Ask a Manager

It’s seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go…

1. My boss gave my assistant a raise without discussing it with me

The executive director of our organization gave my assistant a raise without discussing it with me. I am very conflicted about this because on one hand she totally and completely deserves this raise but on the other hand she is my assistant! I feel that I should have been consulted (or at least notified). Our organization is fairly small (less than 50 employees) but only 20 of us work in the admin building. We all work very closely and I am sure the ED has noticed how hard my assistant has been working and what a good job she has been doing. As far as I know, no one else received a raise.

I asked the director of my department if he knew anything about it and he didn’t either. I only found out when I was cc:’d on a memo that got included in my assistant’s paycheck. Luckily I got the memo before she got the paycheck so I was able to tell her in person. Am I being unreasonable for being upset about this? Is this normal?

No, that’s problematic. You need to be in the loop on things like this — first, because you should have input into the decision and the timing (what if her performance had been slipping recently and your boss didn’t know about it, or what if you’d promised her a raise in X months if she met specific benchmarks?), and second, because if it looks to her like you didn’t know about it, it undermines your authority as the source of consequences (including good ones) for performance.

Talk to your boss and explain why you’d like to be part of the decision-making process on things like this in the future.

2. Is insomnia a valid reason to call in sick?

Do you consider insomnia a valid reason to take a sick day? I don’t mean “I’m a little tired” or “I stayed out too late last night,” but legitimate “I’ve been lying awake for the past 6 hours and now I have to get up in 2 and I’m still not able to fall asleep” insomnia.

I have been dealing with this since I was a kid and usually have it under control enough to function the next day, but sometimes there is nothing I can do. (I do have a prescription for Ambien, but it really knocks me out for 8+ hours and sometimes I don’t know I need it until too late.)

Yes, I think it’s a perfectly legitimate reason to take a sick day. You’re going to have just as much trouble functioning and be just as miserable as you would be if you went into work with a “real” illness. That said, there are some offices (and some managers) where I wouldn’t be that specific about it and would instead would simply take a sick day without getting into the reason.

3. Should I tell my boss that I hope to start my own nonprofit at some point?

I recently started working for a large nonprofit. My supervisor has regular meetings with me and puts a lot of emphasis on both long-term and short-term career goals for me as a person, not just for me in my position. She often asks me to share my career objectives.

The truth is that I hope to one day open my own nonprofit in a similar field, in the next five years. Is that too much information to share with my supervisor? While I feel that she could help me to take classes in nonprofit management and the like, I also feel that it could backfire on me and they could write me off as eventually planning to leave. Should I just pretend that my aspirations are lower and tell her that I look forward to moving up the ladder and becoming a director, etc?

I wouldn’t lie and say you have aspirations that you don’t have, and I think it’s fine to tell her that one day you’d like to start your own nonprofit — but I might not share the five-year timeline, because that’s very soon and it will make you sound like you might be more committed to that plan than to the nonprofit you’re currently working at. (And if I heard someone wanted to start their own nonprofit in the same field as mine in the near-ish future, I might be concerned about them having access to my donor lists and other proprietary information.)

It can also sound a little naive, for whatever that’s worth. Starting a successful nonprofit is a huge amount of work (for very little pay for the first few years, in most cases), requires a huge amount of fundraising, and often fizzles out unless you have a real donor base to draw on. That’s especially true when there are already organizations doing similar work and you have to credibly show how you’re going to get better results than they do.

4. My boss has a social clique at work

My department was merged a couple of years ago with one in which the boss and small staff of three employees were pretty tight — they had been coworkers before the boss was promoted. Now the boss has lunch every day, behind closed doors, with three coworkers and definitely treats them differently than the other staff. Sometimes she even ignores her other staff members from the new department if she’s in a bad mood, but has her “friends” to fall back on. She gossips about people throughout the organization, but gets upset with her staff members don’t feel comfortable telling her anything in confidence. You advice on handling this situation?

She sucks as a boss, in a big way. All you can really do is accept that she operates this way or find a new boss. But if you happen to have a good rapport with someone above her who has good judgment, you could consider mentioning it discreetly — no competent manager would be okay with a manager below them doing this.

5. Recruiter wants not only my Social Security number, but also my city of birth

I just had a call with a recruiter who had a position that sounds like I’d be a good fit for. My concern is that he said in order to proceed he needs my city of birth and the last 4 digits of my SSN in order to submit me to the client’s system. Is this a normal request? I’m not crazy about sharing this information without an actual job offer in hand and even then I don’t know why they would need my city of birth. Any thoughts?

