Ask a Manager

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

1. How do I make employees stop playing online when they’re supposed to be working

How do I politely tell my employees to stop being on I.M. and Facebook all day? They lose focus. I’ve told them to stop, but they continue to be on Facebook and iChat all day. They say they use iChat to talk with other business associates, but they are lying.

You’re their manager, right? You need to lay out clear rules and consequences, and then stick to them. If you’ve clearly told people to stop playing online during the day, and it’s continuing, then you need to get more serious (such as telling them that you’re giving them a final warning, and then they risk losing their jobs — which might seem severe, but if they’re ignoring warnings and lying, that’s a big deal). Based just on the way you’ve framed your question here, I suspect they can tell that you’re not going to do the tough parts of managing — like holding people accountable, disciplining, and firing — and so they have no incentive to comply. Stop requesting, and start requiring. (And take a crash course in your responsibilities as a manager too — start here.)

(Also, because I know someone is going to say that you shouldn’t care what they do online as long as they’re getting their work done, I’m assuming for the sake of this question that you are seeing a difference in their work, per your comment about losing focus.)

2. Why are salaries so low?

In my job search since March, it seems that all professional level jobs (outside of the IT industry) are offering extremely low salaries across the board. They are asking for five years of experience in associate level positions yet only offering entry level salaries, that were entry-level ten years ago! How can a major corporation get away with offering $40,000 for an experienced Supply Chain Planner position (usually goes for between $56 -$70k, according to all the salary websites) or $32,000 for a crackerjack Customer Service Team Lead (goes from $45 – $54,000 in my personal experience)? Are they really using the economy as an excuse? It’s too great a disparity. And how can a professional who needs a job to keep a roof over their head accept such a poor salary and expect to keep their career on track?

Supply and demand. If they can find good candidates willing to do the job for less, that becomes the market rate for the work.

By the way, be wary of the information on salary websites. They’re notoriously inaccurate, partly since they generally don’t account for the fact that job titles frequently represent wildly different scopes of responsibility.

3. Responding to a job rejection by phone

I recently was contacted by phone by an organization to let me know that I wasn’t getting hired. While I appreciated the personal touch, the immediacy of a phone call meant that I couldn’t just *not* respond, and so I stammered through an awkward “thank you for letting me know.” It’s hard to thank someone for rejecting you, though, and I worry that I sounded insincere. What would you recommend as a response if this happens again?

Yeah, this is why I think all rejections should come by email, not phone. But if you get one by phone, what you said is perfect: “Thank you for letting me know, and good luck with the position,” or anything along those lines. Of course, while you have them, you could take the opportunity to ask for feedback — but you’ll be catching them off-guard (ironically) so you might not get anything especially useful.

4. I want a promotion … after three months on the job

I’ve been working for a new company for about three months now. While I am enjoying the company and my current role, I feel that I could be qualified for other positions that require a BS degree and come with a higher pay grade. Since I am so new, when is it acceptable to apply for an internal job? Can I make my case to HR that I feel somewhat overqualified for my current position? Should I just leave it alone and keep making a name for myself with my performance?

In a year. No. Yes.

You agreed to the job when you took it. If you thought you were overqualified for it, the time to decide that was before you accepted it. Asking to move on now — after you committed to do this job just three months ago — will make you look naive and unreliable. Stick it out for at least a year and prove yourself before you start making noises about a promotion.

5. Offered a position I didn’t interview for

Two weeks ago, I interviewed for one type of position out of two entry-level positions the company was looking to fill. Last Friday, I received an offer — for the position I did not apply for. I admit the two positions are closely linked, and that the hiring managers were interviewing for both positions on the day I interviewed. I’m wondering if the hiring managers thought I was a better fit for the second position. If so, is this normal? Did the company make a mistake, or just did they just decide that they wanted me for the second position over the first position and my preference was negligible? Is this a red flag?

It’s not unusual to interview for one position but be offered a different one if the employer thinks it would be a better fit. But why not just ask them? Say something like, “I’m very interested, but since I interviewed for the X position, can you tell me more about this one and why you think it might be a better fit?”

