Ask a Manager

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

1. Employer won’t let me continue to use my maiden name professionally

I have a question about dealing with married vs. maiden names. I was married several years ago and just kept my maiden name for a while. I recently legally changed my name to be: Firstname MaidenName Husband’sname.

Anyway, before I changed my name, I applied for a federal govt job. I just found out last week I got hired–yay! I was talking to the HR rep today about my background investigation and paperwork, and I mentioned to her that, while I have since legally changed my name, professionally, I would like to keep my maiden name. I understand legally my name is Mrs. Husband’sName, but I would like my email address, business cards, etc to say Ms. MaidenName. She told me “No because paperwork, investigations, blah blah.”

I was a little surprised because I didn’t think this was a big deal, and I thought more women did this. Do you have any ideas on what I can do? I really didn’t think it would be a problem, and I would really like to stay “Ms. MaidenName” professionally. What do you think?

It’s certainly true that the government is a massive bureaucracy with all sorts of barriers to doing what’s logical and reasonable, so I suppose it’s possible that there really is some rule against it — but tons of women do this at other employers, particularly when they already have an established professional identity.

Of course they need to do your official paperwork using your legal name, but I can’t see any possible justification for refusing to allow you to use your maiden name on things like business cards, email, etc. And given how many women continue to use their maiden name professionally even after changing it legally, this is a bunch of BS. But because the federal government is a notoriously rules-laden employer, she might be right — but it would still be worth trying to push back and point out that women are increasingly taking this option and it’s something they should find a way to accommodate.

2. How to motivate a lazy coworker whose work I’m getting stuck with

I work at an entry-level position for a government agency and I have a question about coworker motivation. Our job is for a two year term and a coworker, who is leaving in 3 or 4 months, has stopped doing any work. Her lack of motivation affects my job and has been causing issues. The management philosophy here is more “it has to get done” rather than “this is X’s responsibility, X needs to do it,” so my workload has been increasing and I feel like I am getting blamed for this coworker slacking off. It is long before the period when she needs to transfer her tasks before she leaves. One permanent employee is aware of her problems but has been unsuccessful in motivating her as well as he is not her direct supervisor. Unfortunately, she somehow has very good standing with our bosses and they have not listened in the past when I have asked for the workload to be redistributed. Do you have any suggestions for how to motivate this coworker to complete her assigned work?

You can’t motivate her, nor should you have to. But what you can do is deal with it the same way you’d handle any other workload issue, totally ignoring the fact that this one is being caused by your lazy coworker (and her manager who won’t manage, which is actually the bigger problem): Go to your manager and say, “I can do A and B, but not C. Or if C is really important, I’d need to move A off my plate to make room for it. Alternately, I can be a resource to Jane on C, but I can’t do the work of C myself if I’m also doing A and B. How would you like me to prioritize, and what would you like me to put on the back burner?”

Also, read this.

3. Do resume objectives make sense at recruiting events?

I notice you are always against objectives on a resume, but now I am out of school (where, by the way, the objective was “highly recommended’) and have taken part in some recruiting events for my corporation. I would like to suggest that the dreaded objective is highly valuable when the resume will be presented in a forum where the recruiter will be talking to people interested in many different fields or positions. Knowing at a glance if the person standing in front of me is looking for a full time position or an internship is very valuable, as is if they are looking for a commercial or engineering position.

Perhaps this is an exception to your “no objective” rule?

There are other ways to achieve that than with an objective, which pretty much always look dated and awful. Try a more modern profile or summary or something that doesn’t have the stale odor of 1982 to it.

4. Unethical bonus to coworker?

I work in a small office — 2 bosses, 3 employees. One boss gave her close assistant a secret bonus for “working there for 15 years.” This assistant’s husband recently lost his job. I am the one in the office who writes a check to cover the payroll. I asked the other boss why payroll was so high, and he said, “oh, Kelly gave Diane a bonus for working here 15 years.” Kelly and Diane are very close. Before I had asked my boss about the payroll being high, they tried to hide the payroll report from me. This whole situation is affecting my work. What should I do? Do you think this conduct by my bosses is unprofessional or unethical? I have worked there for 10 years.

It’s not unethical to give a bonus to an employee. If anything is unethical here, it’s your using your access to payroll information to form opinions about your coworkers’ pay, which is really none of your business. Drop this; it’s truly far, far outside the range of what’s appropriate for you to involve yourself in.

