Ask a Manager

It’s fast answer Friday — seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go…

1. My boss is being pushed out, and I know about documents she may not turn over

My boss has led our charity for three years since the original founder died. I have been a full-time employee for 8 months, and prior to that a temp — the only full-time employee, as she is a consultant. I really like the organization’s mission, but a difficult situation has arisen that will come to a head in two weeks. I have become increasingly aware that the board of directors is unhappy with my boss and a week ago they informed me privately that they were going to let her go. They want me to run the organization on a day-to-day basis, and bring in a fundraiser as the head. All good, and necessary in my opinion.

My question: how do I let them know of information about my boss’s possession of emails, documents, reports, etc. that are stored in her personal online storage box, and not on the organization’s server? I am concerned that she will refuse to turn them over when they let her go. If I tell them about this and other information known to me that are important to the transition, my boss will know it came from me. She is influential in my city, and I do not want to make an enemy. At the same time, not having these things will make it very difficult in the next few months — just at the time I want to demonstrate my competence to the board. Thus my quandary.

Tell the board and explain your concerns. If you ask them to, they can almost certainly tell her that they asked you about where items were stored (as opposed to you volunteering it), which may mitigate her anger. Beyond that, that’s not much you can do — someone determined to go out in a blaze of hostility will do so no matter what precautions you take. (But you also might be underestimating her professionalism; refusing to turn over documents is pretty extreme and unusual, and so is the type of retribution you’re afraid of.)

2. Suggesting a non-native speaker work on his English skills

I supervise someone who is very smart. He is a great technical resource and prior to being an employee was also an outside consultant. My boss, rightfully, realized he should be hired, and he started a few months ago.

The problem is that English is his second language and he has a lot of trouble with writing written communication (emails). Often, instead of responding to an email, he’ll swing by my desk to answer a question because verbal is simply easier communication. My boss suggests I encourage him to look into some formal classes on communication — spoken (pronunciation) and written. How do I have that conversation (tactfully!)? I know it’s fairly easy and I think it would be received just fine, but is it as simple as “We really enjoy working with you and think you do a great job on x, but it would really help your development at [company] if you strengthened these skills?”* Would it be beneficial to look up some classes and provide them as resources during the discussion? I wish they would, but I’m 99% sure that our business wouldn’t pay for it.

*OK, it probably is, maybe I am just looking for some affirmation?

Yes, it really is that simple. Consider it like any other type of feedback you might need to give an employee, and be direct and kind about it. Your wording is good. And you might check with your boss ahead of time to see if the company would cover it, as he’s the one making the suggestion, after all.

3. No written offer, with start date fast approaching

I was lucky enough to be offered a job that I’m very excited for on Friday before the long weekend. During the verbal offer, it was reiterated multiple times that I would receive a written offer on Tuesday because they really wanted to get me moving quickly. (They really pursued and wooed me throughout the process.) They even tried to set me up with a start date of this upcoming Monday, but I told them I would like the written offer before we set a specific date. I emailed HR asking about a timeline after their self imposed deadline passed, but never received a response. How long do I wait before I try to contact them again? I feel like a week is much too short of a time for this to move, but the “start date” is just a few business days away and it’s making me nervous.

You didn’t agree to an actual start date, right? And they know that? Assuming so, email the hiring manager — not HR — and say that you’re excited to get started but that you wanted to check in since HR told you that they’d have the written offer to you by Tuesday, it’s now Friday and you haven’t heard anything despite trying to contact them, and you want to see if there’s an updated timeline. Keep the tone warm; you don’t want to sound like you’re complaining, just that you’re hoping to move forward.

4. My coworker makes awful noises all day long, but it’s not her fault

I have a colleague who sits near me and makes bar-none the loudest and most disgusting sounds I’ve ever had the misfortune of hearing. Hacking, coughing, nose-blowing, slurping, belching, and snorting. These noises happen every 10-15 minutes, like clockwork, and they’re too loud to muffle with my headphones (unless I’m willing to blow out my eardrums). It’s not just me who notices it either–people who have the misfortune of passing our desks while these noises are happening visible cringe and shudder. At this point, it’s getting unbearable, to the point that this problem seriously weighs on my decision to stay or go. I know your usual advice is: “Talk to them. Maybe it just takes making them aware to fix the problem.” But…there’s a but.

It’s relatively well known that this colleague has Tourette’s and/or some form of OCD, and they do mutter expletives and the like in addition to the phlegm sounds. The muttering doesn’t bother me because it’s controlled in volume (it just blends into office background noise). It’s the very loud “biological” sounds I can’t take anymore, but I have no idea if these may be related to their condition. As a person with a disability myself, I certainly don’t want to make anybody feel targeted, and the last thing I would want to do is get the company embroiled in a protected-class-tangle for complaining about behavior that may be related to a disability, but I don’t know if I can take this anymore! What do I do? Is this just a suck-it-up-and-deal situation, or should I risk talking about it with this individual, my manager, or HR?