My thought is that when a recruiter wants the same information that identity thieves want, there’s a problem. I can’t imagine why he wants your city of birth. They might need it at some point for a background check, but they sure as hell don’t need it now. I’d tell him that you’re concerned about giving out that particular combination of information because of identity theft concerns and ask what the company will be using it for. If he says it’s in case they need to do a background check down the road, tell him you’d be glad to supply it at that point but don’t want it sitting in a database somewhere unless things progress to the point where it’s needed.

6. Nose-picking interviewer

I’m currently job hunting and had a very strange interview experience yesterday. I’m not usually one for describing any bodily functions or related habits, so I apologize to you and your readers for the potential gross-out factor of my story.

I was sitting at a table with the person who would be my supervisor across from me and her supervisor to my right. The interview started with the usual questions, both ladies were very friendly and immediately put me at ease. About three quarters of the way through the interview, the lady to my right (The Big Boss) scratched at her nose and then got a tissue. I didn’t pay much attention, but she then proceeded to pick her nose for the remainder of the interview. I’m sorry to be so graphic, but first she used the tissue, then she put the tissue down and picked her nose with her finger (non-stop) for more than seven or eight minutes.

I was so thrown off that I just couldn’t look at her, I tried to stay focused on the lady in front of me. I thought perhaps she might give me some visual cues that she was slightly uncomfortable with what was going on, but it was hard to read her. Although I was still answering the questions, I spent the rest of the interview fretting about how I would get out of shaking the woman’s hand after she’d been digging for bullion in her nasal cavity.

How would you read into something like this? Is it a massive red flag or just a potential quirk (perhaps a nervous habit, or something that should be written off)?

Sometimes I wonder if you guys think that every incident of weird behavior is a hidden signal about what a job would be like, but it’s not. This woman is gross and picks her nose in public, for a sustained period of time. I don’t know how to interpret that any more than you do, other than that some people are just gross, and she’s one of them.

7. I was told I’d earn a salary, but now I’m being paid hourly

I recently started a job at a nonprofit as an administrative assistant. During the interview process, they told me the annual salary and then in my offer letter they told me my monthly salary. However, when I arrived at work, they told me I had a time card I needed to fill out, and so now I’m being paid hourly. This seems deceptive to me, that they can advertise an annual salary but pay me hourly. What are your thoughts?

That’s not uncommon. If you’re non-exempt, which you probably are as an administrative assistant, it’s common to calculate your salary hourly, even if it’s formally stated as an annual salary. Many people who make, say $45,000/year actually make $21.63/hour. (The assumption is that you’ll work 2,080 hours a year — 52 40-hour weeks, generally with some paid time off in there.)

It’s seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go…

1. Our boss took away our lunch room

I work at a legal services company in California. Our boss (president/CEO) recently made new rules for the employees and I just want to know if these are ok. Our company offers conference rooms to our clients to use for mediations, meetings, etc. We’ve been allowed to use these rooms (when unoccupied) to take our 30-minute lunch breaks. Since we don’t have a break room, this has worked out perfectly.

Our boss recently took away that option and has suggested we find some other place to take our lunch breaks. There is a small table with four chairs in the back hallway, but it’s also right across from another conference room where clients can see us eat and will interrupt our lunch break to have us help them with whatever they may need, even though we’re off the clock. We don’t all go to lunch at the same time, but a lot of us want our privacy, away from clients, to relax during our breaks. Some of my fellow colleagues have even gone down to the parking garage, 14 stories down, to eat their food in their cars. We’re all really frustrated about this and have no idea where to start to fix this problem.

Well, not every workplace offers a spot for lunch breaks. You may have to leave the office (is there anywhere around you that you can go?) or eat at your desk. That’s not ideal, but sometimes that’s all that’s possible. That said, you can certainly explain the problem to your boss and see if he’s willing to put one of the conference rooms back in use as a lunch room. He might be — or he might not, but you should begin by asking.

However, if you’re running into the issue of clients spotting you eating and interrupting you while you’re off the clock, that’s an issue that does need to be solved, since California law requires that you be given a 30-minute meal break — which means you’re not working during it. Plus, if you’re non-exempt and you’re clocked out during this time, you’d need to be paid for any time spent helping clients while you’re supposed to be eating. So you should absolutely point this part of the problem out to your boss — but be aware that the solution might be “go outside the office to eat, even if it’s to the parking garage.”

