Ask a Manager

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

1. Getting clients to stick to deadlines — or to understand project delays when they don’t

I’m a freelancer. I stay pretty on top of my client workload, but at times it gets pretty packed and I rely on my clients to return their side of the material within a decent timeframe in order to keep things scheduled well.

My question is how to communicate with them that I am now behind. I submitted a list of what they needed to be working on on July 1 and reserved July to work on their project. I did not hear back from them until August 22! And now, at this point, I am booked with a lot of other work. Now, they are chomping at the bit to have their website completed. I’ve made it clear that I had reserved July, but once August came, I added quite a few other projects. I had hoped to finish this week, but due to my other projects, I’ve not been able to get to it.

I have a lot of projects along these lines, so if you have any advice for what to say when you can’t get to a project right away, that would be amazing!

I’d say: “We had set aside July to finish this work, and our schedule had you supplying me with X by July 15. I didn’t receive it until August 22, so that’s pushed the schedule back. I had much of September reserved for other work, so I’m fitting it in around that. I’ve carved out time to work on this again starting on (date) and should be able to get it to you by (date).” (Of course, you want to balance this against how important this particular client is to your work; freelancers often end up having to make exceptions for especially key clients.)

Going forward, I would be very explicit about this when you first lay out timelines, saying something like, “I’m reserving the last two weeks in July to do this project, so I’ll need X from you by July 15. If it’s later than that, it could take significantly longer to complete, because I’ll need to fit it in around other projects. Knowing that, does this seem like the right timeframe to reserve, or do you think you might need longer to get me X? I want to make sure I’m holding right block on the calendar for you.”

It’s also smart to bring it up as soon as you see a problem starting. For instance, it might have made sense to reach out to this client a week or so after the material was overdue to say, “I want to give you a heads-up that I’ll need to receive X soon in order to be able to finish it by (date). Once we hit late August, I won’t have much availability for the next few weeks.”

You want to say this nicely, of course. You don’t want to sound overly rigid; rather, you want the vibe to be “I want to make sure that you get the time you need, so let’s make sure we protect the right period of time.”

2. How can I get my team to take responsibility for simple tasks without having to assign everything?

I have 5 very high-functioning employees. They are all over 50 and very experienced. They gladly take ownership of the tasks and jobs I assign them and take pride in their work. However, I can’t assign every task that needs to be done. For instance we have to sign-in visitors to our work area and the sign-in sheet needs to be replaced every month. Very often, someone will just sign in a visitor using the previous month’s sign-in sheet. It’s similar to the last cup of coffee dilemma. How do I get these people to just do what simple tasks need to be done without assigning them?

You have to assign those tasks. People aren’t doing them because they’re focusing their time on the things that they’re accountable for, which is a logical choice. If you want people to be accountable for these other tasks, you need to actually assign responsibility for them to someone.

If the issue is more “I can’t think of everything that someone will need to handle and I want them to pitch in as they see things,” then you should assign people broad areas that will cover the types of things that aren’t getting done — such as assigning one person to have responsibility for ensuring that your team’s reception area runs smoothly (which would presumably cover the sign-in sheet plus other stuff too). But if you’re not telling people clearly that they’re responsible for a particular task or area, and it’s not getting done, the solution is to create more specific ownership of the work.

3. How can I recover from a bad video interview?

After applying for a talent acquisition position with my dream company, I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email offering me a video interview, their version of the traditional phone screening. To clarify, this was not a Skype interview with someone on the other end, but an automated, recorded interview. The process: the question is displayed across the screen and the candidate is given 30 seconds of prep time, at the end of which the camera turns on and the candidate is recorded answering the question for one minute. There is a ticking clock counting down the entire time, and there is no “re-do” option. In a word, it’s terrifying.

Sadly, I definitely did not produce my best interview in this circumstance. While I understand the efficiency and flexibility this form of interview offers for both the candidate as well as the acquisition team, I’d imagine it takes a specific type of person to succeed in this situation. However, considering this interview was for a talent acquisition, I’d also imagine that they’re most likely not giving much slack to the interviewees– especially considering that a person in this position will be evaluating these video interviews themselves.

