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Is it normal/professional for a younger female employee to say that they want more meeting time with their male boss? I am working at a startup and it’s a very busy time right now where there is a lot of pressure on me to get something done very quickly. My boss (who also is the company CEO) asked me today if there was anything he could do to help me. I wanted to say that it would be great if I could have more meeting time with him to go over where I’m stuck. I learn by talking and speaking to others, and this would help me sort out my understanding. I hesitated telling him for two reasons: He’s very busy and I don’t want him to waste his time by talking to me. I’m a woman and he’s a man and I don’t want my request to be misunderstood. This may seem weird but sometimes women say things like they want more time with their boss, and they have certain intentions. This isn’t like that at all, but I don’t know how to be clear that this isn’t like that. I am pretty new to the workforce and significantly younger than my boss. The company is American and based in the U.S., but I'm a non-U.S. national. Is it normal/professional for a younger female employee to say that they want more meeting time with their boss? <Q> This doesn't always mean requests for additional time are granted, or even necessary. <S> A business lunch during the week outside of the office would still be within the context of the workplace. <S> One of the responsibilities of an employee is some degree of self-direction. <S> Consider if there are some things you can figure out for yourself, or figure out from meeting with your peers, before requesting additional time from your boss, who is no doubt busy with other matters. <A> It should be normal and is definitely professional. <S> If you're concerned over any misunderstandings: Send a meeting request in writing/email. <S> Be specific about the areas you want to discuss, the time, place and length of the meeting. <S> Suggest a meeting room, but if your boss prefers his office, don't be too concerned. <S> You're the one wanting a meeting room, so there's no confusion. <S> Suggest a time during normal work hours. <S> Again, he may ask to do it when it is convenient for him <S> and it may not be during normal work hours. <S> This isn't uncommon, but use your discretion and don't agree to things you're not comfortable with. <S> You're new and will continue to learn what is appropriate and what is not. <S> Hopefully, you're not the only female in this organization and you'll get plenty of examples of what is considered appropriate. <S> This doesn't mean you shouldn't be aware of what male colleagues do and demand similar treatment. <S> That doesn't mean you have to do things you're not comfortable with. <S> Different customs should be respected in the workforce and not assumed you leave all of your beliefs and conventions at the door. <S> Respect should be mutual and not one sided. <A> Is it normal/professional for a younger female employee to say that they want more meeting time with their boss? <S> Not that I know of, it does sound a bit dodgy when put like that and could be misconstrued. <S> Personally I'd ask for more training time, or more discussion of my task perhaps, or be more specific in some way. <S> But just asking for more meeting time seems so vague. ' <S> Meeting time for what?, is she trying to take a shortcut to promotion?' <S> There is nothing professional about being vague and open to misinterpretation. <S> No offence intended. <A> My boss <S> … Asked me today if there was anything he could do to help me. <S> First off, I will say you have a great boss. <S> A good manager is supposed to make their employee's as successful as possible, because this makes the company successful. <S> If you don’t accept help, you are not giving the manager a chance to do his/her job. <S> To state the obvious, employees have varying degrees of being introverted and extroverted. <S> If I am reading between the lines correctly, you may be reasonably new to the company or at least the specific team. <S> You may feel like he personally asked if you needed help because it is most likely he took a guess at you being more on the introverted side. <S> An introvert would prefer personal, direct help as opposed to a team setting. <S> (I admit I had a lot of managerial training based on the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator, so I may be biased.) <S> Secondly, I understand your main concern is in regards to the male/female interaction. <S> Male/female professional relationships should not be any different than professional male/male or female/female relationships. <S> I cannot stress this enough! <S> If you are having conversations with your female coworkers that couldn’t be repeated with your male coworkers, or vise versa, your conversation is inappropriate for a professional environment. <S> If anybody accidentally or purposely crosses those boundaries, fire a warning by telling them you “didn’t appreciate that comment” (or whatever works for you). <S> If anybody, including the CEO boss doesn’t accept your warning then seek help. <S> Ultimately, regardless of whether you are US citizen or not, you are on US soil so the US laws protect you while you are here. <S> I hope you can feel a sense of comfort from this. <S> I will only say this to be complete and to not intentionally say anything against you, because I don’t know you. <S> Please be aware that the laws apply to you also. <S> If you show up wearing an inappropriate outfit and start being… well… <S> inappropriate, you can get in trouble also. <S> Just be professional.
| It is normal for any employee, regardless of gender, to ask for more meeting time with a supervisor, manager, or boss. The vast majority of professionals do not consider meeting requests to be personal in nature unless they are outside of a workplace context. The professional thing to do is to be clear and concise in explaining your needs.
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Should you, (and how if so), correct English for NATIVE English speaking coworkers? Many have asked about non-native, but what about Americans born and raised here that work in a professional environment working with clients on a daily basis? I believe that when talking to clients it's important to have a strong foundation. You should know how to use seen/saw, your/you're, there/their/they're just to name a few examples. When I see emails with a list of CC'd clients and we're not using the proper English it makes us look uneducated and unprofessional. Am I overcritical and if I'm not how do I approach this? Yes, I know mine isn't perfect either. I personally don't take offense when someone does point out that I'm abusing the comma, ending a sentence in a preposition, or using the wrong spelling of 'principal' for example. In fact, I'm thankful. It's partially how I've gotten much better with it and maintain it after not having been in school for years. <Q> Simply put, it's not my job. <S> Unless you're in PR or the person's manager, it's really not yours either. <S> I say this as a pedant myself: <S> nobody likes a grammar <S> cop unless you're an editor, and even then. :) <A> DON'T correct them with a bunch of clients cc'd <S> Otherwise <S> yes, it's important to use correct English or whatever language <S> you're communicating in. <S> Especially if you have international clients. <S> Because many like me would have learnt their English formally, understand proper English better, and look sideways at people who can't be bothered writing it properly even though it's probably the only language they know. <S> It's indicative of a lack of pride amongst other things. <S> Then the ones that don't comply will stand out easier at which time you can focus on the issue at an individual level. <S> I have gone as far as to sack a guy who persisted in using some sort of shorthand gibberish in internal communications (some sort of phone text abbreviation rubbish) <S> and it kept leaking into client facing communications. <S> I have also sacked a professional translator who couldn't be bothered using the diacritic marks despite numerous (actually two) warnings, this wasn't English though. <S> The reason behind stipulating 'internal' communications as well is to help build the habit. <S> Look professional = be viewed professionally <A> Yes, you should correct it, but not at an individual level. <S> This is the sort of thing that has to be organizational. <S> If you focus on the individual, it comes across as personal. <S> Focus on the team, if not the company. <S> Also, you are correct that it makes your group appear uneducated. <S> I wouldn't say unprofessional, but certainly uneducated. <S> Misspellings and grammatical errors always crop up from time to time, but when a message is riddled with them, it does make the author appear to be a dolt. <S> I work with several very intelligent people who are not native English speakers. <S> I can see that they take great care to spell correctly, and use the proper forms of your/you're and two/to/too, but the adverb/adjective/noun order gets twisted around sometimes, and that's not a big problem. <S> Then I work with native English speakers who can't spell, punctuate, or even tell time. <S> (Using "EST" instead of "Eastern" is one of my personal favorite irritants.) <S> They come across as "less than trustworthy" as a source of data or expertise. <S> Now, however, you need the approach. <S> This is how I lay it out: <S> Email is a form of communication. <S> The purpose of communication is to convey data and concepts from one person to others. <S> If you are communicating, then you are wanting your information to be understood by the recipients. <S> If you don't care enough to send the information in a respectful, correct, and informative manner, then you should not be communicating, as you are being disrespectful to the recipients. <S> Bad spelling and grammar is not just lazy, it's disrespectful. <S> That's the piece that most "offenders" don't grasp.
| Unless they're making mistakes that would make them look ridiculous, I never correct them. It's best done wholesale, stipulate to employees that correct English is expected in all communications internal and external.
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My past employer kept my email inbox and assigned it to someone else in the company My most recent employer, a consulting company in the U.S., kept my email inbox open after I left the company. They delegated its use to the person now running that department. I had been at that company for over eight years. Before leaving the company, I put an out-of-office message on my email inbox so that anyone sending it email would receive a notice to contact someone else at the company. I'm not the only person to have left that company that has had this same situation occur. I think the company's logic is that a past customer may email my old email address, and they don't want to risk missing that email. However, it seems to be abusive to me in that colleagues from other companies who might want to contact me may not be aware, and then the communication is obviously not private. I know that when using a corporate email system one should have no expectation of privacy. Is it okay for my past employer to do this? EDIT: I've recently found out that besides reading mail addressed to me at this company email address, the person in control of this email account has also transmitted an "unsubscribe" email from this account to a website I had used to check my son's school grades. I evidently registered my work email account instead of my private email account. <Q> I think the company's logic is that a past customer may email my old email address, and they don't want to risk missing that email. <S> However, it seems to be abusive to me in that colleagues from other companies who might want to contact me may not be aware, and then the communication is obviously not private. <S> I know that when using a corporate email system one should have no expectation of privacy. <S> Is it okay for my past employer to do this? <S> While not very nice, if you work in the US, that mailbox was not yours to begin with, and your former employer is within their rights to do whatever they choose with it . <S> In many (most?) cases your out-of-office message wouldn't last more than a day or so after your departure. <S> You may wish to contact these colleagues from other companies using your personal email account and tell them of your move. <S> Other than that, there isn't much you can do. <A> My experience is that typically, if your mail was by your title, they that mailbox would be given to whomever took over the position. <S> If the box was by your name, then it would be forwarded for a period to allow for that catching of clients who are not aware of the change, and then after a period be closed down. <S> Is there any real difference between the forwarding for a short time and then closing, and simply allowing access? <S> No, not really. <S> The corporation is the owner of the email and has complete right to cover it. <S> If sensitive or personal information is transmitted or was left in inboxes or folders, well, first of all the company could have gotten that anytime through monitoring anyway, and they likely had rules in place saying the company email was not for personal use. <S> Yes, most everyone does at least a bit, but that is at their own risk. <S> They are completely within their rights both legally and morally, IMO. <A> In my experience, whenever I (or someone else I've worked with) have left a position, they normally write a polite "farewell" email to any interested parties and included a personal email address (or social media identifier) so that people are invited to stay in touch. <S> The mailbox remains with the company. <A> Your words: <S> However, it seems to be abusive to me in that colleagues from other companies who might want to contact me may not be aware, and then the communication is obviously not private. <S> If these are people you wish to stay in contact with, it's not your employer's responsibility to help you maintain those connections because they are YOUR personal connections. <S> Truth be told, the employer could just as well delete your business e-mail account instead of having it forward to someone else's inbox, and there's not a single thing you can do about it. <S> Here's another way to look at this: if you change phone numbers (at least, with a land line), a phone company doesn't provide a "forwarding" message indefinitely, unless you're paying for them to not re-use that old telephone number. <S> Just like with your employer - they're not obligated.
| Most employers would invalidate the account and route the email either to your former manager, or to a general "user not found" mailbox - at least for a while.
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Interview Question - They asked me to remove two other candidates, why? In an interview session, they split all the candidates into 5 groups. Then they assigned a specific task to each group. After that they interviewed each candidate in private. One confusing question that was asked: We want to fail 2 candidates among all the others. Which one would you choose? What was the best answer to this question? Update 1: My wife is a flight attendant. This question was asked in her interview. The job is bonded to making decisions in emergency situations. For example, in a ditching situation, the boat may be overloaded and they need to choose some passengers to remove from the boat (ask them to go or throw them in water to save all the others). She really tried to not to answer this question and also chose herself to be removed, but was told to make her choice anyway. Now she needs to know what was the best behavior for further interviews. Please consider that the airliner will employ 13 of 15 candidates and the candidates may be in same flight crew in the future! <Q> in general the key to answering this well is the "why" part. <S> If you just say "Candidate A" and then sit silent you have blown the question. <S> (As an aside, I think it's a terrible question, but generally you can't share that opinion.) <S> So if you say "Candidate A was clearly much slower than the others in my group, so I think that's my choice" or <S> "Candidate A declared not knowing the tool we were using at all, so I think I would choose Candidate A" <S> then you are showing your grasp of what is important for the job and your ability to judge the other candidates. <S> It's possible some people will think "Candidate A is clearly strongest, I am going to choose Candidate A" -- I recommend strongly against that plan. <S> Without good reasons for excluding Candidate A, you will not be revealing any of your strengths with such an answer. <S> Another possible answer is "During the task I focused on getting it completed, not evaluating my team mates. <S> My apologies, but I don't know any of them well enough to recommend elimination. <S> " <S> This may count against you, but not as badly as being wildly wrong, such as suggesting the elimination of the strongest team member. <A> I generally agree with Kates answer, but I'd like to add a twist: <S> You will read everywhere that you should not talk negatively about people. <S> So don't. <S> If you need to pick one, think about why you had liked the other 4 better. <A> I would think it's a stupid question probably designed to see if you will pick someone based on ethnicity or 'looks' and gauge your prejudices if any. <S> My reply would be 'Any or all of them, I'm the best person for the job.' <S> And move forwards from their reaction to that. <A> Remember that a job interview goes two ways: It helps the company finding a suitable employee, and helps the prospective employee to evaluate the company and find out if they want a job there or not. <S> So you don't give the answer that you think will get you the job <S> - you give the answer that will get you the job if it is a company that you want to work for. <S> So personally, my answer would be: " <S> I'm very good at what you are trying to hire someone for. <S> But I don't like backstabbing, and I'm not good at it at all. <S> I'm confident that I can do my job as good or better as anyone else here, but I won't beat any of the other candidates this way". <S> That's either what they want to hear, or the exact opposite. <S> Either way is fine with me.
| Talk about your great teamwork with the other four and conclude that as you would really like to work with those four, you would have to pick the remaining one, even though you cannot say anything negative about him.
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How to greet a recruiter after first message? I messaged a tech recruiter on LinkedIn with a greeting like “Dear Mr. Smith”, and he replied with “Hi Jen”. I used his last name for the second message as well since he never signs off his messages and I wasn’t sure. Would it be weird to greet him using his first name from now on? (he’s fairly young) <Q> Would it be weird to greet him using his first name <S> No. <S> Having said that it is safe to start communication with "Dear" or "Hello" and once you gain some rapport with the person, you may use "Hi". <S> Some good discussion here . <A> When he greeted you by your first name, that was a signal that you should do the same. <S> It won't be weird. <S> And even if it was, you'd know after the first time you use his first name. <A> 9 times out of 10, you should use their first name in every communication. <S> This isn't 1980 anymore, so unless you're applying to a very traditional company, skip the formalities. <S> Don't believe me? <S> Look at what actual hiring managers have to say . <S> < rant <S> > <S> This bothers me so much I wrote a post on how to craft these communications correctly. <S> < / rant >
| It is fairly common to greet using "Hi" + "first name", infact it is becoming de-facto mode of greeting now at least in tech world. Though it is alright to use "Dear __", the latter is user mostly for quiet formal communication where you do not know the person well enough.
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Hold an inconsistent manager to their word TL;DR There is a disconnect between what my boss (Manager X) remembers and what the rest of the team see and hear. Regardless of what was agreed or discussed in the past, even when it is in writing, what he later recalls can be substantially different. How can I hold a manager demonstrating a lack of consistency in their actions to account? Background Examples of the Manager X's behaviour include that he will: frequently deny receiving emails regarding important topics (HRissues, project updates) then become agitated about not being kept inthe loop when something goes wrong. I've never met anyone else whohas so many 'issues' with lost emails as Manager X. remember the outcome of meetings differently from everyone else inthe room. Even when actions are written down and circulatedimmediately after the meeting, Manager X will dispute what was agreedat a later point in time. We've had instances where the entire teamagree what was discussed at the previous meeting, only for Manager Xto reprimand the team for not completing an important task that wasnever discussed. tell other people (particularly his boss) what was discussed atmeetings he was invited to but did not attend. mis-remember key points from discussions, even when what he remembersis illogical. For example, we agreed to hire a consultant for£800/day, confirmed in a written quote sent to Manager X and myself.Manager X signed the purchase agreement, the consultant completed thework and issued an invoice. Manager X was the furious because hethought the agreed rate was £125/day, and consequently our team hadspent over the allocated budget. After Manager X claimed to havenever seen the original quote, the consultant pointed out that£125/day was less than the company pays the most junior engineers(let alone experienced consultants) hence it made no sense to everthink £125/day was the agreed rate. We try to deal with Manager X's lack of consistency by asking for everything in writing or sending emails multiple times until you get a response. Most of the time the request is ignored, or met with a harsh "don't you trust me" or "I don't have time for that" response. This approach isn't proving to be effective. I've been tempted to think it's an easy way for Manager X to lay blame for any mistake on another team member. But at this stage I don't really care for the reason, I'd just like to put in place an approach for making sure there's some consistency between one week and the next. <Q> For someone like this, where common practices such as getting things in writing or confirming receipt are not working, there is not much to do. <S> It sounds like you already have plenty of documentation (e.g. signed purchase order with the 800 pound / day rate) of his behavior. <A> Document everything, and CC manager X's boss. <S> For important emails, send it with receipt requested, so you have the proof. <S> Start CCing his boss on even trivial emails so that this erratic behavior becomes apparent. <S> If he reprimands people for things not done that were never mentioned, escalate. <S> The real problem is that his boss needs to start holding him to account, the only way to do that is to help his boss build a file on him. <S> Again, document everything, and make sure his boss is kept in the loop. <A> Playing devil's advocate for a moment before answering... frequently deny receiving emails regarding important topics <S> Happens all the time when you get tons more email than you can possibly cope with. <S> remember the outcome of meetings differently from everyone else in the room <S> Also happens all the time, and usually is a sign you're overworked and burning out. <S> (Or dumb, but usually the former.) <S> tell other people (particularly his boss) what was discussed at meetings he was invited to but did not attend. <S> Is a manager's job, assuming of course that what gets reported is correct. <S> mis-remember key points from discussions, even when what he remembers is illogical. <S> Misremembering happens, though not often when you're signing proposals. <S> Memory loss, as an aside, is a sign of burnout . <S> And in the last two paragraphs of your question, you make it sound like your manager is completely overwhelmed or burnt out. <S> (Or, your manager might be a monstrous micromanager... <S> it's really hard to say. <S> But my own guess is burnout.) <S> Which brings us to your actual question: I'd just like to put in place an approach for making sure there's some consistency between one week and the next. <S> You can probably help out by making your manager's life easier instead of harder. <S> Besides bringing up the burnout question upfront (with him or her), try to do your best to manage yourself to the point of being nearly or entirely autonomous. <S> Examples: <S> The task itself is vague or unclear? <S> Expand a bit on what you feel the task is, what it's for, etc. <S> in writing, and submit that for review. <S> Next steps are vague or unclear? <S> Expand on the DoD (Definition of Done), itemize the way forward, and submit those for review. <S> Does the usefulness of this/ <S> that new feature sound fishy? <S> Ask about it. <S> Not satisfied with the answer? <S> Ask if they don't mind you getting in a Hangout with a few end-users to validate the idea's merit? <S> Assuming they accept, then do so and report on your findings. <S> More generally: try to produce docs that are scannable with a short TL;DR exec summary. <S> They should only require a minute or two of attention unless your boss wants to dig deeper, and they should beg for a yes|no type of answer instead of a sophisticated replies. <A> While getting things in writing is good, just asking for things in writing is not good enough. <S> There are 2 more things to do: <S> Understand why things are put in writing. <S> It's to resolve simple misunderstandings, but if the problem is more than just a simple misunderstanding - as is the case in your scenario - <S> the purpose of a written record is so outsiders can come in, read the written records, and have an idea what's going on; who to believe. <S> If you either don't get things in writing, or the things in writing do not match events as you experienced them, you need to put things in writing yourself. <S> Send a short email: <S> As discussed, [summary of discussion], [summary of actions you will perform], [summary of actions recipient is expected to perform]. <S> And when you write things down, you write down not just the original agreement, but you also write down how the boss changes his mind, and you write down his statements that contradict your previous records. <S> No need to spell out that the boss changes his mind or that he contradicts himself, writing down the boss' new decision or <S> the boss' new claim is sufficient. <S> Don't try to save reputations by avoiding HR when someone's life is at risk.
| I think at this point you need to initiate a discussion either directly with him or with his boss about his behavior and how it impacts your work. If there are repeated misunderstandings which are not resolved by showing the written record, chances are there is a medical condition causing memory loss - some of which are life threatening - so you absolutely must contact HR with a medical concern.
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How to deal with competitive salary from another company? I know that similar questions have been asked, but mine is a bit different. Here is the situation: I have been looking for a job for a few months and finally got a job offer from a company. Though they offered a lower salary than I expected, I accepted the offer as the company seemed good and I wasn't receiving any other offers at that time. Now I have been working for one month at this company and have just received a job offer with a salary that is much, much more than what I am receiving now. Should I mention this to my employer in hopes that he'll see what I'm being offered and raise my salary? I'd like to make it clear that I do not want to leave my current job. However the second company is offering 62% more . Which is why I feel I am underpaid in the current job. <Q> I think you should either take the higher salary job, or remain at the one you're in without trying any such negotiations while you are still very new and probably in your trial period. <S> You would come across as mercenary and being very new they haven't invested in you to the point where you're difficult to replace. <S> So you would be taking quite a risk. <S> It might depend what your position is though, if it's a very difficult position to fill then you might be able to negotiate a better deal at least for a while. <S> But I doubt your employer would be happy about it, and it may well be held against you further down the track. <A> Business is business. <S> If you're in the US or (most of) <S> Europe you can hand in your notice to your current employer, after you've made sure the other company is willing to wait that many weeks for you. <S> I wouldn't expect your current company to try and match your salary, but they might - at least as a time-saving measure until you're replaced. <S> Have a look at this question for more on the subject. <S> I wouldn't expect them to be happy about it either. <A> Short answer: depends. <S> Some employers don't really like giving raises. <S> Especially that you're new in the company and you agreed upon given terms, you could have renegotiate or ask for more back then. <S> There's also the case that it might negatively mark you in your boss memory. <S> Think about a scenario where you're the CEO of a company and someone who just started working ask you for a raise and says that others are paying more. <S> You need to ask yourself if this job is worth doing for less money than the other perhaps you like it more and as you said you feel good there; which is by the way hugely important! <S> Don't underestimate that quality, it's one of the best things you can ask for. <S> Depending on your contract you might just ask next potential employer to ask until your current contract expire if you're in position to do so. <S> This might give you some time to think. <S> But by doing so you might be perceived as unreliable and don't gain enough trust. <S> Don't do anything sudden and think through every possibility. <S> Chances are you won't be able to go back to the company you're leaving. <S> From personal experience <S> I know how hard this decision might be on you right now. <S> Because if you won't take job with better pay you'll have regrets which will affect your work at current company. <S> If you take the job and it's worse <S> you'll regret not staying, you might even find that larger pay isn't worth the stress. <S> Good luck! <A> Be open about your situation to your new company. <S> Be prepared to leave (or be replaced) if they do not. <S> This is entirely reasonable, and although it's an uncomfortable for your current company it just illustrates that they are paying below market rates. <S> If you chose to stay without saying anything you will likely become discontent very quickly, as you know you are being underpaid.
| State your intention is to leave to the new company but you are happy to stay if they match the offer.
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How to ask for a vacation from a boss that doesn't like you? Hi I'm Karen and I am obsessing over whether I should ask for a vacation or not from my boss. She and I had a quarrel a few days ago because I expressed grief when she was trying to much to micromanage me and things were said, but later we made up by hugging it out. Things are still a little cold since then and I need to ask for a time off in December. In december, we get a week off during Christmas, plus, I will be taking the 2 weeks from this year and I am hoping that I can also take a week from next year. So a total of 4 weeks vacation. This is to go see my sister who I haven't seen in over 4 years who lives abroad. Anyways, the point is, because of the souring of our relationship, I feel whatever I might ask for, she will always find a way to negate or say no (which she has been doing in the last few days). So my question is how do you ask for a 4 week vacation from a boss who doesn't like you? Is there ways I can soften her up or persuade her? Maybe it is also worth noting that we have a big project we are working on right now, which would be pretty much complete by the time of my vacation, just the last streak. <Q> It really doesn't matter if they like you or not. <S> You are contractually entitled to some number of vacation days per year. <S> Unless there are specific reasons why you shouldn't take vacation at specific times (for example, when there is a crash-priority all-hands-on-deck crisis), getting vacation approved is not a big deal... especially if you make the request several weeks in advance and make sure there is someone who will handle your responsibilities while you are gone. <A> You are obsessing about asking, because you are worried/scared that the answer you get is "no"? <S> I think you did a pretty good job of scheduling your vacation - the Christmas season is not particularly busy. <S> The only fly in the ointment is your big project, which could stay live well past the expected date of completion. <S> You and your manager probably need to plan for that contingency. <S> And you need to be able to suggest someone to take over from you when you have to go, or establish shortly before you go on vac that the project is sufficiently close to completion that she can well afford you going on vacation. <S> You're not going on vacation if she has worries of her own that she can't resolve without you. <S> Be prepared to compromise. <S> You may ask for four weeks, but you get three weeks. <S> As for your dispute with your manager, what's done is done and that's water under the bridge. <S> Especially if the dispute was conducted in a respectful/professional manner, a satisfactory resolution was achieved and no personality conflicts were injected into the dispute. <S> Happiness on the job is not whether you have disagreements, it's how these disagreements are aired and solved, or at the very least managed until some sort of resolution is achieved. <A> A good answer already, but it does pay to be on good terms with your boss, particularly when you will be asking for a week of leave from next years allotment, which realistically is asking for a bit. <S> A months holiday is hard to cover sometimes. <S> While this might sound like a blatant bribe for affection (which it is). <S> A box of chocolates and a nice card of appreciation are very rarely looked at badly, and are a pretty general peace offering. <S> It's hard not to feel kindly to someone while eating their chocolate and you get to put the card in a prominent position <S> so your clients can see that your employees love you. <A> You cannot really change your relationship with your boss on short notice. <S> You will need to employ some people skills. <S> Then ask him nicely. <S> Grammatically speaking, if you ask a "Yes/No" question, you will get either Yes or No as an answer. <S> So if you ask "Can I get three weeks off?" Chances are, your boss will go for the easy "No". <S> If you want to dodge that "No", ask a question where "No" is not grammatically correct. <S> "I would like to get three weeks off. <S> I realize this is a stretch, so I came to ask what I can do so we can make it work. <S> " There is no way for an easy "No" now.
| Be nice, pick a time and date where your boss is not stressed out or on the run. You have to ask because if you don't ask, you don't get.
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Is it unprofessional to ask for vacation in your notice period? I'm planning to leave my current company, in the next 2 months, but I still have a few days of vacation left, I want to give my 2 week notice and then have those days to go out on a trip. Does it make me look unprofessional, to do something like that? <Q> The purpose of giving 2 weeks notice is to allow time in the office for you to transition your work to other people. <S> If you gave two weeks notice and then spent those two weeks on vacation, I would view that as unprofessional and essentially the same as giving no notice. <S> As Steve Mangiameli pointed out in a comment, make sure that you are still allowed vacation days after you give notice. <S> Depending on your contract and local employment laws, you may not be guaranteed vacation once you declare your intent to resign. <A> No, that's perfectly fine, if you have vacation time owed to you, then use it if you can. <S> Your employer may request that you don't and negotiate a payment instead if they really need you for the two weeks, but that's another issue. <S> In all likelihood it won't be a problem. <A> Check your employee handbook. <S> I haven't worked for a company since the 1980s that allowed people to take vacation during their notice period, even vacation previously scheduled. <A> The first place to start looking is the employee handbook. <S> That will let you know what they do with leftover vacation and sick leave. <S> It can even depend on your jurisdiction. <S> Some companies have to address issues like this differently for different groups of employees depending on which states laws apply. <S> Generally they want you to work every day during the notice period. <S> It is for you to document and train, and for you to finish some of the open tasks. <S> They are expecting this. <S> If they don't pay you for unused sick leave, but do pay for unused vacation; they may be very strict about documenting an illness during your notice period. <S> The determination of the last day is very important when planning the transition to your new job. <S> How the old company handles things like vacation, sick and insurance is very important to know. <S> While a check for unused vacation is great, if it comes with the expense of being uninsured during that time period you may want to wait until you come back before resigning. <S> Of course if the insurance coverage carries over till the end of the month...then taking a break after your last day of work may be relaxing.
| The more professional thing to do would be to schedule your vacation, then give 3 or 4 weeks notice, with the stipulation that you would be on vacation for the final week or two. But in either case there is nothing unprofessional about it.
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How to encourage team members to follow file name conventions? I'm the sole software developer on a team of graphic designers and 3D artists. Our guys are amazing at producing creative works, but most of them are having trouble following file naming conventions. This is a headache for the manager when issuing reviews to the client, and also to me, since consistency in the files makes my development much smoother. Our conventions are as follows: Folder names should be in UPPER CASE File names are in Title Case, apart from any included acronyms, which are UPPER CASE: e.g. "SICEEP Aerial.max", or "Townville Metro Aerial 01.psd" All folder and file names use spaces, not underscores All working project files (like .max files) should be prefixed with an acronym of the project name There's more conventions specific to the design software used, e.g. what files need to go under the "Photoshop" folder, how to best name modelling files, and where to put outgoing files. All in all the conventions are about a page. The comanager has sent out a few reminder emails about these conventions, and our last measure was putting a paper stand with the conventions on each team member's desk. The files are still named haphazardly and in the wrong place. My manager says the team just aren't reading the conventions. If it helps to know, the company culture is seriously relaxed and very blameless. Does anyone have any ideas or advice? <Q> Those conventions sound really odd to me. <S> One, I've already forgotten them. <S> Two, spaces in filenames and folders can be very hard to work with. <S> Three, case sensitivity in directory names is usually avoided. <S> Basically this is all to make scripting and organizing easier, but your convention seems to do the opposite. <S> It sounds like this has been effective for them so far. <S> You should probably find out why they prefer not using the conventions and why they don't. <S> Actual communication will go a lot farther than more signage. <A> This is a headache for the manager when issuing reviews to the client, and also to me, since consistency in the files makes my development much smoother. <S> Sounds like a fairly one-sided benefit so far. <S> Have you asked them why it's so hard? <S> Do you have regular team meetings where you can air this and discuss the implications rather than sending emails and paper stands (whatever they are)? <S> What does it matter to you? <S> Do they realise why it's important to you? <S> Exactly what are the consequences? <S> Can you change? <S> What does it matter to them? <S> Do you realise why they don't care or the effort caring <S> takes? <S> Exactly what are the consequences of them changing/not changing? <S> Can they change? <S> Sounds <S> like a there's a pretty major gap in communications and knowledge of overall process flow. <S> A simple, semi-casual get-together might fix that without too much angst. <A> This is something that should really be addressed at the management level. <S> If this is indeed an important requirement, and people keep ignoring it despite efforts to remind people and communicate the importance, then there should eventually be some sort of consequences for not doing things correctly. <S> But of course you are not the manager, so you are not able to change that. <S> Here are some things which you might be able to propose from your position: <S> Simplify the conventions . <S> A naming convention that needs a page of rules is over the top. <S> I see no benefit from this complexity. <S> As a developer, you only care about consistency. <S> I doubt the clients care about the capitalization of things, if they see the files (inconsistency would look messy but otherwise, why would they care?). <S> I would propose a new convention that is a sentence rather than a page, such as "File and folder names will be lower case with spaces rather than underscores." <S> A logical directory structure should probably be another sentence or two at most (unless you are working on a huge, complicated project). <S> Automatically rename things to meet the convention . <S> If the above doesn't work or is not possible, why not a simple script that automatically renames all files to meet the guidelines? <S> This should only take a couple of hours to bash out--this isn't very complicated. <S> Problem solved. <S> Refuse to work with files in the wrong location. <S> If X files are supposed to be in directory Y, then your software should only look in directory Y. <A> First, have you talked to them about why the conventions are needed and what problems it creates when they aren't followed? <S> People don't follow rules like this unless they understand why they are needed. <S> If you have flexibility in how the rules are set up, then sit down with them and create a better naming standard that everyone not just you can live with (and, really, lose the spaces in filenames!!) <S> People do better with rules they had a hand in developing. <S> If there is no flexibility due to the rules being a requirement of some third party software, then explain that. <S> But right now there is quite literally no reason to follow rules they didn't choose and regard, <S> most likely, as stupid. <S> They get no benefits and there are no consequences for failure to follow the standard. <S> Why on earth would anyone choose to follow those standards under those conditions? <S> Next, once a standard is agreed to by everyone, simply reject the work until it is complete and complete includes properly named. <S> If they miss a deadline because they didn't name the files properly, then they missed the deadline and should be the ones to take the heat for it. <S> Laid back, fun workplaces with no management are ineffective places to work.
| They might just be used to living and working in a place known as "the rest of the world," and really hate your conventions and so far the best way to deal with it for them has been to just ignore them. There must be consequences for failure to adhere to the standards or they are simply recommendations not standards. Any time you don't find the appropriate file, then go back to the original creator and ask them to put it there for you (rather than moving it yourself).
