Ask a Manager

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

1. Wearing school colors when interviewing at a university

When applying for a classified or administrative position at a university, whether or not you attended that particular university, is it inappropriate to wear a blouse or accessorize with one of the colors of that university? My feeling is that it could go either way, so I would love a professional opinion.

I don’t think it’s going to hurt you, but it feels gimmicky to me — and it’s pretty unlikely to help you unless you’re interviewing with someone who judges candidates on the wrong things. You’re better off focusing on showing why you’d excel at the work. (And that goes doubly if the school colors are creamsicle orange or another garish selection.)

2. Should I write a letter of recommendation for an employee I fired?

I manage a team of remote workers, and recently my boss and I decided to fire one of my employees. A few days after being fired, the employee contacted my boss asking for a letter of recommendation. My immediate reaction: WHAT?

My boss forwarded her email to me, and said he doesn’t want to write her one, but I can if I’d like. Is it common to provide letters of recommendation for fired employees? Is it acceptable and reasonable to tell her no? I don’t think I could possibly write a good letter considering she was fired for very serious performance issues, and only worked at our company for 2.5 months. I’m always more than happy to write letters, but not when the employee is fired.

No, it’s not not typical or expected to write recommendation letters (or give positive references) for employees who were fired for cause, not unless they were fired for A but you worked with them long enough and closely enough to honestly say that they’re great at B. It’s completely reasonable to respond to the former employee with something like, “I don’t think we’re in a position to be able to write you a helpful recommendation, especially since we worked with you for such a short period of time.”

Also, letters of recommendation aren’t generally that helpful at all for the reasons I explain here (outside of a few fields that still use them, like academia and some parts of law). Most reference checkers want to actually speak to references and don’t care that much about what a letter says.

3. How can we address confusion over our internal transfer process?

A concern that comes up consistently on our annual associate opinion surveys is that associates feel confused about the internal job application/transfer process, including lateral moves and promotions. Survey results say that eligibility criteria for job transfer don’t make sense, that they feel these decisions are made unfairly, and that they don’t understand the process all that well in general.

I only recently joined the HR team, but I now handle internal job transfers. I am still getting acquainted with the company, but I think these survey results may be something I can address – or at least begin to address. Although I imagine some of the people making these statements on the survey may be venting frustration at not being selected for job transfer, I am also concerned that this is hitting on a real issue. During recent exit interviews, at least two associates have said that dissatisfaction with at least part of the job transfer process has influenced their decision to leave the company.

What can we do differently? Each manager announces job transfers during departmental morning meetings, and refers associates to the job postings board in the break room for more details. (Most associates have limited computer access at work due to the nature of the work.) Interested associates can apply by seeing me, and I make sure to offer them a copy of our job transfer criteria at that time. I always ask if they have questions, although they rarely do. Any associates who are ineligible are notified by their current manager of the reason. Associates who interview for the position but are not selected are notified by the hiring manager. I am not sure where the breakdown in understanding and communication is happening.

It’s difficult to say from the outside what’s going wrong, but I bet the people who are telling you that there’s a problem could tell you! Or at least, they’ll be able to help you better understand how they’re perceiving things from their side.

So make your first step in tackling be seeking to better understand the problem. You can do that by soliciting more information from employees — either the ones who have complained about it (if the responses weren’t anonymous and if you can follow up with people without making them feel like they’re in the spotlight for complaining), or a selection of employees from various parts of the company. Ask them what they think of the process, where the problems are, and how they think it could be handled better, and I bet you’ll get the beginnings of a blueprint to address it.

4. Responding to a fundraising solicitation from a coworker running for office

My colleague (and former manager; we aren’t on the same team any more) is running for office. She recently reached out to me directly (in my personal email) and asked for a donation to her campaign. I was already planning to donate (both because I believe in her candidacy, and because I like to support my friends who are doing hard and admirable things), but her direct request still rubbed me the wrong way.