5. Job-hunting outside of academia with a PhD

I was hoping you could address a few issues that apply to people who have PhDs but decide not to go into academe. My university’s career center has been completely useless in advising me so I am turning to you. I have been applying to “industry” positions for the past six to eight months, and haven’t heard a peep. (I am a non-clinical psychologist.) I am religious about tailoring my resume and my cover letter (per all your advice in past postings), so I figure it must be that I’m applying for positions for which I’m either under- or over-qualified.

I typically apply for positions that require an MA or a PhD (because I want to use my PhD), and to my eye they look attainable. (I do, however, stay away from positions that have “Director” in the title–I know I’m not experienced enough for those positions.) Usually they require 3-5 years experience, fluency in various statistical methods, project management experience, and sometimes expertise in a content area (e.g. education, child development, psychometrics). I count my laboratory experiences and psychological studies in graduate school as “counting” toward those years of experience, because I did the work–just didn’t get paid for it (graduate experience was five years total, and I conducted research in a business setting for two years prior to that). I have been afforded the opportunity to work within several niches, so I do have a pretty broad set of applicable experiences. I am well-versed in most statistical techniques, have a great deal of experience with project management (managing undergraduates and colleagues on various projects), and I apply for positions that are situated within my area of expertise.

Is it as I fear, and PhD-level candidates are not taken seriously outside academe? Any advice on how to not look like a fresh graduate, though I do actually have quite a bit of relevant experience? I am hell-bent on applying my research skills and expertise in a practical way, not within the insular world of academia, so I would really love any perspective you might have on finding–and getting!– jobs for PhDs.

Well, if they’re specifically asking for a PhD, I don’t think the issue if that they’re discounting you because of your PhD. I don’t have a ton of insight into what’s going on, other than what I’d tell anyone in your shoes: If you’re not getting interviews, take another look at your materials, no matter how confident you are that they’re good. Read this, in particular. But you also might try meeting with a few people in the field(s) you want to work in and ask them for insight into what could make you more attractive to employers. Sort of an informational interview, in the way that too few people use them.

6. Which GPA should I include on my resume?

I have a question about GPA and including it on your resume, as sometimes it is requested. I initially went to a smaller community college and subsequently transferred to a large university. On my resume, I only indicated that I went to the university that my bachelor’s degree is from, but included a cumulative GPA from both schools that I calculated. Is this deceiving, and should I indicate only the GPA received from the university? I haven’t really run into any issues yet, but I am curious if I should or should not do this.

What would the university say if contacted to verify your GPA? That’s the number you want to use, since otherwise you can run into issues if an employer verifies. But that’s if you include GPA at at all — I wouldn’t include GPA on your resume unless it’s very high (3.7 or higher).

7. Am I asking too much of this networking contact?

I had a networking meeting with a GM in an industry I’m not interested in joining. He’s a great contact, offered awesome career advice, and told me he would be willing to help in any way he could. I have not narrowed down specific companies I’d like to work for and I’ve just started seriously considering making a change and leaving my current job. I’ve been at my current organization for 5 years and am ready to acquire new skills that I won’t get from my current position/boss.

I’m looking for a new challenge and a salary reset. Once I identify a few companies I’d like to begin to pursue jobs at, would it be too forward to give this contact a list of companies I’d like to get into along with my resume? He has contact with many high level executives in a number of companies locally and nationally. I almost feel as if that’s asking too much.

He’s offered to help you, so let him know what would be helpful. What you’re proposing isn’t too much at all, as long as the list of companies isn’t ridiculously long. But make sure you’re clear with him about what you’re asking him to do — presumably, to see if he has any contacts at the companies on your list who he’d be willing to reach out to on your behalf. (In other words, don’t just hand him a list; be clear about what you’d like him to do with it.)

It’s wee answer Wednesday — seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go…

1. Does my employer have to let me work from home if I have a doctor’s note?

A year ago, I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and started taking medication for it. I’m doing lots better, but I still battle spikes in anxiety now and again. Additionally, I’m pretty much the picture of hyperthyroidism without an official diagnosis.

Last week, my new manager came back from maternity leave, and while she is nice enough on the surface, I can tell we are going to butt heads a lot, or I’m going to be biting my tongue more often than I’d like. Overall though, my job makes me miserable and I am well past my breaking point here. The only reason I haven’t left yet is because I haven’t had anything lined up. I’ve wanted to switch from working at home to at least relieve some of the office environment stress but I knew they wouldn’t go for it without a doctor’s note.