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Who needs to pay overpayment fees? In my final paycheck, my company paid me 500$ more than they should. That was 3 months ago. I didn't notice and now they want the money back. I understand that mistakes happen. The problem is that I don't have the money in that country anymore, and I have paid quite a lot of fees to transfer the money to my home country (plus the currency exchange fees). If I just send the money back, I would need to pay those fees again. Who is responsible for those fees? <Q> I don't think you're going to find a consensus on here. <S> Legally we can't really tell, since you're now in a different country and we don't know which countries are involved, you'd need a really specialised lawyer who knows about cross-border wage disputes to tell you the answer I think. <S> Ethically, we're not all going to agree on this forum who's fault this is. <S> But you have an advantage. <S> You don't work for them any more, so they have no hold over you. <S> So consider two things: Your own honesty. <S> Whether you care about getting a reference from them or "burning bridges" <S> If you're going to pay them back, I would explain to them the situation with the fees. <S> They may be willing to take the hit themselves, and admit to their mistake. <S> After all, something is better than nothing. <S> Be assertive talking to them, and don't accept from them, " <S> Well you should have been checking your wages", remember they made the mistake and given the situation, should be glad to be getting it back. <A> However I don't believe you are required to do so immediately . <S> The company didn't spot this mistake for a few months, so they can reasonably wait a little longer. <S> I would contact the company and tell that you you fully intend to pay the money back, but that it will take some time since you are no longer in the country. <S> Next, go and find out what a reasonably cheap way of getting the money back to them is. <S> Something like an international money order is relatively cheap, although it might take a week or two. <S> Likewise a cashier's cheque (denominated in the company's currency). <S> Investigate the costs of electronic transfers. <S> Don't worry about how much it cost you to transfer the money in the first place, only how much it will cost to get it back to the company. <S> Once you've priced these, tell the company what your preferred method of transfer is, and how long it will take. <S> If the cost is more than you are willing to pay out of goodwill, ask if they would be OK with you deducting the cost of the transfer from then amount returned. <S> If it's not very large they will probably be OK. <S> If they insist on a faster, more expensive route, it's pretty reasonable to expect them to cover the cost. <S> It was their mistake after all. <S> Once you've reached an agreement, do what you said and everything should be OK. <A> It wasn't your error, so legality aside I would just ignore them. <S> Three months is a long time, you don't have the money there, it's a substantial amount, hard luck. <S> It's too small a sum for them to chase someone in a different country over their error after a period of 3 months. <S> The OP isn't responsible for their incompetence. <S> Ignoring is the best thing, opening any channel of communication legitimises their claim somewhat, ignoring it doesn't. <S> This doesn't "burn bridges" - <S> you're not telling them you're ignoring them, <S> for all they know they're sending to wrong address or email is going in to spam. <S> (And you're not lying because you're ignoring them and don't explain this). <S> Employers don't drag ex employees through court for pittances because they also have rep to lose. <S> And if they do, deal with it then .
| Most jurisdictions require you to pay back overpayment of wages, so you are going to have to send the money back, and in a reasonably timely fashion. $500 is a relatively small amount and given that you're in different countries, it's unlikely that they'll chase you legally.
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How to apply Carnegie's principles to raise negotiation This question has a specific bent, in that I have recently read How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie and am trying to implement what he teaches. A little context. I'm in my first job after school (web developer), and about to hit my one year mark. When I was hired, I knew I was a big gamble for the company (small ~15 people, 5 of whom are devs) and probably only got the job because I was recommended by a mutual friend. Because I didn't know what I was doing and didn't negotiate, I'm getting paid about 2/3 market value for my job in my city (entry level). Since I'm hitting my one year mark, I want to renegotiate my comp package. I know that without another offer, I'll be at a disadvantage. I'll be basing my reasoning on the fact that I've proven myself (not a gamble anymore) and should be paid as a developer now (thought on this approach appreciated, but not the focus of this question). I've been reading up online about how to negotiate a raise, and something I keep coming across is to use Carnegie's principles for interacting with others. Here is the rub, the one most mentioned "Talk in terms of the other person's interest" seems to directly counter my desire for a raise. The thing the CEO (yes, CEO, it's a small company) wants (I assume) is to have minimal expenditures and maximum profits. Paying me significantly more will not improve my skill significantly. In fact, the whole idea here is bringing my comp up to my skill level. He already got what he wants (my time) for dirt cheap. So here is my question. How can I get around all that and frame my request in terms of his interests? I know without an offer from another company as leverage, I don't have much of a leg to stand on, but I'd still like to maximize whatever I do have. Also, a question to those that know, is there anything non-obvious that higher ups want from their employees? Thanks. <Q> The CEO does have a vested interest in you staying, if you're performing well. <S> You have institutional knowledge that's hard to replace, you don't cost a finder's fee or company time/distraction if you stay, his appreciation for your loyalty will help build a better corporate culture where people feel well compensated and respected. <S> Apply Dale's principles related to listening. <S> Listen to what he says is valuable to him, and help him get it. <S> Show a genuine appreciation for it. <S> If you apply those long enough, you won't need to ask how to approach him, he'll tell you. <A> The thing the CEO (yes, CEO, it's a small company) wants (I assume) is to have minimal expenditures and maximum profits. <S> Paying me significantly more will not improve my skill significantly. <S> In fact, the whole idea here is bringing my comp up to my skill level. <S> He already got what he wants (my time) for dirt cheap. <S> You are looking at this the wrong way. <S> Paying you more will keep you employed at the CEO's company and give them more of the demonstrably outstanding work you've done for them over the past year. <S> Last year is done and over with. <S> If you decided to accept a salary that was 2/3 of what you thought you were worth, that was your decision to make and not something you should strive to "make up for" now. <S> That's all over and done with. <S> You don't get a raise for what you did last year. <S> You get a raise for what you will do in the upcoming year. <S> Get your head around this revised way of looking at things, and you'll be able to "Talk in terms of the other person's interest". <A> You're taking the "other person's interests" a little too far. <S> You may think that your boss would prefer you work for free, but some people take pride and pleasure in creating good jobs for other people. <S> Of course they want to make a profit as well. <S> The goal is to determine a good balance point. <S> You also need to consider how to phrase your qualifications in ways that suits the other person's interests. <S> There may be other entry level programmers that program better than you, but may require more time, energy and effort to manage as well. <S> Being able to think for yourself and get your work done without having to be poked and prodded saves time for others and that equals money. <S> Working well with others is another way to leverage your skills. <S> Not everyone can do it. <S> It's not going to come in direct quotes either. <S> Usually what everyone thinks is important has come from the top. <S> Do people go out of their way to be on time, get paperwork done, show up to meetings, put in extra hours when needed? <S> The things people make an effort to do are usually what is considered important, so start taking stock and be prepared to defend your growth and benefit to this CEO in your position for this company. <S> If he doesn't think you're average, expect to make less. <A> "Talk in terms of the other person's interest" <S> It's a fair assumption that the CEOs interests would be minimal expenditures and maximum profits <S> but you are ignoring time frame. <S> Any CEO worth their tie knows that good investments can take time to mature. <S> The angle I would play is you and your skills growing along with the company. <S> Growth of the company is very likely in his interest so showing how you've grown in your roles and responsibilities to accommodate the growth of his company could definitely get him nodding his head along with you. <A> While minimizing expenses and maximizing profits are certainly two interests of any CEO, they are rarely the only ones. <S> Most companies have a "mission statement" or something similar, and these rarely, if ever, directly reference the company's bottom line. <S> Typically, they're about the company's values and how it serves its customers. <S> Find your company's mission statement and read it to learn what the company officially considers critically important to everything they do, and frame your approach in that context. <S> For example, Oracle's mission statement says: <S> We help you simplify your IT environment so that you can free up money, time, and resources to invest in innovation. <S> We do this by providing a comprehensive and fully integrated stack of cloud applications, platform services, and engineered systems. <S> If this were your company's mission statement, you might talk about how important it is that the company's web site looks attractive, loads quickly, and performs reliably, so that potential clients who visit it will feel confident that the company's IT solutions will really accelerate their own operations. <S> You might also compliment the CEO on his decision to take the risk of entrusting a then-unknown web developer with the responsibility of fulfilling these objectives, and finally point to the last quarter's impressive customer growth rate as evidence that his gamble really paid off (letting him take all the credit for hiring you, another Carnegie principle). <S> Then tell him how excited you are to see all the new opportunities he's going to have for you now that you've proven your worth.
| Start talking to other employees and listen for things they mention that are important to the CEO.
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How do I address my new colleagues? I will start working in a new company soon, as a developer (I am 27 years old). Shall I be formal with my colleagues and use Mr. and Ms. + last name, or is it okay to use the first name directly? Or something in between, for example: Mr and Ms. + first name? Dutch firm <Q> Short answer: Use the name that each person introduces themselves to you. <S> During your induction to your team, you will no doubt be introduced to your new colleagues. <S> If someone introduces themselves using their first name, use that. <S> If they use a more formal name, then follow their lead and address them by that. <S> You'll also no doubt pick up cues from the other staff members how they address other colleagues. <S> And if in doubt, ask! <A> You are in the Netherlands, which has a very informal work culture. <S> You are a software developer, same. <S> There may be exceptions with some larger companies that are in a more formal line of business, e.g. at banks or a lawyer's office. <S> But those are the kinds of places where people wear suits too, and in a comment to you other question <S> you noted that the interviewers were wearing jeans and t-shirt, so this is not one of those places. <S> Customers are sometimes treated differently, it's good to ask a colleague how to behave before any meetings with outsiders. <A> There are companies where everyone is on a first-name basis, and there are companies where everyone is always Ms X or Mr Y. <S> Ideally, that is something you should have found out while interviewing - <S> the interview should allow the candidate to find out about the company culture. <S> If in doubt, just ask your contact at the company (HR, your future boss...) about that. <S> That is a totally legitimate question to ask, and no-one should hold it against you, especially if you are new to the industry. <A> Typically, you will be introduced in a way that tells you how to address people. <S> Someone might walk you around the office saying things like <S> This is Alex, who looks after all the database work <S> This is Ms Smith, the head of the department <S> And so on. <S> Or people may introduce themselves to you <S> Hello, I'm Chris <S> Following a formal introduction, Ms Smith might respond <S> Please, call me Judy <S> If you don't get any cues like this then you won't know anyone's names anyway, so settle for "hello", "excuse me", and "good morning" and watch what they call each other. <S> You'll figure it out pretty quickly.
| So just introduce yourself by your first name and address people by their first names. That totally depends on the culture of the company and the workplace.
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Considering going back to former employer I recently left a job and now I am hearing from current employees that they are going to need some help. I know that they would definitely need me and I am considering going back part time for extra money, it would be for approximately 3 weeks. Two things though, first no one has asked me but I am considering asking them if this is possible, secondly I wonder how this would pan out from an HR perspective? Is this a possibility? <Q> Returning to a place where you used to work will not be the same. <S> Even if you just go there to have lunch with friends who are still there, it is different. <S> Going back there to work will be different. <S> You will not have the same status as you had when you worked there. <S> You need to be prepared for that. <S> You also need to make sure any current employment contract(s) <S> you have (i.e., your current job) <S> do not prevent you from working other jobs while you are employed with them . <S> Many companies don't have a problem with their people working on independent projects in their free time, but may have a problem with employment at another company doing related work with similar duties as you currently have with them. <S> Finally, you will have to decide which employer wins if there is a conflict . <S> If your full-time job requires some overtime that prevents you from meeting your commitment to your part-time job, you'll need to know how you're going to handle that. <S> But the biggest thing is that returning to a former workplace is different, and often weird, and it may just be better for everyone if you stay away. <S> It's good that you want to help, but be sure you're not feeling motivated by a need to be a hero and come back to save the day, just like old times. <A> Depends on your relationship with previous employer and depends on a company policy. <S> In my experience if your relation with previous workplace was good enough there's no problem for coming back. <S> There's even possibility you won't have to come though all interviewing process and only have to negotiate contract. <S> So yes, there's a possibility that you'll be accepted back on better conditions. <S> Especially that you have people on the inside who will support you. <A> This really depends on your current employer and your old company culture. <S> In our company many people left the company over the last years. <S> Some of them returned, as our company normally welcomes former employees. <S> For those who returned, it wasn't the same. <S> Many of them needed to get a new "clique". <S> As many of their old friends and colleges doesn't like their disappearance and find others to hang around with. <S> Many of the "returners" go away after a few months or after a year, as they find another good or even better job. <S> For the company itself, it was really helpful to get them back, as they've had a few new perspectives on some topics. <S> This was really helpful to get some new input. <S> But some of them, who came back, just wanted to do the same as before. <S> This behavior wasn't really welcome for all the other employees, which just see the point, that those returners just failed in their new job and want to do the stuff they already know. <S> If you want to leave your new job and go back to your old company, it may be fine for you, but be prepared that this may be a little bit harder, than before. <S> Even if you do the same things as before.
| If you want to stay at your current company and just want to work for a few hours a week in your old company, it may be ok for you. If they really need you (and can afford you and so on) and you want to come back, everybody is happy.
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Signing pre-interview agreement with a 3rd party recruiting/staffing company I have never worked with a 3rd party recruiter before for job search. So I am unsure whether I am dealing with a normal process. I talked to him on the phone after he contacted me on LinkedIn. We chatted a little about my credential, he then asked what my expected salary would be. I first refused as I would like to understand the position more. He pushed very hard, so I eventually gave him a range from 80k to 110k. He then proposed "how about 100k plus benefit, can you accept that?". I got clarification from him that the position he was offering was a permanent staff position under their client's payroll. I then received a few documents which I would need to sign before going into the interview. These included a pre-interview agreement with clauses such as: If CANDIDATE is selected for the position, the CANDIDATE agrees to the following terms: Annually rate agreed upon for this position is $100K/Annum. + Benefits all-inclusive. Once an offer is accepted by CANDIDATE, the CANDIDATE shall be available for work on behalf of XXX(redacted the recruiting company name) no later than__10____business days after the offer is accepted. CANDIDATE acknowledges that the actual start date will be determined by Client. It appears to me that if I sign I would be (a) agreeing on the salary for a job I have not yet interviewed for, and (b) working for the XXX recruiting company 10 days after the offer is accepted until the actual start date??? Appreciate any feedback on whether this is legit, and if not, what a "normal" process would be. Thanks a lot. <Q> I would have pretty serious reservations about this situation. <S> First, salary is only a piece of a compensation package. <S> If a position offered me $100k/year and minimal benefits vs $100k, 10% 401k match, free healthcare, 5 weeks vacation, lots of stock options - they are clearly different. <S> But by signing that agreement you effectively give up any opportunity to value these differently. <S> Additionally, it is important to know what role you are interviewing for and the associated responsibilities prior to salary. <S> Job titles are often random. <S> Often the only way to know a job responsibilities are conversations with the manager. <S> The language on the second part is really sketchy. <S> It's a permanent fulltime position, but you work for the contracting company? <S> And you have to start within 10 business days? <S> What I would do depends on how interested you are in this job. <S> This whole situation sounds really weird to me, overall. <S> If you are only somewhat interested, you could ask the recruiter to clarify more information before signing anything: <S> Hey, I'm really not sure I'm comfortable signing this. <S> I don't know the benefits package nor job responsibilities and expectations and it doesn't seem appropriate to sign something like this before I even know what job I'm doing. <S> You previously mentioned this was a permanent position, but the wording of the document suggests I will be working for your company and not the client. <S> Last, can you give me more information why I need to sign this prior to the interview? <S> The recruiter should have a really good reason for requiring either of those clauses. <S> If they don't, I'd consider the recruiter's words with a huge dose of skepticism. <A> Having an agreement in place with the recruitment agent before they present you to the company with the vacancy is kind of essential for the recruitment agent to protect their business interests. <S> It should basically say that you give them sole representation rights for that specific role at that company, and that they are presenting your CV, with salary expectations of X. Things that you must NEVER agree to include: Not being able to negotiate a different salary. <S> Not being able to use a different agent for another role at the same client company. <S> Requirement to use this agency for other roles. <S> You making any payment to the agency. <S> When they offer you a job, the offer should include salary, work location, start date and any benefits. <A> I think you're misinterpreting your state's rule. <S> See here and here . <S> It precludes an employer from asking what you made on the previous job as a basis for the salary on the job being offered. <S> It is not effective for almost two years from now (July 2018)! <S> This recruiter is trying to speed up the process by basically taking away your right to negotiate. <S> I hope you haven't been lied to. <S> RUN , as this seems highly abnormal. <A> In general, I would recommend that you don't trust recruiters if you haven't worked with them in the past. <S> I've worked with them for over 10 years and can tell you at least 3 times I was outright lied to. <S> Regarding salary, my response is always, <S> "First let's see if we like each other, then we can talk about salary. <S> I'm sure that if things get to that point, then it's unlikely that salary will stop us." <S> I'd never sign anything in advance. <S> If they say that won't work, then walk away. <S> If you are a candidate that's likely to actually get placed, they'll work with you to get you to stay. <S> If they don't work with you, it's unlikely they were going to place you anyway. <S> In the end, this recruiter is not on your side. <S> They are out only to maximize how much they make -- by charging as much as they can for you, while giving you as little as possible. <A> Massachusetts is an employment at will state. <S> Ergo they cannot force you to work, even on day one. <S> However they don't have to pay you either. <S> If it were me I'd probably sign this. <S> Granted <S> there's no way they could hold me for damages beyond any pay collected but not owed. <S> If it makes you feel more comfortable though, discuss with an attorney. <A> I have worked with 3rd Party recruiters and that is a "Right to Represent" contract - on one token <S> it means they have "rights" to you for that specific position in that specific company, <S> ergo you can't be submitted by Joe Schmoe's Tech Recruiters as Sweet Tech Bro LLC already submitted you. <S> What that salary means is yes <S> you will received 100K+whatever... <S> but you cannot negotiate what that is, typically the recruiting company is making money for placing you there, and gets a bigger cut behind the scenes, starting at 10% for the 1st month and ending at 25% on the 6th month, at least that is how it worked in TN. <S> Typically you can't duck out of those if you are going in with a third party <S> , it does suck and I am on the receiving end of that suck right now <S> , recruiters don't care about you they care about using you to maximize their payout. <S> If you are not getting a warm and fuzzy, and want some more room for negotiations or clarification just go through the Client's HR department to avoid getting black-bagged
| Just tell them you won't sign anything or agree to salary unless you are offered a position first. My recommendation would be to just walk away from this situation.
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Colleague taking credit after refactoring my work Noticed that my colleague has refactored/normalized my work further into smaller chunks. What has surprised me is she has been adding a "Created by [her name]" on these files. It's clear this has been my work, everyone on the team knows that. She's not wrong because she technically did create this new file, but barring 3-4 lines of additions to link back to the parent file, there has been no value addition, and all of the code is still mine. How do I approach this? <Q> Almost certainly, the code is not "yours" or "hers", but belongs to the company due to the contract you have with them. <S> Whose name is at the top really shouldn't matter in terms of ownership. <S> If you don't write your name above files and she does, it's probably time for a little chat about "code standards", because now it's inconsistent. <S> When you sit down as a team and talk about what to put in the code and what not, try and get her to give some arguments for putting a name at the top. <S> It's unlikely she has any and the blocks go, but if she does, maybe there's a point and you can add yours. <S> Also, I'm assuming you have version control. <S> (If you don't, GET WITH THE TIMES! <S> Your entire code base is hugely at risk). <S> All version control systems track who wrote a line, and who deleted it, so anyone who wants to know who really wrote something should have no problems just looking up the commits that created that code and they will see exactly what happened. <S> Most teams work with the understanding that anyone who has the rights and freedom to commit to the codebase has full responsibility and ownership over everything in it. <S> It seems both of you don't feel that way, so that might be something to talk out. <S> The feeling that someone is "changing your code" is not productive in a team. <S> What they are really doing is "changing the code", and you should make an objective judgement of whether it's for better or worse and reply based on that, not on whatever attachment you have to the stuff you wrote some time ago. <A> Mostly, you mention it to your manager, calmly, and ignore it thereafter. <S> If s/he really wants to take primary responsibility for supporting that code in the future -- which is the main result <S> when someone puts their name on code -- that's less annoying maintenance and repair work for you, right? <S> Go write the next chunk of function, demonstrating to your boss that you have the creative insight and coding chops to do more than just refactor. <S> This will take care of itself. <A> Personally, I don't care who a file is supposedly created by. <S> If I wanted to know who has done how much work, as a developer, I know where to look. <S> What matters is who filled it with code, and what matters even more is who made that code work.
| It matters very, very little indeed who has created a file. And finally, code written in a team in general is not really "owned" by any one person; it is owned by the team as a whole.
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How do I handle *floating* bonus check criteria? When I accepted my current job it came with a few strings attached: -- Single Web App Project X with deliverables: A B C And must be completed within three months. If completed, you'll receive a $xx,xxx bonus. (If not, you may no longer be employed here) -- At two weeks in.. My employer learned that I also knew how to make mobile apps. These were added to the scope. I raised a flag saying that this would add time/risk. At 1 month in.. Creative was having trouble keeping up with my development pace, and other dev was having trouble providing his portion of the solution. At 2 months... Mobile apps completed and delivered. I have a formal sit-down conversation with my boss to outline that we have already met all of the initial project's criteria; everything remaining would be considered "out of scope" At 2.5 months... 2-6 weeks of additional dev added for items not part of original scope. I again raise a flag to say that this will likely push us past our deadline. At 3 months... 95% done with web app project; I receive an e-mail: We have a few more small tweaks we want done with the mobile apps. I'll send those over. Also, we're going to make the bonus contingent on code complete. I expect that to take another month. -- My Question: I have communicated risk, more than delivered on the initial criteria, and have been told that I am going above and beyond and doing outstanding work. However, it's impacting me negatively by: Delaying my bonus Taking away from future work that could be tied to future bonuses Part of me wants to dig my heels into the ground and halt work until I'm compensated, but that feels a bit childish. What is the best way to effectively communicate my frustration? How can I best position myself to prevent this from happening with future projects/bonuses? <Q> I go hard line when it comes to money, and I don't tolerate any sort of monkey business, I'm only working for money. <S> It hasn't always worked out straight away, but mostly it has. <S> So there is a definite element of risk. <S> On the whole I think it worked out for me in the long run getting out of environments that weren't getting me ahead, although I might have taken a short term loss. <S> At this point you do have a fair bit of leverage, they have deadlines loomimg, you're the man with full grasp of the projects and they'll have a lot of trouble filling your shoes in time. <S> Soon you won't have any leverage and still might not get a bonus. <S> Whether or not I got the bonus at this point, I'd still be job hunting, because once it get's to that point in negotiations you're going to leave one way or another, even if they pay you <S> , it's a stop gap measure until they can get rid of you. <S> And once the boss/employee relationship hits that sort of strain, you'll never be happy there in the long run. <S> You may burn a bridge, but not a great loss if the bridge is already on fire at the other end. <A> Part of me wants to dig my heels into the ground and halt work until I'm compensated, but that feels a bit childish. <S> Nothing childish about that. <S> As far as you know, he promised you this bonus based on the original deliverables. <S> The fact that he changed scope multiple times and is now making your (already earned) bonus contingent on yet more deliverables is sleazy at best (it may be legal though unless you had a contract, IANAL). <S> The problem here is how you approach this, though, since bringing it up directly may make you lose your bonus completly. <S> I would first wait and see how big these changes are, and then see if you can comfortably do them in the remaining time. <S> You can confront your boss about this (and its reasonable to confront people over unfulfilled promises) but realize that doing so could mean you either: <S> Upset the relationship with your boss permanently <S> You don't get any bonus at all <S> You get fired (Extreme, yes, <S> but in an at-will environment, unreasonable people can do that) <S> You get noted as "Disloyal" to the company and may be next on the chopping block for layoffs <S> Now all of this is unfair, but thats unfortunately what can happen given an unreasonable boss. <S> How can I best position myself to prevent this from happening with future projects/bonuses? <S> Make sure scope changes are thoroughly discussed and make sure to insist that the bonus still be tied to the original scope when informed of them. <A> When the bonus is of a similar magnitude to your salary, the company has effectively made you a contractor. <S> You should start to treat them like a client who wants extra work done for free. <S> You should start by appealing to their integrity and desire to be seen as honest (and without a lawyer and a contract <S> , that's about all you can do). <S> Show that you've fulfilled your side of the agreement and ask for written agreement that you will be paid within 90 days, or whatever the companies standard terms are. <S> Now they want another month of work, but at a lower overall rate. <S> That's not how it should work. <S> They should offer another bonus for it, and this time get the contract written down and signed! <S> If they don't like that (and a client-contractor relationship is a hassle) they can pay you on a time-and-materials basis (i.e. raise your basic pay by 1/3rd of the bonus) <S> At this point you're not threatening or "holding them to ransom", just negotiating a new contract after the previous one has finished. <S> For the rest of us, where the bonus is small and allocation arbitrary, just ignore it, or work out how many extra hours the last bonus paid for.
| I would put my foot down and want my money now, they can do a bonus for the other work some other time, and I'd make it clear that I'd be out the door if I didn't get it.
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Asking for a raise during a company's difficult time My company is currently suffering the effect of the crisis, which hit Europe a couples of years ago. Sales dropped, the company went through two big reorganizations, and for two consecutive years it made not enough revenues to actually gain money. It is safe to say that we are in a loss condition. Generale raises in accordance with what the workers' associations said were shifted by 6 months, and the yearly evaluations of performances (which in my case were always positive -> resulted in a little raise) were delayed too. During the latest general company meetings, they made projections that would put the company in a very good position by 2018 (lots of revenues). I wonder if it is acceptable to ask for a raise during these times, and if there is a "sensitive" way to do that. I understand that I am a part of the company too, but I still think that my job is at the moment underpaid. <Q> As MSalters notes, your value to the company is set by the market, and this isn't dependent on whether your employer is losing money. <S> In theory , they should assess your value in largely the same way , regardless of their profit margin. <S> If you are valuable, then they stand to lose if you leave--even if they are already losing money. <S> However, in practice , it's not so simple. <S> Companies in crisis don't always act logically, and there also might be other things that going on that you don't know about. <S> General company policies like a pay freeze might be in effect, making it hard to enact a raise. <S> If things are really bad, decisions may be driven by short-term thinking (such as trying to stay solvent) that make your long-term value less relevant. <S> There may be plans such as a merger in the works, which might completely change these calculations. <S> The company might want to shed staff, and thus would not mind if you decide to leave. <S> Given that your company is doing illogical things like suspending evaluation of employee performance, I think it's quite likely that you will face some barriers to getting a raise. <S> In addition, you face some reputational risk if you ask for a raise in this scenario: <S> Other workers (such as your boss) might feel they are making sacrifices and resent the fact that you are not willing to. <S> The possibility of being perceived as selfish/greedy by too aggressively asking for a raise is increased in this environment. <S> I wouldn't completely rule out requesting a pay raise, but making this request now is a bit riskier than usual, and probably less likely to be successful. <S> The recent good projections give you a reasonable cause to at least ask. <S> But still, the fact that normal raises have yet to resume mean some of the above conditions are likely to apply. <A> The labor market is a market. <S> There are multiple suppliers and customers. <S> Prices vary as supply and demand change. <S> Can you expect a higher price if there's an oversupply? <S> Not realistically. <S> But we can't answer this question specifically for you without knowing what your circumstances are. <S> You'll have to figure out your relevant market. <S> In particular, what could you make elsewhere? <S> It's reasonable to ask a similar number internally, even if your company would be losing money. <A> I'd at least consider doing something along the lines of this: <S> Call a meeting with your boss and make him/her aware it is about your pay and your performance. <S> Don't forget that last bit, "performance" - <S> it is a key. <S> In this meeting you will, to the best of your abilities, explain how you enjoy your work and teammates (even if you don't) but feel unappreciated because as you see it your salary is what a person less able would get. <S> Don't get testy, angry, sad, or more importantly appear arrogant. <S> Talk about facts first, then feelings. <S> Many would say that how you feel is irrelevant, but au contraire - they are probably the only thing your boss can not argue against. <S> Now, had your company been in a good position, this would be the end of my advice. <S> It is clearly not. <S> Time to take initiative. <S> Before your boss gets all on the defensive (you have to stop before you are finished if he/she is getting visibly annoyed...) do the pivot. <S> Now say that you fully understand the situation the company and the boss is in at the moment. <S> Empathize with tough decisions and be impressed with how your boss is still managing to motivate people. <S> Ask, as humbly as possible what your manager can do for your salary. <S> If he is at all empathizing with your situation you should be getting somewhere by now, bona fide excuses at the least. <S> Take the initiative in offering to sacrifice current salary for future salary. <S> Lay up a future plan (prepared in advance) with generous raises for 2018-2019-2020 to accomodate for a much diminished 2017. <S> Hope for a successful combination of facts, feelings, humility and self sacrifice, and do not forget GET IT IN WRITING. <S> That is what I would have attempted. <A> You can feel the water out by phrasing the question diffently. <S> Something like <S> Now that the forecasts are improving when will <S> we be getting pay rises. <S> By using the word "when" you are stating, obviously that a hiatus on pay rises can't be justified forever. <S> Inflation happens, your skills improve, other companies would pay more for the same skills. <S> By saying "we" you are not making it personal or greedy, you are merely asking after the welfare of the whole staff. <S> You could get a flat denial that it will be happening, in which case you can not hold out much help for yourself. <S> You could get some fluff, in which case also don't hold out much hope. <S> It is possible <S> also you get a specific date, or at least some concrete information which would help you on deciding if you will get your needs met any time soon.
| You can always ask for a raise, but it might not go over well when a company is losing money. Tell your boss that the promise of pay will at least help you feel valuable and secure. My advice is to be cautious.
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Is wearing earplugs at a startup odd? I work as a software engineer at a startup with an open office. We have a Bluetooth speaker that blares "cool tunes, bro" all day, people hold loud meetings or non-work-related conversations anywhere, and it's very difficult to focus on serious engineering problems. I want to start wearing earplugs, but I am wondering: If that will be odd or out-of-place (no one currently wears earplugs). What I should say when people ask me why I'm wearing earplugs. People wear headphones somewhat frequently (which, given that they're playing over other noise, can't be good for their ears), but that implies "I want to listen to something specific", not "I don't want to hear all of you". I don't want to imply that I'm a bad culture fit or not a team player, since I like having income. <Q> Just say you find the speaker distracting. <S> Generally, people won't inquire any further. <S> You can also wear noise cancelling headphones rather than earplugs as if someone wants your attention they will make themselves visible rather than audible and this applies to those wearing all headphones <S> so you won't stick out if that is your concern. <S> As a personal addition, I work at a tech startup and the guy across from me wears earplugs in an open office that's generally silent but for the sound of clicking keys and no-one has ever asked him why. <S> People generally don't pry into that sort of thing in my experience, especially as there are many medical conditions that necessitate earplugs (tinnitus being an example I suffer from) <S> and that is considered too personal for most workplaces. <A> Just ask. <S> Otherwise you'll never know if you're the only person affected by noise. <S> In our office, we had a Sonos system playing music (we could all affect the playlists). <S> I can't remember the last time it was used, because I know that my choice in music won't match the other people, and vice-versa. <S> We also had a foosball table in the office - but some people spoke up and said that it was distracting, so <S> now it has an office all of it's own. <S> If not, then a good set of sound-cancelling headphones is worth the investment. <A> Start ups in software often try all sorts of weird things. <S> Seeing someone wearing ear plugs in a noisy environment may well be seen as sanity. <S> When the start up start getting customers, the other departments will start to take the work a bit more seriously. <A> people wouldn't notice you have earplugs in then this might be a solution. <S> They are more obvious than real earplugs and people would just assume you're listening to music so you wouldn't look out of place. <S> https://www.plugfones.com/ <A> You could also wear overear headphones but underneath that earplugs. <S> You look normal and the headphones dim the sound a bit too.
| There are headphones that act as earplugs, if you're worried you'd look out of place or If you ask, you may find other people have the same issue. Coming to work to do work is not out of the ordinary so they'll see the speaker as the problem before you.