Talk with your manager, and if that produces nothing, talk with HR. This sounds incredibly distracting, and they might be able to move your coworker into a more private space where the noises — if uncontrollable — won’t be as disruptive. You can say up front that you want to be sensitive to the fact that she has a disability, but that it’s interfering with your ability to focus, take calls, talk to others, and so forth.

5. My employer refuses to confirm my employment so that I can’t get another job

I have worked as a cosmetologist at the same salon for 7 years. I have a chance to work part-time as a teacher in a private cosmetology school. she problem is that for me to get the job, my current employer has to sign a paper saying I have worked in his salon for 2 years. He doesn’t want me to work for anyone but him, so he refuses to sign the paper for me so now I can’t get the job.

Wow, he sounds horrible. Explain the situation to the school, and offer to prove your tenure there through other means, such as supplying past years’ W2s, which should confirm your employment. If they’re at all reasonable, they’ll be sympathetic and willing to work with you on some kind of alternate means like this.

6. My company stopped contributing matching funds to our retirement accounts, but hasn’t said anything about it

I’ve recently learned that my employer has decided not to deposit the company’s matching funds into our retirement accounts. They are also not telling us that they’re doing this or why, instead leaving it to spread via the company grapevine. Everyone is justifiably upset and wondering the same thing (sing it with me if you know the words): Is this legal? I am guessing the answer is, per usual, but thought I’d ask anyway. This feels like fraud or something…they’re reneging on an agreement. Is there no recourse for employees?

Your employer can change your retirement plan benefit at any time — including stopping their matching funds, which quite a few do when times are tighter — as long as you don’t have an employment agreement that guarantees the payments (which most people don’t). It’s odd that they haven’t informed you though — odd, but not illegal. (What they cannot do, however, is withhold your own contribution from your paycheck but not deposit it in a timely manner.)

7. Was my LinkedIn request to a recruiter inappropriate?

A couple years ago, I interviewed for a job out-of-state. I thought the interview went well, but a week later I received a rejection email from the recruiter I interviewed with. Bummer. I stayed in touch with the recruiter, and she would respond to my emails encouraging me to check the company’s website for new openings. She also viewed my profile on Linkedin periodically.

Recently I sent her an application for another job at her company, and she responded by asking me to come in to interview and I accepted. She greeted me like an old friend when I got there, and then I met with the supervisor and manager. A week later I got another rejection email from her. Double bummer. I replied by saying I appreciated the opportunity and I was still interested in a position with that company where I’d be a better fit. I then sent her an invitation to connect on LinkedIn.

Some time has passed and she hasn’t accepted it, and I wonder if asking her to connect on LinkedIn was inappropriate. What are your thoughts?

Not inappropriate at all; it’s a very common thing to do in that a context like that. But some people only connect with people who they know at least a certain amount — and she may feel that she doesn’t know you sufficiently. That doesn’t make the request inappropriate, just one she’s not taking you up on. (That said, recruiters tend to connect more broadly, so who knows.)

Or she may simply have overlooked the request, which happens plenty too.

It’s terse answer Thursday — six short answers to six short questions. Here we go…

1. My arrest mug shot is the first thing people see when they Google me

I was arrested a few years back for a mix-up (I went to the wrong courthouse to pay my ticket and was arrested for being a no-show at the right courthouse). The judge dismissed the charges, but my mug shot is the first thing that comes up when you Google my name. I used to go by my married name to avoid being googled, but now I am divorced and my license and social security card are back in my maiden name, which is the name I was arrested under. Must I go by the maiden name when sending out resumes, and how/when do I address what happened?

On your resume, use the name that you use professionally, since, well, that’s your name. And that’s also the name that they’ll ask your references about. But your best bet might be to use the “reputation management” techniques that are recommended for anyone trying to bury a negative search result: Fill up the search results with other things that you WANT them to see. Start a blog that uses your full name, comment on popular sites using your full name (make smart and sensible comments, obviously), have a searchable LinkedIn profile, and so forth. If you do enough of it, this stuff can push the mug shot far back in the search results — and a lot of people stop searching after the first or second page of results.

2. Can I know if an employer already has an internal candidate picked out?

I recently found a job that I think I would be perfect for! However, I’m starting to get the sneaking suspicion that it’s just being posted because the organization (a city government) has to post publicly and/or interview X amount of people for due diligence, but that they might already have someone internal in mind. I know this happens a lot because I’ve seen it happen many times at my current company.

The application has several supplementary questions, some of which are quite specific, such as “How familiar are you with the City organization and it’s approach to managing Department?”

Is there any way I can know if I’m putting in all this work on the many supplementary questions for naught? Or do I just buck up and make my application as competitive as possible so even if they were “saving” the job, I might still have a shot?

