Ask a Manager

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

1. In trouble for taking extra candy at the Christmas party

I work for a major High Street retailer and recently attended the annual Christmas party at a bar in the city. All workers were entitled to a free gift (jar of sweets, chocolate santa, etc.), but some workers took more than one. (Last year, it was more than one gift and some people opted not to take theirs.) I took three in total (two jars and a santa).

Someone reported the matter and up to five staff have now been suspended pending disciplinary hearings. Could the above be considered gross misconduct and are they within their rights to sack me, as this is the action that appears to be coming? Could I go for unfair dismissal?

P.S. There are also a range of other disciplinary hearings over other conduct by staff (one was found with drugs at the party!) and it appears they are trying to get rid of people.

This is just … dumb. They want to fire people for taking extra candy?

You’re in the UK, and I’m in the U.S. and can’t comment on what might be allowed outside the U.S., but I can tell you that this is ridiculous in any country, and I have to wonder if there’s more to it than what they’ve told you.

In the U.S., however, there would be nothing illegal here, just silly.

2. Bereavement condolences in an interview

I found out the manager hiring for a position I am a finalist for had a death in the family. I was able to get this information from acquaintance who would be a peer if I get the job. He and I are not close, but it’s not uncommon for us to run into each other at church or school events.

I feel bad for her and would like to offer my condolences, but am wondering if that would come off as odd? I know that if I were in a similar situation and someone out of the blue offered condolences it would feel a little strange (but maybe that’s just me). Just curious your thoughts?

I wouldn’t. It’s not information that you got through normal channels. If she’d had to push the interview back and explained it was because of a death in her family, it would be normal and polite to offer condolences. But this is something she doesn’t even know that you know about — I wouldn’t bring it up unless it comes up some other way.

3. Staying on the radar of an employer

I had an interview in early November for a job and sent a thank you note to the recruiter and hiring manager immediately afterward. The preference is for the recruiter to pass along the card to the hiring manager, at this particular company. I then left one voicemail after the time for a decision given during my interview had elapsed, and then I emailed the recruiter’s assistant. I was told that the hiring manager is away on business and that they haven’t forgotten about me and will let me know when something changes. Today I sent the hiring manager a thank you note directly to his address. Was this a bad idea? I want to make sure once a week I am on the mind of someone in the hiring process. When I interviewed, I was told I was the top candidate; I want to make sure that this remains the case. The position starts in January.

Yeah, the second thank-you note was overkill, since you’d already sent the hiring manager an earlier thank-you through the recruiter.

Do not stick with this idea about putting yourself on their minds once a week. That will be annoying, especially after they’ve nicely signaled to you to stop (saying that they’ll be in touch when something changes is likely polite code for “stop contacting us”). I understand that you want to keep yourself on their radar screen, but their minds are likely full with higher priorities and they want to keep it that way. Stop with all the contact, put your focus on other jobs, and let them get back to you when they’re ready. Trying to force it will not end well.

4. Including ending date on your resume

I am currently serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA, which is a one-year position in an organization doing anti-poverty work. My year of service ends Feb. 8, and I am starting to send out cover letters and resumes now. Do you think I should include my end-of-service date in my cover letters to let employers know I won’t be available to start for two more months, or should I bring that up later in the interview process?

Unless you absolutely won’t start a job earlier than that, even by a week or two, I wouldn’t include it. But if that’s the case, then sure, it’s fine to include.

5. Should work for a friend go on your resume?

I’ve been underemployed (working two unrelated to my degree jobs) for about a year now. At one point, I did bookkeeping for my friend who owns a small business (1 employee) for a couple months. As I’m applying for a junior staff accountant job, should I put that in my resume or my cover letter? I wasn’t using Quickbooks like they ask, it was a different google apps tool for bookkeeping.

Put it on your resume. It’s as legitimately work experience as any other work.