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When To Go Over Boss's Head? Asking on behalf of a friend. We will call her Jane. Jane finds herself as a target for the workplace bully. This bully has caused 2 other members of the team to quit prior to Jane's arrival. 1 prior member actually sought counseling and was prescribed medication as a result of this bully's actions. The prescribing doctor wrote a note to HR explicitly stating that the bully is the reason for this increase in medication. So Jane turned to me about how to handle the situation. I suggested that she keep evidence of the abuse and present it to her boss. I feel that it is the boss's job to handle such workplace disputes. However, Jane explains that her boss is ineffective when it comes to dealing with the bully, hence the 2 quitting members. Jane's boss, as well as HR, is aware of this bully's behavior, yet allows it to persist. Jane is gathering evidence and has tried to talk to her boss about this issue. She is feeling ignored and asked me if it would be ok to elevate this issue up the chain bypassing her boss. This idea raises a red flag and I told her to talk to HR if the boss is ineffective. If Jane's boss and HR fails her, is it advisable to break chain of command? What other options exists besides resignation? <Q> This is a tough situation - and, unfortunately, doesn't sound like it is going to get easier. <S> I would say absolutely that your friend has to bypass her boss - especially since HR seem to be ineffective, too. <S> However, there are some things to consider: <S> HR ineffectiveness could be an indicator of general management issues within the organisation, so escalating the issue is not necessarily going to help - but it is a step that still needs to be taken. <S> So - in addition to escalation, I would get your friend to start looking for a new job, too. <S> She doesn't have to move if things improve at her workplace, but it would be better than waiting for management to do (or not do) <S> their thing and then start looking while continuing to work in such a toxic environment. <A> Also keep records of the effects the bullying has had on you, including absences, stress, and medical problems. <S> These records will help your company investigate and take action to stop the problem. <S> If you aren’t satisfied with your company’s response, your notes will also help you decide whether <S> and how to take action against your company. <S> If your company doesn’t take your concerns seriously, talk to an attorney right away. <S> If you are facing illegal harassment, you may have only a short time—possibly as few as 180 days—to file a complaint with a government agency. <S> You must file such an administrative complaint before you can file a lawsuit, so missing this deadline will likely mean you have no legal recourse. http://labor-employment-law.lawyers.com/employment-discrimination/workplace-bullying-the-meanest-of-the-mean.html <A> She has to think (and believe!) <S> that HR and her boss are not here to help her (ultimatly). <S> They are here to help the company. <S> Some will see helping you as helping the company (the good guys) and some... <S> Less. <S> With this in mind, our dear Jane might reconsider her position and the overall situation. <S> What is the reason of the inaction of management?They could be multiple: from inexperience/incompetence to willingly letting things go. <S> It is a complexe situation, but in case of experience manager/HR, I will try to extrapolate the few information you gave us to make sense of the situation. <S> Let's say, the first team member quitting because of bullying didn't mention it to HR. <S> and let's say the second one (with medication), didn't make too much fuzz about it and quit 'shortly' after HR got the information of the bullying. <S> As far as they were concerned, the problem was localized to 2 people and one of them quit: <S> problem solved. <S> Then Jane enters the dance and talk to her boss & HR about the problem. <S> An experience manager will not act too hastly because he must be sure of the facts he has (maybe Jane had some professional/personal issue with the guy and she is starting a war?) ; And most of all, he should considere the impact of his actions. <S> Maybe her bully has a key role in the company <S> and it's hard to replace him? <S> Then, he will need time to find somebody else for the transition, he cannot risk one part of his team to fall apart even if one of his employee is suffering. <S> Also, maybe he only received mild warning from Jane, and doesn't realize the distress it's causing her. <S> In any case, I would not advice going over the boss (if you think you had a bad time with your bully, try with a boss that is recentfull of a bad evaluation).I would ponder the situation, re-assert the problem with my boss. <S> Maybe by asking to move to different project in which there will be less interaction with the bully?This will send a strong message: you like this company, you want to stay, but you cannot work with him, period. <S> If the response is not what she expects, she might need to start looking for something outside.
| If escalating does not create an outcome - your friend should move away from the toxic environment. If escalating does create a positive outcome (the bully is dealt with), this will put strain in the relationship between your friend and her boss. Keep notes of the mistreatment you have faced, including dates, times, what was said, and who else was present.
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Employer asked me to leave the job in 30 days My employer asked me to leave the job in 30 days, and added that I will not needed to be in the office for that period. What should I do now? Go to the office or just stay at home? <Q> You got a months notice, congratulate yourself and begin job hunting and brushing up on your skillset. <S> I'm not about to believe you have no idea why, so I won't go down that track like the other answers. <A> As Criggie said in the comments, it's likely gardening leave. <S> It's not just tax that would stop you getting another job in that period, it would likely be a contractual issue too. <S> The company is essentially paying you for the month to not go to their competitor. <S> Get the terms of your dismissal in writing, including the company's expectations diuring this period. <S> Until then, business as usual. <S> Go to work, look busy. <S> If they send you home, get it in writing. <S> Now, what to do with your month off... <S> Use the time for 3D: Decompression (get the old job out of your system), Development (improve your skillset) and Determination (get out there and line up a job for the first day after the 30 days ends). <A> Seems fairly obvious, given the last bullet point above. <S> •I have recently completed the project. <S> So there is no work allocated for me. <S> If you've completed your project and there's no further work, there's no need for you to go back into the office again. <S> Time to move on. <S> EDIT: <S> The clause quoted above seems to have been added by a third party, it wasn't there when the question was first asked. <A> If I was you I would only go in each day if the alternative was being unpaid. <S> You need to ask yourself is there any value to you going to the office over staying home and job hunting? <S> When I was given a months notice by an employer we were given certain access to write up code for portfolios, retrieve anything personal from email etc. <S> I believe most of the people who were leaving used at least a few days for this purpose. <S> However we weren't expected or allowed to work and were being paid for the month regardless so the majority of people only came in for a day or two.
| If there is any loose ends you need to wrap up I would go in and do that as quickly as possible, then I move on and start my search for a new job.
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Should I be concerned about my boss' personal problems? My boss' wife is complaining about his start up. She has been telling him that it is not working. Today, my co worker stumbled on an email where his wife was writing an email to somebody letting them know that they have started couple counseling sessions. Sales are hot and cold here and we have just hit a cold patch. I am having a hard time thinking through whether I be concerned with this situation, should I be? <Q> A startup is normally pretty small and the stability and effectiveness (or lack thereof) of a single employee can have significant impact. <S> I would be more concerned that a coworker "stumbled on an email" <S> that was quite personal. <S> That strikes me as a symptom of a greater problem. <S> Realistically, in a startup, you basically have money until you don't. <S> Then it's game over. <S> Your main concern should be regarding the long-term financial viability of the company. <S> If your sales are "cold," the questions you should be asking are more "how much cash reserves do we have?" <S> and "what is our burn rate?" <S> rather than "is my boss having marital issues?" <A> Of course you should be concerned because personal problems can certainly affect a business, but that's not the pertinent question you need to be asking. <S> The real question is "Is there something I can do about it?" <S> You really only have 2 potential answers to that: You can tough it out and wait to see what happens. <S> That may be wise if you're still being paid like <S> you should and being treated well. <S> All companies have hot and cold periods so it may be worthwhile to endure the cold if you're finding it rewarding. <S> We can't answer that for you. <S> This may not be a bad idea anyway, at least looking. <S> You may find something that you like better and has more apparent stability. <S> You can always change your mind if you get some information that reassures you that things at work are headed in a positive direction. <S> The simple fact is that you can't predict how personal problems are going to affect your work (on your boss' side). <S> Some people collapse as a result of their problems. <S> Others throw themselves in their work and the business thrives as a result of the personal life being sacrificed on the altar of success. <S> There's really no predictor. <S> There's a positive here though. <S> A willingness to enter counseling shows that they aren't willing to just say "I quit." <S> That says something about their character at least that. <S> Ultimately though, it's not of your business. <S> I'd be more concerned about your snoopy and gossipy coworker. <S> If s/he gossips about the boss <S> there's a good chance that you get gossipped about too. <S> I'd be careful of whatever you share with this unscrupulous individual. <A> You shouldn't be concerned about his problems any more than he should be concerned with yours if you'd be going through something similar. <S> If the business is going as normal <S> then there's not much to think about, but if you notice a substantial change in his behavior or his ability to run the company, then sure. <S> Being in a startup company in general, however, can be tough, roughly one in ten actually makes it, the others collapse before becoming a stable company. <S> You probably know this already though. <S> Knowing that, you should always afford to be unemployed for a few months, but you should have that backup regardless of the format of the company you're working for or its threats. <S> Everyone can lose their jobs out of nowhere. <S> Dale Carnegie has written a lot about the matter, you can influence situations for the better by preparing but never by worrying. <S> I'd be concerned about how your coworkers are able to access and "accidentally" read private emails though, but that's a different subject. <A> You should always be concerned when working for a new startup. <S> It depends on what financial backing this one has but it is unlikely to succeed, not because sales are hot and cold (although that's not great). <S> But because a startup where the owner does not have his spouses confidence and support is shaky ground. <S> In saying that, a tough minded boss who is committed and has the financial wherewithal can still make it a success. <S> Only you would be able to make that judgement. <S> I've seen startups crumble over spouses <S> and I've (rarely, actually just one) seen them succeed despite the chap having an absolutely insane foul mouthed harridan as a spouse. <A> Do You think it will affect the bussiness? <S> If not, ignore it. <S> If so, ask yourself another question. <S> Do you think the project is working and will work? <S> If not, start looking for a new job. <S> You should have started yesterday, actually. <S> If you like your boss, suggest them to leave the bussiness as calm as possible and finding the job as well. <S> If the answer is yes, support your boss. <S> You can ask them "Boss, you seem worried. <S> Is everything allright?" <S> It seems that both your boss and their significant other are working on that project so you can try to persuade the pessimistic one too.
| Your boss' personal life really shouldn't be becoming gossip at your company, which is likely to do as much if not more damage than the actual events themselves. If you notice an increasing threat to the company's health correlated to the situation then you must evaluate whether you can afford immediate suspension or not if everything goes south. You can start hunting for another job. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best, but don't spend too much time or energy worrying, it never helps.
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Company A asking for information on Company B's offer I recently received job offers from two well known tech companies, A and B. Company A has yet to give me any specifics of the offer- and they're asking for detailed information on Company B's offer off which to base their offer. Is it okay for me to give them this information, and if so, how should I deliver it? Can I say something as explicit as "Company B is offering me $110K, 40K bonus, 160K SO", or should I give more vague ranges (i.e. "Company B is offering between $100 - 120K, etc...")? I'm worried that if I give an exact number, they'll just beat that number slightly and then refuse to bump any further. Thanks-- <Q> Company A is trying to gather information to optimize their (potential) offer to you in their favor. <S> It's not wrong for them to ask you for the information, but you're under no obligation to give it to them, and there may be a confidentiality clause attached to the offer from Company B, in which case you would be prevented from sharing details of their offer with anybody. <S> You have to decide whether Company A is where you want to work, and whether it's worth risking losing the offer from Company B. <S> If Company A had already given you a formal offer, it might be different. <S> Then you would be negotiating. <S> But for now, they're hoping they won't have to compete against market values for labor in your area. <S> They just want to compete against Company B. <S> You should consider their attitude about it when <S> /if they make you a formal offer. <S> If you end up with offers from both companies, then you can share details with both sides (assuming there are no restrictions on sharing details, which I'd say would be a show stopper because they want to bind me <S> and I don't even work for them, yet). <S> This will put a little more negotiating power in your corner. <A> edited slightly due to Company B's confidential offer. <S> You'll want to verify with the confidentiality clause that my answer doesn't violate it. <S> It depends on your goals. <S> If you want the best possible offer from Company A, give them very broad ranges. <S> Total year 1 compensation is in the range of $300k. <S> The risk is that Company A has sticker shock and you get no offer. <S> If you want a definite, though possibly lower, offer from Company A, don't tell them anything. <S> (they persist) <S> The offer is confidential, and I think it's premature to negotiate salary as you haven't presented an offer yet. <S> (they still persist) <S> Your unwillingness to respect my obligation to not discuss the other offer at this time makes me seriously question whether your company would respect me as an employee. <S> note <S> it <S> should make you seriously question their ethics and how they would treat you as an employee <S> The risk is that Company A comes in much lower. <S> Though your counter to leverage your exisitng offer. <S> I think the $20k starting bonus and $200k in SO is very reasonable. <S> If you can offer $110,000 in base salary, I will accept that offer right now. <S> You could end up with your preferred company and more money. <S> Though they may not be willing to match. <S> Then you have to decide if your preference is worth the monetary delta. <S> Since your comment mentions you prefer Company A, the second answer is lower risk, higher reward. <S> Edited to steal some wording from @HireThisMachine's answer <A> I wouldn't share your offer. <S> Once you share they are less incentivized to offer up a competitive number. <S> If they press you for an answer, say something like "They offered an acceptable compensation package for my skills and talents". <S> If you do decide to share though, don't be wishy-washy <S> , they already have an idea of what the ranges are.
| I'm not at liberty to say more than that their offer was competitive.
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What can happen if I am accidentally overpaid? I recently got a raise, which is great. However, I got my paycheck today and it seems to indicate that my raise is double what they told me it would be. My first instinct is that they are trying to make the raise retroactively apply to the previous pay period, but in case the next paycheck has a similar overpayment, what should I do? I've asked others and they told me I shouldn't say anything about it, because the only possible change is that I get less money. But my concern is that they will discover an error and demand repayment. Can they force me to repay it all at once? Do they garnish wages over time instead? Should I be putting this excess money away if I don't bring it up? Basically, what is the worst thing that can happen if it turns out I am being overpaid by accident? EDIT: someone suggested this was a duplicate of another question, but that other question is specifically asking about the tax ramifications of overpayment bumping someone up to another tax bracket. This question has nothing to do with taxes. <Q> Instead of worrying about all the things that will happen if you secretly don't say anything and get overpaid a long time, the solution is simple. <S> Talk to your boss. <S> Or potentially your payroll system administrator, if you have a way to check your salary online in a system and can verify it is correctly updated. <S> Figure out if there is a problem or not. <S> Trying to guess, or wonder if you've gotten an extra raise, or anything else is almost assuredly going to leave you curious at best and get you in serious trouble at worst. <A> They will want the money back and if it is a lot they will try to make repayment easier. <S> This is because taking a employee to court is not a good idea. <S> Think of the working atmosphere. <S> Think of the cost. <S> It is easier for all if you pay a bit back each month out of your pay instead. <S> If you think you are getting overpaid it is best to nip it in the bud. <S> Ask HR/Payroll to check. <S> Getting overpaid for one month and having to pay it back is a lot easier that having to repay months. <A> I got my paycheck today <S> and it seems to indicate that my raise is double what they told me it would be. <S> My first instinct is that they are trying to make the raise retroactively apply to the previous pay period, but in case the next paycheck has a similar overpayment, what should I do? <S> You should immediately bring it to their attention. <S> Perhaps you are being paid more to make up for a low previous pay, but more likely it was just a mistake. <S> It's also possible that you are misinterpreting what is shown on your check. <S> Bringing it up on your own rather than waiting until they notice will demonstrate that you are an honest person, rather than a sneaky person. <S> But my concern is that they will discover an error and demand repayment. <S> Can they force me to repay it all at once? <S> Do they garnish wages over time instead? <S> Should I be putting this excess money away if I don't bring it up? <S> Once they discover the mistake, you will have to pay it back. <S> Depending on the company and the circumstances, they may demand that it's paid back in a lump sum. <S> More likely, they give you time to pay it back. <S> If you decide to keep the money in spite of knowing it doesn't actually belong to you, put it in the back and don't touch it. <S> Eventually, is has to go back. <S> (Ask your friends if they found the wallet that you lost with your pay in it if they would return it to you or keep it. <S> Their answer will tell you if you should take advice from them in the future or not.)
| I've asked others and they told me I shouldn't say anything about it, because the only possible change is that I get less money.
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Emphasizing Work on Resume Without Making It Obvious I've been working at an entry level IT position for a little over a year now. Over the past year I have wrote all the code for the new company website and did some design, and wrote all the code/did all the design for an Android and iOS app. I also do tier one support for 5 locations as well as lots of other small tasks. I would really like to apply for an app developer job and would like for my resume to show the work I've put in without it looking desperate. What is the best way to show this? Just as a side note, all 3 projects I've worked a lot on my own time as well and this is my first job out of college. I should add that the apps are company apps not my own projects. <Q> Your CV is there to sell yourself. <S> Its not desperate to display your skills. <S> The whole point of the document is to display your experience and capabilities and get your foot in the door for an interview. <S> Glorify yourself as much as you can. <A> You should absolutely make it obvious! <S> Hiring managers usually review resumes on top of their day-to-day jobs and they need to get resume reviews over with quickly so they can get back to their actual jobs. <S> If you make your qualifications obvious <S> that's helpful, you're showing that you understand what the manager wants and can present it clearly instead of making them dig for it. <S> I personally love seeing details of projects on a resume, just put them under "Projects" rather than "Experience" if they're personal projects. <A> The only way not to make it obvious you're selling your previous work is not to send the resume. <S> Which, if you ask me, is a poor strategy to get a job. <S> Recruiters don't like modesty. <S> And there's nothing desperate about applying for a job and showing why you're a good fit for it (especially in IT which is a wonderful employment area where recruiters are typically more in demand than potential employees), it's job-hunting 101. <S> Remember your resume will likely end up in a pool of 30 that some HR guy will screen in a few minutes total to select the 5-6 ones he's gonna look further into. <S> Discretion is NOT the way you want to play this.
| If it's a work project that you put extra time into, it could look weird to specifically mention that you worked on it outside of work hours, but you should definitely put those projects on your resume and you should go into detail about exactly what you did. They like past achievments and skills you can tell them about.
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Internal application to a senior role blocked by HR I have applied to a Senior position within my company. Unfortunately, I have been told that the HR department has stopped my application as it would be considered as a promotion. When I tried to push for a senior title my manager said that the title is not relevant for career progression . However, the company will be hiring an external senior in my team, meaning that I will be facing more internal competition in my future career. I am not quite sure on how to negotiate this and to push for a promotion to "Senior" successfully. Any advice? <Q> However he/she seemed incline towards the "middle" promotion rather than the "senior role" (due to HR policy <S> he/she says). <S> It's less work for your manager to do that. <S> He/she would have to put their neck out for you to get you skipped upwards and is reluctant to do so. <S> Depending how much I wanted the job I would ask for a promotion to the next step, or insist to the manager that I want the senior job and give my reasons why I would fit the bill for it. <S> The implication of course is that I'd possibly start job hunting if I wasn't given the opportunity. <S> This can work if you are recognised as a key person by your manager. <S> Unfortunately if your manager isn't willing or able to push that through for you you face the prospect of actually finding another job. <S> In my own case it's worked out about half and half. <S> Smaller companies have given me what I wanted. <S> Bigger ones haven't, much to their own loss, to the point where one company lost half of their major clients. <S> But the manager had no power with HR, who basically didn't care and the managers division collapsed around him. <S> However I'm in a country where human resources with my skillset are almost non existent. <A> You are absolutely right that your position in a hierarchical company will disadvantage you. <S> Your 'normal' position is disadvantaging you right now! <S> If you think you are qualified for a senior position, then you should be applying for a senior position. <S> If no other company will hire you for a senior position, then you should be shooting for a middle position, at your company or elsewhere. <S> If your field of specialization is in high demand, then it may be that someone else in your area will hire you into a senior position. <S> Spurning your own company's offer for a middle promotion obviously comes with risks. <S> You will have to weigh the likelihood of getting a senior job elsewhere versus the risks of spurning your company's middle offer. <S> I can't accurately make that judgment since I am not in your position. <S> My personality is not to invest in a lost cause. <S> I am also in a high demand field; if my current company was obviously not going to promote me as fast as I wanted, I would start looking for new employment, with no intention of using it as leverage. <S> If you are truly valuable to your company, they will take notice. <A> In larger companies, promotions and role changes are often entirely separate things , and it's not possible to do a "diagonal transfer" that involves getting a promotion and moving to a new role at the same time. <S> Open roles, even internally, have fixed level requirements and a Level 2 Widget Fiddler is not going to be eligible for a Level 3-4 Discombobulator role unless they get a promotion to Level 3 in their current role first. <S> Whether this is fair or sensible is another question, but the general thinking is that by being promoted to a level of responsibility in one role, they've demonstrated that they have the soft skills (leadership etc) needed for the same level in other roles as well. <S> This is particularly the case for more senior management positions, where soft skills are often paramount. <S> Short of quitting for a less rigid company, it's unlikely you can do anything about this in the short term. <S> In the medium to long term, you should be working with your manager on promotions that will enable these career opportunities. <S> Also, large companies anchor their salaries on what other companies are paying. <S> (And yes, this is recursive.) <S> If the market average salary for Fiddlers is higher than Discombobulators, a Level 2 Junior Fiddler may well earn more than the Level 4 Senior Discombobulator. <A> Some companies have very rigid promotion programs where titles DO matter as you have indicated. <S> You have a couple of options here. <S> Ride it out as the middle employee. <S> This means being a jr. <S> to the new Sr. <S> and you will NOT be given an option to apply to be the manager while in this role. <S> Deciding this choice depends a lot on your current situation within the company, salary, benefits etc. <S> Move on. <S> The easiest way to get a title promotion is to get it somewhere else. <S> Use your experience level to apply to a Senior position somewhere else. <S> Obviously the grass may not be greener on that side of the fence, but it's the option I most often see.
| If your company is not allowing you to apply for a senior position, then you should be applying for a senior position at another company.
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What would be an appropriate job title, based on the work I do? I'm having a bit of a problem with describing my job position. I need to name my position due to several reasons, but i find it very hard to define it. It's a small company, so i fit into multiple roles. Some of the jobs i do are:My primary job is as a developer, and as far as that part goes i'm doing Javascript and php(main application), c# and android.But i also set up and maintain all of our equipment(databases, virtualization cluster, network, VoIP, AD, exchange, web servers). I'm currently going with Head of IT/Senior developer, but i find that a bit confusing. The problem is, we have 3 people in the company (with another 50 in another company that use our servers, but have no IT knowledge, and depend on me to keep their stuff running), so it's not really a managerial position since i only manage myself. There are 3 people in the company, but the other 2 are developers only, while my job is primarily to keep everything running, and develop when i have time. Any ideas? And sorry if it's a bad question, but i have run out of ideas :P P.S. About 2/3 of my job consist of development, while 1/3 is general IT work. <Q> This sounds a bit like you work as some sort of DevOp DevOps (a clipped compound of development and operations) is a culture, movement or practice that emphasizes the collaboration and communication of both software developers and other information-technology (IT) professionals while automating the process of software delivery and infrastructure changes. <S> Your job fit into this description. <S> You do development & IT. <S> Maybe that should be title to go by? <A> I'd suggest something along the lines of <S> These seem to fit the bill and "Architect" is ambiguous enough to describe both of your roles without being misleading. <A> IT Generalist . <S> You do a little of this, a little of that. <S> But a word of caution: generalists, over time, don't see increases in their income as much as specialists. <S> You can have a specialist title, but the work you actually do tells all.
| IT Architect or Systems Architect
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Following up on a contract offer negotiation with a start date coming up So I went in to an interview a while ago for a contract position with the marketing Director and designer. They decided they liked me, they asked what I wanted as far as compensation, I explained I wanted a minimum of 20 hours (part-time) per week at a dollar rate that I specified. They noted my requests and gave me an offer a few weeks later in writing. The offer included everything I requested so I went ahead and signed and returned it to them. They responded and said, before they can move forward they need to have one more meeting w finance, legal, the president, etc. After this meeting, they said they need to make some minor changes to the contract but everything is moving forward well. Long story short, the terms, dollar rate and minimum hours changed since the first draft of the contract that I signed - the new draft is signed by the president with a start date coming up this coming Monday. I called two days ago and explained the situation and requested if we can negotiate the terms slightly to find a good middle ground - the marketing director seems cooperative. My question is, would it be a bad idea to follow up and see if things are moving in the right direction, as I have not heard back yet and it has been 48 hours and the start date on the contract I am trying to negotiate, that was signed by the president, is coming up this Monday? or should I allow them enough time to respond and assume, they're working on it and I am not starting this Monday? I appreciate any advice. <Q> First rule of negotiating <S> It is not a negotiation if you cannot walk away... <S> it is complaining Decide for yourself. <S> Are you: <S> Desperate for a job - then take it and don't worry any more about it <S> Feeling taken advantage of - then ask yourself is this really is the job for you. <S> Perhaps you'll take it for a little while and move on. <S> Frustrated and distrustful - be really careful working for people you don't respect. <S> What other promise will they go back on? <S> Don't be too quick to judge the speed of the response. <S> On the other side, they have a lot to do running a business. <S> I was taught to hire slow and fire quickly . <S> They may be just hiring slow. <S> Also understand that this is a capitalistic enterprise <S> (I think? <S> This is not a non-profit .. is it?). <S> They are in business to make money . <S> The less that they pay for your services, the more that they can either keep for themselves or invest in another part of the business. <S> Don't fault them for negotiating. <S> Be suspicious and candid with yourself about their change in the offer. <S> Did the make you a firm, initial offer? <S> If so, it seems disingenuous to change the offer. <S> Did the person making the offer act too quickly? <S> Perhaps the original offer <S> was not bona fide and therefore that person really just over stepped their bounds. <S> Trust <S> you instincts - was it a miscommunication / misunderstanding or really a change in the offer. <S> Know your value - can you afford to walk away? <A> Things take time, sometimes people get recruited last minute. <S> It all depends on the offer and the demand for this type of qualified job at this exact time. <S> My question is, would it be a bad idea to follow up and see if things are moving in the right direction, as I have not heard back yet and it has been 48 hours and the start date on the contract I am trying to negotiate, that was signed by the president, is coming up this Monday? <S> If you say the startdate is coming up soon, and you haven't heard from them yet because they are currently working on it then just wait and see. <S> There is nothing more you can do at that point and nothing to worry about. <S> If you haven't started on monday, they they will just make addendum to the contract. <S> It is a simple as that. <S> If you would contact them, you might annoy them as they are currently working on your case which doesn't give you a good impression even before starting your new job.. <A> From the case as you presented it, I would not follow up - I would look for another job. <S> If they contacted me eventually, I would tell them that their way of handling the whole contract negotiation revealed to me that it will no be a good cultural fit <S> and I kindly reject any of their offers. <S> This depends, of course, how much you need you depend on this opportunity.
| Confident and patient that you can get another job - politely say thanks but no thanks
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A company offered $5k less than my asking salary (also $5k less than what I was paid at previous job) A company I recently applied to seemed eager to take me, according to one of their managers who contacted me. But they offered $5k less than my asking salary. I really don't want to take on a new job that pays less than my previous salary, so should I tell them up front that I want at least $XX amount? Would that scare them away? I am expecting an offer from another company, though, and hopefully this company will offer the same, if not more than my previous salary. So should I also tell the company that I have an expecting offer coming in and that I'd like to work for them if they can meet my salary needs? I just don't want to scare both away! But I also don't want to work for $5k less than my previous salary. <Q> I just don't want to scare both away! <S> But I also don't want to work for $5k less than my previous salary. <S> If you don't want to work for less, then let them know. <S> You're not scaring anyone; you're negotiating. <S> It's best to have your financial cards on the table early on. <S> Saves time and effort for all concerned. <A> I just don't want to scare both away! <S> But I also don't want to work for $5k less than my previous salary. <S> If you don't want to work for $5k less than you used to make while you were employed, then just tell them that you want more. <S> Something like "Thank you for your offer, but that is less than I was expecting. <S> If we can get together on salary, I'd be ready to accept your offer." would convey your desires. <S> But only say that if you actually mean it. <S> They may not be willing to up their offer. <S> But if you truly don't want to work for that little, then it won't matter anyway. <A> (A) <S> If you are going to move from one position to the next, it's normal to ask for a modest increase in pay, so you erred slightly in asking for the same pay. <S> (B) <S> Companies know that people aren't going to want to move backwards in compensation as they progress through their careers. <S> Quite simply, tell them "no." <S> You don't even need to tell them that it would represent a pay cut. <S> What you make now is really none of their business.
| If they ask why, tell them the compensation is less than your target range for a new position, and what you feel your value is on the job market.
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Should I contact a busy hiring officer, who keeps me hanging on for an interview? I've noticed a few similar posts about contacting companies after an interview asking for progress however i'm very much of the opinion that if they do not contact you they are no longer interested. However my instance feels somewhat different, I applied for a position they were advertising and I didn't hear anything back for a month. I had, in this time, assumed they weren't interested. However I got an email requesting a call, with an apology, for the delay which was due to annual leave and busy workload on her return for the hiring officer. They seemed very keen to get me an interview with their boss, but said that he's not always in the office that I would be going to & he is very busy. After about 2 weeks from the original call, I sent the hiring officer an email asking if I should be expecting something soon or if the interest was dropped, which is fine if so. However she said he is just very busy and that I should hear something soon. Another 2 weeks has passed since this conversation. I'm not in any rush to change jobs, so it's not like I'm desperate to hear back, I just wondered the opinion to contact again? It feels to me like they are being very unprofessional, especially considering it's a big company and a position they advertised for. <Q> I'm not in any rush to change jobs, so <S> it's not like I'm desperate to hear back <S> There could be a hundred reasons why they can't interview you, maybe as they sound they are busy (which could be a good or bad thing), maybe just disorganised. <S> Maybe they are waiting for someone else to leave or be promoted, or (has happened to me as a hiring manager) <S> they haven't got the boss x levels up to sign off on the hiring budget yet, so they can't move just yet. <S> But don't pin your hopes on this one, keep it bubbling with regular pings (drop a line once a week just to show you're still interested), and keep looking. <S> Sometimes interest from another will stir them into action. <A> TL;DR: call him. <S> Keep calling if you are interested. <S> Like everyone else, hiring officers vary in their efficiency. <S> Some are great and take care of candidates in good time. <S> Others not as good. <S> This is frustrating for both candidates and hiring managers. <S> This doesn't necessarily mean that you would had a bad experience at the company if you were hired. <A> After about 2 weeks from the original call, I sent the hiring officer an email... <S> Another 2 weeks has passed since this conversation. <S> This could be a case where they are trying to "keep you warm," in the sense that they like you, don't have a specific spot for you yet, but want to maintain your interest and availability as long as possible. <S> I just wondered the opinion to contact again? <S> You can follow up, but here are some possible scenarios from their side: they have already filled the original position, but may have something later the need for the position fell through that they don't have a position yet they don't have funding for the position anymore, or won't have it until next quarter/year <S> In each of these cases there's no set timeline when/if any of these might be resolved. <S> So continuing to contact them is fine, but I would not expect a guaranteed resolution any time soon.
| Keep them in the loop by doing a regular ping, but keep looking.
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How do people actually automate themselves out of a job? I've read couple automated themselves out of a job 1 2 3 posts, and I wonder to myself how this is done. I can understand automating something to save 99% of the time, but I can't imagine setting up a system that can self-regulate and self-correct for future changes. If I had to process data, what happens if I need to process an extra column? What if the computer died? What if the user dragged a .LNK shortcut into the program? etc. I guess I come from a programming background, so I naturally go through all the failure scenarios and consider whether the system can handle it. I have done huge amounts of automation before, and the output is very significant (1 untrained person monitoring a system that works at the rate of 10 trained staff), but I still need that one person sitting there to either reboot the computer due to memory leaks, or the internet is slower than usual, or just stop it and someone else runs a query to confirm the results for the last 4 hours of processing. For me to code that final 1% will take an astronomical amount of time, so I usually stop and let a human take over. Do people preemptively think they are automating themselves out of a job? Or do these "automate yourself out of a job" scenarios really exist? <Q> In any organisation I've worked in, you can perfectly well automate yourself out of a role , but you're not going to be able to automate yourself out of a job . <S> If you manage to automate 99% of your current role, I can almost certainly find somebody else to do that last 1% - but the last thing I'm then going to do is to get rid of the person who just saved my company money. <S> Instead what I'll do is: <S> Find the next bit of my process that needs automating and ask you to do that. <S> If you manage to automate that as well, give you a nice pay rise, a new "Automation Lead" title, somebody to work on your team and another couple of automation projects. <S> If you keep doing well at automating things, you'll have another nice pay rise, a new "Head of Automation Strategy" title and lots of people on your team. <S> Details may vary according to the exact specifics of the organisation, but the general principle here is the same - if you're doing stuff which is saving the organisation money, it's very unlikely that you're going to be out of a job . <A> But all it takes is the knowledge of how to do it and the scenario exists. <S> You automate yourself out of a job by making the job no longer economical for a person to do full time. <S> I'm old <S> I have seen whole rooms full of people be automated out of their jobs and replaced with a piece of machinery and a technician. <S> But they didn't automate themselves out of course. <S> So I'll give another sort of example. <S> I had a job collecting and processing safety data. <S> I would go around each day collecting the data from different divisions for an hour each morning. <S> Then spend the rest of the day processing it manually because this was how it was always done. <S> And send out several reports. <S> I made an excel workbook to make my processing easier, to the point where I just needed to do data entry into the sheet, so now I was working only about half a day, just collecting the data from the divisions and printing out the reports and playing solitaire. <S> Then I shared the excel sheet and the divisions did the data entry. <S> So now I had almost nothing to do anymore. <S> My role was taken over by an excel workbook. <S> Once that was proven to be a viable and efficient solution, I was no longer a viable and efficient solution for that task. <S> The role itself became unnecessary and I went on the job hunt. <S> Another real life example is my language does not have a spell check in Microsoft Office, so translation projects needed a lot of proof reading which would take up a huge amount of my time. <S> I made a custom dictionary for MS Office, gave it auto-creation of the diacritic marks and some grammar abilities, auto-capitalisation of the usual things, some other specialised stuff which only applies to Polynesian languages, and an easy and intuitive way to enter the diacritics. <S> After this proof reading time went down by well over 90% and now translators (or anyone else) can proofread their own stuff. <S> So then I was out of a proof reading job. <S> Luckily I was the boss <S> so I didn't sack myself. <S> The salient point is that the role no longer exists as a highly paid specialist role. <A> It is not necessarily automation, I guess you can call it "downsourcing"; breaking your job into easier to manage chunks, then delegating. <S> It all depends on creating a system where information flows without your interaction, where people are empowered, informed and educated to take decisions. <S> Of course, this "system" can also have varying degrees of automation. <S> What you are doing (in this case) is to automate a decision hierarchy to act in stead of a person, this may or may not entail programming. <S> The end result is the same, though - you are making yourself unnecessary.
| It's more normal for someone to automate other people out of their jobs rather than themselves.