I emailed my contact the following week to express how I’d love the opportunity to come in and actually meet with the team, but she (nicely) said they had just begun reviewing the applications and would reach out with any updates. In your opinion, is there anything I can do to salvage this? With my experience, personality and skills, I know I’d be a great fit for this position– and I just can’t imagine letting it slip away that easily.

Well, you’d essentially be trying to circumvent their hiring process — like doing poorly in the phone interview and then telling them to give you a chance anyway. This is their process, misguided as it is, and in general, you pretty much have to let them control that.

That said, there are two potential things you could try: First, if you happen to have mutual contacts, you could see if one or two of them will reach out to the hiring manager to rave about how fantastic you are. Second, you could email them some sort of work sample — something demonstrating that you’d be awesome at the job (either actual past work you’ve done or a sample that you create specifically for this job). If it’s good enough, it’s possible that it could get you moved forward in the process even fi they were ready to reject you from the video interview. But after trying that, then you’ve got to lay low and let the ball stay in their court.

4. Do recruiters share thank-you notes with hiring managers?

After my interview with the hiring manager, I send thank-you notes to both the manager and recruiter. They are custom and state my interest in the role, reiterate my fit for the position, and mention my overall positive experience with that process and the firm. Does the recruiter forward their thank you note to the hiring manager?

Depends on the recruiter. Some do, some don’t. They’re more likely to do it if it’s a particularly good thank-you note (or a particularly bad one, but that’s pretty rare).

5. Did I ruin my chances by the way I followed up after an interview?

I went to a retail job interview on a Friday and was told me that I would recieve a phone call by Tuesday. The next week, I never received any call and called to ask about my application status that Thursday. The manager told me they where still deciding and would choose by the end of the week. I also called her back the same day to ask her a company-related question because she said to call “anytime you have a question” and I thought it would also show that I am still interested in the position.

The end of the week passed and I am hoping for a call early this week. Did I follow up too soon or no? I am thinking of calling to follow up once more this coming Monday if i don’t receive a call. I really don’t want to seem desperate or annoying and call today to ask another questions about the company because I already called on Thursday. Would that seem too desperate?

It’s not about seeming desperate; it’s about being too pushy and not letting the process take its course.

Also: Can we get rid of this idea that you should call to ask employers questions to “show your interest in the position”? That’s incredibly annoying, and it’s usually pretty transparent. If I were that hiring manager, I’d be annoyed that you didn’t either ask your question when we spoke earlier that day or just hold it until you received an offer, since you’d just been told that those decisions would be happening soon. And if the question was as non-essential as questions in the “wanting to show interest” category usually are, my annoyance would triple. (And really, at that point anything is non-essential other than “I have another offer and need to give them an answer ASAP” or “I left my wallet at your office and would like to pick it up.”)

I doubt you you ruined your chances, but don’t call again. You showed interest by applying for the job. You reiterated it by calling to check on your application status. No more expressions of interest are needed. The ball is in their court. If they want to offer you a job, they will. Meanwhile, put this out of your head and move on.

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

1. My interviewer told me “your happiness is not my problem”

In a recent interview for a temp job, I was told straight out by the person who would be my boss, “As my employee, your happiness is not my problem.” This really put me off, as well as him telling me straight up that the job was highly stressful, but that he didn’t care because that was part of his “vision for this workplace.” I appreciated his honesty, but at the same time, was concerned that he seemed to care so little for his employees. I received an offer from them, and even though the job would entail a huge pay increase for me, I have decided I do not need that much added stress in my life.

The thing is, I’ve been out in the job market for about a year since graduating college. I don’t have a ton of experience as far as interviews and bosses. Is this guy’s attitude/outlook normal? Or is it at least not as off-putting to others as it was to me? Should I not have allowed it to scare me off?

No, it’s off-putting alright. The guy sounds like a massive tool and a crappy manager. Employee happiness is very much a concern of good managers — or rather, the happiness of good employees is.

That said, when you’re been out of work for a year and are a new grad, you’ve also got to factor in what other options you have. If you don’t have of ton of alternatives, sometimes it makes sense to put up with a ridiculous boss in order to get experience that you can then parlay into something better (not to mention a paycheck) — and it can help when you’re able to go into it with your eyes open about the nature of the situation. I don’t know if that’s your case or not, but it’s something to keep in mind.