So I got my note, but my gut is telling me that management is going to fight tooth and nail to keep me in the office. I’m not a bad employee and work pretty much unsupervised all day, so I don’t think my performance would play into it much. Can my company deny me the ability to work from home when it is for medical reasons? Being able to control the sounds around me will be pivotal for me; additionally, being able to eat more regularly and as necessary will help me combat being underweight. This is something my doctor and I talked about and she wouldn’t give me the note to work from home if she didn’t agree with my assessment. I’m just now anxious that my bosses will deny this to me, and I don’t know what I can do at that point.

If your medical condition is covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act (not all are) and working from home would not pose an undue hardship to your employer or interfere with your ability to perform the essential functions of your job and there is not an alternate accommodation that would resolve the problem, then they might be legally required to allow it. (But if, for instance, they could address the problem by giving you a quieter workspace and allowing you to eat at your desk as freely as you’d like, then it would be hard to argue that working from home was the only acceptable accommodation.)

But if it’s really about just not liking your new manager much, fighting a major battle with your employer to convince them to allow this probably isn’t the way to go.

2. What to do when a written offer is higher than the verbal offer

I regularly chat on a forum frequented by moms in their 30s and 40s. This question came up there and I’d love to know what you think. A woman there verbally agreed to an offer. When she received her offer letter, she quickly accepted it and told them so in writing. Later, she did the math and realized the offered salary is $15k more than what was agreed to. She lowballed herself when she verbally agreed to the original offer, and now she’s wondering if perhaps the company decided to give her an industry-standard salary without telling her.

Half the advice she is receiving from this forum is, “Yeah, they probably wanted to be nice and give you an industry-standard wage, trust that they know what they are doing, and don’t say anything.” The other half is saying, “Tell them. This could turn out badly if they realize their error later and you say nothing. But DONT say it was an error! Just bring it up when you start by thanking them profusely for the faith they have in you and the good will they have shown with the salary bump. This puts you in a position of power and makes it uncomfortable for them to correct you.”

Ironically, this woman was hired as an accountant. What do you think she should do? What do you think of the forum advice?

I’d say something — partly because I’d want the peace of mind of not having to wonder if it was going to be a mistake that would be discovered at some point down the road, and partly because it’s just the right thing to do if you have a real question about whether it was intentional or not. However, I agree that it doesn’t make sense to present it as an error, although I don’t think “profuse thanks” is necessary either. I’d just say something like, “I appreciate the salary bump in the offer letter, and I’m looking forward to starting work.”

3. How long should it take to hear back about a raise request?

A little more than 2 weeks ago, I approached my manager and the HR manager separately (they know I contacted them both) about a raise. Since I got here (in 2005), my duties have increased as a microbiologist. I started with 0 people, now I have 6 direct reports, and I have more areas in my supervision, but no raise.

I simply asked them to review my salary, which I know is underpaid. Both said that they will get together and look into the situation but I haven’t gotten an answer (they didn’t say how much time they would take to come up to a decision). How much more time should I let pass by before asking about my situation again or to know what was the decision?

Give it another week, and then follow up with your manager and ask about the timeline for getting you an answer. (Go to your manager, not HR, because this is really your manager’s call — or at least something your manager would need to be the one advocating for.) This stuff can sometimes take a while, particularly if you’re at a bureaucratic company, but you should at least be able to find out a likely timeframe.

4. Why did this hiring manager ask for another copy of my resume?

I interviewed for a position via Skype early last week and was told that I’d hear back in a few days. Today the hiring manager asked me to send him a copy of my resume. I wanted to update it, but since I’ve already interviewed for the position, I sent the same version that I did when I initially applied for the job. Why would they need another copy of my resume after an interview?

Who knows? Maybe they somehow lost it. Or maybe just the hiring manager lost it and knows that it would take forever to get a response from that slow person in HR. Or the HR person is away. Or maybe he wanted a version that was easily forwardable and their online system doesn’t make that simple. I wouldn’t read anything into it. (However, it would have been fine to have sent an updated version, with a note indicating that you’d updated it.)

5. Manager gives us rules that he doesn’t follow

We work at a convenience store. What do you do when your manager bans all cell phones, iPods, and mp3 players because we “spend too much time messing with them” and tells us we are to be moving at all times, but then two days later reads us a text from his daughter? Or tells us that visitors are not be there more than 5 minutes or that talking to customers for any length of time is no longer tolerable, but he spends 1-2 hours daily talking in lobby with various customers and vendors and the rest of the time playing catch up in the office when he is supposed to be our back up?