You can’t know. You have to decide if you’re willing to take the risk that they might just be going through the motions and planning to hire an internal candidate. Are you willing to invest the time in applying, knowing that might be the case? Keep in mind that this can be the case for any job you apply for; you’re just getting more signals about it than usual here. For that matter, you could go through the work of applying for any position only to have your application trashed immediately because they just froze their hiring or hired someone else. It’s always something of a crapshoot.

For the record, outside candidates can get the job even when there’s a favored internal candidate, if they’re significantly better. Not always, but sometimes (and that’s another thing that you can’t really tell from the outside).

3. I was laid off, but now my job has been advertised again

When a boss chooses to “restructure” your position and eliminate your job (assuring you it was not performance related), can they turn around and repost the same job six months later with a different title?

Sure. The only way this would be illegal is if they did it in order to get rid of you because of your race, religion, sex, national origin, or other protected category. If they just did it because they didn’t want to work with you anymore and found this easier than firing you, that’s perfectly legal. It’s also possible, of course, that the decision to cut the position was a genuine one, but they changed their mind later on or circumstances changed.

You could potentially get a better idea of which of these it is by emailing your old manager, saying you saw the role posted, and ask if it would make sense to throw your hat in the ring (if you’re actually interested in returning; you may not be).

4. Online application system didn’t let me upload a cover letter

I saw a position listed on a hospital website. I am very interested in this job, and, I think, very qualified for it. I spent a long time crafting a good cover letter, tweaking my resume to highlight the most relevant points, and then applied for the job right from the listing.

The website noted that the application process would take about 15 minutes and had to be completed in one session. Fine. I was ready! I filled in the form with my name and contact information and uploaded my resume. After that, there were a couple of short, optional affirmative action type questions, and one that spelled out their flu shot policy and asked for acknowledgement that I read and understood it. Fine! This all took maybe 3-4 minutes, tops.

And then it was over. Nothing else to fill in; no opportunity to upload a cover letter. A “thank you” screen popped up saying something like “Thank you for submitting your resume; we will contact you if it looks like you are qualified for any of our open positions.” So I’m a little puzzled. I had to create an account to apply, and when I check my account, it says I did apply for that particular position and that my status is “active”. I’m sorry I couldn’t submit the cover letter; in some ways I am a non-traditional candidate and I thought the cover letter did a great job of explaining why I am actually very well qualified for this.

My question for you (finally!) is: Is there anything else I can do? I know, probably not. But something just feels strange about this. I’m positive I didn’t miss a chance to submit the cover letter. This is a large hospital system in a fairly big city, and the application process seemed very outdated and lacking in .. something. Honestly, it felt like I applied for an entry level unskilled job. Should I just sit tight and trust that if this is meant to be, it will happen? I just wish I could get my cover letter into the right hands somehow.

Yeah, some online systems don’t ask for or even accept cover letters. They suck.

If you can figure out who the hiring manager is, you could email your cover letter and resume directly to them, with a note saying that you applied online but wanted to send a cover letter as well. You could do the same thing with HR. It might not help, but it it might — and it definitely shouldn’t hurt.

5. Should I apply for a job I’m not qualified for if I think I have a lot to offer them?

I am in the midst of a career change, from film/video to marketing, and have been working in marketing for the past couple of years, after over a decade in film/video. A position has just opened up for a senior marketing manager at a local film/video office (and there are not many of those companies around here).

I know that I am not senior marketing manager material, but feel that my background would give me a unique insight and knowledge base for marketing purposes. Should I apply anyway or would I come across as naive if I am applying for something that I am not qualified for? I would not like to burn any bridges with this company as it sounds as if it could be a great fit for me.

If you’re wildly unqualified, I wouldn’t apply for that particular job — but why not reach out to that company in some other way and explain what you think you have to offer? This will go best if you can target a particular person there (someone with decision-making authority) rather than a general HR address.

6. My husband’s restaurant is telling him to buy an expensive knife for work use

My husband works at a very popular and high priced restaurant as a dish washer. He only makes $8/hour. He was “promoted” lately to kitchen prep but without a raise. He was told a raise might come soon.

The restaurant asked him to purchase an expensive knife for his kitchen prep duties. We reviewed our budget and all we could reasonably afford was a $20 knife that gets the job done. My husband tells me that management continues to pressure him to get a knife that costs at least $75 and that they will be willing to do paycheck deductions to help him out.

I told my husband I feel it’s unreasonable for them to ask him to purchase an expensive knife at $8/hr and that he should politely decline and ask that they provide a knife for his use or give him a raise to $10/hour. What do you think of this advice? Do you have any advice on how my husband can handle this in the best way?

Are you sure this isn’t standard for the industry? I don’t know for sure, but the chefs I know all have their own knives that they take from job to job with them (and often even take home at night in a case). At least at that level, it seems to be standard to have your own — any chance that’s the case for kitchen prep too? If so, it might be the price of admission to this particular job. Anyone with restaurant experience want to weigh in?