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Received a verbal offer but no written offer yet, should I contact the organisation? I know that this question has been asked a few times but my situation is a little unique as you will see. Approximately two weeks ago on a Monday I received a verbal offer for a summer internship program. The person who called me and made the offer was the one who interviewed me, and they said that I should receive an employment contract emailed in that week. They also said to contact them if I had not received an employment contract by the Friday. Friday came around with no email so I sent the person who gave me an offer an email to let them know. They responded the following week and said that they would get onto HR and let me know once they've heard back - they also confirmed I received the email by calling me. It has now been 8 days since the last contact and I have not heard anything from HR or from the person who made me the verbal offer. Because of this, I don't know the start date (all I know is it's sometime in November) or any other information about the job (apart from location). Given this is for an internship, it's my first time in a professional role, so I'm a little hesitant to call and ask for updates lest I come across as needy or annoying. (but keep in mind I'm pretty excited to have received a verbal offer for an internship - they are quite competitive) What should I do? <Q> Use the telephone this time, and follow up with an email. <S> Just phone the relevant person and indicate that you need contract, start date, and other information. <S> Waiting a week between communications is reasonable and won't come across as needy or annoying. <A> Lack of simple and promised follow-up on a start date and getting the offer in writing are red flags. <S> You are completely right to follow up with them, and it's alarming and unprofessional of them that you even have to. <S> This is often an indication that something is changing with the situation, and they're not going to tell you that until it is definite. <S> Have fall-back options so you're not starting from scratch if this falls through. <S> If someone else decides they want you on board <S> and they give you an offer in writing, don't hesitate to accept if the opportunity is one that you want. <S> You have been waiting on them, without communication. <S> You certainly don't owe them anything in terms of extra communication if your situation changes. <S> If they lose you, it's their own fault. <S> Now, what to say? <S> LozInSpace has a pretty solid suggestion on how to word it <S> so you're <S> concerns are out there, but not in a pushy or confrontational fashion. <A> Send another email or make another call. <S> Something along the lines of Hi Bob, It's been a while since we spoke <S> and I was wondering if there's been any progress on my written offer as it's been over a week since we last spoke about it. <S> I am very excited to be joining and at the same time I am worried that I might have missed some paperwork or something in writing that might jeopardise a smooth start. <S> Apologies <S> if this is all in hand - it's my first job <S> so I do not know if this is progressing as usual or there's something I need to do. <S> I would greatly appreciate if you can help me out with an update or some reassurance and/or expectations that would put my mind at rest.
| If you haven't heard anything in a week, it's time to call. If you were pursuing any other opportunities, continue forward with those processes as aggressively as you would if you had no offer made, which, technically, you don't.
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Is it OK for a senior engineer to be involved only in design? I am a software engineer with 8+ years of experience. In my projects currently assigned to me, my manager is urging me to do only the design part, not the implementation. His doctrine is that senior member of the team(myself) need to be involved in framing the design and leave the coding activities to juniors. I do enjoy writing code myself. But, is my manager right? Is it good for my career as software engineer not to write code but only design software? <Q> It sounds like your boss subscribes to the idea that software engineering is more like traditional engineering disciplines, where the engineers draw up detailed designs and specifications and hand them to laborers who go off and build the thing. <S> In this idea, the junior engineers are the laborers who take designs and turn them into code while the senior engineers are architects and designers, and maybe even requirements engineers. <S> However, this model really doesn't hold up. <S> Unlike a skyscraper or a bridge, it's very hard to specify software in models with sufficient detail to actually hand to someone to "crank the wheel" and turn the models into working code. <S> There's the idea that, in software development, code is design . <S> Someone's deep knowledge of programming paradigms, languages, frameworks, and technologies will inform the design of the system that uses those paradigms, languages, frameworks, and technologies. <S> People who have a senior title are, simply, more experienced and should be able to make better informed decisions that impact the product. <S> However, junior developers learn by doing, so some of their time should be involved in these activities as they progress. <S> There's no other way for them to steadily progress from a junior (coding) role in a senior (design) role. <S> As you spend more time in an organization or domain and gain more experience, it's likely that you will take on more non-coding activities. <S> But the sharp divide that your boss sees doesn't make much sense to me. <S> In my opinion, entirely removing yourself from the act of coding will eventually make it hard for you to keep up-to-date on the tools and technologies that are used in your product. <S> Your architectural decisions may not be the best in the current landscape, which would have a negative impact on product functionality and quality. <S> I would recommend checking out the talk <S> "Real Software Engineering" by Glenn Vanderburg . <S> He gave this same talk several times, as well . <A> The reality of software development is that is not effective to have distinct "design" and "implementation" phases. <S> Software requirements almost always change as the project progresses so you are continually trying to hit a moving target. <S> This leads to a tight loop of requirements->design->implementation (i.e. agile development). <S> In many cases, design and implementation evolve together as you learn more about the requirements, domain, and technologies being used. <S> In this dynamic environment, it's exceedingly difficult to create a wall between design and implementation. <S> In my opinion, such a model is doomed to be at best inefficient and, at worst, a total failure. <S> I've been a software developer for over 20 years and the most effective teams have everyone doing both design and implementation. <S> Personally, I think it's a bad idea to have developers who only design and never implement. <S> You don't find out if a design is good or bad until you actually write the code. <A> You're not a junior anymore, you've been around for 8+ years. <S> You know what kinds of more senior roles are out there. <S> It's time to pull your eyes up from the code, look around, and figure out what you want out of your career. <S> Only after you know what you want your career to be can you determine whether writing less code will be good or bad for it. <A> I think you can do several things to keep your boss happy and your skills sharpened for future employment. <S> Do the design work just like your boss asks. <S> Get involved with code review, training and mentoring young developers. <S> Teaching them how to code will elevate your coding knowledge. <S> Continue to study and writing code on your own. <S> You can also use this when working with young devs. <S> Encourage them to stretch their skills by implementing newly learned strategies. <S> Banging away a the keyboard is just a part of the coding process. <S> Stay closely involved with code without actually writing much of it. <S> Your boss may not prefer this either, but you definitely know he doesn't want to see you sitting at your desk and just writing code. <S> This is how you leverage your skills and make your teams better. <S> Hopefully the improvements in code you can produce will be what you boss really wants whether he knows it or not. <A> While I totally agree with Thomas Owens & 17 of 26's answers, they just say this part of the answer : this is a bad move if you want to stay in the technical aspect of code. <S> If, OTOH, you'd like to try yourself in management, this is an opportunity to take. <S> While the situation is not perfect, it gives you an edge against "true" developers when it comes to management training, and a soft way. <S> Be sure, however, to check that your company has positions in management, that those positions know some turnover, and make sure to work your politics. <S> Without all this, you don't have future in management in this company, and therefore, stopping to code is just a bad move.
| I believe that the more senior people in an organization should be involved in requirements, architecture, and design, since they are more likely to understand the domain and system under development, and also the tools used to build the system.
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Hiring manager likes me but wants me to wait until they finish interviewing other candidates A company that I was interviewing is telling me that they really like me but I would have to wait for a few weeks until they finish interviewing other candidates.While I don't want to interrupt their process, is there a way that I can get them to short circuit their process?I already let one offer pass by (from another company) because it frankly did not check all the boxes. I am available immediately but they don't know that yet. <Q> There's really no good way to speed up the process. <S> If you press them, you may seem desperate or even just annoying. <S> Having to interview all of the candidates is very common and is probably a good practice if the interviews are already lined up. <S> They don't risk missing out on an unexpectedly great candidate with a minimum of effort. <S> There's only one possible way I can think of to speed them up <S> and that's to have another offer on the table. <S> And I mean a real offer. <S> In writing, that you actually want. <S> In other words, keep looking, keep interviewing and remember: Unless you get an actual offer in writing, you don't have an offer. <S> It doesn't matter if the hiring manager and even the CEO tell you they're hiring you. <S> Unless you have an actual offer, keep looking. <A> Only one thing is clear--they are keeping their options open. <S> You should too. <S> Keep interviewing and get excited about other opportunities. <S> If this one loops back, you can decide when the offer comes through. <S> You have no offer, no terms, nothing to bank on. <S> If you try to push forward you will lose leverage in salary negotiation and gain nothing in moving them faster. <S> Would you like the job for 20% less than market value? <S> The fact that you're available right away probably doesn't concern them. <S> They're taking a few more weeks to interview, what's wrong with 2 more for notice? <A> There is only one thing you can do to speed up their decision process in a favourable way. <S> Find another job. <S> They may say a straight no. <S> If you are their best candidate, they may decide that they don't want to lose you, and shorten the selection process.
| Once you have another job offer, then it's quite fair to contact them explaining that you have another job offer, that if they are able to make an offer within the next 24 hours it will be looked on favourably, otherwise you will alas, be off the market.
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Would it be acceptable to take over an intern's project? I work for a small start-up company as a software developer. I'm usually given quite a bit of freedom when it comes to choosing tools I work with, how I manage my working hours etc., as long as how I spend my time benefits the company's overall goals and deadlines are met. So far, this works well. Recently our company got a new intern who aspires to become a part-time employee. There's been an agreement that he would spend three days per week (20 hrs total) on doing development work for two weeks so that both the candidate as well as the CEOs could reach a conclusion if permanent employment was an option. The intern was given a new project to work on, that isn't vital to the company, but nonetheless would be very benefical to growing the business further. He worked on the project for some hours and the first impression was OK. However, the intern turned out to be unreliable about the work schedule agreement. He tried changing the aforementioned three days per week to other days of the week for several times, and so far has shown up for no more than perhaps half of the agreed time per week. So presently it is hard to evaluate if he would perform well at his job in the long term, because so far, there isn't much work that he did given the short amount of time he's been actually working. Also, it's unclear if any agreement will be reached at all, given the unreliability regarding working hours agreements so far. I'm now wondering if I should take the initiative and continue working on the project the intern started, or if that would be disrespectful (possibly hurting his chances of getting into the company eventually). Given all options, I would assume that continuing his project would be the most valuable task I could spend the upcoming hours with. Given flexible working hours, I would have to start working on that project before I could talk to someone from management. Also, the intern won't be in for at least two days. Just to clarify, I could easily choose a different task to work on. It wouldn't be painful for the company it I didn't continue the intern's project, it's just that I believe it had the greatest gain if I did. <Q> Short answer:- If you're not management, don't preempt management responsibilities and role. <A> Choose a different task. <S> As you pointed out, this task isn't vital to the company. <S> However, the boss is using it as a way to test the viability of a potential new hire. <S> If you perform the task, you've just ruined the test. <S> Maybe the boss will find another test-task. <S> On the other hand, maybe the boss will just hire someone you'll later regret. <A> At worst, it will only be a few more weeks until they are no longer working there. <S> At which point, take it over. <A> I disagree (only partially for the sake of providing another view point, i.e. disagreeing) with the other answers: If the intern is to become a permanent employee, i.e. join the team, he will have to work in a team. <S> That means he won't be the only one responsible for a task/project. <S> Oh wait <S> , that's depending on your company culture: Do you have a truck count of 1 on all projects? <S> Truck count is the number of people that have to be hit by a truck so that a project will fail. <S> If everyone has fixed responsibilities and no one knows the details on what the other is doing, your truck count is 1. <S> If your company tries to not have a truck count of 1, then it might be worthwhile to proceed on the project and write a report of what you've done in a check-in comment and/or email to the intern. <S> When he's back talk to him about your changes and maybe (your decision) about his working hours: You might want to make clear that you won't cover up, if he's not upholding his side of agreed terms. <S> Oh wait again, you have flex time! <S> Are you sure he doesn't? <S> How do you know, he's working too few hours? <S> Aren't hours spent in front of a computer a bad measure anyway? <S> Also there's the "code envy" point to mention. <S> It's not yours or the intern's code. <S> It's company code. <S> However this is also very dependent on company culture. <S> There's a lot going on. <S> Ultimately, you'll have to find a balance between "working the hours" and "being most useful" as well as "covering up for a colleague" and "tossing a slacker to the dogs". <S> Usually I'm trying my best to be useful and honest, to the point that I not actively damage other's careers. <S> However if asked by management, I won't cover slacking. <S> For example, last time I was asked "Who would you send to another team? <S> ", I put up a meaningful/skeptical face and asked back "Do I really have to answer that?". <S> My project lead did know whom I meant, no name or pointing needed.
| Since management specifically gave the project to the intern, I would not take it over at this point.
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Is it okay to contact our customers asking them for vacant jobs? So I am working with a company and I submitted my leave notice and will be leaving in couple weeks. I am a developer and I was part of the whole application life cycle: Meeting the customers and end users, implementing, delivering and supporting. I maintained an excellent relation with my contacts and they like me a lot and think that I am very good at what I do. Some of our customers have an IT/CS Department but I never had a contact with that department. I used to be in contact with managers and their operators within production areas and others. I was wondering if it is okay to ask my contacts for recommending me for the available positions at their companies? And should it be done through my current company's business email or not? Edit: I did not sign any contracts. <Q> No. <S> Even if it is completely legal and not against your company policy, it is incredibly unprofessional. <S> And there is a good chance that at least one of your customers is going to contact your current company and let them know you are soliciting them for a new job. <S> This could be cause for immediate termination. <S> That does not mean you can not ask your contacts you have made with the company about a position they have posted on their website. <S> But do so using your private email, and not during work hours. <A> You need to check your current employment contract. <S> There may be a clause saying that you won't go to work for clients or suppliers for a period of time. <S> And yes - if it's an issue, they WILL find out. <A> If not, go for it. <S> Especially since you've already given notice. <S> Bear in mind that you probably will be burning bridges. <S> It could affect future recommendations or references beyond "yes, she worked here" which in itself can sometimes have a negative effect. <A> I would assume you would be looking to do the same thing for them as an employee as you do as an advisory/contractor/Etc. <S> You are thus leaving your current employer who likely has an agreement, even if just verbally. <S> You are taking away income from your previous employer.
| Regardless of employer policy this is not a very good move in the business world and many prospective employers will look down on it because they obviously do not want this happening to them as well. It all depends on whether you want to burn any bridges or if that's a concern for you.
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After interviewing a candidate, they are requesting to add me on LinkedIn: is there a standard etiquette? I regularly conduct phone screens and in-person interviews for my US based employer. After conducting a phone screen with a candidate, they have asked to join my network on LinkedIn. They have not yet received a response from the company, nor do I know what that response will be. Barring company policy, is there a standard etiquette to handling this, such as accepting, declining with a message, ignoring, etc? There are a few questions that touch on this topic, but from the perspective of the candidate adding the interviewer , or the interviewer adding the candidate , but none about the standard etiquette of an interviewer's response to a candidates LinkedIn request. <Q> Personally, I treat this as any other contact I might meet at a trade show or open event. <S> If the candidate is an interesting person in the industry, I don't see a reason not to. <S> If it's clutter in my account, I usually don't. <S> Some people avoid clutter, some don't, that's just personal preference. <A> You may need to give this person some bad news if they don't get the job. <S> Or your company might, and then they might want to discuss their issues with you or something. <S> Better just to ignore it. <A> Is there a standard etiquette to handling this, such as accepting, declining with a message, ignoring, etc? <S> No. <S> It's up to every individual using LinkedIn to determine who they connect with and when. <S> Many people only connect to people they've worked with or otherwise know well. <S> LinkedIn L.I.O.Ns will, by definition, accept every request. <S> Recruiters in particular and, to some extent, hiring managers tend to fall somewhere in between. <S> That said there is no universal standard or a real best practice. <S> Accepting is fine. <S> Declining and explaining why you did so is fine. <S> Ignoring the request or delaying your decision is fine. <S> About the only way to send a wrong message would be to decline without explanation, as doing so may rub some candidates the wrong way. <S> You should keep in mind that a lot of candidates will invariably try to glean some deeper meaning from the acceptance/refusal of their invitation. <S> But there's not much you can do about that. <A> It really depends upon your employer's policies and expectations, and the most appropriate people to ask is your employer. <S> If you do a lot of candidate management including answering their questions, then you employer should let you use Linkedin as a point of contact. <S> The drawback is when you change jobs, and all your contacts need to be reassigned. <S> That situation is mitigated if your recruiter group is a small group and you all use a single point of contact on Linkedin. <S> Scale becomes problematic if you are say a Google recruiter and the candidate to recruiter ratio is off the charts. <S> In which case, your employer may choose to let you use your individual Linkedin point of contact, with the understanding that they will have to manage the eventuality that you'll leave eventually. <S> As I said, it all depends upon the employer's candidate/recruitment ratio situation, the number of recruiters available to your employer, whether your employer actually has a policy and more likely in the case of most employers - that your employer has not thought at all about the subject and is choosing to let you handle the issue by yourself. <S> You won't know unless you ask your employer point blank. <S> As a side note, I once asked one of my employers a question that they had not thought about. <S> The employer immediately reacted by "volunteering" me to lead the effort to come up with a policy for that issue. <S> My staff and management did not let the fact that they liked me get in the way of treating me like an eager beaver :) <S> Since the effort was successful, someone not involved in the effort took credit for the result and my part was made invisible in plain sight :)
| I would ignore the request for now. While they are usually the one to initiate a connection with job candidates, most will accept invitations to connect.
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Asking for documentation before starting new job Soon I will start a new job as a senior software engineer. It is the first time that I will be in that position (only held Junior before), and I want to start my new job as good as possible. Would it be considered something bad if I were to send an email to the lead of the team that I will join to ask for some documentation to look through already, even though I won't start for another few weeks. They have mentioned that the time to get to know their system should be about 3 months, but I want to get as good a start as possible. Is documentation something I could ask for? Are there other things that I should consider asking to get started as well as possible? For if it matters, location is The Netherlands. <Q> Is documentation something I could ask for? <S> I wouldn't recommend it. <S> As others mentioned this kind of system knowledge is something you typically don't get until you've started working. <S> System-specific documentation is also not something a reasonable person would ask to prep for in advance. <S> Note that contract or domain expert/architect roles can be an exception to this. <S> Are there other things that I should consider asking to get started as well as possible? <S> You can simply ask the hiring manager (the person you'd be working for) about this. <S> Say something like: <S> [Since I have some free time before my start date] I was wondering if there was anything I could read up on to help me get started. <S> Are there any [sites / books / tutorials / resources] <S> you'd recommend I look at? <S> Most managers will tell you not to worry about it, especially in countries/companies where work-life balance is important and that's definitely true for the Netherlands. <S> Some managers may even play at being offended that you'd suggest having to study before starting the job (and being paid for it), but they'd be joking. <S> If you've already identified some minor skills that you don't have during the interview then that's one thing you could look into. <S> If for instance you've only used the Git version control system but the company uses Mercurial <S> that's something you can explore. <A> FWIW <S> I would be more than happy to send you the NDA early and provide some system documentation. <S> I would highly appreciate that you want to hit the ground running. <S> You just scored some serious good will from me. <S> That said, I work in the US <S> and I'm not certain our legal dept. <S> would feel the same way. <S> I can't possibly see how it would hurt to ask. <S> The worst that could happen is they tell you that they appreciate the sentiment, but can't do that until you've officially started. <A> Would it be considered something bad if I were to send an email to the lead of the team that I will join to ask for some documentation to look through already, even though I won't start for another few weeks. <S> They have mentioned that the time to get to know their system should be about 3 months, but I want to get as good a start as possible. <S> Not only will this actually help you get off to a fast start, it will demonstrate your eagerness to dig in and be valuable. <S> It makes a great first impression. <S> Hiring managers tend to like to see that. <S> And of course they may not feel free to disseminate any confidential information until you are formally on-board. <S> I've done the same in the past. <S> I think it has helped me in my new job, and has helped my new employers as well. <A> If you're starting in a few weeks, you're not yet part of that company are you? <S> Possibly even still at your old job. <S> You'd be asking to disclose confidential information to someone who is not part of the company. <S> And you'd probably be in trouble. <S> Take it easy, if the onboarding is estimated to be around 3 months, than your new team are calculating on that part. <S> You'll have the whole of your probationary period (if there is any) to prove yourself. <A> I won't start for another few weeks. <S> They have mentioned that the time to get to know their system should be about 3 months, but I want to get as good a start as possible. <S> You will have time to learn about their system when you will be working there. <S> But if you want to get ahead of work by starting to look it up now, you might look like you are really involved in this new job and want to do well. <S> I don't know if they have or will make you sign a non disclosure agreement <S> but it seems like you could not have access to these documents before your contracts starts as you will not have the permission to do so. <S> Is documentation something I could ask for? <S> Maybe the best approach is to ask for documentation in general and see what they can give you rather than wanting a specific document that you might not be able to get and that might make you look suspiscious to why you want access to those documents. <S> And seing that from another perspective, would the documents they would send you really give you a very detailed description of the system they are using ? <S> And if so wouldn't you need to be in the company to analyse the documents so that you can ask questions ? <S> I don't see this document request as added value they would just send you something too easy or something you can't really process and that might get you more confused. <S> Congratulations for the job ! <S> You seem overly exited about it ! <S> Don't try to get ahead of your workload too fast. <S> It is good to be motivated but don't stress yourself on how you will be able to fit with the team you are going to integrate. <A> I wouldn't recomend it unless You know exactly What You are asking for. <S> It shouldn't be no matter What documentation, you should ask for instance the list of approved projects or tasks with their budgets and terms so that you can estimate the level of their realisation and follow their progres in limits of the budget and terms.
| There's not much harm in asking but the chance of someone reacting poorly or the environment being unusually security-conscious is enough to avoid asking. If someone would approach me that way, the general business principles, which I've signed would require me to notice our legal department and my manager. Asking for anything that would help you "hit the ground running" is a great idea. Don't do it unless you really mean to spend time on whatever they send you.
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Is it ethical to ask my employer to shortlist me in a position within company due to loss of deadline application I have been working as temporary employee while my company is currently in the hiring process for a permanent position of the same role. I missed the deadline of the application and the feedback, which I have from my managers, is very positive. So my question is, is it ethical to ask my employer if I can be considered as candidate? <Q> Worst case scenario is they say no. <S> Best case scenario you get a new job. <S> Generally, asking is not a problem. <S> Ethical problems only (potentially) come if you don't accept their answer. <A> What makes you think there is anything unethical about it? <S> You want a job, you ask for it, and if you are the best person for the job you should get it. <S> Not asking and then the company only gets the second best person, now that would be unethical. <S> What would also be unethical would be asking to be considered while offering cash to the manager, or asking the manager while holding a knife to his throat. <S> That's what would be considered unethical. <S> I assume you don't plan to do any of these things? <A> The ethical dilemma is not on your end; the ethical issue is what should the company do. <S> They set a deadline, and now they are considering allowing an exception to that deadline. <S> While they do want to make sure they get qualified candidates, they don't want to run the risk that they never make a decision. <S> If they always reopen the system for late applications they can convince themselves that next week the perfect candidate will apply. <S> They also risk that a candidate will claim the constantly shifting process was discriminatory. <S> This doesn't mean don't ask. <S> This doesn't mean don't plead for the opportunity to enter the process after the deadline. <S> But do realize that they may say no.
| Yes, it is ethical to ask to be considered.
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Leaving due to commute and pay a good reason to leave? I am dissatisfied for the following reasons at work: The commute is taking me 1 hour and 15 minutes one way. It is starting to wear me out since I am travelling 2 hours and 30 minutes each day. It is hard for me to get in on time. We recently moved offices, my boss did not take this into account. It is now getting to the point where it is starting to become an issue for him, since he is pointing it out. The pay does not reflect the stress I am under, if a project is going badly, I am questioned why and generally given a hard time. It does not matter if I have performed consistently well prior to that one project. I only seem to be as good as the last project I have delivered. I am also often paid late to the point that I am now having to remind my boss to pay my salary. The only reason why I am staying is because I feel comfortable here, where I am feeling a bit daunted by the prospect of moving jobs and questioning if things will improve with new management - I have over a year project management experience now. Are these good reasons to consider leaving? <Q> Yes, these are good reasons to consider leaving your current employment. <S> A long commute is damaging to your physical and mental health for a variety of reasons <S> (Hilbrecht, Smale & Mock, 2014) <S> (Nie & Sousa-Poza, 2016) (Sandow, Westerlund & Lindgren, 2014) . <S> Other studies demonstrated a mean commute of less than 30 minutes one-way in an urban USA population, and on this scale health effects were still notable. <S> As well, consistently late payment of income is a major red flag that the employer is being financially mismanaged (either they have money but can't organise, or don't have much money and are stalling). <S> As income is a major factor in employment, this alone is also enough to justify seeking a new workplace. <A> Are these good reasons to consider leaving? <S> Is there a better job available? <S> If yes, then that is all the reason you need to change jobs. <S> It does not matter why it's better. <S> Whether it pays more, has more benefits, is closer to your home or has strawberries for lunch every day. <S> If it's available and it's better than your current one, go for it. <S> Since I have read many of your questions here and over at PM, I'd say go for it now . <S> The other job is bound to be better, you don't need a crystal ball for that. <A> In short: yes, absolutely. <S> If your commute is so long that it's hard to get to work on time, then it absolutely makes sense to either switch jobs, or move. <S> You might even ask for relocation assistance, since you're moving only because the office moved. <S> But you never signed up for this commute distance, so of course you are free to decide you don't want to do it. <S> Likewise, an insufficient salary is probably the number one reason why people leave their jobs. <S> Again, there is an alternative to leaving, which is to ask for a raise. <S> But if they're not: dust off the resume and find a better situation. <A> Are you happy with current arrangement? <S> Do you see yourself working in there for next X years? <S> This is not a question that needs objective answer - what you feel matters. <S> Personally, I wouldn't want to commute over 1h per day, unless the opportunity (and pay) was excellent.
| Since looking for a new job can be a lot of work, it's worth your while to see if moving closer and getting a hike in pay are possibilities.
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Answering to a mail asking for committing to work on weekends and holidays I am getting an offer for a project in my own company. I kept my terms and conditions before accepting it. My terms and conditions involved taking my wife with me during the onsite visit to a foreign country for which they have not completely agreed. One of the manager on day 1 of discussion told me its not possible as it has budget issues to which I said I can't go. On day 2 of discussion second manager told me that it can be done. But did not provided any written commitment/confirmation. Now, on day 3, I am getting an email saying, "Please provide your acceptance that you are ready to work on weekends as well as on holidays if required so that we can move ahead." I have worked on an earlier project and have seen how miserable this can go. I have worked around 4 months straight without any holiday so I think there can be a similar situation here. Also, I have not received any commitment from their end on my concerns. I am thinking to respond to this email like this - I am okay with working on weekends unless it affects my work-life balance. Also, I want a written commitment that my concerns will be taken care by you. Please let me know if this is the right way to respond? Should I add more details to it? Is it the right thing I am doing? I already have a project to work upon so I am fine if they do not consider me. Let me know if I need to add more details to my question. UPDATED- I did follow the advice's and sent an email stating the following points - Have clarified that I can be available for max 2 weekends each month in case of any critical requirement and compensation in terms of pay or additional leaves should be granted. Have asked to arrange my spouse's travel. I did mentioned the nasty things I went through in the last project where I worked several months including weekends without any agreement like this. This may not work, but I kept my concerns and that's fine with me and I am satisfied. Thanks all. <Q> I am okay with working on weekends unless it affects my work-life balance. <S> Sorry, that seems like a silly response. <S> By definition, all time spent at work affects your work-life balance. <S> The company is asking you to work whenever the business requires it. <S> The fact that they specifically mentioned weekends and holidays tells you in no uncertain terms that it will be required. <S> You are basically saying that you'll do it only if it doesn't interfere with whatever you want to do on your weekends and holidays. <S> Clearly there is no common understanding on the work requirements. <S> That's a bad way to start off. <S> Unless you and the company can agree on specifics (such as "I will be required to work no more than 1 weekend per month" or "I will not be required to work more than 45 hours per week" or "I will not be required to work more than 10 days in a row"), I think you are wasting your time. <S> Inevitably you will be asked to work some (many?) <S> weekends and holidays because it's "required" and inevitably you will not want to work some of those weekends and holidays because it "affects your work-life balance". <S> Also, I want a written commitment that my concerns will be taken care by you. <S> It's hard to ask for written assurance that your "concerns will be taken care " without specifying those concerns in detail. <S> No company will say "sure, we'll take care of all your concerns". <S> And certainly no company that knows you are concerned about working lots of weekends/holidays (yet specifically mentions that working these will be required), is going to make such a promise. <S> If you were on great terms with your employer <S> and you knew that the company is always fair in these matters, it would be one thing. <S> But the fact that they specifically mention weekends/holidays and the fact that you specifically mention your work-life balance, and are asking for written assurance regarding your concerns tells me that you don't trust them to do what you want them to do. <S> You "have seen how miserable this can go". <S> You have already worked for long stretches without time off and didn't like it. <S> You already suspect a similar situation here. <S> Time to politely decline and move on from this project. <A> To draw from various comments (that I agree with). <S> You need to define what would be acceptable for you, if you only want to work X number of hours and Y number of weekends out of the month that is what you need to respond with. <S> If you want extra holiday to compensate you for working these weekends you need to raise that in your negotiations. <S> It won't help you if you draw vague and nebulous commitments from your boss. <S> Personally I think if it's possibly meet your boss face to face with a clear list of what you feel you want and also decide where you'd be willing to negotiate. <S> If you can't agree then possibly it is time for you to move on from this project/company <S> as presumably they will still want someone covering this work. <A> It wouldn't worry me. <S> If you want the job, then just agree. <S> You can always negotiate once you're there. ' <S> When necessary' is pretty vague. <S> You can have a hand in deciding when it applies. <S> At most I would say I wouldn't work Sundays unless there is an emergency due to my religion, but that's about it. <S> They're not going to make me work 24 hours a day, I'll still have time with the wife and kids <S> and I'll be making money. <S> But in general, if it's a professional position this doesn't happen, you were unlucky last time. <S> Different story if you were taking a menial position where they can basically control everything you do.
| If you think your employer is purposely asking in order to make you work seven days a week every week, and you're not comfortable with that, then you're better off not getting the work.
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Is it unprofessional to ask to delay a job start date if I was given short notice? I am going to start a new job soon in another country. I was confirmed I was going to get hired one month ago, and at the time I gave my availability to start as soon as possible. We set a possible start date, but we had to wait for a number of checks and verifications before being sure of the date. Since the date was approaching with no news, a few days ago I informed my future boss that without a quick confirmation it was becoming difficult for me to organise myself for moving. He is open and understanding, but also made clear that he prefers me to start at the earliest date possible. The confirmation arrived 5 days before the start date, and I am asked to say tomorrow if I am ready or not for next week. While the thing is actually possible, it would be much easier for me to delay everything by one week. On one hand, my boss was explicit about his preference, on the other hand, I was given only short notice. Would asking for a delay be unprofessional? <Q> When a boss asks "can you start in five days" he does not mean "is it theoretically possible that, if everything goes well, you will be ready to start in five days". <S> He means "Are you reasonably sure you will be ready to start in five days, whatever goes wrong.". <S> This is true of all time estimates, and not realizing this is responsible for a lot of over-optimistic scheduling. <S> Much better to do it this way than fail to show up next week because of something unexpected. <S> If the factors that would delay you starting are 'administrative', and the company really wants you to start early, then negotiate on having them do things for you that you would make that happen. <S> For example, they might be prepared to pay for you to live in a hotel for a few weeks in your new town while you get yourself relocated, or for professional movers to handle your stuff, or for several trips between the old and new towns while you organize things. <S> How much they are prepared to pay to make it happen is often a good measure of how much they really want you to start early. <S> There is nothing unprofessional about asking for a delay. <S> What would be unprofessional would be committing to an early start date and not being able to achieve it. <A> Then it sounds like either today or tomorrow you need to ask them for one more week to move and see what they say. <S> Sounds like your boss could be fairly accommodating to that request as that's not a completely unreasonable amount of extra time to ask for. <S> The worst they can say is no, in which case you'll need to get packed and moved before then, or risk losing the job. <S> That said, if you knew the date was approaching and that everything would likely clear before then, you really should have been doing what you could to move, even on short notice. <S> You can easily pack up non-essentials over the month, as most items you need daily/weekly can usually be packed up in short order (clothing, dishes, etc.) <A> If it is actually possible then why delay? <S> It creates a problem and inconveniences your employer unnecessarily. <S> But it totally professional not to, and just get on with the job. <A> You can start work now, and move later -- ask friends to finish packing, or to supervise movers paid to pack. <S> If they need you now, starting now is the best answer. <S> They may let you delay, but you'll be starting on the wrong note.
| Unless you are pretty confident that you can start in five days even if things go against you, and are willing to put the extra work into doing things on short notice, you should immediately get back to your boss and tell him that five days is a risky deadline, and that an extra week (or two) would be a lot safer. It's not particularly unprofessional to ask for a delay.
