Ask a Manager

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

1. Can I be fired for refusing to sanitize my hands?

I work for a global nonprofit. Due to the flu epidemic happening nationwide, my job has now mandated that we sanitize everything in our offices, including its workers.The top officer conducted a conference call with all upper management, explaining that we desperately need to prevent any occurrence of sickness in all our locations. There was an emergency staff meeting at my office, at which I was not present because I was with a client. Later, I was told that all staff must start by wiping down all surfaces with disinfectant. We were all provided with portable hand sanitizer that we are expected to clip to our person and keep with us at all times. Each client should sanitize their hands as they enter the building. Anyone with even the slightest symptoms of sickness should be sent home immediately. Today, I was told that as we arrive we must sanitize our hands and sign in to say we have done so. Anyone not adhering to this rule is subject to immediate termination.

Can they really fire me for not sanitizing my hands? I personally believe that by over-sanitizing we also kill the good bacteria in our bodies and therefore hurt our immune system. On Friday, I explained this to the meeting facilitator and mentioned that I would be sure to wash my hands with soap, take my vitamins and do everything I could to keep my immune system healthy.

In the big scheme of things, our organization oversees many group homes for foster youth and these types of precautions may be standard to keep those children healthy. I understand and recognize that, but I do not work with or ever have access to those children and am willing to participate in the guidelines but just not at the extreme they are mandating.

They’re being ridiculous, but yes, they can fire you for refusing to comply. You can certainly make your case to them, and could even try bringing in a doctor’s note supporting your stance, but ultimately it’s their call how strictly they want to enforce this policy (as doctor’s notes don’t bind them to taking any action).

2. Can I get this probationary period eliminated?

In a recent phone interview for a job, the HR person mentioned the new hire would be required to be on a 3-months probation period before he/she could become a permanent employee. I am a permanent full-time with my current employer, and my employer offers equivalent or even better benefits than the company I was applying with. The probation seems too risky for me, even though I know I will do my job well if given the chance. I heard that in probation, if the manager doesn’t like you he/she can fire you because of that. I am leaving my current employer just because it does not have the same opportunities in this particular region.

Do you think I can negotiate with the hiring manager or HR to reduce the probation period or eliminate it? If I can, then how? Is it normal to ask for it? I just don’t feel very secure, as I will have to leave my full-time for something even not guaranteed.

Probation periods are really a bit of a sham — because you can be fired for any reason at any time even when you’re not on probation. Generally companies use probation periods to avoid going through the typical series of warnings that they’d do before firing a longer-term employee, but they’re not legally required to do those either. No law requires that you be warned before being fired at point in your employment, so the difference in risk between a probationary period and a non-probationary period for at-will employees isn’t very significant.

In any case, these probations periods are very common, and it’s unlikely that a company that uses them as a matter of course for all new employees will agree to eliminate it.

3. Should I let my manager know I’m dealing with miscarriages?

I am about to have my third miscarriage in less than 18 months. Each one necessitates doctor appointments, ER visits, and time off work. I went to a specialist in a town three hours away to get some answers, which generated follow-up appointments that require me to miss a day of work each time. I feel I have been missing quite a bit of work to deal with this. My manager is quite understanding and has never asked what sort of medical appointment I am going to. I have been told by my OB that the third one will inevitably happen. Should I tell my manager what is going on, i.e. that I have been having miscarriages? Or just leave it as the generic doctor appointment and ER visit?

I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this. Whether to share what’s going on with your boss is entirely up to you. If you’re comfortable sharing it and might even feel more comfortable if she knows what’s going on so that you don’t need to worry about her wondering what’s going on, then have a quick talk with her in confidence. But if you prefer, it’s also fine to say, “I”m dealing with a medical situation that’s requiring a lot of follow-up” without giving any more details than that.

Read an update to this letter here.

4. What does this mean?

I recently had an interview that I think went amazingly well (everyone was energetic, we went over the allotted time unknowingly) and I have a great feeling about this. At the end of the interview, I met with the HR upper management who told me, “There’s only one other candidate but there’s a possibility that we’re just going to open a second [job title] position.” How should I interpret this?