The situation is complicated by the fact that our employer is an advocacy organization with a (c)4 partner that supports candidates directly. The office she is running for is directly relevant to our mission and it is likely that the (c)4 is supporting her campaign (but I have no way of knowing that for sure; I don’t work with the (c)4). It all just feels a little murky to me, and I both wish that I wasn’t put a position where I may have had to say a direct, uncomfortable no to a colleague (had I not wanted to donate) and I worry that she’s crossing lines that could get her or our employer in trouble. What do you think? Should I do anything?

First, I don’t think you even really have to respond to these sorts of emails if you’d rather not. I tend to think that emails and letters soliciting donations or purchases should be treated as informational messages that don’t require a response — you should see them as “here’s information about an opportunity that you might appreciate knowing about,” but not as direct questions requiring direct answers (in most cases, regardless of the language of the email).

On the broader issue of whether you should say something about it being a bad idea to do this in general, depending on your relationship with her, you could say something like: “I think it’s awesome that you’re running and I was glad to be able to donate! I’m a little worried about whether fundraising with staff gets into a murky area with the (c)3 rules on electioneering — have you thought about how to navigate that?” And if you have an especially comfortable relationship with her, you could go further and say, “While I was already planning to donate to your campaign, I can imagine staff feeling awkward about getting fundraising solicitations from a colleague if they weren’t.”

5. My written offer is lower than the verbal offer

I was interviewed and hired on the spot. I was offered $12 working retail, but a few days later in orientation the written offer said $11. I didn’t say anything at the time because other people were around, but should I clarify what was verbally said and what was written?

Whoa, yes, absolutely. Treat it as a clerical error or a miscommunication that needs to be corrected, and do it immediately, because it will get far harder to fix it the longer you wait. Say something like, “We’d agreed to $12 an hour, but I noticed the paperwork says $11. How do I get this corrected?”

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

1. Should I reach back out about a job I was rejected for?

About 6-8 months ago, I went through three rounds of interviews for a job I was really excited about, at a company I would love to work for. I had a really good connection with the HR manager on the phone and over email, and (I thought) with the team members I met during a six-hour in-person interview. The supervisor of the position told me she really liked me as a candidate, but that she usually takes many months to hire the right person. I get that – I have hired for high-level positions and agonized over making the right call. Eventually the HR manager notified me I was being passed over (and at the same time, I saw the position re-posted on several industry sites). It has now been about six months since I was rejected, and the position has been re-posted AGAIN – proving how truly difficult it is for this supervisor to pull the trigger, I guess.

I’m still really interested in the job and the company. Would it seem crazy to reapply and try to make a better case for myself? I’ve done some temp work since then that would possibly make me a slightly more attractive candidate. I have an alumni connection with the HR manager; I’m thinking maybe I could test the waters with her more informally first?

I wouldn’t apply all over again; you’ve already been through their interview process and, for whatever reason, the hiring manager decided you weren’t quite right. But I don’t think there’s anything wrong with reaching out informally and saying something like, “I noticed the role was still open, and I’d love to reconnect if you think it might be worth our talking again.” I’d reach out to the hiring manager, though, not the HR person, since the hiring manager is the one who’s going to decide if it would make sense to talk again.

I’ll caution you against being too hopeful that anything will come of it, since there’s probably a reason why the hiring manager declined to keep you in the running last time. But you never know, and you’ve got nothing to lose by shooting her a quick email.

2. Should I go to this interview?

I was contacted via email by an apparel company that found my resume online to come in for an interview for a receptionist/administrative assistant position. I have no idea what the job entails or what the salary is since no description was provided, and it’s located 15 miles away from me. I live in Los Angeles, and traffic here is pure hell. I don’t know if I should go to this interview or not. I don’t want to work someplace where I’m fighting traffic for hours every day. After googling the company, I wasn’t excited. But after months of job hunting, this is the first interview I’ve gotten. But I’m worried about taking off from my current job and going way out to this place just to find out its not what I want or it doesn’t pay enough. Without a job description, it’s really difficult to decide what to do.

