn’t be allowed. We ended it with I’ll send him and his boss an email.

Two weeks later and not a word about the incident, the military supervisor and I are talking and he says that was mean of me to tell the doctor she couldn’t take things. I know I’m right that nobody should be taking supplies and that it’s stealing, but why am i the only one in my office who understands that? How was I being “mean” by looking out for the business?

I suspect the military supervisor sees it as a matter of scale — that $6 isn’t a big deal, whereas $100 would be. (Or at least I hope that’s what he’s thinking; otherwise, his reaction is inexplicable.) Whether or not $6 in supplies is a big deal depends on who you ask. There are certainly some office cultures where it’s totally okay to take $6 of post-it notes home with you, as long as you don’t go hog-wild with it. And there are other offices where that’s absolutely Not Done. You need to know the culture where you’re working.

It’s possible that this guy is telling you that he sees $6 in veterinary supplies as de minimis. Hell, for all I know, he’s seen your coworker bring in supplies that she’s paid for herself, or knows that she routinely does extra work for free in the evenings and doesn’t want to nickel and dime her, or he’s not going to give her a hard time over taking supplies to treat a sick animal.  I don’t know — but if you want to get clarification, it’s entirely reasonable to say, “Hey, is that kind of thing actually not a problem? If so, I won’t make a big deal about it in the future.”

2. Employee refuses to share login info for the company Facebook account

We are a newly formed company in the UK. I’m a director, and one of our employees has consistently refused to give me the login details for our company Facebook page. On the last request, she replied asking me why I wanted them and what I intended to do with them. I feel it is extremely important that I have a copy of them, as she is the only person in the company who has these details. Does she have a right to withhold them from me? Does it warrant a written warning?

No, she doesn’t. Assuming that you have authority over her, stop framing it as a request, and instead say, “Jane, I need access to the Facebook page by the end of today. We need a system where that type of information isn’t accessible by only one person. Please set me up with access today.” Then, if she doesn’t, you handle it like you would any other outright refusal to comply with a work assignment, which in this case presumably means that her manager makes it clear that it’s not optional. If she continues to resist when it’s made clear to her that it’s not optional, she probably shouldn’t be working for you.

3. Is it bad not to ask questions at the end of an interview?

Is it necessarily a bad habit to not ask any questions of the interviewer at the end of the in-person interview? I explained that I felt the website/previous interview had provided answers to any questions I might have and it seemed okay. Are they any questions you think should definitely be asked?

Yeah, it’s pretty bad not to ask any questions when given the opportunity. It signals that you aren’t being especially thoughtful about whether this is the right fit for you, and that’s alarming to savvy hiring managers, who want to make sure that you’re doing a good job of your side in this assessment process so that you don’t end up in a job where you’ll be unhappy or not excel.

Do you really not have questions about a job and company where you’re contemplating spending 40+ hours a week for the next several years? I think if you think about it like that, you’ll realize that there’s plenty that you want to know, but here are some questions you might think about asking.

4. What should my office door say?

I have been asked to submit my name as I want it to appear on my office door. I am wondering if I should put just my name, my degrees, or title?

What do other people in your office do? Follow their lead. (But in general, it’s typically just your name, and rarely would it be appropriate to include degrees.)

And if you’re not sure what other people do because you haven’t started yet, it’s completely reasonable to reply to the request by asking. You could simply say, “What do others typically do — just their names, or titles too?”

5. Has long-distance job searching become any easier in the last few years?

I just found your blog by accident while I was researching how to make a move from one city to another. I came across a post about long-distance job-searching dated back in 2010. Now that the economy has somewhat improved, what do you think my chances are of moving from the east coast back home to the midwest (Chicago) in particular? I am willing to pay for interviewing and such but got a little worried after reading your blog. To your knowledge, have conditions improved? What would your advice be four years later?

My advice is still pretty much the same, unfortunately: It’s still much harder to job search long-distance than it is if you’re searching locally, unless you’re in in-demand field with in-demand skills. When they have plenty of local candidates, employers don’t have much incentive to deal with the hassles or risk of long-distance candidates. However, the more senior you are, the easier and more accepted it is to search long distance, so the picture is definitely less gloom and doom if you’re fairly senior in your field.