6. Awkwardness over a recommendation

I’ve been searching for a job in NYC to be closer to friends/family. A new opportunity has arisen that is too good to pass up! My predicament is this: my current coworker/superior was a former executive at said dream company and my positive impact at my current place of work leads me to believe he’d be a good advocate for my application. However, I feel he may be uncomfortable with lending me support in this, given that his friend and the president of my current company hopes to keep me here as long as possible.

I was open with my boss when I was hired that my ambitions lie elsewhere (geographically) and I’m lucky that I was acquired for positive reasons (skills/experience). He was happy to have me for the short-term, so I’m not concerned about the timing of my hopeful departure. Rather I’m worried about the sensitive nature surrounding the current office structure….i.e. what’s my best way to gain an upper hand in the application process to the new company, via my coworker’s endorsement, without making him uncomfortable or upsetting my boss?

If you’re confident he knows you’re looking and won’t penalize you for that, then just ask him. Tell him you’re applying and would love his recommendation, but that you don’t want to put him in an awkward position and ask what would be best.

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

1. Received new hire paperwork without a job offer

I am moving out of state in a few weeks and have been interviewing with a large company to be a GM of one of their new concept restaurants. The interview process has been great — three phone conversations with varying people, including the operations manager, and an in-person interview next week at the restaurant with the corporate operations manager (who overseees 25 sites). Conversations have all gone well and the recruiter had told me they considered me to be “the strongerst candidate they have come across.” The OM had HR send over the information for a background check and a few days later I received a link to fill out new-hire paperwork, including a W4. Under job status it says “hired.” This seems like a backwards way to do things — to fill out new hire paperwork before having been extended a formal offer. Is this common practice?

There’s a good chance that they messed up and someone was supposed to call you and offer you the job, not simply send you new hire paperwork. Call them up and ask — just say something like, “I received what seems to be new hire paperwork, but haven’t been offered the job yet.”

2. Asking employees to be aware of how their absences affect others

I work at a small bank and am being asked to explain to our employees how and why they should be cognizant of how their taking time off affects others. It seems that many of our employees feel like if they have gotten their work done, they should be free to take PTO. What they don’t always realize is that when one person takes off, it affects someone else in the chain, i.e., if a loan processor is out, it affect the loan officer as they cannot complete the loan without the processor doing her part.

It is not that I don’t want anyone to take off, but I want them to be aware of who they could be affecting and communicate with those folks so nobody has to deal with the stress. Everyone needs and deserves time off but when you are going to be away you should communicate with those that your time away might affect, you should make sure there is someone else that will be filling in your duties if they are something that cannot wait until you return, etc.

You need to be direct about specifically what you’re asking them to do. If you just tell them to be more aware of how their absences affect others, you’re not being clear about the behavior you want to see. So instead, clearly explain that before taking planned PTO, they need to do A, B, and C. And when you approve PTO, you should inquire about what arrangements they’ve made to cover their work in their absence. Assuming you’re the manager, you simply need to explain how you want people to operate and then ensure that they do.

3. Career portals with a single cover letter

Many companies these days have career portals, which let you create you one basic profile and then any job that you apply to that company profile is reviewed or searched for screening. In this scenario, what kind of cover letter should one create? For example, If I am applying to a business analyst as well as a project manager role on the site, I have option for one cover letter only. What should I be writing in cover letters in these scenarios?

Will it make sense to mention that I am highly interested in working for your company and looking for these roles to expand my career? Instead of just talking about one particular position?

Your cover letter should explain why you’ll be awesome at the job you’re applying for, which means that you should avoid using a single cover letter for multiple jobs if at all possible with their system. If that’s not possible, think long and hard about whether you’re applying for roles that are so dissimilar as to raise questions about whether you’re resume-bombing rather than being truly selective about what role would be the best fit for you.

4. Email malfunction sent multiple blank emails to HR contact

I accidentally sent two (!) unfinished gmail messages to the HR contact for a potential job. I started both with his name, and when I went to hit enter on my keyboard (to thank him for letting me interview with the company), it automatically sent them right away. The second time, I was going to send the thank you, and it did it again! He now has two emails with just his name in the subject. This has never happened to me before on gmail. Should I send a third explaining my goof or let it lie? I have an interview Friday…well, hopefully I still have one.