6. Company is ignoring my emails

I had a phone interview with a company about a month ago, at the end of which my interviewer said if I had any questions I should feel free to contact her. I sent a thank-you email a few hours after the interview, and about three days later, I sent an inquiry regarding some of the responsibilities of the position that weren’t addressed during the interview. I waited over a week, and didn’t receive a response to my question. A week later, I sent another email, reiterating my interest in the position, and asking if my interviewer could provide me with any kind of time table regarding the hiring process, to which I again received no response. It’s been about two weeks since I sent that message, and I still haven’t heard anything back. Should I send another email, asking if I’m still under consideration for the position, or continue to wait?

Nope, move on. You’ve reached out twice with questions and been ignored. They’re either busy with other things or moving forward with other candidates. Either way, it does you no good to continue to follow up — and potentially hurts you if you continue to email without response. (And yes, it’s rude of them, but you can’t force an answer.)

7. What does OP stand for?

I’m a new reader (about six weeks), enjoy your site and find it useful. Obviously you have many long-term readers who use many acronyms/abbreviations, which is great. Many are self-evident, but many, not so much. For example, I see “OP” often but have no idea what it means (possibly Other Person?). Do you have a page that explains what these shortcuts mean? And could you please tell me what OP means (it’s driving me nuts)?

OP = Original Poster. It’s a blogosphere term that refers to the person who wrote the original letter that the post is answering. If there are others you’re wondering about, let us know in the comments! (Also, with nearly all of these Internet acronyms, you can usually google “what does X stand for?” and get the right answer.)

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

1. Internship would be perfect for me, if it weren’t an internship

Earlier today, I found an online posting for a job that sounds absolutely perfect for me. The listed tasks fit perfectly with the education and experience I have and the office is in town where I want to move. The only problem is that this is actually an internship. It is a quite advanced (paid $12/h) internship intended for undergraduate or graduate students. I recently completed my Master’s Degree and I am primarily looking for full-time positions, and if this internship was a regular job I would be like made for it. This internship is also not meant to start until June of next year.

Now, is there any way I can contact this organization and gently propose that they turn this internship into a real position or perhaps an apprenticeship and just hire me now? I realize this is very unorthodox and bold, but I am going crazy looking at this job description, thinking about how perfect this is for me. Any advice about this? Or should I just give up and move on?

Well, just because that would be perfect for you doesn’t mean it would be perfect for them. There’s a reason they’ve made it an internship; it could be that they don’t have the budget to make it a regular position, or that they already have someone in a regular position doing that work and don’t need someone else at that level, or something else.

That said, there’s no harm in reaching out to them and saying you’d love to do that work at a staff-position level, and if they ever have those positions open up, you’d love to stay in touch. But don’t just say “hey, turn this into a regular position and I’ll take it.” (Plus, keep in mind that if they did turn it into a regular position, they’d presumably then advertise that and solicit other applicants, not just hire you without talking to other candidates too.)

2. Can’t get interviews for a lower-level position

I have worked in the same field for over 7 years as a department manager. After leaving this field, I took some time off and I now want a position that is not as stressful. I have applied for office manager positions, administrative assistant positions, etc., but so far cannot get an interview. How can I overcome this? I have tried to redo my resume to reflect the skills and abilities needed to fit the position(s) of an office manager, administrative assistant, etc., but not one nibble!

Well, it could simply be there are far more applicants for those positions than openings right now. Plus, you haven’t been working for a while, which is also a strike against you in most employers’ eyes.

But it’s probably not helping your chances that many employers will look at your background, think you’re overqualified for the work or that it’s not a natural fit for your career progression, and discard you simply based on that. To overcome that, you’ll need to explain why you’re applying for this particular job. Read this for help.

3. Nervousness in interviews

I went to an interview for a job that I applied for because I assumed it wouldn’t require a lot of interaction with people (I am not good at, and do not enjoy, working with people), but it turned out that it did. I didn’t get the job because the interviewer realized I wouldn’t have been a good fit for it, partly because she pointed out that I seemed nervous during the interview. I’m worried now that being nervous is going to screw me over in all future interviews.

I always get nervous talking to strangers for the first time, and there was additional nervousness from the fact that I was dealing with a stranger in an interview context. I’ve been this way all my life, so I know I can’t change that, but is there a way to reassure interviewers that if they hire me, I’m not going to be nervous just interacting with coworkers and an occasional outside person? If an opportunity arises, should I explain I never had problems working with coworkers (I’m comfortable with them after getting to know them a bit) or the occasional outside person before?