You and one other person are both strong candidates, and they’re considering opening a second slot. Take it at face value; it means exactly what it says.

5. Managers think I’m younger than I am

I changed careers in my mid-twenties. I have about 6 years of work experience, but it was sporadic and in different industries. So at 30, I’m the oldest person in my current role by about 3 years. Some people in my role are as much as 8 years younger than me. I look and feel very young for my age as well, and I think because I am in school part-time (MBA) and I look young, managers mistake me for being the same age as many of my colleagues. I am agitated, however, by the constant reference to my maturity and how I do so well for being in a junior role. Examples: “I’m impressed by the maturity you show for your age,” “That’s a very mature thing for you to say,” and my favorite, “Oh wow, you live on your own? Not with your parents? Isn’t it scary being on your own for the first time?” Mainly these comments come from my managers, who are 2 years older than me. There is also constant reference to their families and marriages and how “one day” in the distant future I will have that. My instinct is to point out my age, but I bite my lip because I feel like however I bring it up I will seem catty.

My concern is that this is impacting my potential for promotions because the managers see me as a relatively immature, junior person all around. I know that sounds strange as they’re telling me the opposite but my impression is they only say it because they believe I’m so young.

That’s incredibly weird even if you were 23. Who talks about age and maturity so much? However, it’s also slightly weird that you haven’t corrected them when they’re talking to you as if you’re a pre-teen.

In any case, the next time it comes up, just respond, “I’m 30.” Problem solved.

6. I have a bad feeling about a new job, but I don’t know why

I’ve been through a number of interviews with a well-established and well-known company in my region. I’ve been told to expect an offer within the next week. My problem is I can’t shake this feeling that taking this job would be a mistake. I can’t pick out any one reason why though. I feel qualified for it, it will be more money than I currently make, and the people seem friendly enough. Have you or your readers ever had this problem? All I can figure out is that its just fear of the unknown that comes with a new job.

Sit down and really try to figure out what’s giving you a bad feeling. Don’t try to rationalize anything away — just figure out what’s not sitting quite right with you, whether you think it’s warranted or not. Bad feeling from the manager that you can’t explain? Unsettling feeling about the office environment? Worry that the work isn’t quite what you want to be doing? See if you can’t pinpoint where the uneasiness is coming from, even if you don’t understand why. If you can nail down the source, take that seriously — your unconscious might be picking up on something worth paying attention to. And if you can’t come up with anything, spend some time contemplating just how scared of the unknown you might be — does that seem like what’s happening here? Or does that not quite resonate?

I’m a big believer in listening to your gut (unless your gut has a bad track record), but see if you can figure out what your gut is responding to.

7. Making suggestions for an organization’s work in a cover letter

Would it come across as way too presumptuous to make suggestions for a way an organization could improve in a cover letter? In my case, I have experience in social media, and am applying for a position that would be partly responsible for managing the organization’s social networks. Is it okay if I simply said, “In fact, I already have a few suggestions on how [organization] could grow their presence on Twitter”? Or is that too critical right off the bat and something I should save for the interview (if I were to get one..)?

That’s not really critical at all — it’s just saying that you can help them do something that it makes sense someone in that role would be helping them do. Critical would be if you wrote, “Your Twitter presence is piddling and needs serious revamping” or “I can tell you haven’t paid much attention to your Twitter account.” Don’t do that, but what you’re suggesting is fine.

It’s mini answer Monday — seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go…

1. Where can I eat lunch other than at my desk?

I work in a very small and friendly company, and at lunch time most of us tend to eat at our desk, though we also take the time to go meet friends, go to the gym, shopping, etc. and generally get out of the office. I like to bring my own food with me, as it is cheaper and healthier, but I’m sick of sitting at my desk all the time. I would like to get out of the office and sit somewhere else to eat my home-packed food. Over the summer, I will go and sit outside, but in the winter weather I have no where to go unless I buy food at a sit-in cafe, which I can’t afford to do. Are there places that will let you take your own food? Like public indoor spaces, coffee shops or similar? We don’t have a lunch room or anything like that, just a small kitchen. Have you or anyone else found a good indoor alternative for desk eating?

