Ask a Manager

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

1. I think I’m in the wrong career

I have 2 degrees in applied economics; statistical analysis of economic data, effectively. I aimlessly chose this major; it led me to a master’s and I actually started the PhD program, but dropped because I was burned out.
I’ve now applied to 4 positions (probably the 4 I’ve wanted the most) and made stupid, careless mistakes in my cover letters. I’ve addressed them as soon as I noticed, but, honestly, I’m worn out. I don’t even try to say “this is so out of character for me!” because really, it’s not. I write emails at work and forget to include attachments; I notice data entry errors after I was certain I’d taken steps to prevent them (I end up writing a lot of Excel macros to do things for me because I don’t trust myself to not make those mistakes). I have been trained to be detail-oriented, but it’s not natural for me, and so I’m wondering how in the world I got as far as I did (and I think the answer is that academia is a bubble). I’m 25 and I’m concerned the past 5 years have been setting me up for a career I really am not that great at.

I’ve read your posts on how to figure out what you want to do. The difference is, I have a specific skillset and specialized experience. My current job, data monkey with terrible management and horrible culture, feels like it is sucking the life out of me, but how am I supposed to leave if I’m really not as qualified for other jobs as it seems I should be?

You are 25. You are barely at the beginning of your career. It is far, far away from being too late to change careers. You aren’t locked into this one just because that’s the academic path you took. You can do something else. Figure out what that might be, and what the path there would look like, and then start putting yourself on that path.

You have multiple decades of work ahead of you. It would be crazy to consign yourself to decades of misery just because you’re a couple of years down the road on the wrong path.

2. Hiring manager told me he’d call if his new hire doesn’t work out

I had 2 interviews for a job. There were 5 of us and 2 of us were asked back, me being one of them. The decision was supposed to be made after our 2 interviews. I was called on the phone to say I did not get the job. I was told that a last minute resume came in after my last interview and that person had industry experience that I did not have, and that was why I was not chosen. He made it clear that was the only reason and overall I was great and was a close second. Ok, not happy I didn’t get the job, but that happens and I get the reasoning.

The manager then said this: “She will be on 90-day probationary period and if she doesn’t work out I will call you.” I said OK of course, but I was a little taken off guard as I wasn’t sure what to say. “Um, ok I hope she sucks”(because then I will get the job)? Or, “Do you expect her for fail?” Obviously I did not say either one. I almost felt he was unsure of the decision to hire her. Or maybe he was told to hire her?

I am not counting on him calling. I already had a resume out for another company sent out before the rejection. But I am curious on why someone would say that. Just say, “Thanks but we chose someone else.” And maybe the usual “we will keep your resume on file and call if we feel you are a good fit for another position” (or whatever). But why so specific with me about a possible failure of the new hire? If she didn’t work out, he could just have easily called at that point and discuss the position again.

Because hiring managers, even good ones, are human — and therefore are sometimes awkward and word things poorly. But job seekers tend to forget that and instead parse every statement hiring managers make, putting far more weight and scrutiny on their words than the average person’s words could ever hold up under.

This manager probably just wanted to emphasize that you were really were the second choice, because it’s human to feel bad when someone you came close to hiring ends up not getting the job. Or he’s had new hires not work out before, and so it’s on his mind that he might have a back-up if that happens. Move on, and don’t spend any more time thinking about it.

3. I’m being laid off and my boss wants to know how I do my job

My boss informed me that my position will be eliminated on Feb 14. Then she asked me to document everything I do, and how I do each task. Nothing else will change, but they are laying me off, even though I am the only person knows how to do certain things. What are my options? Can I tell her no, I am not going to tell her of how to do my job?

I mean, you can; there’s no law requiring you to do what she’s asking. But there are consequences to refusing, like a bad reference, probably no severance, a really poor reputation among people who hear about it, and just generally looking silly. It’s not a good idea. You’re better off being professional and pleasant and giving her the information she wants — and negotiating a severance payout if you haven’t already done that.