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Is it appropriate to bring candidates to your daily stand up? I mentioned it in this question I asked but I realized it was a question in and of itself. Recently my manager has started bringing candidates to our daily stand ups where we talk about our projects (this includes even secret projects). Recruiting has started recommending managers and interviewers to start doing this. I believe all our candidates sign an NDA so there shouldn't be many issues but is it customary and recommended to bring candidates to your daily stand up in the middle of their on-site interviews? <Q> Is it customary? <S> No. <S> This is the first time I've heard of it. <S> Is it recommended? <S> I would not recommend it. <S> It hinders the stand-up by breaking rhythms and flow. <S> It gives no benefit to the candidate. <S> At my current job, it was at least 2 weeks before I understood what most of the people on my team were talking about during their stand-up (people's names, projects, technologies, tools, acronyms, other teams' projects and people, etc). <S> It puts people in front of the candidate unprepared. <S> You want to present your company in the best light. <S> People who do interviews are typically at least minimally briefed on interview protocol and consciously selected to perform interviews. <S> I wouldn't trust a developer scrum to paint my company in the best possible light. <S> At best, you could argue that it will make a junior candidate think "Wow, these folks sure do know a lot more than me. <S> There is lots to learn here.", but that's better achieved by a quality interviewer asking interesting questions and talking about their work in an interesting way (most stand-ups are dull, dull, dull). <A> Whether something is "recommended" is going to be very subjective. <S> Your recruiting department, for example, appears to recommend it <S> but I assume that doesn't answer your question. <S> If you're doing secret projects for the NSA or knowing about your secret projects would create problems in the marketplace by allowing information to leak about new products, that's obviously a concern. <S> You probably wouldn't want a random candidate coming to a stand-up discussing the development of the iPhone before its release. <S> On the other hand, the secret projects most companies are working on aren't particularly closely guarded secrets that would move the market-- not too many people are going to care too much about the secret "find the new potato chip flavor for the fall" project is coming. <S> As your recruiting department has found, there are definitely potential benefits. <S> It's one thing to tell a candidate in an interview that the team follows an agile methodology, that it respects work-life balance, or that it's a fun place to work. <S> It's a whole other thing to show them those things at an actual stand-up. <S> You're likely to be able to get much better talent if you can get them excited about the job. <A> "is it customary" - I think it is customary for employers to ask candidates to meet the team, so to speak. <S> Usually it is during the interview where the team walks in to see how they like things. <S> I think your employer took it one step higher. <S> They want a "in your face" type introduction and see how things work. <S> However I think a danger is that it might sway away from the purpose of the meeting which is to give a daily stand up on your progress. <A> It can be good and bad. <S> The Good <S> As your HR and others probably see, this gives candidates a better look at what you guys do and how your process works and meets the team. <S> The Bad <S> It can stifle honest discussion. <S> If a team member has an issue with part of what's going on, are they really going to complain about it with an outsider there? <S> Maybe, maybe not. <S> Yes, I realize stand ups aren't about "discussions" per se, but sometimes things come out which are part of the process. <S> You've pretty much committed to make your scrums/stand ups are essentially public now. <S> Yeah, they can say "but they signed an NDA" but if something gets leaked, you're going to have a tough time proving the date or candidate that leaked it. <S> Regardless, the damage is done. <S> Otherwise there's too much risk. <S> An NDA is a piece of paper and the more people that need to sign them, the less valuable that paper becomes.
| In fact, I would recommend against it. Personally, I would consider it only when you're pretty sure you're going to hire the person but are just trying to make sure they're a culture fit. You can't discuss anything truly proprietary or secret.
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Interviewer didn't ask me when I could start After my interview I realized that the interviewer didn't ask when I could start but did ask for my reference list, which I supplied. Is it a bad sign that if the interviewer didn't ask when I could start? Or they would normally ask when they offer the job? <Q> Is it a bad sign <S> that if the interviewer didn't ask when I could start? <S> No, not in most cases. <S> They either already know, assume a standard two week notice period, or are working with an open opportunity where timing is not crucial. <S> Or they would normally ask when they offer the job? <S> Companies are most likely to ask that question if: they have a specific position in mind <S> the position needs to be filled quickly overlap might exist between your notice period and the start date <S> If you are in the initial stages of the interview process, or if a company is trying to identify potential candidates for future roles, that specific question may not apply to you. <A> Usually for me, they ask this question before the personal interview (probably on the phone call before calling for the interview). <S> If they have a urgent requirement which I cannot conform to, they probably would not call me for the personal interview. <S> In case, you are a fresher or a student just graduated they might skip the question. <S> Anyway, the interviewers are also humans like us and might not have a fixed list of questions or he might have forgotten the same. <S> Maybe he was just there was checking your technical ability and <S> the 'when could you start' question might come later in a HR round. <S> Nothing to worry. <S> Always stay positive. <S> All the best !! <A> Many interviewers would not ask this question until they have interviewed everyone and are making an offer. <S> After all it makes the person feel as if they are going to be offered the job which is an impression you don't want to give until you know you are hiring that person. <S> Hiring is a competition, you don't know if the next person you interview will be better or worse than this person. <S> Often several of the people interviewed would be capable of doing the job, but you only have one opening. <S> Leading someone on to think they are getting hired when ultimately someone else gets hired would make people more upset with the company than being neutral. <A> One thing I always taught job seekers is "ask for the job". <S> Given <S> he asked for your references, I'd say that you're not out of the running. <S> Hiring is a huge pain for employers and they won't waste a picosecond bothering with someone they are not seriously considering. <S> To sum up: If they asked for your references, they are interested. <S> Don't worry about it, but keep applying, the job isn't yours until you're sitting at your desk.
| In the future, if the interviewer doesn't ask when you can start, ask the interviewer, and get in a statement about how you really want to work there. It's not a negative, but by the same token it's not a positive either.
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Encouraging open communication at work with an IT Auditor As an IT Auditor working within the Security function at my company, I sometimes get the feeling that people are walking on eggshells and not being entirely upfront / open about facts . During meetings and discussions between our team and other teams, sometimes this results in less than fully productive interactions. This is understandable to some extent, due to the role of the audit function in uncovering weaknesses within the company. An example: It took multiple follow ups and escalation to have an terminated employees access revoked recently , due to no one wanting to take action. How can I encourage open communication and early acknowledgement of problems, rather than people being afraid? <Q> This is always going to be a problem in your profession. <S> The best way to mitigate it that I have found is to talk to the staff. <S> Don't make friends, but be upfront with them <S> so they know you mean business when you have to. <S> And most importantly you will back them when they are in the right. <S> Think of them as individuals and analyse how you must come across to them, educate them a bit on what your role is and best practices to avoid issues. <S> This is you helping them, it clarifies things for them and they'll appreciate it. <S> This gives them the confidence to speak out and explain things more thoroughly, somewhat in any case. <S> I could give many personal examples, but you need to develop your own style and strategies. <S> But communicating on your side is the best start (outside your role). <A> People not being open during audits probably has more to do with the situation than your mode of communication. <S> Not until the auditing unit mitigates these concerns, e.g. by guaranteeing actual anonymity, will those dynamics change. <A> Auditor = <S> Someone is going to get in trouble, in the minds of most people. <S> If this is a legitimate fear in your case, little can be done. <S> I.E. <S> if people are going to be terminated or disciplined due to your findings. <S> The fears are real and nobody is going to put their own head on the chopping block. <S> It also depends if security in your company takes a cooperative or adversarial approach. <S> I.E. <S> if your company's approach to security is that everyone is part of security or that everyone is a threat to security. <S> If the corporate culture of security is cooperative and your role is simply one of process improvement, then that fact needs to be clearly communicated to people. <S> In short, you need to let it be known that you are there to deal with breakdown's in processes, not to discipline people. <S> If people feel that your role is to improve their lives, rather than complicate them, they will be much more cooperative. <S> the whole ITIL approach is worth studying in this regard. <A> I think @RickardU hit the nail on the head. <S> The problem is probably with the perception of your role due to your title. <S> An auditor is generally seen as someone who's job it is to check other peoples work and find their deficiencies and failures. <S> That role is often seen as an adversarial position rather than as a member of the team that adds value to the product. <S> I would have a talk with your manager/Director/CIO or whomever <S> it is that you report up to and is responsible for your activities being a success. <S> I would try convince them to re-brand your role as IT Security Champion. <S> Take the focus off of the audits and those things seen as adversarial, and focus on integrating your role as an asset in the project design and development process. <S> Get the teams involved in discussions on how to improve and get their engagement in the process of improving the IT Security at your company. <S> One part of your role will still be the audits. <S> But those should be done discreetly, and reports should be submitted to management, not to the teams. <S> Focus on trends and persistent issues, rather than individual incidents, unless those incidents actually result in a breach. <S> It is the managers job to handle the incidents, it is your function to make them aware of the the problems that keep popping up, or are inherent in the design. <S> When you get assigned to lead the charge in solving an issue, involve the teams in finding the solution. <S> Get them to help solve the problem rather than providing a solution for them to implement. <S> This will have a two fold benefit of, getting them engaged in the security process, and getting them to think about these problems proactively going forward.
| In your role as Champion your goals should be to get the team to focus on including you in the early planning and discussions of projects to integrate the security component into the design. If pointing out weakness will have negative consequences for employees - such as managerial backlash - they will naturally tend to avoid making any waves. It comes from a fear due to the perception of your role.
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Is it ok to ask CEO about his previous jobs? If you're going to have an interview with a CEO that had international experience with important companies (ie: Google, Skype) would be appropriate to ask him about differences with his current position in a smaller european company? Or it seems like I stalked his cv? <Q> If you are interviewing for a job, it is perfectly acceptable to ask questions. <S> However, only ask the question if the answer will help you make your decision. <S> Why do you want to know about the differences between BigCorp and his current company, SmallFirm? <S> Is there something specific you like or don't like about BigCorp? <S> Then be specific about it! <S> Say, "I saw that you used to work at BigCorp, and I know they like to use Widget X. <S> Is that something you use here at SmallFirm as well? <S> " <S> If you are curious why the CEO left BigCorp to begin with, because you have always heard it's a great company, then don't ask the question. <S> The answer could be very personal to the CEO, and will really tell you more about BigCorp than SmallFirm. <S> Ask questions that will help you learn about SmallFirm independently without having to compare to something you know nothing about. <A> You didn't "stalk his CV" - you performed due diligence on the company you might be going to work for. <S> That being said, you should ask questions that pertain to the current company during the interview, not his previous positions. <S> I read about the XYZ management process that was developed at Google while you were there; are you implementing that at Current Company? <A> Seems like a decent question but you could frame it better. <S> What did you learn from working with/at Google? <S> Is there anything you will/will not apply here? <S> Any big lessons? <S> That's assuming you do actually want to know and have will make use of the answers you get. <S> Otherwise it just comes off as fluff/stalking/hero worship
| Unless you have previous experience or knowledge of BigCorp, then don't ask the CEO to compare the two companies.
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Negotiating the use of a software with my company I have been working on improving the current process of tracking launches in my company for the past three months. The major difficulty was to define, locate and use the appropriate data for tracking launches. At this exact moment, the only way I see this new process working when I'm gone in another three months is to use a software that would automatically make connections with the data and make it easier to visualise. As no one from the two departments I am working for wants to put a person in charge of analyzing it, it was the best outcome. Besides, I already know the software and I know how to make it work for the two departments I am working with. After talking to my manager and colleagues about the benefits of the software, they all seemed to appreciate the added value it could bring to the team. However, at no point did he say that we would use it. He keeps telling me there are maybe better ways to implement it. And he is right, there are better ways to implement it, only if a person from each department is assigned to analysing the data which is not the case and will not be due to department conflict. The only way I see is to automatize the process with this software. I don't want the new process not to be implemented once I leave and that software is the only way I see this working. How can I talk with my manager about that? How can I make him get the software? Edit : Ok so in the end I have talked to my manager and explained him everything. It turns out, they have canceled the improvement of the process because they don't have enough funds for it (apparently) or time so all of what I've done was for nothing. I guess you don't appreciate success without failure. Thank you for your help anyways :) <Q> How can you make him? <S> You can't. <S> Detail <S> the solution options Explain, with justifications, <S> why you think the software isthe best approach. <S> This should be with reasons that make sense to thecompany — cheaper, faster, easier, less labour-intensive, etc. <S> Then you ask your manager to make a decision. <S> And then you live with that decision, whether it's yay or nay. <A> The other answers tackled the managerial problem. <S> I'm going to look at it from a different perspective <S> , as to me it seems that the direction of the question has a large chunk of your personal feelings embedded in it. <S> I don't want the new process not to be implemented once I leave and that software is the only way I see this working. <S> Once you leave the company, what you want or don't want them to do becomes irrelevant. <S> I sense that you have pride in your work and want to do what is best for your company, but if management does not buy in to your vision there is nothing that you can do <S> and you have to let go. <A> A good answer already, but I'll add a bit of insight. <S> The true value of a piece of software is getting people to use it. <S> So while you may be convinced that it is the best solution, it's worthless unless others agree. <S> You have already tried and failed to achieve this on multiple occasions. <S> It's best to just grasp that it's not desired. <A> I agree with the others in that you need to present the case properly, and also that if you're trying to help your company after you leave but they won't take your suggestion then it's no longer your problem. <S> You tried. <S> That said the one thing every company and department understands: money . <S> I mean, money is I'm guessing the reason they won't buy the software <S> (your question's wording is a little vague <S> so I'm guessing about this part). <S> And if it's cheaper to have people on staff to do the job than it would be to buy the software to automate their tasks then <S> yeah, they're going to go that route <S> , it's the most finanically rational. <S> However if this isn't the case, if it would be better and cheaper to use the software then that's your angle. <S> Same way if you had to write a video game it may be cheaper to license a game engine than it would be to hire a team of people to write it over however long it takes. <S> Barring some sort of "not invented here" directive (justified or not) the way to make your case is money.
| All you can do is the following: Explain, preferably in writing, what the issue is If the issue is no one's going to do your job once you leave then explain how much money they're going to lose when things go wrong versus the costs of buying the software.
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PTO for customer travel time My current employer expects that any time spent traveling to a customer site is not billable and I will either work on the airplane or take PTO - even if I am flying five hours across the country. While travel time may not be billable to the customer, it is still time spent performing a duty for my employer. At previous jobs, I logged travel time to the customer, but nonbillable. It counted toward my 40+ hours per week of time worked. Current employer demands that if I fly out on Monday morning and back on Friday morning, that I do one of the following: Work over eight hours during the week to make up for the time spent on travel. Work on the airplane (not feasible for short flights with little time over 10k feet) Take my own PTO while traveling on company business. I feel that this policy is morally wrong: if I am traveling to a customer site, that is time I am spending for my employer. How can I work around this policy without taking PTO, working more than eight hours during the week, or not napping on the airplane? What options do I have? I am FLSA exempt. <Q> It's almost certainly illegal to make you take your time spent travelling for work out of PTO. <S> Doing anything necessary for work is work. <S> On the other hand, since you are being paid for the time on the flight, it's reasonable that your boss directs what you do, which includes working on the plane - as far as is practical. <S> So instead of reading a magazine, or watching the inflight movie, do some work. <S> That's as much as can be asked of you. <S> It isn't always possible to do much work. <S> Flights are short, there is checkin, checkout,safety briefings etc. <S> If you can work you should - but the entire time spent travelling is nonetheless 'work' for the point of view of being paid. <S> Incidentally, be aware of confidentiality issues. <S> You probably shouldn't read confidential documents with someone sitting right next to you. <S> And finally, I'm assuming your boss is not in this flight with you, <S> so it's not like he can check exactly what you are doing. <S> Something easy like reading meeting notes counts as work. <A> I would tell the boss that this is unreasonable and I won't be doing it. <S> 5 hours travel for the company is 5 hours out of my time. <S> I'm not going to make it up later. <S> No difference if they have me at work for 5 hours <S> , if I'm not free to do whatever I please, then it's not my time. <S> In terms of working on the flight, I'd take something to read and maybe draft up emails <S> but that's about it, unless I'm in first class <S> I'm unlikely to be in a comfortable environment to work in and as far as I'm concerned that would be multi-tasking anyway since I'm already at work sitting down in an airplane seat. <S> I do spend time preparing for the job I'm heading towards, but I'm pretty much focused just on that, not any other work. <S> When it comes to monkey games with either my working hours or money I don't engage in argument with bosses. <S> Both of these are big deals to me, so I tell them my needs and if they still want to play games I job hunt. <A> I would suggest working on the airplane. <S> Even if you only get 5 minutes to work you are complying with their request. <S> If they are treating it as work hours then <S> you should as well. <S> Make a reasonable effort to be as productive as the situation allows . <S> They would not be okay with you napping on company time in the office, it is perfectly reasonable for them to not be okay with you napping during company time elsewhere. <A> Discuss with your manager about the industry standards in this situation and state that the company deviates from norms. <S> Perhaps that might get them to apply this policy less harshly?
| Taking your own PTO for employee business sounds unusual and possibly illegal. Working on the plane is an acceptable alternative, however I would ensure that when doing this you are logging work-time accurately so as to not get in trouble.
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How do you set boundaries with a coworker who keeps walking into your office asking questions right away? How do you set boundaries with a coworker who keeps walking in to your office with a question, when you are just busy working? Usually my other coworkers approach and make some noise and signal their arrival in some way, and wait till I acknowledge them or if I don't, they say something and wait until I do. But this one person walks into my office walks right up to me and starts speaking their question. That would be okay by me if I was waiting for them already, but I'm not! Or if they were to continue a recently-started discussion, that would be okay too, but they're not! It's a new unexpected one. Thankfully that does not happen often, but when it does, I find it unsettling. How do I handle this? Other than putting up with it, I can think of saying something like: "When you come to me with a question, I prefer you wait till I acknowledge you first, or better yet, send me an email". But that risks sounding brash. I want to avoid negativity but nevertheless have some tools to assert my at-work boundaries, and even if there is a conflict, make it one that is least likely to cause me issues later on. <Q> The direct conversation is useful, but I would make it about productivity, not your personal feelings. <S> "Bob, I need time to switch gears. <S> It would be more efficient for us both if you gave me some heads-up." <S> He may also need training to break this habit. <S> When he walks in on you and starts talking, don't look at him. <S> When he finishes his question, then you can look up and say "I'm sorry, I was concentrating on something else. <S> What did you say?" <A> Establish office hours <S> Advertise this as a service--people will get your full attention, a little extra time, a complete answer, and a commitment to follow-up if necessary. <S> Are you doing anything different? <S> No. <S> You'll spend less time because you won't suffer the context switch, and you're already going to give people answers and follow-up if you don't know. <S> You do accomplish three things--you can plan for the disruption, you look cooperative and proactive, and you let people know when you can be interrupted. <S> Most times you'll be working just like normal anyway. <S> If you can plan for your least productive time of day, that's helpful. <S> If you plan it for half an hour before lunch or the typical end of the day, people will have their own motivation to be quick. <A> Be polite, but assertive. <S> To barge in and ask questions while you in the middle of something else doesn't seem productive to me. <S> In our R&D dep we sometimes have senior employees from other departments barging asking for advice or assistance with a problem. <S> It's unprofessional. <S> I usually need logs and other info anyway, <S> so I just send them back where they came from and ask them to send over the necessary info by mail and stop wasting my time without it. <S> We're not big on diplomacy in our dep, so people usually don't dare interrupt our work without a very good reason and without sending over the relevant info and questions first. <A> I would just start with "Sorry I was working and wasn't paying attention to what you just said. <S> Can you say that again?" and keep doing that each time and even if you do catch the gist of what he was saying, force him to repeat himself. <S> Eventually, he'll get frustrated and alter his behaviour. <A> Ask: "I'm busy right now. <S> Can you come back in 15 minutes"? <S> If the answer is "No" you ask: "Why is that? <S> My work is quite important. <S> So please explain to me why you can't come back in 15 minutes". <S> This handles both the situation where he or she is just too lazy to do something without your help, and the situation where he genuinely needs urgent help that is important enough to interrupt and annoy you. <A> Have you considered using pomodoro technique ? <S> My teammate is doing that from time to time during busy periods. <S> However, he uses noise-cancelling headphones and has put a note on his desk explaining what is he doing and when the enquirer can expect an answer. <S> Whatever reactions this might have caused in the beginning, the team supports his way of working. <S> In the long run the rest of the company got used to it and accepted it and when he needs to focus - he has the possibility. <S> Should your colleague nevertheless accept your new practice, follow the others' advice - strongly but politely explain what were you doing and insist that you would greatly appreciate if you are allowed to finish your pomodori . <S> And once it is finished you will be more than willing to help him if he still needs it. <S> May not apply to every situation, but remember, with politeness and a gun you achieve much more than with politeness itself.
| If you're frequently being tapped for information and it's disrupting your workflow, establish time when you are available to answer non-emergency questions. Tell him to send a mail with all the necessary info first concerning his inquiry, to give you a chance to investigate the problem and give a through answer.
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Networking: Ask random colleagues for a coffee break? I have just started working in a large consulting firm, together with many other colleagues. I thought about randomly inviting 3-4 new colleagues to take a coffee break. A good icebreaker would be the fact that we have started the same day. Would this be a good idea or does it sound a bit weird? <Q> This would come across as strange to me coming from a random person I barely know. <S> I'd be busy working and wouldn't really appreciate being interrupted for something that's not work related. <S> Different story if we worked together and wanted to take a break. <A> Sometimes I ask colleagues if they want coffee by saying "coffee?" <S> Granted <S> I know these colleagues <S> but the request is very simple. <S> If they decline, let it go. <A> Consider asking a friendly coworker when/where they usually take their coffee break. <S> Then ask if you can join them and if they will show you where the good stuff is brewed and where the secret stash of half and half is. <S> Be sure to thank them.
| If you're on a "saying hi" when you walk past in the hallway basis, you can probably ask to a coffee break (I assume this is at a watering spot in the office).
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Entering the professional workforce with a criminal record When I was younger, I made some very serious mistakes and hurt people who should have been able to trust me. Without going into details, I was convicted of a serious crime. Since then, I graduated from college with a Bachelor degree in Computer Science. Since I am still managing my legal obligations, I have struggled obtaining a job in my preferred field and work what jobs I can get just to pay the bills. It has been oover 10 years since I graduated, and as I apply for jobs as a Software Developer, I struggle to explain my lack of professional experience. What can I do to convince employers that I have valuable skills to contribute despite the black mark on my past? <Q> Go somewhere where they don't know you, there is a lack of human resources with your skillset, keep your head down and begin a new life. <S> Some places couldn't care less about your past unless it's a certain sort of crime. <S> They're desperate for the skillset and they already know that most expats showing up are running from something. <S> Not necessarily another country really (depending how big your country is), you could move out of the cities and look for work in rural communities, small towns, a whole bunch of places which might be short on software devs. <S> Keep your nose clean, these are also places where you do NOT want to be serving time. <S> But you stand to be in line for rapid promotion, responsibility and good pay. <S> The chances of you getting that where you are, are around zero. <S> Another option is freelancing, quite often you can get work where you never meet the employer or give any personal details. <S> But you do need to be good at the work <S> and it's very competitive and has a bunch of difficulties unless you're fairly well known. <A> Freelancing is a better option for you, I would suspect. <S> One you can show a couple of years of experience doing that, then the job search at other companies will be easier. <S> An additional possibility since your field is computer science is to start your own company and create apps to sell. <S> No one really investigates the credentials of the devs they get apps from. <S> You can do this part-time while you are working at something else so you can have the income until you make enough from your apps. <A> My answer to this type of question is always networking. <S> Your biggest issue is generally going to be getting past the initial screening of resumes as that box you have to check <S> that says you have a record basically gets translated into "Throw out this resume immediately and never look at it". <S> Getting around that step is always good when looking for a job <S> but it is doubly important in a case like yours. <S> Find some professional group, volunteer organization, users group, something to learn more and meet people in the industry. <S> If you can get a referral somewhere <S> you have a much better chance of getting to the point where you can explain your mistakes and potentially be able to move forward in the process. <S> This is often true for people with no problems to overcome as much of what many people do is closed and you can't show them what you did on a normal day job anyway.
| Working on an Open Source project where you can show your contributions or freelancing is another way to get some good visible experience.
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Coworker being disrespectful in meetings and other areas I was recently promoted to a lead position of a sales team with several direct reports under me. My manager also has a team, mainly support staff, who do not report to me. One of his employees decided to be extremely disrespectful and rude during a morning meeting. She is also a sales rep, but currently cannot be under my supervision because she cannot be an outside sales rep, yet. Her position will report directly to me once her position transitions to full outside sales rep status. After discussing the confusion of some sales territories my boss and I agreed that all activity reports through our CRM should be sent to both of us by all team members. I announced this at our meeting. The employee decided to question this decision because she doesn't report to me. A perfectly reasonable question. However, her tone and attitude were completely out of line. She also demanded to know what I was writing on my notepad while she was speaking about something unrelated to the new rule. (I have a tendency to be inspired while people are speaking and will write little notes for myself) My boss didn't call her out in the meeting, but the reasons for that go back a long time. I spoke with my boss after sending him an email insisting he address the situation. He said he would. The background on her will explain why he didn't address the issue in the heat of the moment. First, she has been allowed to behave this way for the past 2 1/2 years. The previous director (my boss) allowed it to happen and thus a monster was born. She treats most people like this on occasion. Being her friend does not make you immune to her attacks. Second, he has spoken to her about her attitude in the past, with some meetings including HR. Third, I think he was a bit shocked. And finally, her daughter recently passed. I know my boss will address this further. My question is more about how do I address this with my team? If at all. I'm literally starting week number 2 as their boss. Thanks in advance for the advice. Please forgive any typos, I'm on my iPad and not wearing my contacts. Edit/mini update: First, thank you all again for your comments and suggestions. We've had a crazy week with my boss having to take time for doctors appointments at the drop of a hat and I have a cold and two new reps being out at a week long training. We had our regular meeting this morning with our typical updates from all team members. When we reached our angry bird she tried bringing up some issues that should only be discussed in private. When our boss (very calmly) told her they could meet after the meeting to discuss those issues she started down the rude toned path she so often takes. He became more firm and it was obvious she wasn't happy having to wait for her issue to be resolved. Hopefully he got the point across, though I really think she may be beyond coachable at this point. I had more than one team member, both my direct reports and other team members, approach me about her. I was complemented for keeping my cool and not arguing with her last week and was also asked if the situation was being dealt with. I spoke only to what I knew and kept my mouth shut on the maybes and what ifs. One employee who has been with the company more than a decade, and seems to be the only person our angry bird trusts, told me she doesn't see the situation changing. <Q> What happened, although in a public forum, will be addressed privately by your boss. <S> As I see it, you have a couple of options. <S> Ignore it. <S> If someone brings it up just say that you've referred the matter to her manager Address it head on. <S> In your next meeting, apologise for the disruption to the previous meeting and assure everyone that it will be addressed. <S> Encourage them to let you know if they receive the same treatment. <S> Things you should not do Laugh about it with your team. <S> This will cause issues when she transitions to your team. <S> Discuss the outcomes of any discussions she has with her boss. <S> Let it get to you. <S> When she moves to your team, ensure you both have a clean slate (but remain aware) <A> You should deal with these things straight away and save your boss the headaches normally. <S> As any sort of leader you need to stand up for yourself and your team to be taken seriously. <S> But since you didn't it's best to quietly await the outcome. <S> It's a bit late in the day to be jumping around making a noise about it. <A> Congratulations on your new role. <S> Welcome to the next level. <S> Lots of extra responsibility. <S> To answer the question you asked - How do I address this with my team? <S> I don't see that this has anything to do with them. <S> You should keep it that way. <S> This is between you, her and your shared boss if it simply MUST be addressed now (which I don't see either - she has been like this for 2 years and now she has a VERY good reason. <S> Try to empathize with her enormous loss and remember you are under extra scrutiny in your new position). <S> Your team looks to you to be the strong one - unruffled by normal business stresses. <S> The last thing they need is for your problems to become problems for the team. <S> JohnHC's advice is wonderful. <S> The time a good manager is justified in pushing back publicly is when someone on her team is unfairly attacked, but not when she herself is questioned. <S> A person who is comfortable with their authority doesn't buckle when it's challenged, they know that they can justify their decisions. <S> Conflict at work is always best handled with as little drama as possible. <S> This is not about making her pay. <S> You've got a bigger problem. <S> You need to minimize damage to your reputation at work. <S> Right now, she has a bad reputation, don't join her. <S> You hint that you might someday become her manager - <S> if you want that power, then you must show that you can minimize the effects of her disruptive outbursts (that's you, not your boss). <S> De-escalate. <S> Handle it in private. <S> Wait until you are calm to talk with her. <S> If your note-taking disturbs her, you should share with her generally what is in your notes. <S> If you cannot do that without making her more angry, then she is quite justified in being upset with your note-taking. <S> Wait until you are alone to write down the details of the conflict. <S> And definitely wait until you are calm to share them with anyone else. <S> It's a basic rule of business - Don't make your bosses job harder.
| When she does join your team, make sure you make her aware of your expectations. Explain to her about the note-taking that you do and put her mind at ease.
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Asking client for discount on tickets to amusement park I'm working for a media agency. One of our major clients is the operator of an amusement park. We created their website, some apps and did campaigns for them. I'm in charge of the campaigns, so I talk to this client a lot. We are super nice to each other, ask each other about weekends and more personal things. This is usually the case with many of our clients, to get a better and more personal connection to the clients. The company I work with also celebrated their anniversary and other events at the park. However, I think they paid for the entrance there. My friends asked me to come to the park next weekend. But since I'm a student and I don't make a lot of money, I'm a bit short. Now I want to ask if the client could get me a discounted or free ticket to the park or if she could even get me and my friends a good deal on a group ticket. Will this make me look bad or unprofessional if my boss finds out? Also, will this look bad to the client my company relies on? <Q> You could drop a mention that you are going to their park into casual conversation and see if an offer is forthcoming without prompting - thats about the only way to realistically look professional while doing this. <S> As for how it would look to your boss, you should always run gifts past them before you accept them - in some companies, not clearing gifts prior to accepting them is a sackable offence, and in some professions it can even result in legal or regulatory action against you and the company. <S> If your boss gets wind of the fact that you are outright soliciting gifts from clients without his knowledge or permission, then you could find yourself in hot water as it doesn't reflect well on the company. <A> Do not pass go. <S> Do not collect your discounted theme park tickets. <S> Firstly, depending on the company cultures this could just look generally bad and may not be appreciated by either party. <S> If this is something they're willing to provide, I find it surprising that they haven't mentioned it to you already. <S> Secondly, this could easily fall foul of bribery rules. <S> This is a huge deal in many companies - accepting or soliciting gifts is potentially a big no-no. <S> There's nothing automatically wrong with leveraging contacts - but be clear, these aren't your contacts, they're your boss's. <S> Speak to them and let them decide. <A> I would say if you have to ask us, then don't do it... <S> Some people might try this but they already know it's OK (because of the relationship they have with the client) or think it's OK <S> and it's not, or they have a bit of a brass neck. <S> Judging by the fact that you asked on here, I'm thinking you're not one of these people. <S> Now it may turn out the client will find out you were there and say that you should have asked them and they would have given you tickets... <S> But I myself still wouldn't take the risk of being bold enough to ask them. <S> You could mention it in casual conversation if you happen to be talking to them between now and then (i.e. that you are going, not that you want a discount), like "Oh I'll be up your way next week, might see you there", and maybe they'll offer. <S> (though even then a more suspicious client could think you are hinting at getting a freebie - which you are!)
| As a general rule, you don't solicit gifts from clients, you are offered them - asking for a gift can be seen very negatively by the client, especially if the contact you deal with is not in a position to offer such a gift off the bat. Do not do this without speaking to your boss.