Places that sell food — like coffee shops — generally won’t let you bring your own food in. Your best bet would be some kind of indoor public space (like a mall or something similar), but lots of offices aren’t located anywhere like that. If yours isn’t, you might be stuck with your desk.

2. Is this director earning too much?

I recently joined the board of a countywide nonprofit that relies on donations from the community for all of its funding. The director is a hardworking, knowledgeable, fiscally responsible woman whom I respect as a person and like as a friend. However, I recently learned her salary, which comes out to about 10 percent of the organization’s total money raised and is $30,000 more than the median income in the county.

Should I be concerned that her salary is too high? I don’t want to make waves if I’m out of line, but I haven’t been able to shake the bad feeling I’ve had in the pit of my stomach since that meeting. She’s always talking about how money is tight. But coming from the perspective of making $10,000 less than the county’s median income while working a 50-60 hour a week salaried job at a for-profit company, I guess I have a hard time buying that.

Well, someone responsible for running an organization should be making more than the average income — because the average person doesn’t have a job with that level of responsibility, and it makes sense that people who do are compensated more than people don’t.  (And the median income in the United States is $41,560. $30,000 more than that is $71,560 — not an especially high salary for the head of an organization, and one that would be considered low in many contexts, even nonprofits.)

Now, there are certainly tiny nonprofits that pay significantly below market rate because that’s all they can afford. But there are plenty of nonprofits that believe in competitive salaries because that’s usually how you attract talent — and having a great performer in a top job is the difference between accomplishing a lot and accomplishing very little. (Frankly, you might be underpaying, not over-paying.) But I’d look at what the director is achieving — what level is she performing at? Is she setting ambitious goals and achieving them? Is she bringing value to the organization that’s equivalent or more than the salary you’re paying her? If so, be glad that you have an effective director at a fairly low salary. If she’s not, then you need to address that as a performance issue. But the salary doesn’t sound like a problem here. You need to pay competitive salaries in order to attract fantastic people.

3. Is my husband’s employer setting traps to catch him job-hunting?

My husband is a very impulsive person — even at work. Things are not going well for him in his office right now (bad colleagues and politics by supervisors are making him more and more frustrated, and he has lost his temper at work a few times) and we both feel that he needs to look for a new job. Since his office is a small one, he is afraid that his company may get to know that he is looking for another job and may fire him immediately. So he is looking out for jobs through contacts. He is constantly scared that his current employer may ruin the future job prospects for him. Can this happen? Can a company influence another company to hire a person or not?

I keep telling my husband that this is not possible, but he is so low in confidence right now, and doesn’t believe anything. He is suspicious about every opportunity that comes his way, and keeps suspecting that the interview calls could be a trap set up by his current employer. But the interviews are coming from genuine companies; I googled these companies and they do exist. Maybe it is a small world and his current employer may know about these firms, but in what ways will it affect my husband?

It’s certainly possible that if your husband applies for a job with someone who knows his current manager, that person may give his boss a heads-up. But it’s very unlikely — most people doing hiring understand that they need to handle applications with discretion, and it would be pretty rare for someone to call up his boss and say, “Hey, Bob Smith is looking to leave.” Not impossible, but rare.

Your husband can minimize even the small chance of this happening by including a note in his cover letter requesting that his application be treated confidentially.

As for the possibility of traps being set up by his current employer, that’s so unlikely that’s it’s not even worth him worrying about, unless he’s working for North Korea or something like that.

4. Should I tell my father of my resignation before I tell my boss?

I work at a small distribution company comprised of about 50 employees. I have been with the company for 6 years and am responsible for operation of the computers systems, hardware and phone systems. I feel my position is critical to the company as I am the only person in the IT Department. My father is president of the company, but I do not report directly to him. I report to the Director of Administration, who reports to the president. I have been interviewing for a job at another company, which is not a competitor. If I am provided a job opportunity to work for this company, I will most likely accept the position, which will enhance my career experience and salary.

If I do, do I speak with my father the night before I meet with my manager to give him a heads-up of my intentions, or should I just speak with my manager first and then she will inform my father? Outside of the office, I have a good relationship with my father and we are very good about keeping personal and business matters separate when we are in and outside of the office. I am sure he would want the best for me and my family, as I do not have many options for career advancement in my current position. What would be the most appropriate way to submit my resignation?