4. I’m thinking of reporting my former employers for child abuse

Would you consider it child abuse if your former employers, who are both licensed doctors, brought their 2 children to work and left them in the break room all day by themselves to watch TV and play video games. One is 4 and has a degenerative bone disease and can’t walk, and the other is 9. This happens frequently and on one day, both of the doctors left for lunch and just left both of the kids in the break room. They didn’t ask us if it was ok to leave them; they said nothing at all. The youngest boy is in his own motorized chair. I was appalled, and their lack of supervision of these two boys drives me crazy. I believe this to be very unprofessional and I am considering calling someone in our state and filing an abuse case.

In general, no, leaving kids in a break room to watch TV and play video games is not typically considered child abuse. It might be bad parenting if it’s happening a lot, and it might be a bad business practice, but both those things are different from abuse.

Whether it’s more of a concern because of the younger boy’s medical condition is something I can’t say from here, but if you’re concerned, I’d start by calling Childhelp (1-800-4-A-CHILD). They can ask you questions, assess the situation, and figure out what your next step should be.

5. Will I hurt my chances of a promotion later if I don’t apply for one now?

I was recently passed over for a position at my organization, but wasn’t too upset as they hired a more experienced candidate. Another position (same level, salary, etc) has been posted, but I’m not sure I want to apply as it’s in a different location. The position is managerial and requires the candidate to run that location.

Despite these jobs being the same on the surface, I don’t feel I’m the right person for this other location (I don’t know if I can offer what this location needs). I could apply and go through the whole interview process again, but if I know this particular job isn’t right for me and I’d likely be unhappy in it, am I wasting the organization’s time if I apply, or am I hurting my chances of future opportunities later by not applying? Does it look bad that I felt one job was right for me and the other isn’t even though they’re essentially the same?

If you’re sure you don’t want the job, you shouldn’t apply for it. If you’re asked about it (and you might not be), you can simply explain that you’re not sure you want to move to the new location.

You shouldn’t be hurt by not applying for it at all. If anything, you’d risk hurting yourself by applying for the promotion and then turning it down, since with internal positions, there’s more of an assumption that if you’re going through the whole interview process, you’re going to accept the position unless there’s some real obstacle around pay, goals for the position, or another substantive issue.

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

1. Should a receptionist tell callers when someone is out sick?

I’m a receptionist. If a salesperson is out sick, I tell the caller that the person is “out of the office” (and offer another salesperson, etc.), and that satisfies most callers. There are those occasional customers who then ask if the person will be back tomorrow, and I really don’t know; I don’t know if they will be all healed up overnight or not. In this case, I say I don’t know (and offer them another salesperson, etc., insert niceties here), but it seems weird sometimes based on the caller’s reaction, like they want an explanation. It just also seems weird to let customers know that an employee is sick; it seems like a private thing to me.

This is really context-specific. There are many offices where “she’s out today” would be the only information released, but there are plenty where “she’s out sick today” is a normal thing to say. In the second group, it can sometimes be in people’s interest to say it — because it explains why the absence might have been sudden (useful in cases where a clients would have otherwise expected to be notified someone would be unavailable) and it explains why you can’t say for sure if the person will be back tomorrow.

In any case, since you’re unsure, I’d ask your manager how she prefers you to do it — or ask the individual people whose calls you screen. Different people may have different preferences.

2. I’m an attorney who wants to be a paralegal

I am a barred attorney with bipolar disorder, which has deeply affected my life over the last few years. I am now stable, but no longer wish to practice law because the stress of appearing in court and constant arguing makes it difficult to handle my condition. I recently moved to another state and am looking for a job in the legal field, but not as an attorney. My license is in good standing and I have never had an ethics complaint or malpractice claim against me.