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Same position, no feedback over a month, should I reapply via a different recruiter? I am in job search right now. I applied for a position via a recruiter over one month ago and got no feedback at all. Over the course I have called the recruiter every week to check if there is any news, good or bad, and did not get anything at all. I know that a friend of mine was already interviewed one month ago for the same position. I had very similar background but stronger, yet I got no update at all. I do not know if the company is still reviewing my cv or if my cv ended up on their table at all. Now my friend who was interviewed for the position recommended his recruiter to me and he likes my cv and background. Shall I apply for the position again via this new recruiter, seeing that he at least secured an interview for my friend? <Q> Never try to use multiple recruiters for the same job. <S> You'll upset your first recruiter and burn a bridge. <S> The second recruiter will find out when the company tells them that the first recruiter submitted the CV. <S> You'll burn that bridge. <S> The company will at worst see you as shady and at best see you as annoying. <S> You'll likely burn that bridge too. <S> I can see no positives to doing what you're suggesting. <S> If they were interested in you, they would have contacted your recruiter. <S> You need to just move on. <S> There are other jobs. <A> Additionally to Christopher Estep's answer: You are also a party in job/applicant search. <S> Waiting for a month for a simple answer or progress response is qualifying for over the reasonable time. <S> Still it may prove to be just a long process. <S> You should assess your priorities and options. <S> If you feel your possibilites fitting for that, you may send a notice to the not responding recruiter that you are looking for a response in the following 7 days, and after that you continue to apply to different positions. <S> This is a fair way to manage this type of situation. <S> I happened to apply a job, got employed elsewhere in the following 3 months, and 5 months later recieved an e-mail that they considered my CV and would like to have an interview with me. <S> My thoughts:"Seriously? <S> You expect me to wait at home 8 months? <S> " Most probably they tried the better seeming applicants, and finally they got to my CV in the line. <A> My perspective is different from the others here. <S> From working in Staffing as a Recruiter, then in Corporate Recruiting, and now leading a Talent Acquisition group, what I've seen leads me to think you are fine to reach out to the 2nd Recruiter under a few conditions... <S> Last-shot-loyalty... Give the original Recruiter a chance. <S> I couldn't tell from your question whether you spoke with them or not yet. <S> If not, it could just be a long process, so reach out and try to touch base. <S> Stay honest... <S> Call your friend's new Recruiter, but let them know the situation. <S> Tell them that you are unsure as to whether your resume was submitted or not, but you would love to be represented by them. <S> Respect... Stay respectful of everyone. <S> You never know where paths cross, so don't talk down about the original Recruiter to the other Recruiter or the company. <S> Some additional insights into the process: Staffing companies use tons of different tactics, some of which can be frustrating. <S> For example, the original Recruiter could have screened 5 finalists, but the client company might only take the top 3 from each vendor (which could be 3 others if you were number 4 or 5). <S> So, this Recruiter's tactic would be to keep other good candidates like yourself on-the-hook so that a competitor company doesn't submit you to the client. <S> Also, Recruiters with good relationships can have a casual conversation with the hiring manager or client company. <S> The 2nd Recruiter could call up the hiring manager and ask if they have received your resume yet. <S> This is very common, and it does not reflect poorly on anyone. <S> If the manager has not received your resume, then the Recruiter can pass it along to them (WIN for you!). <S> If the manager has received your resume, it might even subconsciously make the manager give the resume another look or think it's a good resume since 2 different Recruiters were trying to present it to them. <A> Offering the perspective of the employee here: Recruiting is a service. <S> If you don't pay for it, you're not the recipient of it. <S> It's safe to assume that the person that you contacted you for the position has the interests of the hiring company and his own in mind. <S> Any action he does or does not take is to be judged with this thought in mind. <S> So as far as your situation goes, you are getting the classical Recruiter cold shoulder treatment. <S> What they're saying is that you are not important (feedback to you is delayed or missing) and that you are also not interesting (even when you ping them for feedback, they provide little or none at all). <S> Why they might be doing this should be of little importance to you, we already established your competencies and skills are worthless to this person and he will not make any effort to sell them to your potential employer. <S> When this happens, your chances for a hire drop down dramatically. <S> If you consider you could be an asset to this specific employer and that that specific recruiter is hampering you and your employer from having a happy working relationship, just bypass them. <S> As you can see from the answers above, they own the world and bad things will happen to your karma if they don't get their bonuses.
| Stick your foot in the door, either by working with a possible candidate (your friend could push your resume), someone in the company, or another recruiter. If it's just another job, it's probably not worth pissing off recruiters. My suggestion is to ignore everyone else's opinions and do what you think is right.
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How should I minimize the impact of my previous termination (tardiness)? I am currently writing up my Resume yet again, and again I'm trying to decide whether I should go about my entire strategy in a different way. ( U.S. Resident, if it matters ) After about 3 years at one company, I encountered personal issues which severely affected my work - specifically the time I was arriving. This company is well known within certain circles, and it was my first job out of college. I was fired for tardiness. Other than that, I always had great reviews and got along with everybody well. I have made a lot of changes in the 8 months since then, and I can confidently say that it isn't going to happen again. Since the timing of the firing lines up well, I don't mention being fired and say instead that I moved to my current location, which is why I am now looking for new employment. However, there are two issues I have concerns about: I wouldn't say I made any "real" friends during my employment. There were tons of "work friends", more like acquaintances, but I don't have anyone I can depend on to give me a good reference without mentioning the reason I was fired. Instead, I list friends from college who worked on projects with me. The work I did is private company property, so I lack a portfolio that shows my real level of experience. I do have things I could show from college. As you might expect, there is a ton of difference between my level of skill now and 3 years ago, and I don't think that work even comes close to actually portraying my current skills. My resume otherwise looks fairly good. I find I get the interviews, but I suspect my lack of portfolio and references after the first interview makes me a rather risky candidate. I have started working on a portfolio, but regardless I desperately need an income. Should I be taking a different strategy in order to secure my next job? How should I minimize the impact of my previous termination, lack of references, and portfolio? <Q> As opposed to other opinions here, I think truth counts for a lot. <S> Getting fired is a big stain on your record, but most companies insist on a reference from your last employer, and volunteering is great but it does not help as they are not your employer. <S> Tell the truth. <S> "I worked successfully for two years but in the final year my personal life became difficult for reason <S> x <S> and I made the mistake of letting that affect my professional life. <S> I will not make that mistake again." <S> The problem with lying, is it will all sounds a bit fishy. <S> Especially when you have a face 2 face interview with a good interviewer. <S> Covering up or even giving the suspicion of covering up is the worst thing you can do. <S> "I liked this candidate, he had some strong skills, but there was just something about his story that didn't make sense". <S> Ring your previous company and ask HR, <S> can I put you as a reference and will you say I had 2 successful years before punctuality became a problem? <S> Because otherwise the story does not make sense. <S> You can try to tie it all in to make a pretty picture <S> but what exactly are you covering up? <S> You were late. <S> You didn't steal, you were not negligent, you were not insubordinate, you had a difficult phase that is now over <S> and you have changed your personal situation, you have learned a lesson and developed personally and moved on. <S> Be honest, be positive, take responsibility, and do not be ashamed. <S> We all make mistakes, we all have difficult times. <S> Some employers actually appreciate that, and they will definitely appreciate the openness and honesty. <S> PS List what you did professionally, describe it in detail, student stuff pales in comparison to commercial professional work. <S> Even if you cannot show it, tell them about it. <A> First, start volunteering somewhere ASAP. <S> Second, don't worry about the references, it's too late. <S> Again, volunteer, you can get references there. <S> Third, volunteer. <S> It will build your portfolio. <S> Lastly, just keep going. <S> Dust yourself off and apply, apply and apply. <S> You got a job once, you'll get another one. <A> It sounds like you're going down the right path. <S> While you shouldn't lie about being fired, it's generally accepted to say that you're looking for work because you moved. <S> That is true, even if it omits parts of the story. <S> Many people don't make close friends from work. <S> Many people work on things that they can't show publicly. <S> I wouldn't worry about it, and I wouldn't bring it up.
| Face it head on. I wouldn't worry about it, and I wouldn't bring it up. Focus on what you do well, and sell those qualities to potential employers. If someone asks directly about your last job, then say you were fired, and why, and what steps you've taken to prevent it from happening again. Volunteer work can minimize resume gaps.
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Is it appropriate to ask about an employer's margin during rate negotiations? Is it appropriate to ask what a prospective employer's expected margin would be? I'm a contractor working on an established, long-term contract, and I'm currently in talks with a new staffing firm to represent me going forward. While trying to figure out an appropriate rate, I'm wondering if it is appropriate to ask what type of margin my prospective employer would be expecting? I'm privy as to what my current billable rate is, and looking to ensure that my negotiations will yield a fair balance for me as well as my employer. But in doing so, I also do not want to overstep my boundaries. <Q> As a contractor all you should be interested in is how much you are making. <S> It would be bad form to ask this question, and it should be possible to find out by other means. <S> But at the end of the day, it's not your business. <S> If one of my contractors asked me this, I wouldn't tell them, and I might well just get rid of them. <S> Company financial and business practices are generally on a need to know basis only. <S> That information could be leaked to my competition. <S> Or they might try undercutting and taking my client, or any number of nasty things. <A> If you are working with a staffing firm, the reality is that if you both can come to agreement then the margin is "enough." <S> Your future staffing firm will account for whether or not their margin is enough by whether or not they hire you. <S> On the other hand you will only accept a job if your pay is high enough. <S> How much the difference is matters very little unless you are worried your employer will accidentally hire you at too high of a rate. <S> But keep in mind that your billable rate is normally much higher than the rate <S> you get paid. <S> You should know this if you know how much your staffing agency bills for your time, as you can compare it to your pay. <S> Evan another $10/hour is likely a small percentage of the total difference between your pay and the billable rate. <S> Asking for this is awkward. <S> It's generally not your job as a contractor to worry about your staffing agencies profitability - worry about your pay and let those paid to worry about the agency worry about the agency. <A> It's complicated. <S> Margin can also include any non-payroll benefits you have, unless you're paid strictly on an hourly basis for actual work completed. <S> In most cases, companies are looking to pay a fair market wage, to prevent you from jumping immediately to another company. <S> Your best play is to research your market value (through online listings, meetings with recruiters, conversations with others) in order to put forward the best offer you can negotiate successfully.
| An employer's margin depends entirely on what rate they receive from the company where you're placed, which is often negotiated after your own deal is complete. No, it would not be appropriate, plus they may not even know.
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How to answer my boss's question about my ex-coworker's current employer I share a house with my former co-worker. My boss expects me to know where he is currently employed. How can I tell my boss that I don't want to reveal where my former co-worker is currently employed? Update: The boss has contacted him, but he doesn't want to answer. <Q> "Sorry boss; he doesn't want me to tell you. <S> You'll have to ask him yourself." <S> Simple as that; just tell the truth. <A> Generally you'd phrase your response something like this: <S> Oh, it's really not for me to say; you'll have to ask him. <S> That's not really my information to share; you should ask him. <S> Sorry, I wouldn't feel comfortable sharing that with you without his knowledge. <S> I prefer not to share personal information at work that I've learned from [meeting / knowing] people outside the office. <S> In your case, since your boss has already asked the coworker and you know he doesn't want to tell him, you can use something stronger and more final: <S> I've been asked not to share that information with anyone here. <S> Or even a simple but direct: I'm sorry, but he asked me not to tell [anyone / you] about his new employer <S> and I'd rather not get involved in this situation. <S> That last phrase, " I don't want to get involved ", is one you'll probably be using several times in the near future. <S> Just don't engage in a discussion about this. <S> The fact that you know someone outside work doesn't mean that you have to share anything you've learned about them at work. <A> If your boss has already contacted your former colleague and received the "I don't want to tell you", then you can (and should) just relay the same message to your boss. <S> Which means either I'm sorry, but he doesn't want to share that. <S> Or I'm sorry, but he didn't share it with me either. <S> Depending on whether you know. <S> You shouldn't share information that you know the other person doesn't want to have spread. <S> It will be a breach of trust to your roommate. <A> It's none of their concern and you shouldn't offer up someone's information without consent from said person. <S> Just imagine it as being a cold call asking about your friend's job, would you answer that? <S> I would always put someone's privacy ahead of a nosey person.
| You have to word it as such that it's none of your Boss' business to inform them on what you're ex-colleague is doing.
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Am I as an apprentice required to take my work-laptop with me after work and be on demand? I am an apprentice for IT in germany. My boss wants me to take my laptop home after work and during the weekends to be on-demand if any sudden work comes up in my free time (like a customer needs a server restart etc) I feel like those are more responsibilities than I should have already (not to mention other stuff that is going beyond my apprenticeship). I am earning a "normal" apprentice salary and got a default IHK contract and have been working in this position for a year now, without having to do work during my free time. Do I have to take the laptop home and be on demand? And how do I confront my boss about this? <Q> I don't know the specific laws in Germany, but most will tell you the same thing regardless of where you live. <S> They don't own you. <S> It's not an uncommon thing to take on-demand shifts, but those should be paid extra. <S> If it's not already part of your contract (you should be able to check, either by looking at it yourself or contacting specialists who are familiar with it), you're most definitely not getting paid to do it. <S> If you're open to it then you can say that bringing the laptop won't be a problem but since it's outside of work hours, for which you are receiving salary for, you need to get paid for those hours. <S> I find it weird that they've not discussed payments already. <S> If they don't want to pay you extra you have to address that you cannot justify such a balance of work and personal time without being paid properly <S> (this balance should not be disturbed too much anyway), you simply have to decline. <S> If they have an issue with this, then you should simply get out as fast as you can. <A> Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer I can't and don't want to give you legal advice. <S> However, Google turned up some results for me: <S> According to this union page and this other union page , your employer can't order you to be on standby: <S> Da eine Rufbereitschaft keine Kenntnisse und Fertigkeiten vermittelt, die dem Ausbildungszweck dienen, dürfen Azubis grundsätzlich keinen <S> Ruf- oder Bereitschaftsdienst machen. <S> My very rough translation: because they're not learning any new skills by being on standby, apprentices may not be put on standby duty. <S> * <S> If you want to take this up with your employer, I'd recommend following s1lv3r's advice and contacting your IHK representative and/or your union representative and asking them what they recommend doing. <S> *Please don't start arguing that apprentices may learn plenty of new skills while on standby, I'm not trying to make this point ;-) <A> Your boss can ask anything of you he/ <S> she wants, you're able to refuse or vote with your feet and leave. <S> However I don't see this as a bad thing, a server restart might take a few minutes at most. <S> It's unlikely that you'll even have to do so <S> and it shows your boss wants to give you more responsibility and has faith in your ability to do simplish things unsupervised. <S> Also letting you loose with a laptop secure in the knowledge that you're not going to put it on ebay. <S> I'm unsure what is normal for Germans, but places I have worked no one would complain if they're committed to their jobs and had a strong work ethic. <S> You can bring up the subject of payment, when and if you actually need to do something. <S> If you do get called up, keep a log of the time and discuss remuneration with your boss on Monday. <A> There is time where you are free to do whatever you like. <S> Your company doesn't pay you for that time. <S> And there is time where you are not free to do whatever you like but have to do what your boss wants; that time is called "work" and you get paid for it. <S> If you transport your laptop from work to home and back to work because your boss tells you so, that's work <S> and you should get paid for it. <S> If you sit at home besides your laptop in case you get a call, <S> thats' work and <S> you should get paid for it. <S> You can't expect much pay because it is very light work, but your boss can't expect you to do this for free. <S> (All this applies world wide).
| And it is quite likely that as an apprentice in Germany, you are not allowed to do this even for money, because as an apprentice you should primarily learn the job and you aren't going to learn anything while sitting besides your phone and waiting for calls. If you can't or don't want to do it, even if it's paid, you simply have to say that you can't.
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What if my company didn't pay the recruiter who placed me last time, and now they approached me again? A year ago, I was in contact with a recruiter, he gave me some opportunities, I confirmed with him that I agreed to let him be my representative. Among one of this opportunities, I recognized the name, and I knew someone who was working there, soI asked for more details from my point of contact at this organization; and yes it appears they were looking for someone.After the company directly contacted me for a job interview, it went well and I had the job. It appears the company never paid the recruiter. I raised this issue a couple of times with my team lead, HR and CTO, and they told me they will take care of everything. I'm actually looking for a new job, and I was just approached by the same recruiter company.Do I risk anything? I am starting to worry about that, do I have any responsibility if the company didn't pay the recruiter? <Q> It's not your problem, it's between the recruiting company and the hiring company. <S> The recruiting company may hold bad vibes against you, but it doesn't look like it as they've approached you again to help you find a job. <S> In the end, the recruiting company needs to make sure it receives the money from the hiring company, it's not your job to enforce that. <S> You went above your requirements to help maintain a relationship, but nothing came of it. <S> So, unless the recruiting company says anything, don't mention it. <A> do I have any responsibility if the company didn't pay the recruiter? <S> First off, as others have pointed out, whether the recruiter got paid or not at the end of the day is not your problem. <S> It was their business deal, not yours. <S> In the eyes of the recruiter, you're their consultant they aim to place in a job so they can win revenue, in this case a finder's fee. <S> In contract and contract-to-hire, the recruiter would get residual revenue and commissions for your placement in their client's organization. <S> In your favor, showing such concern will highlight to the recruiter your underlying good principle and character. <S> I was just approached by the same recruiter company. <S> One thing you must remember is recruiters are sales people. <S> Whether now or in the future, if they feel you can fit an opening for their client, they will want to work with you. <S> It's the recruiter's commission motivation and their company's profit motive to work with you. <S> Recruiters within one organization often step all over each others toes because they are trying to make numbers for their directors they report to. <S> Speaking from personal experience, I've been contacted by six recruiters out of the same firm in the last two weeks because they are all aiming to "close a deal". <S> Keep that in mind as you work with recruiters. <S> There are many great recruiters who are genuine in helping people like you regardless of their monetary incentive <S> and then there are those whose sole motive is to make the numbers. <S> At the end of the day, they will still work with you because it's beneficial to their profit motive here <S> and now if you possess the skills they need for a position to close the deal. <A> I don't think you have any financial responsibility here, but you may have something at risk because of how you handled the first interaction. <S> When you are working through a recruiter and they connect you with a company, you should not initiate your own communications with that company, even if it turns out you know an employee (as is your case). <S> Most recruiters agreements state that if the company hires anyone brought to them by the recuiter, they owe the recruiter some payment. <S> By initiating your own communication, you created an opening where the company could hire you and try to avoid paying the recruiter (cheating the recuiter out of his/her fee). <S> While the agreement is between the two companies and not you, you are still part of the equation. <S> If/when the recruiting company realizes they have worked with you before and how it turned out, they may refuse to work with you. <S> You may still be able to work with other recruiters, but certainly you have risked being able to work with this recruiter. <A> To my understanding your situation is: <S> You were looking for a job, and were working with the recruiter to find one. <S> The recruiter provided some opportunities, from which you recognised the company you are currently with. <S> You asked the person you knew in the company about the job, and you received more information. <S> You were contacted directly by the company, and subsequently were recruited. <S> In this scenario, it was the company that undercut the recruiter, not yourself. <S> There would have been an agreement when the position was opened with the recruiter which detailed payment. <S> We can only guess at what the agreement was, because as mentioned by the other answers, this issue is between your company and the recruiter. <S> It may seem like the recruiter didn't get paid, but that is simply because there is no reason for your company or the recruiter to inform you that the payment was made. <S> Recruiters compete to find candidates for positions, and to find the right candidate they need as many people to pick from as they can. <S> It would go against their business to blacklist candidates who did not stick with them, and so I wouldn't worry about them thinking negatively about you. <S> They have contacted you again, and so they appear to have interest in you as a candidate to generate them business.
| It may have been an upfront fee for them to find and suggest well fitting candidates for the position, it could instead have been a payment for successfully recruiting one of their sourced candidates, and there may have even been a flat rate commission to be paid if the company successfully appointed someone to the position other than candidates suggested by the recruiter as a protection for the recruiter's work.
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Quitting a job after 2 days? I just started my job on campus at a call center 2 days ago. Not only was I horrible at getting donations, but I quickly felt uncomfortable with the job and what it was asking me to do. How do I go about resigning my position with the call center? Because of scheduling issues, my supervisor is usually unavailable to meet unless it's time for work, and I know he would patronize me in front of everyone there and I don't want to have to see him, but I don't want to discredit myself. How do I do this? <Q> Talk to your co-workers about it. <S> Call centres like this typically have a high staff turnover, so anyone who's been in the job a while will know the score. <S> I guess many people will simply not turn up to work. <S> Or, you can work on things and try to find the positive in working there. <S> Call centres are there to help people after all. <S> If this is one of your first jobs, try to stick it out longer. <S> If you start quitting jobs early in your career, you might end up constantly looking for jobs that you like and never settling anywhere. <A> In a word: Deal. <S> The workplace is not there for your comfort. <S> Bosses are mean, customers are mean, coworkers are mean. <S> Get a thick skin now, or you never will. <S> I just started my job on campus at a call center 2 days ago. <S> Not only was I horrible at getting donations, but I quickly felt uncomfortable with the job and what it was asking me to do. <S> Two days is hardly enough time to become proficient at anything. <S> and unless they are asking you to do something illegal or unethical, your discomfort is irrelevant. <S> A job is not designed to make you comfortable. <S> that is why it is called work and not play. <S> Because of scheduling issues, my supervisor is usually unavailable to meet unless it's time for work, and I know he would patronize me in front of everyone there <S> and I don't want to have to see him, but I don't want to discredit myself. <S> Quitting after only two days is in and of itself discrediting yourself. <S> A dressing down from a supervisor over it is not. <S> Actions have consequences. <S> How do I do this? <S> My recommendation is to stick it out for a while. <S> If the work turns out to be something that is not for you, be professional and give the standard two weeks notice, or, if you can, give notice with the understanding that you will stick it out until they can find a replacement. <S> Your supervisor will likely dress you down for giving up, but that is life. <S> Learn from it and become a stronger person for it. <A> This is a topic depending on the work law environment of the country. <S> Practises may vary. <S> Still, it should absolutely be depending on your contract content. <S> Some do contain section about probation period, it goes usually 30 to 90 days. <S> In that time both party may live with the statement that the job is not fitting for the applicant (or vice versa), and may abandon the contract. <S> If no probation period is indicated in the contract, the paragraph about quitting is left, most commonly including 30 to 60 days notice period. <S> Are you directly contracted with the employer, or via student association or different?
| Talk to your supervisor about any difficulties you are having and come up with a plan to overcome them.
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How do I go the extra mile after a job interview? I just finished my second and final interview and I thought that there were positive signs about my chances. Towards the end, the hiring manager did say that there were 5 other candidates that made it to this final round and that the company would be making a selection from these candidates. They said that the candidate with an active interest in the company and role would be picked. I have directly expressed my interest a few times already but what else can I do to have them pick me over the other 5? I really want this role. <Q> I think this is pretty respectable and <S> no one really minds getting a nice email from a potential employee. <S> In your case, it might be really helpful since they are specifically looking for someone interested in the position. <S> It is a good way to make a final impression before they make their decision. <S> Good luck on getting hired! <A> Hand written thank you notes will get you bonus points. <S> Don't go too cutesy. <S> Be professional and mention specifics from the interview. <S> Address it to the person you interviewed with, not HR. <A> Ask for a business card of the hiring manager during the interview. <S> This will accomplish 2 things: bypasses HR <S> you get to decide whether to email them or not. <S> Believe it or not, most normal Hiring managers do enjoy receiving follow up emails from candidates. <S> Although hiring practices vary with each company, enthusiasm counts for more than you think. <S> These are the 2 best cards you can play to try go that extra mile. <S> If you are interested in the job and the company, then within 24-48 hours of the interview, send a follow-up email to the person on the card. <S> Pick something related to your strengths that you actually discussed during the interview and expand on that in the follow up email. <S> And of course, express your interest and enthusiasm for the job in the email. <S> After that, you should be able to look at yourself in the mirror and say that you've done all that you possibly could. <A> You can verbally express your interest in the position at the end of the interview - a quick few words about how you've appreciated the opportunity to interview with them and you feel that you'd be excited to be offered the job, not obsessively screaming "I want this job". <S> Thank- <S> you notes are important as others have said, and these need to be properly thought out follow-ups to the interview, (briefly) answer any outstanding issues and touch on some part of the interview that is specific and will strike a chord with the interviewer rather than a form letter that you've already got saved in your drafts folder and hit 'send' on your way back to the car park. <S> Alison Green of <S> AskAManager.org has a few articles on follow-up notes <S> and I quite like this one . <S> Other than that, your options are limited. <S> If I'm planning to interview 5 other people for a post and make my decision afterwards, you can't force me to appoint you without going any further and trying too hard to do so is likely to move you to the bottom of the list even if you were looking like my top candidate beforehand.
| After my interviews, I would usually send a follow up email which would express my interest in the job position as well as my gratitude for the opportunity to interview with the company.
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Avoiding confusion when two people in an office share the same first name I work in a small office (6 people) and we recently started training a new person, who shares a first name with another worker who has been in the office for the last ~5 years (let's call them "John"). It happens to be the case that the new trainee has a surname which is also used as a first name (e.g. his full name is something like "John Scott"), and he's often referred to by friends etc. by his surname (i.e. they call him "Scott" and he introduces himself sometimes as "Scott" and doesn't have a problem with this). The first John has the email address "john@[domain].com" and we now have to set up a new email address for the second John. He says he's happy to have "scott@[domain].com" but obviously he'll be signing his messages with his full name "John Scott". I'm arguing that his email address should probably be "johns@[domain].com" as this is how I've seen it done before. Others in the office argue that this way will cause more confusion. Basically I'm trying to remove confusion in terms of when people call up and ask for "John", and people emailing us and getting addresses mixed up. What's likely to be the best way to go in terms of how he introduces himself, and the email address and signature he uses? <Q> Basically I'm trying to remove confusion in terms of when people call up and ask for "John", and people emailing us and getting addresses mixed up. <S> It seems like you are more confused than him. <S> If he is not unhappy with the situation I don't see the problem. <S> If he uses "scott@[domain].com" it has the advantage of being very different than John & Johns and would avoid more confusion. <S> What's likely to be the best way to go in terms of how he introduces himself, and the email address and signature he uses? <S> Natalie became Nala and no signature or e-mail adresses concerns at all. <A> If the company plans on continuing to expand it might be worth changing the email system from <S> firstname@domain.com <S> to <S> firstname.surname@domain.com . <S> In larger companies this is fairly standard as you might have hundreds of people called Dave or Sharon but relatively few will have the same surname as well. <S> For those that do, we add a number ( dave.scott2@domain.com ). <A> Names are complicated . <S> I've found that policy based email addresses are more pain than they're worth and that you will eventually need to break from policy often as your user base grows. <S> This inevitably leads to a fragmented mess where some follow the policy, some sort of do, and others don't at all. <S> One possibility is to let people choose their own email alias at hire. <S> Simple first come, first served. <S> This anti-policy has turned out to work really well for us and users seem to enjoy the ownership in choosing their own alias instead of having one assigned to them like yet another ID. <A> I would suggest a fuller email address, e.g.: john.scott@[domain].com and john.doe@[domain].com to differentiate the 2 email addresses. <S> Anything less is confusing. <S> To differentiate them in person, you can: <S> Address them by surname Introduce as 'John from IT' or 'John from HR' Agree a nickname, e.g. John and Johnny <A> Small office, not likely to grow to a multinational with thousands of names, I would go with jscott@domamin.com. <S> This has the advantage of clearly indicating that Scott is the last name but when people start typing John in their email system and it autofills, they won't accidentally send a lot of his email to someone else. <S> I have this problem all the time with another employee who shares my first name. <S> Luckily we each know how to determine which emails we need to send to the other person as our jobs are very dissimilar. <A> Why not give him <S> jscott@domain.com ? <S> It has the benefit of containing the name he will likely use most (Scott) while still containing the important hint that it's not actually his first name. <S> Lots of people have discussed the negatives of [firstname][last initial]@domain.com , and I would add that first names are repeated often (as evidenced by it occurring in your small group), but last names are typically unique. <S> For anecdotal evidence, my company of ~1000 employees has at least 13 "John"s but only 3 "Smith"s. <A> Your company may grow and there may be a number of John(s) or even a number of John Scott(s). <S> d's like johnscott.@.com. <S> So this would help you in future as I mentioned when your company grows. <S> Hope it helps
| I had the same problem in my previous company and instead of calling the person by her surname, we found her a nickname. So it would be better if you would find a way to identify each of them separately and to give them email i
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Is it wrong to buy competititors products and let this be known at work? The company I work for produces and sells products for women to a broader audience. All the products they sell can be easily found in most stores throughout the world. When I joined the company, I understood that you need to have some sort of corporate spirit to fit in, which I have. I thought I was doing well : Not talking negatively about my brand's products, about the company's employees, its processes Being involved in community events Using some of their products Being a brand ambassador by promoting products and actions of my brand to my relatives when I think they are good products Until one day during my lunch break, I came back to work with a bag that contained products from a small competitor of my company. Some of my colleagues started to stare at me as if I had done the unforgivable, some of them commented the fact I was not corporate enough. I agree it may have not been the best move to get those products when I was at work, but their remarks at the moment appeared a bit strong. I wonder to what extent you must promote and support your company? Should you solely purchase products from your company? Does the company expect you to be solely focused on what they produce? EDIT OF OCTOBER 14 : It is a cosmetics company. <Q> When working for a producing company it is often seen as detrimental to favour a competitor's product while on the job even if you only wish for some variety. <S> What you prefer in your freetime is something entirely different, that is and should be of no concern to the company. <S> That being said, appearance is important in the corporate game and outside of it. <S> Imagine what effect it would have on the company if the manager/CEO openly favoured the competitors product in front of employees or customers. <S> It could be interpreted as if there was no faith in the product with loss of morale in employees and customers openly questioning the quality of the product. <A> This reminds me of when I worked for a union store. <S> The union beat us over the head with "buy union made only" rhetoric. <S> Frankly, it was no ones business what I bought, where I bought it from or anything else about my private finances. <S> I would typically respond with "my money, my choice" in a super sweet voice or some other short snip. <S> But, I'm a very direct person and don't worry about what others think of me in general. <S> You may not need to take my direct attitude. <S> I might suggest laughing it off and say that the store was out of products made by your employer. <S> Or, ignore the comments altogether, as it is your business what you purchase, not theirs. <S> If you are further ostracized or poked at by the people who made those comments you may be in for a rough time for a bit. <S> Next time either buy the items and take them straight home, leave them in your vehicle or wait until you're shopping on your days off. <A> Businesses are like people. <S> Others are like jealous partners who can't tolerate the idea that competition even exists in the wider world. <S> One extreme example, reported on the BBC is this: A firm in Henan province called the Nanyang Yongkang Medicine Company, that issued a notice to its workers telling them not to buy the iPhone 7 or Iphone 7 Plus. <S> "If you break this rule, then just come to the office straight way to hand in your resignation," the notice read. <S> I'm not saying that you will be let go from your employer for buying a rival's products. <S> I'm not even saying it is likely. <S> But your colleagues have shown you that the company culture is to be 100% loyal to the brand <S> and that is what you'll have to show to the business. <S> You can still spend your salary on whatever you like. <S> As a side note I used to work for a company where the mascot was a cuddly sheep. <S> In that place, criticising the sheep in any way was a career limiting move. <S> Towing the line made the most sense in a mad company culture. <A> I knew of an auto manufacturer that would tow any car from the employee lot that was not their brand. <S> That is, if the union thugs didn't damage it first. <S> This can be SERIOUS BUSINESS at some companies.
| Many are rational and will accept that you can spend your money on whatever you like. Just don't show it off at work.