When you’re contacted about a job you didn’t apply to, it’s totally reasonable to say, “Could you send me a copy of the job description to look at?” I’d even argue that it’s reasonable to ask about the salary — normally too many employers consider that a terrible sin to do an early stage, but where they’ve proactively approached you, I think it’s fine to ask at the same time that you’re asking for more details about the position.

3. The person I recommended for my old position is struggling in the job

I recommended someone for my former position when I was promoted. However, they are not thrilled with her. They say she is a slow learner and doesn’t complete assignments unless asked multiple times. I never saw any of this from her when we worked together previously. Should I feel as bad as I do? Is there anything I should do?

Assuming you genuinely thought she was great, you don’t have anything to feel bad about. Sometimes a role just isn’t the right fit. I do think that you could say something like, “I’m sorry it’s not going smoothly with Jane. I didn’t see those issues when we worked together previously or I wouldn’t have suggested her for the role.” You might feel like that’s obvious, but putting it out there can make you and the person managing her feel less awkward about the fact that you recommended her.

4. Can my restaurant make me do hostess shifts?

I’m a server in a restaurant and hurt my knee outside of work. I was not able to serve, so I did some hostess shifts. My doctor okayed me to go back to work and I gave my general manager the doctor’s note before he made and posted the new schedule. In between that, one of his managers offered me a position as a hostess; she never got back to me on about how much I’d be making. I emailed her and the manager and respectfully declined the position and shifts for that position. Can they now make me do hostess shifts even though I’ve declined their offer?

Assuming you’re not under some kind of indentured servant arrangement, they can’t make you do anything. But they can tell you that they’re switching you to hostess work, and they can require it as a condition of your job. At that point, you’d need to decide if you want the job under those circumstances.

But as a next step here, if you find yourself being scheduled for hostessing work, I’d just address it head-on, nicely but directly: “I appreciate the chance to try out hostessing, but I’d like to return to server shifts. Will that be okay?”

5. Update from the letter-writer who wanted to convince her friend to job-search

Here’s an update from last year’s letter-writer who was wondering how to convince her friend to get a job. (#3 at the link) The friend hadn’t worked for 2+ years since finishing grad school, was being supported by her parents, and had weird ideas, like that “people get jobs because of their charm but not by merit,” and “employers should approach the candidates instead.”

It has been more than a year since the question was published. Thanks to your wonderful readers’ comments. Here’s what happened to my friend in the past year.

Through her parents’ connections, she got a part-time job proctoring exams at local universities. In addition, she got a gig marking tests at a college. Those jobs were mundane (which I agree), but were better than nothing. Finally, she decided that going for a PhD in her field would be better than working at all those dead-end jobs. She applied to at least a dozen of universities and got accepted in a few of them with funding. She accepted one of the offers and has moved to another town to start her PhD. The acceptance letters were an ego booster: She had never felt so much in demand for years.

She has been quite honest with me that the job prospects of the particular field outside of academia are limited. The job prospects in academia are even more limited. Attending PhD is a temporary solution for not working on anything at all. In the past year, I kept my mouth shut about all those “Help Wanted” signs near her home.

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

1. My boss seems disengaged — how can I ask what’s up?

My manager is in a remote location from me. Recently he has become disengaged. He no longer reaches out or responds to messages on a timely fashion. When I’m able to get him on the phone, I do have his full attention and we have a healthy dialogue. But after the conversation, he goes back to silence. There have been some changes above him that I know he isn’t happy with, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he is looking for a new job. But paranoid me needs to make sure that I’m not the problem. How can I ask him if our relationship is OK without coming off as needy?

There are certainly some work relationships where you could just ask that straight-out — as in, “Hey, we hardly ever talk anymore and I’m wondering if I’m the problem.” But if you had that relationship, you’d probably just plunge ahead with that and wouldn’t be asking about it here.