I have been applying for higher level paralegal positions, which I believe I have the skills for and in which people with a law degree often thrive when they do not want to do traditional attorney work. I have only gotten a few interviews, unfortunately, and I know it is because I am being viewed as overqualified. I do not expect attorney-level pay and understand that working as a paralegal is different from working as an attorney, although the jobs do overlap somewhat. I try to address this the best I can in my cover letter.

My question involves how to address why I am not applying by motion for the bar in the new state I am living in, which would allow me to practice here, both in interviews and when applying for jobs. The truth is, I do not apply because of my history of bipolar disorder, which I would have to disclose on my bar application and would most likely disqualify me from admission in the background check (I was grilled heavily about this in my home state when I applied there, years before I had an escalation of the condition).

I don’t want to get into my medical condition with any potential employer because there is still a stigma against mental illness when it comes to many employers, especially in the legal field. I know that chances are I would be automatically rejected by any potential employer who found out about it. However, I worry that I come across as shady when I try to answer vaguely about this (i.e. wanting a better quality of life,etc.) I still have the legal skills, endurance and creativity needed for the field, but am at a loss as how to address why it is I no longer practice.

So many lawyers have found after they started practicing law that they aren’t actually thrilled with the career choice they made that I think you could have a compelling answer that loads of lawyers would relate to. I’d identify the less pleasant aspects of being a lawyer that don’t overlap with paralegal work, and focus your answer on those. Maybe it’s the hours, or having to spend time on X, or so forth. Then your answer could sound like, “I love legal research and writing, but I realized I dislike __ and __, and I’ve figured out that being a paralegal work lets me do what I loved about being a lawyer and am good at, without the other parts.”

If you say it with confidence, I don’t think this answer is going to be an issue for people.

3. Explaining consulting work on a resume

I moved across the country several months ago (for my partner’s career). Since then, I have continued to work for my employer remotely to help transition my projects, but that arrangement will be ending soon. Meanwhile, through other contacts, I’ve been able to pick up a couple of contracts for various pieces of work (e.g. writing projects). Once I’m no longer an employee of my company, how should I reflect my work status on my resume? Could I list my current job as “independent consultant,” even though I’m not really set up as one and I’m searching for a full-time position? If so, should I limit the description to the type of work I’ve actually been doing, or is it okay to list other things I could potentially do as a consultant? I don’t want it to look like I’m unemployed, but I’m unsure how to reflect my situation in a clear and accurate manner.

It’s fine to list your current work as “consultant” (I’d leave off “independent”; it’s unnecessary). However, you should only list consulting work you’ve actually done, not things you could do — since employers will assume it’s the former and it’ll look a little deceptive if they find it talking to you that it’s the latter. In other words, treat it like any other job you list on your resume and stick to what you’ve actually done.

4. Is this interview a consolation prize?

I interviewed at a library for a position that was 11 hours a week. I did not get the job. They decided to go with someone who they had interviewed several times before. They did, however, grant me an interview for a job that I had previously applied for. This job has more hours and is actually the one I was more interested in. My question is, did they grant me the interview because they liked me or is this just a consolation prize? The fact that the interview is for a better position makes me nervous.

It’s pretty unlikely that they’re going to spend time interviewing you a second time just to soften the pain of rejecting you; employers reject people all the time and are used to having to do it. I’d assume it’s a legitimate interview.

5. Periods on resumes

I am revising my resume, and for the most part, I am using bullet points with no periods at the end of each line. There are three instances where I wrote a full sentence when describing my accomplishments under bullet points. From what I’ve been reading, you should go all or nothing on the punctuation, but it looks stupid to leave a full sentence dangling with no period. What are your thoughts?

I agree with you — full sentences need periods. But resumes look weird when some bullet points end with periods and some don’t. If you don’t have any full sentences, you can pick either way (periods or no periods), as long as you’re consistent. But in your case, you do have some full sentences, so the no-period option is taken away. Thus, you must use periods at the end of all the bullet points, to be both correct and consistent.