2. How can I tell if there’s another qualification my interviewer is looking for?

The last two screening interviews I have had did not progress to an in-person interview. I asked for and actually got some feedback, and in both cases, they said they were looking for someone with X (a different X in each case) and felt that their other candidates would be a better fit in that regard. In both cases, I actually do have a lot of experience in both Xs but was not asked about it, nor was it mentioned in the job description. I even asked if they had concerns I could address at the end of the interview.

How can a candidate be expected to address a concern that is not mentioned? Is there a question that can be asked up front so I know how to tailor my answers?

Asking whether the interviewer has any reservations about your qualifications that you could address is the best way to elicit that sort of thing, but you tried it and it didn’t work. At that point, there’s not much more you can do. You can’t control for this kind of thing perfectly, unfortunately.

3. Can I do an internship while keeping my current job?

I’m currently employed, but I discovered a potential amazing opportunity with another company. They would require a part-time internship of 3 months, but I am told that everyone usually gets hired and even before 3 months. As much I like where i work, I think I could have a much better career with the other company. Obviously, I would like to keep my current job and intern at the same time. How would you approach a supervisor in this situation?

A couple of suggestions I received were to just say that for personal reasons I need to work part-time or if that if that is not acceptable to request 2 months of unpaid leave. One problem is my supervisor will be very confused and question this sudden request. On top of all this, I am expecting a promotion in the next few months or so, but I don’t want to tarry too long in starting the internship.

Yeah, you’d almost certainly need to explain why you were requesting to move to part-time or to take a two-month leave, since those are both unusual requests in most jobs. That means you’d need to come up with a lie to explain it, which is a bad idea — both because it’s, you know, lying and because if your current employer found out what you were really doing, you’d almost certainly be fired.

I don’t think you can have your cake and eat it too here — you’re going to need to pick one or the other. And I’d be very wary of quitting your job for a 3-month internship with no guarantee of employment after that (and I’m also not sure how amazing an opportunity it can really be if it starts with an internship).

4. Do I really need to remove high school from my resume?

I just read that high school has no place on a resume ever. I’m a recent college graduate and I just got my first “real job,” and it involves working with kids preparing them for success in high school and applying to college. I had my high school listed on my resume with academic honors (national merit scholar and whatnot), and I think it might have helped me to get the job, but maybe I’m wrong. They mentioned that they were impressed by my academic success and that it showed that I’m a good fit. Is it still time to delete that section from my resume?

Yes. For that particular job, it might have been appropriate to talk about your high school experience in your cover letter, but high school doesn’t belong on your resume. Very few employers care what you did before college, unless you did something truly magnificent, which most of us didn’t.

5. Can I be required to work after my shift has ended?

If I have clocked out for the day and am heading towards the exit, can I refuse to clock back in if my managers then decide they need my help with something? I am not a seller, but am obliged to help out of concern for how superiors my retaliate. I work in a high-end retail store where clients often want things last minute.

You can say no, but they can fire you for that, if they choose to. In other words, your employer can indeed require you to work past your scheduled shift, even if you’re already on your way out. That said, explaining that you will be late for X (an appointment, picking someone up from the airport, or whatever) will generally work in most reasonable workplaces — but simply refusing won’t go over well and is a good way to ensure that you’re never asked to clock back in at all.

6. What should I delete from my computer before handing it in?

I’m in the process of changing jobs internally. As part of the process, I’ll be getting a new computer. I’m doing things like deleting temporary files, browsing history, cookies, personal documents, etc. Is there anything I’m overlooking? I want to leave the computer clear of personal information. I know this isn’t a typical AAM area, but I thought other readers may have gone through this too.

Don’t forget your email — deleting anything personal you’ve sent or received, as well as anything work-related that’s sensitive. I’ve found emails I never should have seen after employees have left, and it never fails to amaze me that people leave that stuff on their computers.

7. Can I list landlord-ing on my resume?

I have been a landlord for 8 years now (we have two small houses on our half acre of land) and I’m wondering how to get this experience on my resume. We’re in California where tenants’ rights are strict and I have learned the ins and outs of our legal system. We’ve had four sets of great tenants and one bad tenant who I successfully sued in small claims court. I think this is all great experience that I would like to share somehow. Maybe not the suing people part. That might make employers a little nervous.

Can I list it on my resume as Smith Property Management or do I mention it in my cover letter?

You can absolutely list it on your resume. It’s work, and it’s a revenue-making enterprise that you’ve clearly learned things from.