We have 180-320 customers on a 6-hour day shift. He accuses of us of having excuses for why we can’t get our duties done, when it is really because he is not there for back up. What we do? Our morale is way low, and work is getting done by most of us; it is just one or two employees on a crew of seven who are not coming close on getting their duties done. We are about to explode. Help!

Well, when you have roughly one customer per minute during a shift, it’s actually pretty reasonable to tell you not to use cell phones or iPods while you’re working. It’s also pretty typical for retail stores to have a hierarchy where non-management employees are subject to different rules than managers. Different positions have different expectations, and it’s really his prerogative to tell you not to use cell phones while you’re working but still use his own. He might (or might not) be hypocritical, but you’re not going to win him over by pointing out that he’s doing the things he’s telling you not to do, because his role is different. I think you’re better off simply accepting that this is pretty normal in this work context and not letting yourself get too bothered by it.

6. Keeping my job applications out of spam folders

I often find that when I email someone for the first time, I get no response, but then when I follow up with a phone call, it turns out that my message ended up in their spam filter. I’m guessing this has to do with the fact that I have an unusual full name (as far as I know, it’s one of a kind) and my personal email address is simply [first name][middle name]@gmail.com. Now that I’m job searching, I’m concerned about this being an issue when I apply for positions that specifically request resumes and cover letters to be emailed. I certainly don’t want to be a pest by calling to see if they’ve received my application, and in some cases there is no phone number listed with the posting, but I would hate to miss out on a position that might be a good fit for me simply because the hiring manager didn’t check their spam folder. Do you have any suggestions for how to handle this?

If you’re sure that your email address is the problem, why not just get a different email address? (I’m not sure if your email address really IS the problem, but if you think it is, that’s where I’d start.)

7. Can I write about hiring on my personal blog?

I currently work for a nonprofit and run my own blog at the same time. I’ve already assisted with hiring an intern for this organization, and we’re working on hiring one more. I wanted to write on my own blog about things people should and shouldn’t do in their job applications based on what I’ve seen from our pool of candidates. I wouldn’t name names, of course, and would be willing to wait until our other intern is hired. Plus, we have no policy against it. Am I allowed to do this?

It’s completely up to your employer, whether or not there’s a policy. Some employers won’t care, and some will not be okay with you writing about work things, including hiring. So check with your manager before you write anything — even if you write anonymously, since things sometimes become un-anonymous on the Internet.

It’s tiny answer Tuesday — seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go…

1. How many questions are normally asked at a job interview?

How many questions are normally asked at a job interview? I recently graduated college and I’m preparing to go on my first job interview, so I would like know this in order to be fully prepared for the interview.

It really depends — on the interviewer, the candidate, the job, and the length of the interview. Some interviews are as short as half an hour (with some phone screens shorter than that). Some are an hour, and some are longer. Probably the average is about an hour, with anywhere from 15-30 questions. It just varies. And of course, a good interview will have plenty of unplanned follow-up questions, building from whatever your answer was.

2. Should I question my manager about her reminder about overtime approval?

I’m eligible for overtime in my current role. Overtime policy at this company says that hours recorded below 45 hours per week do not need management approval (where time above 40 hours would be overtime). This week, I clocked in 6 hours of overtime in a 2-week period and received a reminder from my manager to let her know if I was having issues managing my workload.

Do I concede here? Or question her on the policy? I’m concerned this will turn into a divisive issue if I say anything.

It’s more likely to be divisive if you approach it the way it sounds like you’re approaching it here (with talking of conceding and questioning her). Instead, just ask for clarification, without assuming there’s anything unfair or unreasonable going on: “Just to make sure I’m doing this correctly — my understanding is that I should check with you before working more than 5 hours of overtime in a week, but your note makes me wonder if you’d rather I check with you before that?” (And it’s certainly her prerogative to ask you to do that, regardless of what the company-wide policy is.)

3. Manager won’t let me leave four minutes early

I have been in my current job for 4 months and have recently changed teams within my department, meaning changing managers. I work on a help desk, which involes me logging onto an agent system that moniters my calls. My shift is 8:30-5 pm with an hour lunch. Last Friday, I logged off at 4:56 to get myself ready and out the door dead on 5 pm. (I had a 35-mile drive home that I was not looking forward to). I received an email the next Monday morning from my line manager saying that I am to stay logged on untill 5 pm as those are my hours. This seems like a fair statment, right?