Either way is fine. You can give your dad a heads-up first if you want, and ask that he keep it to himself until you’ve had a chance to tell your manager, or you can go to your manager first. I’d base your decision on what you know of your father — if he’s likely to be surprised if you don’t tell him first, then do.

5. How can I explain to prospective employers why I’m leaving my job?

I work for a small healthcare company that for 5 years I have loved. I truly believed at one time that I was going to walk out the door in 20-25 years, when the doctor retired. We have talked about that many times and we have formed a very close personal relationship, as well as a working relationship. But the past year, she has become more and more unhappy with her career choices and this has lead to nothing but bad moods at the office. Because I am the manager, I often hear from other employees about how bad the day was because she was in a bad mood. Even rare days that she is in a good mood, it is nothing to set her off into a bad mood and take it out on everyone. I have lived with this for a year, because I truly enjoy the type of work I do. I have talked to her about it and it hasn’t changed. I can no longer take the negativity day end and day out. It is wearing on me and my personal life. I want to look for another job, but not quite sure what to tell the potential employer why I am leaving.

You’ve been there five years, so people aren’t going to question it if you say that you’ve mastered the challenges of your current position and are eager to take on something new. Most hiring managers understand that the real answer may be “I’m sick of my negative boss,” but this is a more appropriate response — and again, since you’ve been there five years, no one is going to question it. If you were leaving after one year, you’d be in a tougher spot. Like this next letter-writer:

6. How can I explain to prospective employers why I’m leaving after only a year?

I accepted a new job in the spring of 2012, and while I like the actual work, I feel it’s time for me to find something else. The department atmosphere is not happy, the managers suck, transfers within the company have been severely restricted, and after getting in and doing the job I realize I’m underpaid. Not just for the tasks of this specific job, but also because I’m a high performer who does more than others who have been in the job for years. My raise for 2013 was less than half a percentage point, and my company does not do merit raises so asking for more money based on performance is not an option. And even if it was and I did get a good merit raise, the lack of promotion opportunities and department dysfunction outweighs any possible benefit of getting paid more.

All these issues have been factors in six coworkers leaving since I’ve started, and I feel like I need to do the same. My question is how to address such a short time at my current job when applying for other positions? I feel it must be addressed in some way but am at a loss on how to specifically do that and still be respectful of my current company while not appearing flaky. Do potential employers think that leaving a job before you’ve been there a year means you don’t know what you want or didn’t do proper diligence to make sure you and the job and/or company were a good fit before accepting the job?

Yep, they generally wonder what’s up. That doesn’t mean you can’t pull it off though — you just need to be prepared for questions about why you’re leaving so soon. I wouldn’t say that you’re leaving because there’s no opportunity for advancement, because people will wonder why you’re so antsy for that after only a year. And I wouldn’t blame it being underpaid, because they’ll wonder why you accepted the job at that salary if that’s the case (which is a legitimate question). It’s ideal if you can blame it on the working not turning out to be what you thought it would be, or the company undergoing changes that will affect your job, or something along those lines.

7. What does this mean?

I’m confused. I applied for a job and didn’t hear anything for about two weeks, so I sent a follow-up email. The executive director emailed me back and asked me to resend my resume, which I did. Then I was contacted about relocating. When I informed them that I was moving in a week, they told me to contact them as soon as I made it to town. What does all of this mean? I’m a recent grad, so I don’t want to think I have a job and I don’t but I’m not sure where I’m at with this company.

It means that they’d rather talk to you once you’re local, because dealing with out-of-town candidates can be a hassle, and it’s a hassle that employers especially don’t want to deal with for entry-level positions. And yes, definitely don’t assume that you have a job or even an interview. Just contact them when you’ve relocated and tell them that you’d love to talk if they think you’d be a good fit for the job.

It’s short answer Sunday — seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go.

1. Company is banning vacation time for five months

My friend has been working for a beauty supply chain for 10 years. The store had a black-out period where nobody could request time off for November and December of last year (for the busy holiday season), but on top of that, they have been told they cannot get time off from January-April because her manager will be on maternity leave. So, this means she is not allowed to ask for any time off for 5 consecutive months. Is this legal?