Rather than try to reassure your interviewers, you’ll be better off actually tackling the nerves and finding ways to keep them under control during interviews — or at least looking like you’re not that nervous, even if you are. Easier said than done, I realize, but you might try the advice here, and there’s also a big section on fighting nerves in my free guide on preparing for interviews, which you can get here.

4. Mentioning race in a cover letter

I have a question that I know may sound a bit odd. I know that it’s technically unlawful for employers to use race as a determining factor in hiring decisions, but logically there are some jobs where they do want a certain race. I’m an African American male. I’m considering applying for a mentor type job for inner city youth. Based on everything I’ve learned about the organization, the majority of the kids they mentor are African American as well. So it stands to reason that if they are looking for mentors or people to handle to mentoring program, they would want people the kids can identify with, correct? My question then is whether or not including something about my ethnicity is a bad thing. I know that usually that is something you would avoid, but in this situation, should it be addressed?

Well, when you’re applying for any job, you can always mention a personal connection you have to the work in your cover letter. So for instance, in applying for a job with, say, an organization that works on fighting MS, you might say, “As the sister of an MS sufferer, I have a personal interest in your mission.” And in your case, I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t say something like, “As an African American, I’m deeply committed to providing mentoring support to kids of all races” or whatever. (Similarly, if you happened to come from an inner-city background yourself, you could throw that in there too.) The key is to say it to explain your interest in and commitment to their work, but not to present it as a qualification.

5. Breaking a contract mid-way through

I am in my first year of teaching. For many reasons, I cannot stay there any longer (no desire to be a teacher anymore, the students in the building, high demands from administration, pressure placed on the teachers, etc.). I had to sign a one-year contract at the beginning of the school year. How should I go about breaking this contract? I am skeptical of who to ask. Also, how much notice do I need to give that I am quitting my job? It will be awkward to tell too far in advance, but unprofessional otherwise. I know I am supposed to keep this commitment as I signed the contract, but I can no longer continue at this school.

There’s not really any way to do this that isn’t going to reflect really badly on you and make you look like someone who either doesn’t think through your commitments before making them or doesn’t honor them once made, even when they involve something as serious as kids’ education. That’s why schools have contracts: to ensure you’re willing to make and stick with the commitment. Someone leaving partway through the year is a huge disruption. In any case, if you’re going to do it, you’ve got to forget about the awkwardness of telling “too far in advance” and tell them right now. You owe them that, at least.

6. What happens once a candidate is chosen?

When a candidate is chosen, what happens next internally, even before the candidate is contacted and offered the position? And what happens internally and what wheels start moving after the offer is accepted?

Totally depends on the organization. Some will call you and make an offer that day. Others have reams of bureaucracy to work their way through — layers of approvals, etc.

Once an offer is accepted, a well-run employer will (a) reject other candidates, (b) announce the hire to the rest of their staff, (c) get the wheels turning on getting your computer, business cards, etc., and (d) starting working on other logistics, such as a training plan. Of course, plenty of employers are not well-run and only do some of this once you’ve started, if at all.

7. Employee fears new technology

I work in a technology heavy field, and I have an employee who both fears and loathes technology. I’ve tried to work with her over my 4-1/2 years (3 as colleague, 1-1/2 as manager) to get her more comfortable, with support, extra training, even reassurance etc. as new things pop up, but she’s just not getting it. With every new thing, she has a panic attack and decides she can’t do it, and overall we have a habit of deciding if you can’t do it, you won’t have to ever again and it’s not fair to other employees. In other aspects of the job, she’s wonderful, with customers who love her, she’s flexible with scheduling, and incredibly accommodating. I don’t want to fire her because staff morale really can’t get any lower (both the corporation wide culture and the department) and she’s been there for twenty years, but enough is enough already.

Assume that based on the evidence of many years, she’s not going to change. You’ve now got to decide if you’re willing to keep her on knowing that she won’t change and knowing that it’s unfair to other employees. I don’t know enough about your context to know whether or not she’s valuable enough for that to be reasonable; that’s a call you need to make. If you do decide to keep her, you might consider explaining to her that you’re not going to hold her hand on this stuff anymore, and that if she doesn’t turn around her approach to technology, it will impact her future raises, performance evaluations, and projects and opportunities. But really, you’ve got to make a final decision about whether or not it makes sense to keep her in her role, so that either way, you can stop banging your head against the wall.