Let it go, or send the email you originally wanted to send, with a mention that you apologize for the email malfunction that caused him to receive additional emails from you (no need to go into details beyond that). Either way is fine and this isn’t a big deal. (But you also don’t need to send an email to thank him for setting up this interview — send a follow-up to your interviewer after you meet.)

5. Can I see my letter of recommendation?

I will soon be leaving my first job after graduation. The official jargon is that I was “let go” because of cuts in funding in my department; I was hired temporarily about five months ago. I have a basically good relationship with my supervisor and she has offered to write me a “great” recommendation, which I am grateful for. However, there has been tension between us in the past and she has a very passive-aggressive style that manifests itself in comments toward me. I am concerned that she might write positive but qualified things (i.e., “She tries really hard”) and so I would like to see the letter before she sends it, but I don’t know how to broach this. What would you suggest?

Letters of recommendation are pretty worthless in most fields (with academia and law sometimes being exceptions) because employers want to talk to your references, not read a letter, so I’d skip the letter altogether. That said, usually when people offer to write a recommendation letter, they give it to you, rather than sending it individually to all the employers you might apply to over the next few months/years. So if she does write it, you’re probably going to see it. But again, I wouldn’t bother with it at all.

6. Following up after an employer followed up

I’m a recent grad trying to find work in nonprofits, and I applied for an entry-level position at a nonprofit I would absolutely love to work at. The position seems perfect: it’s a great organization, the position is exactly the department I want to work in, and I even have some relevant experience I can point to in my cover letter. Two weeks ago, I received an email from the Associate Director saying they were interested in my resume and would like to gather additional information, then gave me a series of what seemed to be pre-interview “screening” questions — “how does this position fit into your career path?”, “where do you see yourself in 3-5 years?”, etc. I emailed her my answers and received an email back saying they would get in touch with me shortly.

Is it ever appropriate or recommended to email her to follow up? You’ve said in the past not to call hiring managers, that they’ll contact you if they’re interested. However, this organization did seem interested, and I would just be sending an email, not calling them. I just had a second interview at another company for a long-term temp job (which seemed to go well), but all things considered, if I had a chance to work at the first company I’d jump at it. I want to keep my options open, but if they’re still interested in my application, I’d really like to know!

If they’re interested, you’ll know, because they’ll tell you. Pretty much by definition, if an employer wants to interview you or hire you, they’ll tell you.

In this context, you can certainly send an email reiterating your interest, but it sounds like you just want to hear something faster than they’re currently moving, and there’s not much you can do about that.

7. Interviewing with a huge cold sore

I know you’ve covered similar topics about interviewing with some kind of impediment — just mention it at first like it’s no big deal and that will relax both you and the interviewer. However, I think I might be having to conduct an interview this week with a giant cold sore on my mouth. It is very noticeable and distracting, and there’s no way to cover it with makeup. It honestly looks like I got punched in the mouth and have a split lip.

I’m not sure what the cool thing to say here is — “don’t mind this, it’s just a little STD” doesn’t seem right, but neither does making something up (the airbag went off in my car and smashed my lip?). I’m interviewing to work with a pretty tough population of teenagers, so I do need to show that I can be thick-skinned and/or humorous about my flaws, since the kids would have a field day with this.

For what it’s worth, I’m not actually ashamed of my affliction. I’ve been to parties and even did some public speaking this week, but this situation is just beyond me. Do you or your readers have any advice, from being on either side of this?

Personally, I’d probably say nothing. Everyone has seen cold sores before and your interviewer is unlikely to be freaked out by it. But if I felt like I had to say something, I’d be more comfortable making a joke about “chapped lips gone horribly awry” or something rather than citing a cold sore … but this is really only if it’s both highly noticeable and potentially alarming.