2. My coworkers won’t stop commenting on my weight loss

My question is about how to deal with unwanted and unhelpful comments from co-workers following loss of weight – which was achieved via lots of hard work – diet and exercise wise. I was very overweight for the whole time I have worked where I currently work, and am currently returning to a previous healthy and very slim weight.

I sometimes receive helpful and supportive comments like, “you look fantastic” however I don’t know how to appropriately respond to comments like “You’re wasting away” (I am currently in the high end of my healthy weight BMI so hardly wasting away) and “Don’t lose any more weight” (why? so I am constantly hovering on the border of healthy and overweight and unhappy?), then laughing and joking about am I running to the toilet throwing up after I eat.

How do you deal with this kind of rudeness without creating a scene and coming off as the bad guy?

Well, you’re going up against an entire society norm that it’s okay to make these sorts of comments and a widespread (and misguided) belief that people will take them as complimentary. While you can certainly push back against that, you might be happier if also you accept that there’s no response that will make this stop altogether. It’s a huge cultural weirdness.

But if you want to try pushing back against it, you could try, “Can we stop talking about my weight?” or “I’m calling a moratorium on further comments about my weight. Thanks.” And in response to the bulimia jokes, you’d be well within your rights to say, “That’s really not a humorous subject.”

3. Can my boss make us all ride together in his car for an off-site meeting?

My boss, a coworker, and I have a meeting that is about 3-1/2 hours away from our office. My coworker and I wanted to drive together, but my boss is insisting we all ride in his car, even though I offered for the company to not pay me for the mileage so that we would not be so far away from home without a vehicle. Can he make us all ride together? The meeting requires an overnight stay, which will be covered by the company.

Yes, he can require that, and it’s possible that he wants to do it that way so that you can all talk about work-related things during the drive. But if you feel strongly about it, you should explain that him — say something like, “I’d actually prefer to have my own car there, so I’d really like to drive myself.” If he says no, then say, “Were you thinking we’d use the time in the car to talk about work, or there another reason that I’m not thinking about?” But ultimately, yes, he can require this if he wants to.

4. My employer wants a copy of my diploma to help someone else get a visa

My company is asking everyone with my job title (less than 10 people total) to submit copies of our college diplomas to assist in obtaining a visa for a new employee. They’re saying they need “evidence” that we are really professionals that have university degrees, and that submitting our resumes as evidence wouldn’t really prove anything.

This request just strikes me as really odd and sort of an invasion of my privacy… It would be one thing if they were asking me to prove my own credentials for the purpose of my own employment, but they’re asking for this to help with someone else’s case. Is this weird? Should I say no?

It doesn’t strike me as especially offensive or an invasion of privacy. They’re not asking for information they don’t already have about you; they’re just asking you to supply documentation of a credential that you’ve presumably already shared with them. If that credential is part of the reason they hired you, it’s not unreasonable for them to say, “Hey, now we have a business situation that requires us to document this.”

Saying no is likely to come across pretty oddly (as well as raise questions for them about whether you really graduated).

5. Can I apply again for jobs I applied to months ago?

I’ve been unemployed for nine months and actively searching for a year. At this point, I’m starting to see a lot of repostings of jobs that I applied for months ago– not jobs I interviewed for, but ones where I got a form rejection, or, often, no response at all.

Is it worth it to apply for these again, when I’ve been unemployed all this time and don’t have any new professional experience? (Volunteer opportunities are very limited in the areas I’m looking in, and I don’t have much of a portfolio to show potential freelance clients because most of my work from my last job isn’t cleared for public release.)

My resume and cover letters have improved, and I think are more likely to get me a second look than the ones I was using at the start of the search. If I do reapply, what do I say to acknowledge that I’ve applied before?

If it’s been, say, six months or longer, I think it’s totally fine to apply again, and you don’t need to mention that you applied before (as long as you didn’t get interviewed the last time; if you did, then it would be odd not to acknowledge that). Even if it’s been a little less than six months (say, four months or so), it’s still probably fine — although at that point you’re running up against the possibility that it’s not a new hiring process, but rather the same one that you were already rejected from. But you can’t know for sure from the outside, and you’re not going to outrage anyone either way. If it’s only been a few months, though, then to be on the safe side, you might add something like “I applied a few months back and would still love to be considered if you think it might be a good fit.” That way you’re signaling that you’re not just wildly applying for everything you see and forgot that you already applied for this.