Given that, I’m not sure that the right approach is to ask about the relationship. Without more reason to think that you’re the problem, it does risk coming across as overly needy, especially for work. Instead, I’d just name the specific behavior that’s concerning you, give him the benefit of the doubt about the cause (for instance, assume that he’s busy), and then ask if there’s anything you could be doing differently to help the situation. For instance: “Hey Bob, I noticed we’re not as in regular communication as we used to be. I’m guessing that you’re swamped. Is there that I could be doing differently that would be helpful on your side?”

All that said, if you know intellectually that you’re not the problem and this is just about assuaging anxiety, then I’d just let it go. (And I’m all about assuaging anxiety, but if it’s truly about you and not about the situation, you’re better off forcing yourself to back off.)

2. My boss sizes me up every day

My boss is the HR director at our company and she’s not the easiest person to talk to. You’d think that being in HR, she’d know how to interact with humans but that’s not the case.

How do I approach her when it comes to her sizing me up every day? I’m talking about a straight up and down look at me while saying absolutely nothing. Not even a smile, compliment or anything. It’s obvious she doesn’t like what she sees, but how do I go about telling her that it makes me very uncomfortable and puts down my already very low self esteem? Should I email her once about it? Schedule a meeting (probably only to have her yell at me that I’m doing something worthy of her actions)? When I see her do it, it just makes me want to scream in frustration and say “WHAT?!”

Well, first, I wouldn’t assume she’s looking you up and down because “she doesn’t like what she sees.” Some people do this just as a way of processing the other person’s presence, or because they’re interested in what people wear. Some people are also oblivious to the fact that their quick scan of other people reads as uncomfortable scrutiny. So you might be reading more into it than what’s there (although maybe not; it’s certainly possible that you’re picking up on a critical vibe).

So ideally, I’d let this go if you can stand to. But if not, don’t schedule a meeting or send an email about it; that will introduce way more drama than is needed. If it bugs you enough that you feel you have to address it, the way to handle it is to say something in the moment about the behavior but without accusing her of anything. For instance: “Is something on my outfit? You’re looking me up and down.” It’s the same principle as saying, “Is something on my shirt?” when someone is staring at your chest.

(It’s also kind of similar to the answer in #1 above, actually.)

3. Telling a coworker not to use Comic Sans

Someone on our partner team used Comic Sans font in an official computer record that many people from all over the business may see. This person is at a higher level than I am, but not in my management chain, and my team is in charge of these records. So I fixed it, and I need to alert him that he really shouldn’t use this font (he’s in India – I have no idea if he has a notion of American typography zeitgeist). How do I phrase this?

“Just wanted to let you know that I changed the font in this document from Comic Sans. American culture is rabidly anti-Comic Sans (there are even whole websites devoted to attacking it), so I went with the less controversial Arial. Thought I should flag it for you!”

4. I’m earning less than our team’s contractors

I work for a very well-known tech company that routinely makes the “Top Companies to Work For” lists and is, to put it mildly, rolling in the dough. I mention this because our department, traditionally, is ridiculously underpaid. There are 10 of us in this department, all doing the exact same job (except the 2 new hires, who are in contractor status and don’t have the same authorization levels we do), for what I thought was roughly the same pay. Turns out, I was wrong. The contractors are both making more than I do, by a pretty substantial amount, and that’s after the 33% raise I got when transferring from contract to full-time one and a half years ago. (I know that sounds like a lot, but I was just barely scraping by before, and with the health insurance premiums, I’m only coming out about 5% ahead in take-home pay…so I’m still just barely scraping by, but now I have health care.)

I don’t really think I can say anything about this, since it’s not anything against me that they happened to go with a contracting firm that apparently had more pull with our employer, but I’m feeling a little undervalued and, if I’m honest, kind of ripped off. I’m also frustrated at myself because I feel like I should have negotiated harder when the time came to convert my contract, but I was told at the time that what they were offering was the absolute top for this position. It’s not really enough to live on without a second income, but I’ve been persisting for the sake of the health insurance. So, is there anything I can reasonably say that won’t make me sound like I’m whining about how life isn’t faaaaaaaiiiiir?