She has a lot of vacation time and wants to use a day here and there, but my understanding is it IS legal for employers to tell you when you can and can’t use it since vacation pay is a privilege, not a “right.” What I’m wondering is whether you can tell employees they can’t take any time off, paid or unpaid, for a period that long. She has also tried contacting her HR department several times but gets a machine, leaves messages, then never gets a call back.

Yes, it’s legal. No law requires that employers offer vacation time at all, so employers who choose to offer it can put any restrictions they want on it. That doesn’t mean that what this company is doing is sensible — it’s not — but it’s legal.

2. Why do recruiters ask where you are in the job search process?

What does the question “Where are you in the job search process” mean? What are recruiters trying to gauge with this? If I have an offer from another company, does it affect the process with another company I’m applying to? Do I have a professional responsibility to keep a recruiter informed of my process (if I’ve been extended a formal offer, etc.)?

They’re asking because they want to get a sense of whether you’re likely to receive an offer in the near future. If you are, they might do things differently with you — for instance, moving you through their own hiring process more quickly if they think you’re a strong candidate so that they don’t risk losing you to another employer’s offer.

3. Job closed before I could apply for it

I found my absolute dream job last night on a local hospital’s website. I woke up early this morning (before my kids) to type up a wonderful cover letter…the job is no longer posted! It must have closed at midnight last night! Ahhh! Any advice? Can I just bring it to the person in charge of the program or HR?

Go ahead and try to send in an application anyway. If it’s electronic application system that won’t let you apply now, try to figure out the email address of the person doing the hiring and email your materials to them. Include a note saying that you saw the job while it was still open and were excited by it, but it had closed the next day, and say that you hope they’ll still accept your materials because you’re so interested in the job. Some places will, some won’t — but you have nothing to lose by trying, and potentially something to gain. But do it quick — today!

4. Salary verification during background checks

I recently bought your book and wanted to say thank you. It’s helped me a lot since I’ve been job hunting. One thing struck me as really strange when I was interviewing. A hiring manager asked me for my salary history and said that in the past she was not able to hire candidates because they overstated their salary history. This was discovered by their company during the background check. I was really surprised by this because I was under the impression that this is not available without my consent. Is that legal or typical? I thought background checks meant checking on employers and references.

Yes, it’s legal, and not that uncommon. Some employers do include salary verification as part of reference-checking, and offers do get pulled if it turns out that a candidate lied about their salary. Frankly, I don’t think it’s anyone’s business what you get paid, but if you’re going to talk about it, you shouldn’t lie.

5. Can employer ban employees and volunteers from socializing outside of the office?

I work for a nonprofit that also relies heavily on volunteers. Can the director legally ban employees and volunteers from socializing outside of the agency? Does this change if there is alcohol (read a glass of wine, not drunken debauchery) involved?

An employer can’t ban employees from discussing wages and working conditions with each other, so attempting to ban them from talking and socializing outside work would be risky territory — I suspect that the National Labor Relations Board would be unlikely to look on it kindly. Alcohol shouldn’t be a factor either way.

This may help.

6. Tone in a cover letter when you know the hiring manager

What is the best way to go about writing a cover letter to someone you’ve worked under in the past? It seems to me that it might feel particularly awkward to talk about the work you’ve done under that person, especially if it was in the recent past and his/her impressions of you are still fresh. This isn’t to imply that I didn’t do good work; it’s more about the self-conscious awareness that everything I say will be measured against my former supervisor’s already-formed judgement of me.

Also, is it acceptable/expected to be more personable in such a letter? Can I address the manager by her first name, if I’ve never called her anything else?

I can’t make you feel less awkward, but if you want the job and think you’d be good at it, you’re going to explain why — in the interview too, not just the cover letter. However, you shouldn’t feel that you need to do this in a stiff and formal way — even if you’re writing to a stranger, and especially when you’re writing to someone you know. Similarly, you should absolutely address her by her first name since that’s what you call her.

People tend to think that cover letters are supposed to be some odd formal document, when in fact you should write them in the same voice that you’d write to any colleague in — your normal one.