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When asked in the future how should you represent a contract job that did not end on the best of terms I'm coming to the end of a tech project I'm looking forward to being done with. Its been a challenging project riddled with conflict and I feel the project manager and I while amicable would not be inclined to give each other positive reviews if asked down the road. Since this project was only nine months long and not a long-term engagement, what would be the best way to represent this not so great 9 month experience when asked by a hiring manager down the road? <Q> Turn it into a positive - "it was a tough project, mainly because of X, Y and Z. <S> To mitigate these issues, I proposed doing A and B and adapting C to assist us". <S> None of the letters above should be people, they should be systemic issues like "change of tech", "opaque requirements" etc. <S> You should then be able to discuss why they were challenges, and more importantly how you managed to overcome them. <S> This all gives you a chance to portray yourself as resourceful, adaptable and tenacious - all qualities employers are looking for. <A> Contracts ending are normal in software development. <S> I see many resumes each week with a bunch of three to twelve month employment stints; perfectly normal if the person was a contractor. <S> So, I don't think you should worry about the "only nine months long and not a long-term engagement" part. <S> If asked about the contract, focus on the technology. <S> If they ask about the project in non-technical terms, tell them there were some challenges, what the challenges were (without being too critical), how you/the team overcame them, what you learned, and explain how it made you better at your job. <S> Do not speak ill of the employer or the other employees. <S> It just makes you look bad. <A> I had a similar problem with a former job experience... <S> I did not want to talk about it with my recruiter <S> but it got to the point I had to. <S> Everything is not black and white. <S> It tought you about project management much deeper and how to avoid failure in the future, as I think you don't want to live the same experience. <S> Stay positive and rememeber that "What doesn't kill you make you stronger". <A> "It was a tough project with many challenges such as [a,b,c], and while at times I felt that things could have been done differently, over all, I learned much such as [ <S> x,y,z]
| You have to point out the good things you have learned from this bad experience. What I would recommend is not to talk about it, although if your interviewer asks questions about it stay positive when you describe your tasks and jobs with your recruiter.
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What is the best way to tell an employer, after signing a contract, you no longer wish to work for them? While coming to the end of my 12month contact with my current employer I’ve been attending a number of interviews. About 1 week ago I received an offer from company A, the offer was decent, I signed the contract and handed in my notice. Fast forward 1 week. I received an offer of employment from company B, this offer exceeded Company A in all areas, I said I would need time to think their offer over. In hindsight I should have done the same for company A. After sleeping on this I’ve somewhat decided I would like to work with company B however don’t know the right way, or even if there is a right way, to inform company A. The contract signed states that during my probationary period I can terminate employment by giving one month’s notice. There isn’t anything else however contained within the document I can see that would cause issues. What is the best approach to inform company A that I will be unable to start my role? Edit1: This question is based upon UK companies Edit2: It’s been flagged that this question is “off topic” therefore I have removed the section of this question that requests input from a contractual perspective. It's now purely just how best to approach company A with this news. Update1: So over the last 24hrs the following has occurred. I spoke with company B and turned down their offer stating my situation, 20 min later they called back with an increased the offer. (Note that playing the companies against one another was not my intention) I’ve now spoke with company A and told them I will stand by the contract if they would like however I would hand my notice in on the first date of employment. They are running the details past HR however was told by recruitment that they don’t think the company will want me to start. Update2: Just heard back from company A and they are able to release me from my contract to peruse the other role. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to respond, the additional input really helped. <Q> You should have noted where in the world this is... <S> You are not unable to start your role. <S> You are not willing to start your role because you found a better place. <S> That's a different thing; don't lie to them. <S> And you have signed a legally binding contract. <S> Now legally it seems you could start and give one months notice on the first day, then work your one month's notice. <S> Which would be absolutely pointless for everyone. <S> So you could tell them that you don't want to start and see what happens. <S> Company A will probably be completely pissed off because of your behaviour, but that cannot be helped. <S> The reasonable way for them to handle this is to tear up the contract. <S> The unreasonable way would be to try to get money out of you for breach of contract (some people are unreasonable) which is unreasonable because you can force them to pay you one months salary for not much useful work. <S> The whole thing is a bit dangerous, because if you refuse to work your notice period, A can try to sue you for damages for not working, and if you do work your notice period, B might not be willing to wait for a month. <S> So getting yourself into that situation is stupid. <S> Don't do it again. <A> This is from gov.uk regarding a candidate declining an unconditional offer : If someone accepts an unconditional offer and then changes their mind, the employer can: make them work out any contractual element of their notice sue them for breach of contract <S> This is a messy situation. <S> My advice would be: Seek legal advice <S> Speak with the employer that you signed the contract with. <S> They may be reasonable. <S> But don't say that you are rejecting the offer <S> If the employer is unreasonable, work the notice period only. <S> I.e. give your notice in on day one <A> This depends on your cancellation clauses as referered by Pete in the comments. <S> If you have a so called trail period you can just say that the job aint for you and leave. <S> Otherwise you will Need to discuss if you Need to sit out the notice period. <S> Do know that you will be "burning bridges" if you arent in a Trail Period and even then you might be playing with fire. <A> What is the best way to tell an employer, after signing a contract, you no longer wish to work for them? <S> Quickly, the sooner the better for all concerned. <S> As other answers mentioned there is possible legal issues and you did sign the contract. <S> However I think these can fairly safely be discounted. <S> Either way, the sooner you know where you stand the better for you. <S> And, the sooner the company knows, while they might be upset, realistically the better for them as well. <S> It gives them more time to find a replacement. <S> I wouldn't even give them the reason why, I'd just say I'm terribly sorry but due to my personal situation I cannot take up the position.
| My advice sit out a couple of months and if you stil want to leave, do so but dont burn bridges because the grass Looks greener on the other side of the road.
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Should I mention personal problems, that could affect my work, to my boss? In the middle of a relationship crisis, GF is thinking about ending our relationship, and all signs are pointing to it happening. I am still performing at work, but generally I am becoming very depressed and withdrawn. Should I mention this to my boss? I am concerned that it will be used against me. <Q> Talking to your boss should have an actionable goal. <S> Something your boss can do to improve the situation. <S> For example <S> Hey boss I have a sick family member at home <S> , I may have to bring them to the doctor before work or fetch them on my way back <S> so I may have to come in late or leave early on short notice the next two weeks. <S> It would be nice if you could schedule accordingly. <S> or <S> Hey boss <S> I have personal problems at home <S> I may need a day or two off on short notice in the next few weeks. <S> Can I team up with Jane and explain to her what I'm working on so she can take over even if I have to take a day off? <S> This is your personal problem, but your boss can act on it and improve the situation . <S> What you boss can not do (or should not do) is give you an allowance to lower your quality or quantity of work. <S> So telling your boss about personal problems that may worsen your performance is nothing he can act on. <S> There is nothing for him to do and therefor talking about it is of little value. <S> If you tell your boss your performance might be worse, in your boss' eyes it will be worse. <S> You could probably do the exact opposite and get lost in work and work overtime all week to evade a confrontation at home and still, as you told your boss you <S> might deliver bad performance, you boss will think you did . <S> So don't do that. <S> If you can come up with something actionable that you can do and needs your bosses approval to mitigate the fallout, go ahead and ask. <S> If you cannot, don't. <A> Generally it's a bad idea to bring your personal life to work in anything less than a positive light. <S> People are expected to handle their own lives separately. <S> A good boss will understand you're having issues if you mention it and may do their best to help you even, but it's a headache on their part. <S> So you shouldn't make him/her have to deal with it. <S> Other bosses wouldn't care what your personal issues are and would just look at your performance. <A> It is important to flag to your boss that there are some issues at home. <S> You don't need ot go into detail unless you are comfortable doing so and have that kind of relationship with your boss. <S> However, the onus is on you to make every effort not to bring your personal life to work. <S> In fact, think of work as your escape from home <S> and you'll find the day much easier to deal with. <S> Finally, if you find yourself struggling, find a good friend to talk to. <A> Personally, I don't bring my personal issues into the workplace. <S> Unless you and your boss are on very close terms, then it probably won't end well. <S> Honestly, sometimes I think work is a safe haven from everything else. <S> You can go to work, focus on whatever your doing there and not really worry about anything else. <S> I'd take that time to reflect and think about what you want to do when your off work but don't slack off. <S> Now, about your girlfriend and you going through a relationship crisis: I'm sure she is great <S> and you love her but don't let her affect your work. <S> You should just talk to her without either of you getting angry. <S> Just work it out if you can. <S> I usually ask myself, "Is this going to matter in a day? <S> a week? <S> a year?" <S> Good luck. <A> You should consider waiting to see whether you can still maintain your level of performance at work. <S> If so, then your boss does not need to know anything about your personal life. <S> They may or may not have any compassion for you though, as break ups haoen every day. <S> Everyone has a private life outside of work, and regardless of what happens in your private life, you're still expected to do your job. <S> You may be allowed a short time of underperformance, but they're under no obligation to carry you through a prolonged period of emotional problems stemming from your private life. <S> If your depression and withdrawal last more than a few days, you should consider visiting a counselor for some help coping.
| If your boss notices that you're struggling at work then you can let him/her know what's going on. So I wouldn't mention it if I were you. If you do sense that you are becoming depressed, speak to your doctor.
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Got the offer letter, but name spelled incorrectly A silly question. I obtained an offer letter, but the name on it is spelled incorrectly. Should I ask for a correction or simply sign the document and then return? If I ask for a correction, how long should I wait for a reply? <Q> I definitely would try to get a fixed/revised offer if I were you, you avoid a lot of potential problems in the future both within the company and externally. <S> "Hey, I am absolutely interested in accepting this but there is one small and awkward clarification <S> , can you correct the spelling of my name? <S> I don't know if it's a big deal or not <S> but I would like to get that fixed prior to accepting" Note that you are making it <S> very clear you plan and want to accept. <S> Framing your request this way makes it seem less awkward. <S> I've known people who have spent a while with HR trying to get their name fixed in all the different systems... <S> email, ids, logins, etc. <S> Regarding timeframe, it's somewhat dependent on how long you have to get back to them. <S> If they gave you 24 hours, you should call rather than email 100%. <S> If it's longer you have more time - realistically the "how long should I wait?" <S> piece is fairly dependent on how long you have. <S> This becomes important because of a variety of situations: <S> Employment verification <S> A lot of processes require this (I had an issue with my mortgage aplication because my company screwed up my employment verification and that wasn't even with a misspelled name!) <S> Depending on where you live, the level of enforceability of the job offer may vary based on how accurate it is If anyone ever needs your offer as proof of something and compares to an ID it will look suspicious at best if they don't match <S> Your email/id/login may depend on your name spelling <S> This process can be awful at larger companies from my experience if you need to fix it <S> The risk behind a misspelled name and the above are not worth the small amount of work in order to get it fixed. <A> Call them, tell them that your name is misspelled on the contract and ask what they want you to do. <A> It's best to request a correct job offer letter, with your name spelled correctly. <S> If you ever sought to apply for a mortgage or lease, or you had to cross U.S. borders into another country for work related reasons, a formal and correct job offer on company letterhead is still considered an official document, as much as your letter of resignation would be. <S> It's a small typo and should be a quick fix. <S> You're best off to keep all your ducks in a row, from the time you enter a new job until the day you resign. <A> A minor mis-spelling would not be something that I would be concerned with. <S> I'd sign the letter, making a point of printing my real name next to the signature. <S> If they deem the mis-spell is worth a corrected offer letter, they will send me the corrected offer letter on their own. <A> You could take following actions Print your correct name clearly where you sign the offer letter <S> Mention that you are ready to sign the corrected job offer letter if it is necessary to do so . <S> In that case, they can issue revised job offer letter or get you sign it when you go for joining.
| In the cover letter, mention that you have spelled the name correctly in the letter and request them to correct the records before the job becomes official. Just give the person listed on the letter a call or potentially email if they have been responsive and ask.
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Bypassing boss to request for pay raise Little bit of background here. My direct manager had rejected my request for pay increment few months back without 1. Giving me a proper explanation of the reason to the rejection, 2. Considering my proposals to take up more job responsibilities in order to justify the increment. As much as I'm aware, the main reason to his behavior is largely due to the fact that he has earned a rather infamous reputation for his string unimpressive performance, including the failure to meet sales target. Also that I've had an 20% adjustment a year ago. Although it may sound a lot in paper, the actual amount barely meets the entry level of my job responsibilities after going thru all the salary benchmark reports. Happened to know that majority of my peers are getting paid higher considering I'm one of the better performer amongst the team as claimed by my direct manager. Right now, I really love the current field of work and would definitely feel a lot more motivated with another 10%+ pay adjustment. So much so that I'm considering to approach my VP directly in order to send the message across. What would you do given my situation? Is there any better approach to deal with this? Thanks! <Q> I really love the current field of work and would definitely feel a lot more motivated with another 10%+ pay adjustment. <S> So much so that I'm considering to approach my VP directly in order to send the message across. <S> What would you do given my situation? <S> You want to go over the head of the manager who gave you a 20% raise last year, and ask his boss for another 10% ? <S> In my opinion, that would be a huge mistake. <S> You boss will resent your play for obvious reasons. <S> And the VP will immediately go to your boss and ask about you. <S> Can you imagine how your boss will respond? <S> In a power play between you and your boss, you think the VP will take your side rather than the side of the person who works for him directly? <S> Is there any better approach to deal with this? <S> You deal with it in one of two ways <S> You work hard, prove your worth, and negotiate the best raises you can from your boss <S> You quit and find a job elsewhere. <S> If you can't convince yourself to be motivated without a 10% raise, this may be your only real option <A> Is there any better approach to deal with this? <S> Yes, there is. <S> There is only two realistic ways you might get more money that I can think of. <S> Both of which are only worth trying if a raise is a deal breaker for you. <S> Give your boss an ultimatum that if you don't get a raise you'll be out the door. <S> I've had varying success with that strategy and you need to be serious and highly valued. <S> Which quite frankly I don't see from your brief question, but you'd know better than me. <S> If you're confident with this, then you might as well go for gold and ask for more than 10%. <S> Secondly get a new job, you don't have anything to lose with this strategy because you say you're being underpaid for your role as it is. <S> I would think that going over your bosses head with vague assurances of 'taking on more responsibility' is almost certain to fail unless you have a relationship of some sort with the VP, and it will cause issues between you and your boss whether it works or not. <A> I can tell you right now that this question is going to be closed, because we can't possibly know all the politics / dynamics of your workplace, but I'll express my thought on the matter: <S> If you go over your boss's head, you're going to make an enemy of him, and the VP may not appreciate your move that much either. <S> If, on the other hand, you're the top performer on the team, and are ready to walk away, you might get a benefit from pushing your luck in this manner. <S> Frankly, if you're dissatisfied, and your boss is an under-performing grouch you should probably be looking for a new job, because after you pull this stunt things are only going to go downhill between the two of you.
| Going over your bosses head is almost certain to have negative repercussion for you, both from your boss, and from the VP.
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How to address negativity, gossip and unprofessional communication in the office I joined my current company about a year ago. At the time, I was happy to get the job and did not mind the office culture even though a lot of the conversations seemed unprofessional to be had in an office, on working hours. I don't mind the occasional work rant which is nearly impossible to avoid or participate in, or even gossip although I try my hardest to not be involved in or contribute to. The problem is, since recently, my team works mostly unsupervised and the occasional rant and gossip has become an every day type thing, where there appears to be something or someone to complain about or mock. It does not necessarily affect the work I do but it does affect how I feel about being in that office, I no longer look forward to my day. I try using headphones to muffle out the noise but I can't do that all the time, my job requires me to stay aware of my surroundings. Can I say something about it to my team (perhaps to tone down the workplace negativity) or my supervisor as it is unprofessional behavior and it does affect the energy of the office and ultimately mine? <Q> Just see this as a noise issue. <S> Do not get involved in the rant. <S> Just ask them to be a bit more quiet as you are concentrating. <A> My work used to be the same. <S> We had a toxic director and gossip, banding together, and the like were some of the few ways we survived her idiocity. <S> It was also one of the ways we caught her lies, which lead to her ultimate downfall. <S> Since her departure things have settled down, though we still have a few pot stirrers in our mix. <S> I've taken it upon myself to give gentle nudges to more positive chatter when the rants and gossiping begin. <S> We all have disagreements and misunderstandings. <S> I had to mediate between my boss and my coworker (who is now my employee). <S> They had a few disagreements where each had a completely different take on what happened. <S> One thought they deserved an apology because they were having family issues and the other person should have taken that into consideration before saying what they said. <S> (I know, vague, but roll with me a little on this) <S> Instead of saying this directly, they went to every member on our team and complained about the other person. <S> The other person thought there wasn't an issue at all and was shocked to find out how the other person felt about the situation. <S> They were confused why the first person didn't talk to them. <S> I reminded both that we have other things going on in our lives and that they were both reasonable people who shouldn't be afraid to talk to each other. <S> It took a few days but they finally talked and sorted thing out. <S> If you want a better work environment, help create it. <S> Redirect to the positive when a coworker pulls out a dagger. <S> Remind yourself that it will take time and it will be worth it. <A> The problem is that it's an unsupervised team. <S> I expect they feel safe in ranting and moaning because there's no one to hear and rein them in. <S> Even if you managed to stop the negativity/ranting, then they'd easily find other things to gossip about. <S> If people are keeping up with their work, there's not much you can do about it except for ignoring it or using headphones when you want to concentrate.
| Instead of "yeah, he was completely out of line and a real jerk for saying that" (even if I agree) I remind the person trying to vilify another that we are all human and can only improve if we're told we made a mistake. How we take action on the frustrations we feel towards others involved really make a difference in how our coworkers and managers see us.
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How do I answer why I want to join a smaller company given I have worked at larger ones? I am in university and have done two previous internships ( I live in Canada), my last two internships were for very large and reputable companies (both with 50k+ employees and likely, much higher pay than the job that I am interviewing for now). But for this Co-op or internship term, I want to stay within my own city which is pretty small and does not really have large companies that deal with software or computer engineering in general. So I have an interview with a pretty small company (about 50 employees), that I really want just because it is in my field, and I really don't want to leave my city for personal reasons, like my family being here, and I really don't like big cities. My internship adviser has told me to prepare for some questions on "why do you want to work at this small company given you have worked at very large successful companies", unfortunately I haven't been able to contact him since he is busy and my interview is later this evening. If I get asked this during an interview, is it appropriate to simply tell the truth, that I want to stay in my own city(where I currently study) due to the fact that I have family here, or how exactly should I phrase this (and obviously mention that I think their company has a great future and I would like to be part of it etc..)? Would my past experience at large companies hinder my chances at getting this job? I really would like this job. <Q> Tell the truth. <S> When you're honest, your body language reinforces that. <S> When you are honest, you're able to say things with feeling and with passion and that will increase your chances. <S> Everyone has tells when they lie, unless they're a practiced sociopath. <S> There are many who can see tells, whether they call it intuition, instinct or perhaps they've even been trained. <S> If a company doesn't want you because of your honest reasons, do you really want to work for a company like that? <S> It wouldn't be a good fit anyway. <A> The question of big company vs small company usually comes up when you are transitioning between the two. <S> At this point in your career, I think that a legitimate answer to the question of why is "My last two internships have been with large companies and I would like to work for a smaller company and see how it compares" Smaller companies can have major benefits like opportunity to work outside of your defined role and the chance to have a bigger impact on the business. <S> Plus like you said, it's local! <S> Good Luck. <A> It's worth looking into these benefits and seeing if any interest you. <S> You'll likely gain a wider range of skills and experiences as the relative lack of employees forces you to become a "jack of all trades" to one extent or another Similarly, you are more likely to be given <S> be a greater variety of tasks and be less of a "cog in the machine" <S> Your contributions will have more of an impact on the business <S> When you put in extra effort you're more likely to be recognised and appreciated for it Smaller companies often have a more informal work culture and tend to be less "corporate" or bureaucratic <S> There tends to be more of a sense of camaraderie, and employees tend to socialise a little more outside of work hours <S> These are some of my reasons why I prefer to work for smaller companies. <S> There is a fair bit of information out there if you google "benefits of working for a smaller company". <A> I would also suggest to tell the truth. <S> There is nothing wrong with your reasons and they are perfectly acceptable. <S> Having said that, I would also urge you to consider following: When you are at the beginning of your career, it is sometimes better to work for the smaller companies. <S> The thing is, when you work for smaller company, you get assigned a number of tasks simply because there is nobody else who has the time to do them. <S> I'm not saying that is the best possible organization, but it is often the fact. <S> So, another good answer would be that you feel that you might get more chances doing different things and perhaps learning different technologies, and that you find that challenging and interesting. <S> In my opinion, the first couple of years of your career should be focused more on what you can learn, and what experiences you can gain, than solely on financial aspect of employment, but please, skip sharing this thought when negotiating salary.
| That said, there are plenty of benefits to working for smaller companies. As Christopher says, honesty is the best policy and will make you less tense at the interview. If you aren't confident in saying your current reasons for wanting to work for them have a look at what other reasons people have for working with smaller companies and see which ones you agree with and would be happy to honestly give in an interview
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Is it appropriate to tell my coworker my mom passed away? This week my mom passed away from cancer. I have told my boss and he has given me time off. I'm in a telecommute position and so I am not in the same office as my coworkers. I'm a private person and don't like to bring personal drama into the workplace. I have one coworker who knew my mom had cancer. Is it ok to volunteer the info that she died? <Q> However, you are not expected to share this information either. <S> If you wish to do so, then share, but if you choose to keep things private that is perfectly fine as well. <A> I'm sorry for your loss. <S> It has to be a difficult time for you. <S> A lot of this comes down to a few things: Your relationships with coworkers <S> Your comfort level with sharing personal information <S> Being out for "bereavement" is probably enough to communicate to coworkers. <S> They will know, particularly if it's a longer timeframe, that it was a big deal to you. <S> And depending on the relationships you have, potentially ask or see what they can do to support you. <S> Whether or not it's "bad" to not say anything directly will largely depend on the above two bullet points. <A> This is culturally dependent. <S> Where I live, in Israel, it is customary to inform everyone, either by hanging a notice or by sending a mail. <S> Often HR handles this. <S> Of course the person involved may opt out. <A> It is entirely professional to tell your co-workers why you will (or might) unexpectedly not be working for a while - if your work involves regular interaction with other team members, your physical location isn't very relevant to the situation. <S> The impact on the work of the team as a whole will be pretty much the same, whatever the reason is for your unplanned absence. <S> It is not professional to put them in a situation where they might feel pressured to join in your mourning and grieving - unless some of them knew your mom personally, of course. <S> You are now in a situation where something very important to you has just happened, but most of the rest of the world neither knows, nor really wants to know, about it. <S> Finding a way to handle that situation is part of the grieving and "healing" process that you have just started to go through.
| Professionally speaking, it is completely acceptable to share this sort of information with a coworker.
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Friend in front of whom I have badmouthed the company is becoming a colleague So a couple of months ago I was pretty close with a friend of mine and among other things we have talked about our jobs. I have told him that I'm not (very) happy at mine and that there are things that I like about it - i.e. the atmosphere is good, it is a fun place to be, but there are things that I don't like - i.e. the salaries are lower than those offered at other companies and I have also shared with him that I am contemplating quitting and have interviewed with other companies. At some point we drifted apart (no bad feelings, just started seeing each other much less often) and when we recently met he told me that he will be starting work at my company soon (the same I have badmouthed some time ago in front of him). I hope that I'm overthinking it, but I feel a bit nervous and negative about us working together. I feel awkward that he knows so much about how I feel about my job - I have discussed the things that I dislike about the company with my boss (i.e. salary) - but I doubt that he knows about my interviews at other companies and so on. I'm afraid that we may even end up working at the same team (hopefully not). Is there something I should be worried about (even in worst case scenario)? How should I act? <Q> Is there something I should be worried about (even in worst case scenario)? <S> How should I act? <S> Act the same as usual <S> , welcome your friend aboard etc,. <S> everyone knows private rants and work are two separate things. <S> There is zero chance of him discussing your months old rants with your boss since he's just walked in the door himself. <A> Is there something I should be worried about (even in worst case scenario)? <S> Everyone, including your manager, has grumbled to friends about their job. <S> You should not be worried at all about your friend starting. <S> If he does snitch on you, simply deny everything. <A> How should I act? <S> Speak truthfully. <S> It looks like you are still at that company after several months. <S> It can't be that bad there. <S> Your friend started working there, despite what you have told him. <S> I have discussed the things that I dislike about the company with my boss (i.e. salary) - <S> but I doubt that he knows about my interviews at other companies and so on. <S> Having interviews with other companies is something everybody can do at any time. <A> Your friend has his reasons for joining your company, just as you had your own reasons for doing so. <S> And he will eventually have his own reasons for looking to join another company, just as you have yours. <S> His circumstances are his, your circumstances are yours and it is really counterproductive of you to try to read into his situation from your perspective - never mind that his situation is his business and none of yours to begin with. <S> Focus on getting your job done. <S> If you are looking for new employment, go into radio silence about that at least for the time being. <S> What's terrible to you may be wonderful to him. <S> And again, you may not have the same priorities and objectives. <S> Let him live his own life and focus on living yours. <S> And quit any temptation to pass judgement on his life choices based on your perspective. <S> What doesn't work for you may just be wonderful for him. <S> You are entitled to your own life and your own judgement. <S> Just as he is entitled to his.
| Your friend has an incentive to keep your grumbling to himself as well - if he does tell anyone at the company, he's just marked himself as a snitch. Even if you haven't explicitly told your boss that you had interviews at other companies, it doesn't take much imagination to assume that an employee not satisfied in his current job is looking for alternatives. Everybody has their own perspective.
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How to Handle Family/Friends asking about Classified Job I recently got a new job at a large company's R&D department, and a lot of what I do is considered sensitive information to the company. Since getting the job and updating LinkedIn, a number of family and friends (some I haven't talked to in years) have asked me what I do now. I used to just say it's confidential, but this seemed to offend people. Is there a more polite and professional way to convey this information? <Q> The short answer, is to talk to your employer for clarification on what you are allowed to say to describe your work to your friends. <S> For example, for a while, I worked on a telematics project for a well known U.K. Motoring organisation. <S> Likewise, I am under obligations to not confirm technology used by a particular company. <S> That means I can say to people where I was working, or discuss the technology I was using - just not both at the same time. <S> In one of my earlier roles, we solved a very similar problem. <S> If I'm then asked which role, the answer is <S> I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to confirm that this company uses specific products or techniques, and frankly the technology is far more interesting than knowing the name of a large company. <S> If they still want to know the company name, I'll tell them and then not talk about the tech. <S> its worth pointing out that this strategy is not appropriate if you have a clause requiring you to protect secrets. <S> It is only appropriate where you are required to not disclose or confirm. <A> I don't understand why someone would be offended by "confidential" - perhaps it's how you're saying it? <S> Consider using "proprietary". <S> Family and friends should understand when you say "I can't talk about it; it's prohibited; I'd lose my job." <S> Anyone who wants to pry after that, you just need to repeat what you said the first time, and then change the subject. <A> The usual answer: "I could tell you, but then I'd have to shoot you." <S> If that doesn't help: "Seriously, what I'm doing is confidential. <S> Don't ask me again, or I will be offended. <S> " That way it becomes their fault for asking, and you are the offended party. <A> You do know you are going to have trouble finding the next job if you cannot disclose what you do in the current job. <S> I have worked on some projects I could not talk about <S> and it can get awkward. <S> With your significant other. <S> "I am working on stuff I simply cannot talk about <S> and I need you not to pry. <S> They are not asking me to do anything illegal or unethical." <S> Let's take it to the extreme you work for the CIA and do cryptography. <S> You may not even be able <S> say you do cryptography. <S> At the level you just have to have friends that understand. <S> Not all will. <S> You could even be working for an agency that is classified. <S> Look up the Hillary email testimony. <S> If your title is classified. <S> "I work for X and unfortunately my title and projects are classified. <S> " <S> What is classified? <S> "Classified is something I cannot talk about". <S> If projects are classified. <S> "I work for X as an Y and unfortunately my projects are classified." <A> My work with confidential-but-interesting stuff has never been classified. <S> But often it's deliberately kept opaque just to reduce the attack surface we expose. <S> So my employer would very strongly prefer I not go to a user group meeting and say "hey, we're struggling with ... <S> and here's how", because that tells anyone present about the sensitive parts of our system. <S> "How do I run Windows remote Desktop over an SSH tunnel to WinXP" is quite answerable, without anyone knowing that I'm trying to maintain a Diebold ATM (which I'm not, obviously). <S> In person I say "I work for a company that makes burglar alarms" and talk about the cool/annoying stuff I'm doing at whatever level suits the person asking <S> (we have a shiny new product, we have a shiny new server, or a shiny new programming tool, depending). <S> I talk about my relationships with my co-workers, I talk about the challenges of working in a hetrogenous coding environment, or simply whine about my low pay and how they all hate me <S> and it's not fair (until whoever is asking walks away). <S> If your company doesn't have a public product or service, that's somewhat harder. <S> But with a little care about blackmail-worthy details, you should be able to talk about the office politics if nothing else. <S> I'm sure you have <S> co-workers who drive cars which get replaced by newer models, break down, cost money... or perhaps the same with their spouses :) <A> When I asked people about their (mostly US government) jobs and they were not able or willing to tell me, they would point me to their job ads and say something like <S> I'm not allowed to tell you what I do, but look, this is the job ad I applied for <S> In all instances this was enough to satisfy my curiosity and also perfectly legal public information. <S> The job ad will contain a lot of interesting information about the job without giving anything away anything that would be confidential. <S> It's way better than being told "none of your concern", no matter how friendly you say it <S> , it's neither helping nor leaving a good feeling with friends, people that trust you and now have to come to terms that you don't trust them .
| I deal with that particular issue by creating anonymous accounts online to ask those questions, and I am careful not to link the questions back to my employer, or the exact task I'm doing.
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How to move forward from what's essentially a prototype, which was never intended to be sold to high-profile clients Ok so I started off with this prototype piece of software in my attic and now it's has become a company. I really can't be too specific, but imagine a server side scripting thing that is now being sold abroad to high-profile customers. There are people to whom this might sound great, but in fact, some years down the line this is really wearing me down. It started as a one man company, and as luck would have it I quickly found a launching customer who brought me two more, and then after some year of struggle I settled with a commercial guy who called himself an IT entrepreneur and said he knew how to build up a company. Indeed we got like 10 more clients, hired a guy or two and have been implementing ever since. I'll talk about the actual business model another time, but the problem I'm facing now is this: I built it in this prototype language just to make my point about the market opportunity. I'm not a software engineer and have probably violated all the rules in the book. But it works. I built my own release mechanism and it works. I use this weird mix of technologies to make it all work together. It works. Never really documented anything really. It's all intuitive. But you might have already guessed: I'm the only one who can make it work. So far this went fine, but it's not scalable because I'm not scalable. The more implementations we have to maintain, the more workload I get. Risks for customers are high. No gravy train. Runaway train and I'm the only one who knows its running away. So what I now have to do is to come up with a plan to set up a development team whilst dismantling a bomb on a runaway train, and the other guy does not really see the need, or closer to the thruth probably, does not want to see it. So if somebody must make a decision, it's probably me. I always liked the thrill, but I'm getting tired. For now, I see some options: We're already looking at Java engineers, but whoever want's to jump on a runaway train must be a cowboy just like me. Do an executive search for some guy who we can make a director of development Find a investor who helps out with money and whose development team we can use to refactor the whole thing Continue in dutyful quiet desparation until derailment. Jump off the train, and after recovery from the law suit see what's left in the wreckage. Go to the back of the train and hope I'll survive the crash. I think the best step forward is the first option. I'm deliberately being candid about the level of desparation here - and I'm deliberate in placing the question on Workplace because what I'm looking for is advice from people who come from the workplace and know how to best set up development teams in awkward situations. <Q> You just described literally any tech company ever. <S> Yes, you keep the high speed train running while you replace the engine written in ${language you don't like} with ()= <S> >"language you do like". <S> That is the SHORT answer to your question. <S> The other option was "close this as too broad" because, "How do I get off the prototype, scary tech stack onto a good one in a small company?" is the subject of a multitude of books, talks, the focus of meetups, and why people who are very good at it make a lot of money (between 6 and 10 figures). <S> Here are my thoughts on your ideas: We're already looking at Java engineers, but whoever want's to jump on a runaway train must be a cowboy just like me. <S> Or, possibly, you are paying well with very good equity, so they know the risk they are taking and are not being reckless. <S> Maybe you can pull someone at a Fortune 500 company who is "looking for a change." <S> Find a investor who helps out with money and whose development team we can use to refactor the whole thing. <S> Your VC provides management expertise as much as money. <S> Sounds like you could use that. <S> Do an executive search for some[one] who we can make a director of development. <S> They will require: good pay, good equity, and a chance of success. <S> Jump off the train, and after recovery from the law suit see what's left in the wreckage. <S> If you have legal issues please contact an attorney ASAP. <S> If you're going to have legal issues, seriously <S> they won't be easier to solve after letting every worst-case scenario take place. <A> Redevelop. <S> Nothing new about what you're doing. <S> I'm not a developer <S> , I had an idea, made a product that worked, found some clients and sold it to them. <S> Then I invested some of the money into redeveloping the whole product and improved it at the same time. <S> And I still invest money upgrading it. <S> It's really as simple as that. <S> The problem you have is your business is investing in sales, not tech. <S> You need a balance. <S> No need to use cowboys, spend money to make money. <S> The people I use are very expensive, but I have peace of mind. <S> I found sales at the start to have gone in phases. <S> Sell, consolidate, improve, up the price, then another sales drive. <S> As far as setting up a team goes, this is the easiest part. <S> Get qualified experienced people on board. <S> In my own case one experienced full stack guy took my ideas and a heck of a lot of work and redeveloped in to a working scalable product in a few weeks, we tweaked for perhaps 6 months on and off. <S> But in practical terms it was just a few weeks for him to do the grunt work and build it. <S> And because I worked through the whole thing with him, I learnt a lot and know and understand every piece of the code, and wrote the documentation myself afterwards. <S> Redevelopment is a heck of a lot easier than development, because you already know in detail what you want to achieve. <S> You don't have to make anything up. <S> It's just a matter of solving translation problems. <A> The first thing you should do is take a stab at documenting the process. <S> You do not need low level details just explain what each part is how it fits into the process. <S> Your train is not runaway, you just do not know what the track that you are on is or where the other tracks go. <S> Think of the documenting process as mapping out where the tracks go. <S> From there you are no longer lost and can work with a team to figure out what set of tracks you want to be on and how to get there. <S> Bring in someone with experience in doing something similar to what your product does. <S> You do not want another cowboy coder for this position. <S> You want someone who can set your company toward a sustainable future and all another cowboy is going to do is keep throwing the switches at random. <S> This should be someone you can see building a team of developers to implement that strategy. <S> Once you have the stable product you are comfortable with then you can focus on growing your business, and let the developers worry about new development and keeping the thing running.
| Bring in a professional, and work with them to develop a strategy moving forward. Make it a priority, sit down with them and just go through everything step by step.