It’s pretty normal for contractors to make more. It’s because they don’t get benefits (which can account for a sizable portion of an employee’s costs). It’s not really a useful comparison because of that; your employer presumably pays for you to have paid vacation and sick time, health insurance, retirement contributions, and other benefits that the contractors aren’t getting.

5. Should I let my references know every time I apply for a job?

I’m currently applying to jobs very selectively, as in maybe 1-2 jobs per month. Considering that most application systems require that I submit reference contact information at the application stage, how do you suggest I keep my potential references informed that they might receive a reference call? Should I email them every time I list their name on an application or can I assume that once they okay me using them as a reference, I’m good to go for a few months or so?

The latter. No need to alert them every time; that’s going to be too many interruptions and too much for them to keep track of (even at only 1-2 month), and statistically speaking, you’re unlikely to be invited to interview for the majority of jobs you apply for, so you’d be loading them up with a bunch of unnecessary information.

Plus, even though those application forms are asking for references at the start, those employers are still highly unlikely to CHECK your references until late stages in the process. They’re asking now so they have them on file (which is annoying and silly), but they’re not likely to use them until after you’ve been interviewed.

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

1. My interviewers seem like they haven’t even read my resume

I started interviewing a few months ago for jobs and have averaged anywhere between one interview to five interviews in a week. In about 10 situations, maybe more at this point, it doesn’t seem like the person setting up the interview or interviewing me has looked over my application materials whatsoever. For example, I’ve had numerous managers seem surprised when I told them I wasn’t a local candidate during the phone interview, even though it’s explicitly on my resume and on the online application materials. Other people thought all of my work experience was volunteer, even though I Iist the salary for these positions, or had no idea I had a master’s degree.

I used to think the top candidates were contacted for interviews, but now it just seems like interviewers spend zero time looking over my application. I understand people are busy, but this trickles down into the interview where it bothers me that they seem so unprepared or indifferent. Is this normal? Am I in the wrong here? Should I not read so much into this stuff?

Well, they might have reviewed your materials in the process of deciding who to call in for interviews and just forgotten some of the details between then and now. That’s not a horrible sin; it happens. Ideally they should take the time to re-familiarize themselves with your resume right before the interview, but sometimes pressing stuff arises and ruins the best laid plans, particularly if the manager in question is busy, and most are. I’m not going to knock interviewers for that as long as they reviewed it at some point.

Or of course, it’s possible that they haven’t reviewed your materials at all at any point — but even then, someone else would have. In all but the most horribly run organizations, someone does read applications and choose who to interview based on what they read.

But when you’re talking about the person who’s just setting up the interview, they don’t really need to review your materials. Someone else selected you and this person is just coordinating logistics. So that part isn’t odd. But thinking all of your work experience was volunteer is pretty bizarre.

2. I want my coworkers to stop rummaging through my papers

I recently joined a new company, and am one of the few who have an office. I deal with highly sensitive information, so having an office is a necessity.

I’m surprised at how my fellow coworkers in the office treat my space. Last week, I went to the restroom and came back and a woman (who I had not yet met) was sitting in my office, just waiting. I could have been in a meeting or taking a break in the cafeteria – who knows how long she would have waited? I have had others come in my office and move stuff around on my desk so they could put their papers down in front of me, when clearly I’m working on a project. I’ve even had people walk in and open desk drawers, because the person before me kept candy in the drawers and they expected me to as well! I mentioned these behaviors to another person on my team, who does not have an office, and her response was to the tune of “people don’t have boundaries here and it takes awhile to get used to.”

Due to the confidential nature of my job, I don’t want people just walking in and looking at things and sitting down and getting comfortable. Also, being new, I don’t want to be the neurotic and uptight person who shuts my door and locks my office each time I go talk to another employee or go to the restroom. But I also don’t want to get written up should someone stop in and leaf through confidential information on my desk. Any advice?