Read an update to this letter here.

7. Sending job applications on your company letterhead

I never would have considered using letterhead of my current affiliation on cover letters, but I’ve been recently told by a number of people (including people from hiring committees and mentors) that when applying for academic positions, I should be using my current university/department letter head and I’m doing my self a disservice if I don’t. I would have thought that my applying for jobs externally is not really part of my “work” and thus I shouldn’t be using their letterhead. Is this a weird quirk of academia (or is it still wrong?), or should I also be using my department’s letter head for general job applications (policy, research centres, NGOs, think tanks, private sector)? It feels wrong, but I’m not sure what the standard is out in the “real world.”

I have no idea how academia does it, but in the rest of the professional world, you shouldn’t be using your employer’s letterhead when you apply for jobs — you’re not representing them when you’re applying for work elsewhere, and there’s something particularly crass and wrong about using your employer’s resources — and making it obvious that you’re using their resources — when actively attempting to leave their employ.

But I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that academia does this differently, as they do lots differently.

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

1. Following up on a promise for connections

About a month back, right before the holidays, I met with a high-level manager from my previous employer. He’s the direct boss of a former
colleague that I keep in touch with, and she let me know he was in NYC and asked him if he’d agree to meet with me. He was willing to meet
for coffee and during our meeting said he would connect me to three different people at organizations that might be looking for some one
with my background. I was extremely excited and grateful because these are organizations I would love to work for. I followed up immediately after our meeting to send him my resume (as he requested) and thank him. He responded he would be connecting me with the people he mentioned and bcc me on the emails.

It’s been a month and he still hasn’t sent them. I figured he wanted to wait until after the holidays. I know he’s extremely busy and it was incredibly generous of him to meet with me and to offer to connect me, but how/when do I follow-up and politely remind him to send those
emails?

Send him an email and say something like, “I hope you had a great holiday. I wanted to check in and see if you might be able to connect me to Jane Smith, Bob Dunbar, and Lucinda Rogers, as we’d discussed. I’d love to speak with them, and I’d be so grateful if you’re able to put us in touch.”

After that, though, if he doesn’t do it, at that point I’d move on, because you can’t really ask an additional time without being pushy.

2. Moving on from a morally questionable job

I have been employed as a paralegal for over a year now. When I graduated in 2011, I hoped to work for a nonprofit or in an admin position, but the only place I got an interview for an entry-level position ended up passing on me for a candidate with 20 years of experience. Needless to say, it was a tough job market and I grew desperate as the months dragged on. To make a long story short, I ended up accepting a paralegal job in a field of law that I find objectionable because I truly could not continue to be unemployed. The field is one that many others would find objectionable as well (imagine being a paralegal for a cigarette company — it’s not what I am, but it’s not dissimilar). I agonized over the decision to accept the job and have doubted it frequently ever since.

The job itself hasn’t been bad (I like my coworkers and the organization’s flexibility and they are very happy with my work), but I’m ready to move on. My question is about how to explain this paralegal job. It’s my first job out of college and I don’t want to act defensive in interviews, but I anticipate problems related to the work. How can I continue to look for nonprofit jobs, which were my original interest, and explain that I basically sold out on my beliefs for a full-time position? I’m afraid that I’ll be judged for my work and that it will reflect badly on me until I have enough experience to leave it off the resume. Do you have any ideas for how I can express that I work in a field I don’t believe in now, but that I was willing to accept ANYTHING in that job market? I’m smart and a great worker with passionate beliefs about many specific current issues, but I don’t know if anyone (especially in the nonprofit world) is going to see that. I also don’t think they’ll see that accepting this job wasn’t easy and that I have debated myself about it for the whole time I’ve been working there.

Well, first, you’re unlikely to be questioned aggressively about this. It’s more likely to be something like, “That’s a pretty controversial issue to work on!” — not a demand for you to account for your sins in working there.

But regardless of what types of inquiries you get about it, I’d say something like, “With the tough job market, I figured I’d try it for the experience, but it’s not the place for me. I’m really looking for something more in line with my beliefs. I’m excited about (the organization you’re applying with) because I’m passionate about (issue).”