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

1. Will I be rejected for not uploading a video interview?

I tried to apply to a position this afternoon, and part of the online application is a “video interview.” I couldn’t complete it because I’m using an old PC which doesn’t have a camera. I also tried on my iPhone, but it requires Flash which is unsupported. So am I automatically disqualified from the position because I don’t own the technology for the interview? Is it worth it to track down a webcam to do this thing? I never experienced this before. The position, which I am highly qualified for, is photography teacher.

Ugh, ridiculous. Employers have no business requiring this type of effort from candidates before they’ve even made it past a first cut. After all, in a typical hiring process, tons (usually 100+) candidates are going to be rejected without further screening, and it’s so horribly inconsiderate to ask people to jump through this sort of hoop when so many won’t even be spoken with further.

In any case, I’d include a note in your cover letter explaining that your computer wouldn’t allow you to complete the video portion of the application, but that if you move along in the process, you’d be glad to make arrangements to do it at a later stage. On the other hand, if you’re truly lusting after this job and would be devastated if you were rejected over this, then yeah, I’d suck it up and borrow a webcam.

2. Can my wife and I apply to do a job jointly?

My wife and I want to apply together to the same job (as co-applicants). It’s for a house manager position. It’s advertised for one candidate. We both have different qualifications but together it would be perfect. I would be the one to be there for the day to day and she would be on a part-time basis (at least that’s what we are thinking). The position is mostly managing a household of a staff of 3, which I have great experience in and there are some financing and expense responsibilities as well. Our thoughts are they would get two for one basically. (It’s actually a well-paying job for one person. It’s more then enough for both of us. It can pay for two full-timers in a sense.)

Is this unheard of or is it a great thought? Not only for how we are thinking, but for the homeowners as well.

For any other job, I’d say absolutely not, but something like a house manager, it might be fine. There are some disadvantages to be aware of — for instance, having staff report to two people rather than one has the potential to be inefficient and confusing (so you’d probably want them only reporting to one). Also, what if they’re dissatisfied with one person’s performance but not both of you? Overall, though, I don’t think it’s out of the question for a position like this — and it’s certainly not patently ridiculous on its face. I’d go ahead and propose it and see what they think.

3. When should I ask employers about subsidized transit and working from home?

I am currently looking for jobs in my city and a neighboring one. I’d prefer a job in my city because it’s about a 3-hour total daily commute (via train) to the next city. However, I would take a job in the other city if the company subsidized public transportation passes and especially if they allowed me to work from home 1-2 days per week. Should I even bring this up at all and if so, how and when?

The problem with asking about those things before you have an offer is that it makes you look unduly focused on things that most hiring managers don’t want you to be unduly focused on. Asking about subsidized transit passes is a little too nitty-gritty before the offer stage; it’s like asking about nuanced details of the 401K plan before you have an offer. And asking about working from home 1-2 days is a week before there’s been an offer signals to many hiring managers (rightly or wrongly) that you’re more focused on avoiding the office than being in it. Neither of these is helpful when a company is still assessing you.

So I’d wait until you have an offer — when they’ve already decided they want you and now you’re negotiating the details — and ask about it then.

4. “Thanks for coming in”

Is the phrase “thanks for coming in” at the end of an interview always the kiss of death? Thanks for any insight you can provide.

What? No. It means, quite literally, “thank you for coming in,” no more and no less.

5. Asking about full-time work at the end of a contract

I’ve been a contractor at my work since May and my bosses have mentioned to me several times that they want to bring me on as a full-time employee. Before the holiday season, my boss told me it will most likely happen at the beginning of the new year. Well, it’s getting close to the end of my contact and I really want to work for this company, but how do I bring this up with my boss in a professional manner?

“We’re approaching the end of my contract, so I wanted to follow up with you about the possibility of bringing me on full-time. I’d love to stay, but otherwise I’ll need to start lining up other work soon.”