I think you’ll come across as overly territorial if you object to someone waiting in your office for you while you’re away; I agree with you that it’s a little off-putting (for the reasons you say — who knows how long you’ll even be gone?), but it’s not worth saying something about.

With people moving your papers to put something down in front of you, just speak up nicely in the moment: “Oh, actually, please don’t move those — I’ve got them in a particular order.” I wouldn’t make a big deal out of it beyond that.

I agree with you, though, that opening desk drawers to look for candy goes too far. But given that you’re working on confidential stuff, I’d just ask for a desk with drawers that lock and sweep any loose papers into a locking drawer before leaving your desk. If the papers are really confidential, that’s the smart thing to do regardless, even if you weren’t working in an office of people with no boundaries — but it’s especially reasonable since you are.

3. Renegotiating salary since my job significantly changed after one month

I was hired last month to work at a medium-sized business full-time. My position consists of filling an existing job share: half-week phone receptionist and half-week employee training. My reception job is silly easy; the training job is very challenging.

Here is the issue. The full-time trainer I was hired to work with may never come back. I have taken over her position, and my manager believes this will be permanent. My manager and CEO tell me how impressed they are with my work. But I am still paid a receptionist wage while now doing 100% trainer work! I am paid $3-5/hour below industry minimum. How do I approach this? I am new, and this was unforeseen, but I believe I deserve a fair wage. I am in a three-month probation; is it okay to bring this up then? I am “due” a 30 cent raise then, but I don’t feel that is appropriate anymore.

Absolutely it’s appropriate. If you’d just been given a few extra tasks that hadn’t originally been anticipated, that’s pretty par for the course. But you’ve been moved into a whole different role: full-time trainer when you were previously half receptionist, and the wages for those roles are different.

I’d say something like this: “When we originally set my salary, we thought I’d be doing half-time receptionist work. Since I’ve ended up being moved into training work full-time, I’d like to revisit the question of salary. Can we adjust what I’m earning to be in line with what the company pays for full-time trainers?”

4. Can I sue over my delayed raise?

I live in Georgia and I have come to the realization that I was not given my annual review in a timely fashion. I started with the company in October 2012, had a review 6 months after I started. Then I was told it is yearly on my hire date. I have not had it. Can I sue for this? Now they are trying to get me retro pay, but that entails me have a huge taxation because of no fault of my own. So really I’m losing big time.

Sue for it? No. There’s no law that requires that an employer give you timely performance reviews. (And even if there were, given how much time, energy, and money lawsuits take, suing is the last step after you try other avenues to resolve a problem, not the first.)

If you have a contract that promises you raises at specific points, that might be an issue, but such a contract would be very, very unusual in the U.S. Employers are generally very careful to ensure that they’re not locking themselves into being legally obligated to give raises at specific times.

It’s good that your company is recognizing that their delay ended up costing you that increased pay, but they’re not under any obligation to give you retro pay for that period; some companies will in that situation and some won’t. What I’d recommend in the future is proactively talking to your manager if your review gets delayed and — if a raise is likely — noting that you’re concerned about delaying it going into effect.

5. Is it age discrimination to screen for computer skills?

I work in the health care field, and my company hires a specific type of practitioner. With the new government emphasis on electronic medical files, basic computer skills are becoming an absolute requirement for these jobs.

Unfortunately, my company does not screen for basic computer literacy as part of the hiring process. When I suggested that we do so, since we’ve been hiring people who don’t know how to perform very basic tasks on the computer and it’s causing problems, my boss told me she was pretty sure we couldn’t do so as it would be considered age discrimination. I feel that if computer use is a basic requirement of the job, it’s completely reasonable to screen for computer skills. What are your thoughts?

My thoughts are that your boss sucks, knows nothing about how to hire employees, and should not be allowed any managerial authority. If I had a magic wand, I would have just removed it all from her.

It’s not age discrimination (!) to require computer skills. That’s called hiring for qualifications. (And your manager is being pretty damn insulting to the myriad older people with excellent computer skills by assuming she’d be screening them out if she enforced computer literacy standards.)