And in your cover letter, I’d really emphasize your commitment to whatever issue the nonprofit you’re applying to works on.

3. Listing a sporadic role on a resume

I recruited for a company in September and October of last year. I had interned with this company in college and it is in my chosen field. As I had developed a close relationship with a couple of supervisors, they had asked if I could fill in some holes in their schedule. With another recruiting season upon them, they have asked if I could reprise my role a few times in January and February. How do I format this on a resume? It currently states that I was a recruiter for them in September and October. Do I just extend that to present? However, I don’t want to give the impression that I was consistently working for them as that was not the case.

Recruiter, ABC Company
Sept.-Oct. 2012 and Jan.-Feb. 2013

4. Including unrelated jobs on your resume

I’m a recent college grad and have been doing what is necessary to make money while I pursue a full-time position. Do I put these positions on my resume? I was working in the kitchen and cafeteria of a hospital. I had held this job since senior year of high school and worked during school breaks. However, I just left that position as I moved to Boston, which has been my ultimate destination. This job is currently on my resume, but do I leave it on there? Additionally, I’m starting a part-time job next week at a grocery store to help pay the bills. Do I include this job as well since it’s technically my current employer? My concern is that I don’t want to waste precious resume space on jobs that aren’t relevant to the positions I’m applying for. Additionally, I don’t want to give the impression to employers that I’m starting a position only to leave it, which isn’t the case. Even when I do get that full-time position, I’m planning on staying at the grocery store and working a couple of weekends a month to pay for my “extras” (gym membership, etc).

Yes, include them — especially since you’re a recent grad and therefore probably don’t have a ton of other experience. (My advice might be different if you had 15 years of work experience on your resume.) However, you could consider putting them in an Other Experience section that’s below your main Experience section.

5. What to say in post-interview thank-you notes

I have spent the morning pouring over your “thank-you note” section and I’m still a little confused as to how to write a follow-up note. I agree that just treating it like another step in the process without putting much thought behind it doesn’t make good use of the note. However, I am not sure how to build on what we talked about at the interview without coming across as overly salesy (after all, I should have already shown why I’m a good fit for the job in my application and interview) and taking up too much of the interviewer’s time with a long note that goes over things we already talked about. Do you have any more specific guidelines about how to write this note or even an example of a note that does this effectively?

It shouldn’t be a long note — just a paragraph or two or three. Say you enjoyed meeting with them, you’re more interested in the job than ever (if true), and refer back to something from the conversation — something that particularly excited you, or a joke that was made, or an article they referenced that you sought out afterwards. That’s it. The most important thing is that it be genuine and not sound perfunctory or like you’re trying too hard. You want it to have the tone that you’d use if you were following up after a meeting with a client or a colleague.

6. When Facebook postings make it clear your sick employee really isn’t

I have seen employees post negative things about their job/other employees on Facebook, or call out sick and then post on Facebook that they were going away or put up photos of themselves partying or otherwise clearly not sick. What’s your opinion on using this info for disciplinary action? For the sake of argument, let’s assume that there’s not some kind of misunderstanding here, like the person was really talking about someone else, or the photos were old, that kind of thing. I’d be inclined to use this as grounds for a verbal warning at least. (Also, there’s no explicit company policy on this.)

If it were absolutely clear — like, say, the person called me Friday morning coughing up a lung and claiming they had the flu and couldn’t leave the house, and then posted a photo of themselves at a baseball game three states away with a comment making clear it was taken that afternoon — I’d treat it the same way I’d treat it if I’d run into them at a bar that night. Serious conversation about expectations around honesty, person on thin ice.

If it were less definitive, I’d say something like: “It’s probably not the best judgment to post things on Facebook like you did yesterday when your profile is connected to your manager’s, and I’m not thrilled to be put in the position you put me in. I’m not going to get into the specifics of what you said, but I want to be clear with you that I need to be able to trust you to deal with me and everyone else here with honesty and integrity. Please make sure we don’t have issues like this again.” And then, frankly, I’d watch them like a hawk for a while, because whenever you get signs of problems like this, there are often more if only you look for them.

But I’d encourage managers not to connect to employees on Facebook — too many possibilities for boundary violations.