Well, I’m not the only help desk in my office, but I am the only one made to stay on the help desk untill 5 pm exactly, which means I am covering for everyone else in office, although we all log onto a different type of help desk; if they are all logged off, then their calls will be directed to me. Not only that, but if I do receive a call at 4 minutes to 5 because there is no one else in the office and all other members of my team have finished for the day, there is nothing I can do to resolve the call. I am the go-to person for the “all inquiries” option, so for me to help other people I need to direct them to correct person, which is not possible if they have all left for the day. There is also the fact that when I do receive a call at 4 minutes to 5 that the phone call can last over 5 minutes if the caller is chatting away, meaning I am always leaving work past 5 pm!

I would be happy to stay late on the odd day if on the odd day I can leave at 4 minutes to 5! Not everyday, but maybe on a Friday when I have a 35-mile drive! Also, I am never late; in fact I am on average 15 minutes early everyday! I just feel it’s completely unfair and would like a manager’s opinion.

If you’re supposed to be on the phone until 5, then you need to stay logged in until 5. And if that means your last call keeps you longer than 5, well, that sounds like part of the job. Arguing over this because you want to leave four minutes early is going to be wasted effort. This is not a job with flexible hours (uh, flexible minutes, in this case); if they’re telling their customers that they call until 5, that means 5 — not 4:56. It sounds like your real issue is that other coworkers are leaving early, leaving you with no one to direct their calls to. That’s an issue that you could raise with your manager, to find out how she’d like that handled.

4. My friend wants to recommend me for a job that I’m not sure I want

I’m about to finish my master’s degree and am obviously engaged in a pretty intensive job search. A friend of mine works for a large international company that is far outside the field I’ve studied and hope to pursue. She loves her job and knows they are hiring, so she has asked me to send her my resume so that she can pass it along to higher-ups in her company. I am obviously appreciative of her help, but I’m not sure it’s a job I’m qualified for, and, furthermore, not sure it’s one I’d want. Though she seems firmly convinced I can do the work and is willing to vouch for me to her supervisors, is it a mistake to have her pass along my resume? I am concerned that if it is far outside the qualification range they’re looking for or if they hire me and I say no, it will reflect badly on her. While I’m not sure I don’t want to work for this company, I definitely would rather prioritize my friend’s success over a job I am so uncertain about.

Interviewing for a job doesn’t mean that you’re obligated to accept it if it’s offered to you, so I wouldn’t worry about that — unless you’re 100% sure you wouldn’t accept it, in which case there’s no point in wasting your time or theirs. The bigger issue would be that she can harm her own credibility by recommending someone who’s obviously not the right profile for the job (which may or may not be the case here; that’s something that you and she will have to judge).

5. Can a manager send performance reviews on without employees ever seeing them?

Can a supervisor legally write quarterly reviews for employees and submit them to upper management without the employees ever seeing the document? The reviews were included in a quarterly account report that allocated two pages to reviewing employee strengths, weaknesses and suggested career path.

Yes. The law doesn’t govern how your company chooses to manage, as long as they’re not discriminating against legally protected classes (i.e., making decisions based on race, religion, sex, etc.) or a few other very narrowly defined areas of law.

Why not just ask your manager if you can see your evaluation? If this is a crazy, unreasonable system (and it certainly might be, while still being perfectly legal), she might say no, but it’s a reasonable question to ask.

6. Explaining that I’m looking for another job because I’m working under the table

If I’m looking for a new job because I’m uncomfortable with being paid in cash and working under the table, could I be honest about this in an interview or should I come up with another reason? If so, what could I say in lieu of this?

Well, it will implicate you in agreeing to an illegal set-up, which isn’t great. I’d try to find another credible reason if you can. But if you can’t, then you could just say something like, “They’re paying us in cash, which I’m uncomfortable with.”

7. Should I follow up with HR while the hiring manager is out of the office?

A week and a half ago, I interviewed with the senior marketing manager for an entry-level position with this company. She said the interview went well and wanted to set me up for a second appointment with some of her colleagues, and told me that I should expect contact within the next week.

Given that a week has passed, I emailed her today following up, reiterating my interest, and asking for an updated timeline if things have changed. I got an automated reply saying that she’s out of the office until May 2nd.

I also have the contact information of the human resources manager — the one who initially contact me to set up the appointment with the marketing manager. Should I contact her to ask about my status? Or would that be uncalled for/strange, and I should just wait til Thursday?

Don’t ask about your status; that’s a semi-weird question. But it would be fine to email the HR person and say that the hiring manager mentioned that she’d like you to interview with another group of people, and ask about the timeline for setting that up. Unless the hiring manager made it clear that you’d be hearing from her — in which case, yes, wait until she’s back in the office (and don’t email a second time until at least another week or two has passed; she’ll see your first email when she returns).