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Mentioning the Army Reserves at new job? I had a successful interview today and start in a couple of weeks. However, I also plan on sending my Army Reserves application off in a couple of days. Due to the number of days this requires you to be off, one big 2 week block , I'm not sure if I should mention that I've applied when I start. Should I hold off my application for a couple of months first and settle in first? <Q> You want to go in looking, keen, committed, and happy to be there, not passing time between personal stuff. <S> Give them a chance to at least remember your name. <A> Tell them once you've been accepted and know the dates you'll be gone. <S> If you haven't even applied yet, then there's no guarantee you'll be accepted. <S> (Correct me if I'm wrong and you know they will accept you.) <S> At this point, there isn't anything to tell that's helpful to them, especially if you aren't sure of the training dates yet. <S> If you are confident that you will be accepted <S> and you know the dates, then yes, you should tell them when you start. <S> If there's regular training in addition to the initial two weeks, then you should provide a calendar of that to them, too. <S> I would make sure you know your rights in your country first, though, in case they try to pull any illegal shenanigans. <A> It depends. <S> If you are joining the National Guard or the U.S. Army Reserves, you will be protected by federal law from prejudice and mistreatment by any employer. <S> Still, you may not want to give the perception of having misled your employer. <S> That said, you may not want to tell them that you might be gone, perhaps even out of the country, at the discretion of people in Washington D.C. who have pencils behind their ears. <S> And you may not want to mention national emergencies . <S> As a writer above has recommended, wait until you actually have a date for Basic Training/AIT/weekend drill. <S> Keep in mind that some units will want you to attend drill before you attend your initial training. <S> Most drills take place on the weekends. <S> Will you be working on the weekends? <S> Is there anyone else at your prospective job who is a weekend warrior? <S> On the other hand, you may want to inform your prospective employer that you are going to join up. <S> If the training directly applies to your prospective job, that could be a huge feather in your cap. <S> Some military jobs have training which is extremely expensive on the civilian side. <S> Another important factor is whether you will get a security clearance . <S> This can also be of vital interest to a future employer and make you much more valuable.
| I would hold off anything that might be disruptive to the crucial time when I'm new in a job and making the impression with my colleagues and bosses that will be the most lasting one.
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What should I do if I can't wear new and expensive clothes for an interview? In a few days, I'll have a hiring interview in a software company which works with customers in the financial sector. I imagine they expect candidates to be wearing new and relatively expensive clothes. The problem is that I'll need to walk a lot before and after the interview (no, taking a taxi is not an option), which means that I'll need to wear slightly old shoes (they match the expected style, but are just very far from being new) and probably my old suit. Should I mention during the interview that I am aware of the state of my clothes and apologize for it, making the interviewer understand that I expect to wear newer clothes if one day I have to work with the customers of this company, or should I avoid mentioning this subject, unless asked? <Q> You're not usually expected to buy a new suit for an interview. <S> Take a rag with you and buff your shoes shortly before you get there. <S> People are different, but personally I don't really look at clothes in detail so long as the ensemble creates the right impression. <S> The only time I'm likely to is if the person is self-conscious about their attire. <A> Hit the Salvation Army or a Goodwill store. <S> Borrow or get a suit from a friend, especially if you happen to know that he is a clotheshorse. <S> If you do a lot of walking in the hot sun, stop at air conditioned stores along the way. <S> And before you do anything, quit imagining that "they expect candidates to be wearing new and relatively expensive clothes" and instead call your HR point of contact, tell them that you have an interview with them and ask them point-blank <S> what's their expectation regarding dress code. <S> You want to work with THEIR data not YOUR assumptions. <A> How you project yourself professionally, and your personal hygiene and grooming, are more important than whether your suit is new. <S> If you're going to walk a lot before the interview, consider bringing a travel-size pack of wet wipes to clean any sweat or oil off your face and neck before the interview. <S> Both the wipes and the deodorant can be concealed in your briefcase or portfolio. <S> If you're not bringing one, put them in your suit pockets, but be prepared to throw them away discreetly (outside the office building or in a bathroom) if they look or feel bulky. <S> Good luck!
| A quick touch-up of deodorant (not perfume) in the bathroom also wouldn't hurt, depending on how much you sweat on the way there. Don't mention the state of your clothes, quite possibly no one will notice.
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At-will, no contractually obligated serverance - notice? I'm an at-will software engineer about to leave the company I work at. I do not have a contract that guarantees me a severance payment if the company wishes to fire me, which they are permitted do at any time, so giving them advance notice of my departure seems very imbalanced – especially as the power differential in employment is already tipped towards the employer. If they needed notice from me, I would have been happy to sign a contract obligating it, presuming that I also received consideration (i.e. severance). However, they did not do that, they chose absolute at-will employment, and it seems fair to hold the terms that they decided on. Am I really expected to give two weeks or more advance notice in this situation? <Q> I would give notice for the following reasons: <S> It is handy to leave on good terms - you might need a reference People in IT seem to move about a lot. <S> If you leave with things in order, your colleagues will appreciate this. <S> In future they may be colleagues again in a different company <S> You may wish in future to work again with this company - either directly or indirectly The new employer probably needs a few weeks to sort out references, desk space, <S> IT <S> so it will not harm you. <A> Notice Period as Relationship Management <S> Am I really expected to give two weeks or more advance notice in this situation? <S> However, you should look at this as a relationship-management issue rather than a legal one. <S> Here are some things that resigning without notice <S> will usually lose you: A good reference. <S> The opportunity to list the job on your resume as a success story. <S> The goodwill of your direct managers and coworkers. <S> The confidence of your new employer (assuming you have one already lined up) that you won't do the same thing to them. <S> Of course, if you don't need those things, or will not receive them anyway, then there's nothing really stopping you from saying that today is your last day. <S> That doesn't mean that it's generally a good idea, though. <S> Even though there is generally a power imbalance in the employer/employee relationship, companies are made up of people . <S> Leaving a job on the best terms possible can yield surprising dividends years later, especially if you're working in a relatively small field like I.T. or want to trade on your personal brand within your industry. <S> Usually it is, but occasionally it isn't. <S> I'd certainly advise you to take the long view unless you have overriding considerations in play, and to treat your notice period as an exercise in relationship management. <S> Preserving options for the future rarely has a downside, but your mileage may vary. <A> Am <S> I really expected to give two weeks or more advance notice in this situation? <S> Yes, you are expected to give 2 weeks notice. <S> That's considered "acting professionally". <S> You aren't required to do so legally, but it would still be considered less than professional to do so. <S> If you don't care about your reputation, what others think of you, or the possibility of getting a decent reference in the future, you can walk out without even saying goodbye. <S> That's generally not what I'd recommend, but it is within your rights to do so.
| You'll need to decide for yourself whether it's in your own long-term interests to give notice or not. In the United States and under at-will employment, in most jobs you are not legally obligated to give notice.
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Why would a startup rescind a job offer? A startup gets seed funding and is ready to move to the next step. Say you get a solid job offer from them after clearing the interviews. Can they rescind the job offer at this stage due to their own issues ? If yes, then what could be the issues which would make them rescind a job offer ? Note that the company finds no issues with you as basis for rescinding. (Issues such as not passing background check, re-negotiating after agreeing to an offer, having said or done something stupid in the present or past etc.) <Q> Can they rescind the job offer at this stage due to their own issues ? <S> Yes they can. <S> In the US, a job offer can be rescinded at any time. <S> If yes, then what could be the issues which would make them rescind a job offer ? <S> The list is endless, and purely speculation. <S> Their funding may be suspect <S> They could have rethought their need for that particular position Someone could have decided at the last minute that you weren't a fit for the role <S> They may have decided that they aren't yet ready to hire because their time is needed elsewhere etc, etc. <S> These are all possibilities. <S> But if you want to know the actual reason for your particular situation, the only way to find out is to ask. <S> (And even then you probably won't get an answer). <S> Startups tend to be like that. <S> Things never stay the same for long. <A> Normally this would only be because they either don't have the money they thought they did, don't need the role filled, or have found someone else to fill it. <S> Another possibility is one I have had quite a few times. <S> A company wants a small job done cheaply, while negotiating that task they talk big about all sorts of other work they'll probably have for me if I do well. <S> In fact it's just a negotiating ploy to drive my price down. <S> Bottom line, is nothing is certain until a contract is signed, and even then watch your back. <A> Start is very fluid. <S> The money may have told them what resources to use. <S> Money rules.
| If they just got funding the money may have required them to change focus. They can rescind the job offer any time up until a contract is signed, for any reason or no reason at all.
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Employees won't listen to me and kept making excuses, how do I assert control? Before we begin, I'd like to say 3 things: I understand that respect is earned, not bought I'm in Bali, the work culture may very well be different I'm not a foreigner relative to my workplace So here's the problem: I'm originally brought in as non-management person, but now I'm being promoted to management. The employees don't respect me enough to do what I say, which is a problem because I need to control our product quality which is going down a bit, we're risking losing customers. They're giving me excuses which they didn't give to the previous manager (she's promoted). It's not a problem so long as the previous manager is available to go down and talk to them directly, but this isn't healthy in the long run. In fact, I believe that a certain employee thinks he can push me around, he kept making statements that implies he doesn't agree with me and won't do what I say. At some point he asserted that he will not work overtime no matter what happens. This did happen with the previous manager but at least he'd listen to her for other things. I don't have "friends" per se that can help me to bridge the gap. I'm not sure what to do, trying to threaten them with previous manager will only destroy any legitimacy I should have, and if something dire happens when she's not around I won't be able to do anything. Trying to iron fist this will not work if they won't do what I say anyway, and will only bring more problems like pushing them to revolt. I will say honestly that I'm not exactly amazing with arguing. I couldn't come up with good comebacks quickly enough (not witty one liners, I mean actual arguments for discussion) which shuts me down quickly. I believe this is one of the factors that put me in this situation. What can I do at this point? <Q> You are in management and your job is to manage. <S> So do so. <S> The employee you mentioned in your questions needs to realize you have the authority over the group, which includes himself. <S> Try to have a private talk with him and discuss the following: You are the manager and him listening to you (assuming your guidance is reasonable) is in his best interests if he is interested in developing at his current job. <S> It is fine if he disagrees with your opinion and open discussion is welcome. <S> However, overt insubordination is not acceptable. <S> I will say honestly that I'm not exactly amazing with arguing. <S> I couldn't come up with good comebacks quickly enough <S> Immediate retorts is not your goal, so don't try establish authority with such tactics. <S> You would only gain a reputation as someone with a hot head, and who can't think deliberately, and calmly. <A> You don't argue with underlings, you discuss or you discipline. <S> This is part of being a manager, one of the most important parts of the role. <S> Everyone needs to respect you or you're not managing anything except showing up each morning. <A> It's a common noob mistake to think that the people reporting to you have to do anything you say, ever. <S> The worst you can do is fire them, and then where are you? <S> They don't care about your job and what you need, any more than you care about the needs of a stranger living 3 blocks away. <S> Sure, you don't wish that stranger any harm, but their specific needs don't often enter into your thoughts. <S> There is a long literature by successful people that discusses how to motivate people to act on behalf of the project, and to take ownership of the team's success. <S> Brow-beating, threats, intimidation, and fear aren't ranked highly in those books for a reason. <S> Welcome to management, start reading! <A> It's not about respect, per se. <S> It is about legitimacy To your people, you are a manager in name only. <S> You have to act the part now. <S> Document everything, set goals and expectations and hold people to them. <S> Then there are all the standards for management such as "Praise in public, reprimand in private". <S> You've got the part, not it's time to play it. <S> When someone meets goals, reward them. <S> If they do not, bring them into your office and tell them exactly what is wrong with what they are doing. <S> If it happens a second time, write up a disciplinary form documenting the repeat offense. <S> Put it in their file. <S> Address issues the moment you see them, both positive and negative. <S> Your answer to any excuse is always, "Why didn't you bring this to my attention sooner." <S> As I told one of my reports, "Let me know about everything, if it's before a deadline, you're being diligent by raising concerns, after a deadline, you are only making excuses, and I don't accept excuses"
| You should not be arguing , but rather establish a rational explanation as to why your direction / guidance/ desires is beneficial to the employees, and to the company. Be clear, be consistant, be fair, and be swift. You need to establish policies, procedures, and discipline. Find out what disciplinary action you can take and make an example of someone (pour encourager les autres).
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What are possible down-sides of leaving anonymous reviews on sites like Glassdoor? I recently just left working for an employer and wanted to leave an anonymous review of their organization on glassdoor.com pertaining to my experience working with the organization. What are the possible downsides to leaving an anonymous review, especially if it may contains some less than stellar remarks? <Q> Yes, there are downsides. <S> There is precedent in which people are held liable for negative reviews that contain defamatory content. <S> The internet is not immune to defamation laws, despite widespread poor behavior online. <S> Most communities are smaller than you think , and your negative comments are often traceable back to you. <S> Word of mouth still exists. <S> Your LinkedIn information makes it fairly easy to see if you complained . <S> You left the job with similar responsibilities to those in the complaint, at a similar time, etc. <A> I think the first question is, as Christopher asked, is there any upside? <S> Everything it traceable as has been pointed out. <S> If you make the comments, especially soon after leaving, if anyone bother looking there is a good chance they will know it was you. <S> If they are bothered by your comments, there are ways to research it. <S> Next, how many people do you know that actually use services like Glassdoor? <S> I know people who do, to laugh at comments. <S> I know few who actually use it as a resource. <S> In my circle, it is general considered a gripe board for disgruntled employees that has no real coloration to actual feelings of the average employee at that company. <S> But former employees go there to vent. <S> Doing so makes them feel better, but how does it really accomplish anything else? <S> If I were to go, read a bunch of glowing reviews, I see that as paid employees trying to make their employer look good. <S> If I see venting, I see just that, venting. <S> I personally do not see it as constructive. <S> You may disagree. <A> Yes, there is a downside. <S> You're going out of your way, unasked, to maliciously write something derogatory that will be online forever. <S> Whether they find out it was you or not I can't see how this says anything good about your personality or professionalism. <S> The fact that it's anonymous makes it even more shady. <S> If you want to say something it's better to be upfront about it. <S> Stand behind your convictions and words. <S> I'm sure you can find a way to rationalise it though. <A> There may be downsides to you personally but upsides to the pool of potential employees. <S> Your industry and geographic location may influence heavily how likely any of this sort of downside will be. <S> If you are a tech worker in San Francisco working for a large company, the chances are small that anyone would would try to find out who you are or that anyone would care. <S> If you are a vinyl gutter installer in a 30,000 person town, the chances are probably about 100% you would be discovered. <S> There are upsides, but none to you personally most likely. <S> Glassdoor helps the community at large decide on where to work based on reviews from people who work there. <S> The information has prevented me from taking jobs in the past that turned out to be the right calls. <S> If those insiders hadn't let me know that the grass was not greener on that side of the fence, I might have made a move I regretted. <S> A free market for employment works best when the most information is available to job seekers. <S> If there are serious problems, it both ups your risks and, in my opinion, ups your obligation to post. <S> For instance, if you know that the company likes to fire people before they reach the first big stock payout so they can save money, this is a good thing for potential employees to know, but it also is a statement of fact and may be challengable in court under defamation laws if it is not true. <S> Saying "This place stinks" is hard to challenge with a defamation suit, but doesn't particularly point out what is wrong. <S> It is a hard decision. <S> If you are completely altruistic, post away and take the risk for making the world a more informed place. <S> If you are like most of us, make a call based on how important you think the information is balanced against your risk of having it come back to haunt you in some way.
| There is a chance that you may get caught out and have the negative review attach to your reputation. If you are completely selfish, don't post as there is little if any upside to you.
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Are probational periods a bad sign? I know it's not all uncommon, but someone I was speaking to today suggested that how companies have probational periods at the start of an employment, usually it isn't favor of the employees. I used to see why companies have probational period, so that if they hired someone by mistake and they didn't turn out the way they thought , they could let them go. But a company can do this at any time, people could get laid off/fired/let go at at any time. So really a probational period means the company can fire someone for no reason (and without going to court), which doesn't seem fair. Do I understand this correctly? Is there any benefit to the employee of having a probational period at the beginning of working for a company? Is this a red flag towards the company culture? <Q> The probation period is a two way street. <S> It enables both parties to get to know one another and both can leave without any hard feelings in a short period of time. <S> If you do not like the company or if the company does not like you, the relationship can be severed quit quickly. <S> After the probation life gets more complicated. <S> That is good for both parties. <A> Your question contains the assumption people could get laid off/fired/let go at any time , which is invalid. <S> It depends on the legislation in the country you are talking about, and the contract between employer/employee. <S> (Note that you added that your question is about Canada, but we cannot go into Canadian law specifically, because legal matters are off-topic for this site). <S> In many countries there is a notice period, and even additional labor laws stating that you cannot 'just' end a contract with notice, e.g.: <S> You need specific reasons that could be judged in a court. <S> You may have to spend a certain effort in helping your employee find a new job. <S> You may have to pay an additional salary period or lump sum (often depending on the number of years someone was employed with you). <S> In a probation period these requirements do not apply. <A> In my experience the company benefits the most. <S> This can be a substantial saving. <S> It's open to abuse just like anything else <S> but usually it goes smoothly. <S> So for instance a company hires 30 people, all get permanent jobs after probation, but for 3 or 6 months they were getting paid quite a large percentage less, it all adds up. <S> Are probational periods a bad sign? <S> No, they're a normal part of getting a job, and they serve several purposes beneficial to both sides. <S> Just more beneficial to the company, as you would expect. <S> For example, employers cooperating with Recruiting companies also can have the fulfilled probation period as condition for completing hiring contract.
| Probationary period allows them to get rid of an employee easily if he/she is a bad fit, and they pay people less during the probation period.
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How do I leave a Multi-national Corporation (MNC)? I am trying to leave an MNC because the project that I am working on is pretty much useless and I am not gaining any knowledge and other teams do not provide necessary support and also the pay is small. The most important thing is there is too much internal politics. My superiors don't want me to leave. They are ready to increase my pay but I still don't want to work in this corp. What do I do? Any guidance will be really helpful. <Q> It sounds like the issue you are having is that you do not know how to say you want to leave and remain firm when managers tell you they don't want you to. <S> I recommend: <S> Write a resignation letter and send a copy to your HR department. <S> Tell your immediate manager that you have just submitted your resignation letter. <S> Have a simple stock phrase to repeat when people press you on it. <S> Something like "I'm very sorry, but I have already made my decision." <S> If they keep pressing you, you can just repeat variations on it: <S> "I understand, and thank you for the offer, but I have already made my decision", "Wow, that's a kind offer, but as I say, I have already made my decision". <S> Do not get into a debate about it, just keep repeating (almost) the same thing. <A> Check your contract to see how much notice you are required to give. <S> Find a job you expect to like better than the current one, remembering that any organization with three or more people will have internal politics. <A> If you don't want to work there, don't... Give notice according to your contract and find another job.
| Deliver written notice of your resignation, conforming to the notice requirements, to HR and your manager.
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Do accounts connected to company emails belong to the company? Do accounts connected to company emails belong to the company ? Are they allowed to change passwords and take control of any accounts connected ? Or do you have the right to take accounts that don't directly belong to your company ? As an example lets say I created a SE-account with contact on my companies email address, hopefullyhelpful@company.com. Is this account my property or theirs ? <Q> The legality of this would vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. <S> Certainly in the US it is not uncommon for the company to do such a thing if you are no longer employed by them or about to be fired or if you go on a short or long term disability and they need to access your account for a legitimate business reason. <A> The email account belongs to the company, they can do anything they want with it. <S> Usually they don't do anything dodgy, but never forget the human factor. <S> Just like anything else it's a tool, use it wisely. <S> I've seen cowboy IT go through peoples facebook and personal mail accounts because they saved their passwords in their browsers. <S> These chaps would have no qualms about playing games with anything <S> non work related <S> you used the work email for. <A> The issue isn't ownership, it's accountability. <S> The likely have a copyright on their name. <S> So they can effectively shut you down. <S> Demanding a password would be an exercise in futility for you--if threatened with termination, what would you do? <S> If they decide to try the case in civil court, how much would you have to pay? <S> Anything you post connected with their email address <S> affects their brand and reputation, so they have a vested interest in that asset. <S> Don't give it to them. <S> You also never know when that email address will disappear--through termination, mergers, name change, etc. <S> Email addresses are free and avoiding problems is priceless.
| It is never a good idea to use your work email account for any private purpose.
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Working without compensation, what to do? I have come into a strange position and could greatly use some advice on how I should proceed. I am an undergraduate student at an American university in a computer engineering program. For the last several months, I have been hired as a student developer working for the university. However due to HR issues I have been working without any compensation. (I have so far worked over 300 hours for the university without pay.) However last week they have finally got around to filling out the HR paperwork to officially hire me. My immediate boss feels bad about me working all this time and wants to "make it up". He has suggested doing this by going and "padding my pay" by a few hours each week until the time is covered. However I have been told to not let anyone else know or there will be trouble for it. This feels very shady and I am really struggling over whether this is something that is acceptable or not to do. I know the thing that most people are likely to comment on is “Why the world did you not just quit?” The reason for this is really twofold. The position is a really nice one, I am able to be doing development work to help build up my resume and pay for school as a freshman student. The second being that I really do need the money from the position to help pay for school, and I was told throughout the entire process that I would start being payed “Just next week”. I understand that they probably were just taking advantage of my ignorance (this is my first job), but has anyone ever had any experience like this where they can give advise on how I should proceed? (Or if the suggested method of padding hours is acceptable?) I’m told that “People do it all the time”, but also being told “don’t tell anyone” just makes it seem somewhat suspicious. Also as a side note to the site administrators, I apologize for posting this on a separate account from my main account. I just don’t want this traced to me as I have been told that I will be in a lot of trouble if this is found out. (Either the fact that my hours are padded, or that I was working without pay.) (I guess I am breaking a bunch of labor laws by working without receiving payment, and reporting time that I haven’t worked is also illegal. (Theft in office)). Any advice that could be provided would be greatly appreciated. (Particularly concerning the legality and ethics of the situation.) This question has been replicated to https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/78479/what-are-the-legal-and-ethical-implications-of-padding-pay-with-extra-hours-to , where it is more on-topic. <Q> The time you worked without being officially hired is water under the bridge. <S> You were a volunteer employee and you will never officially get paid for that time. <S> Let it be lesson to you that you never start working at a job until you do the HR paperwork. <S> It does count as experience in some ways <S> but you will need to separate it out from the paid time going forward on your resume. <S> When future potential employers do a background check, HR is going to tell them your official start date even though you think you started earlier. <S> Thus you will fail the background check as being a liar. <S> Document <S> only the hours you worked or an auditor could come along and find that you are committing timesheet fraud and you could go to jail. <S> No one at that point is going to believe your boss told you to do it or that you were simply making up hours worked before you were hired. <S> When I worked for an audit agency, we sent several people to jail for lying on their timesheets. <S> It is not worth the risk as universities are almost certainly audited. <A> Legalities aside, the best solution for you and everyone else where you do get compensated is not to pad hours. <S> That is both unethical and dangerous in many many ways. <S> Everything should be above board. <S> So either backpay you and treat it as an oversight. <S> Or compensate you in some other way. <S> There is nothing wrong with giving a volunteer a gift for example, vouchers, electronic gadgets whatever comes to mind. <S> It's none of your business whether they go and sell it or use it. <S> I buy around $2000 in gift vouchers every year and give them away for various reasons. <S> I'm well aware that the majority are sold the same day. <S> If your professor really wants to push for something on your behalf he should think along these lines rather than come up with a scheme to defraud the institute. <A> Sounds like you need to ask for a signing bonus totaling the amount you worked. <S> They may decline to pay you <S> but it's your own fault. <S> Never work for free. <S> DO NOT - DO NOT - DO NOT pad your timesheet. <S> A few thousand dollars is not worth the risk. <S> Consider this a very cheap lesson. <A> This is tricky, because you're a student, in many states, so long as you are an intern <S> they do not have to pay you. <S> In some states they have to pay you a bare minimum (not minimum wage necessarily). <S> However, if you are an official employee of some sort and there was an official agreement that there would be compensation, then depending on the amount and the state, you can take them to either small claims or civil court. <S> In my particular state, it's <= <S> $5000 owed goes to small claims, and > $5000 owed goes to civil court. <S> Depending on the agreement of this compensation, they might be legally obligated for compensating you this time where the HR paperwork was not filled out.
| It varies state to state, but depending on your official title, they could be legally obligated to pay you. Never keep working for free.
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Including billing rate on Resume? I'm currently a student attending an American top 50 university and I work at a mid-large sized financial consulting firm. The firm bills me out to clients at $75 an hour and I've done hundreds of hours of billable work over the year I've worked there. Since I'm applying to entry level jobs out of college I have been including my billing rate on my resume, the exact line is: •Performed hundreds of hours of billable work for a variety of clients including regulatory agencies, investment funds, and private individuals at a billing rate of $75/hour. I recently received criticism about that and was told that I should take it off my Resume. Is this some type of a faux pas? I feel that showing I have already been valued at such a high billing rate (for my experience) is a positive and demonstrates that I can do billable work. Should I remove this line from my Resume? <Q> This comes across as having a swelled head and has no bearing on a job application. <S> What is billed to the clients is company specific and may have nothing to do with you or your skillset. <S> A company can bill $75 an hour for someone to mow a lawn if they want. <A> No. <S> Not relevant. <S> They don't care what you charged, they care what you did. <A> Communication is about what people perceive <S> I recently received criticism about that and was told that I should take it off my Resume. <S> ... <S> You're already having problems taking in what people are telling you. <S> If one person went out of their way to tell you this, you can bet 10-20 people already thought of this and didn't bother telling you. <S> This is echoed by the feedback provided so far and you have yet to absorb any of this. <S> You are either surrounded by complete idiots (unlikely) <S> , we're also all complete idiots (nope), or you don't respect the people giving you the feedback. <S> Find someone you respect and ask them, then do what they tell you (this should have happened already). <S> Defending yourself isn't going to help you, others will not bother fighting you (why bother? <S> It's your loss), and you'll be for the worse. <A> Take a deep breath, this isn't going to feel good. <S> Sorry, but $75/hour is not a lot. <S> At 40 hours a week it's roughly $150k a year. <S> Take out the taxes and overhead, and you're not pulling your weight as a billable consultant. <S> In the real world, you'd be let go. <S> Around here, a paralegal in a divorce firm books at least $80/hour. <S> They have specialized skills, but not necessarily a degree from a high-end school. <S> Your resume is bragging about a billing rate that isn't as impressive as it sounds at first. <S> Lose it. <S> You can say you were billed as a regular consultant, and that will convey what you want it to, without undercutting your message. <A> What you want to demonstrate is that you did billable work. <S> What this means to me is several different things: <S> You were a freelancer and you charged a rate per hour of work. <S> You were a contractor and you billed a company your time at a rate per hour of work. <S> You were subcontracted and you charged a rate per hour of work. <S> Instead of indicating how much you charged per hour, you should look to clarify what those specific things you did were . <S> It really doesn't matter if you charged $75/hr for work and only did one hour of work, but it would matter if your efforts helped markedly improve the efficiency and clarity of a company process. <S> You want to showcase your abilities here <S> , not how much you believe your time costs. <S> If a company wants to bring you on, you can start talking about salary (and you'd be quite blessed if a full-time company would voluntarily pay a fresh college graduate $150K/yr ).
| I feel that showing I have already been valued at such a high billing rate (for my experience) is a positive and demonstrates that I can do billable work.
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Interviewing for positions without a formal degree I started a Software Engineering degree in 2012 but after 1 and a half years I couldn't continue. I had an internship as a Programmer and after that I didn't have time for university anymore, only for working. After that more than 3 years in experience in multi-national companies working as a Programmer. But, in my country they have titulitis . Now I can't find a job because for each interview, the interviewer agrees that I am experienced in the technology they use and quizzes prove it. But at the end, even after 2+ interview sessions, they say: "sorry, you dont have the title, we won't hire you". I'm kind of furious because: 1- They knew it from the beginning (it's stated clearly in my CV), but they made me waste time and gave me hope. 2- Having a title doesnt give you all the knowledge needed for a job. How can I make them ignore the fact I don't have the title and stand out as the experienced programmer I am? Note: experienced but obviously with so much to learn. <Q> Well, If you can't find a job because you miss the title <S> I know there are ways to have some kind of programming certifications without having to go back to university. <S> I don't know if it is global <S> but in my country they have Open Classroom <S> where some people get some certifications. <S> Those classes are called MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) and I'm sure you can find one in Spanish. <S> Of course it is not the same as following a complete university degree but it is worth the trial. <S> It will show your interviewer that you do have some skills and you can use your unusual path to show that you were able to learn on your own most of the things you know and that you are eager to learn more in your professional carreer. <A> You don't even need to move, there are many remote programming jobs available. <S> I currently work in a software company with exclusively remote workers. <S> Frankly it seems ridiculous to me that people would care so much about a degree in an industry where most people seem to not have a relevant degree at all. <S> According to a survey conducted on Stack Overflow : 69% of programmers are at least partly self-taught, and fewer than 35% have a Computer Science or related degree. <S> I thought this was the norm globally, but I guess not. <S> Which is even weirder considering how much companies rely on skill tests. <S> They'll give you online coding tests , whiteboard coding tests, technical questions, trial projects, and whatever else they come up with, which is not a bad thing if it's done properly, but it just seems like skill would carry far more weight than a degree would in that case. <A> Hey You went far ahead in an informal career and now expecting a formal future. <S> Off course this is going to be a problem. <S> But wait it can become your strength! <S> Have you tried freelancing? <S> Try out some contacts and get some reasonable work. <S> And how about doing an external course for the title (Only if you want a 'formal' job). <S> And hey, You can start your own firm!
| I would argue that you should look for a job outside of your country.
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Investigating on the interviewer before the actual telephone interview, suggestions? I've applied for an R & D position for a big company. I believe I've background of what the job requires, but usually when I apply for such kind of positions I try to get as much information as possible about the interviewer/interviewers. In this particular case I've found that the interviewer has a PhD, very strictly related to what the job ask in terms of background, so I started to think that probably some of the possible questions I could be asked in this first telephone interview could be somehow extrapolated from such PhD thesis. For my experience usually the technical telephone interview is mostly focused on finding out if the candidate could fit the job, so I don't think I actually need to read the whole thesis, but just some bit to prepare myself better. So here are my questions : Is such approach useful in general? Or is the mine only paranoia? As I said I have understanding of the requirements of the job, although I haven't been through them for a while, because of that I'm reviewing the involved stuff, how much do you think I should go in detail for a telephonic interview? I do really like to be hired, mostly for the experience I could get from such job, moreover the company is involved in a field of industry I would like to get specialized, do you think that approaching in this way I would be able to effectively show how much motivated I am? I'm asking such questions because I'm the candidate, and to be honest I don't know from the other side what the interviewer is looking for. The position is actually for a senior, so I don't expect they hire me because my experience in the field isn't that vast but I've always worked in similar stuff since I got my graduation, but I hope they would hire me. Because of such consideration my main goal would be to impress them in order to make them consider consider me for a job involving the same topics but that would not require maybe the experience of a senior. Any further suggestions? Further comment: I'm not sure if it was clear or not. I'm not trying to flatter this guy, it's not my intention and it's not the way I'm used to prepare myself for the interviews. I don't think it would also make sense. What I was trying to say is that I want to be prepared for what I could be asked. I don't think this guy would ask me anything about his PhD thesis. But to me it make sense to be prepared for question like "what idea do you have of what we do here?" or maybe "If we have such problem, how would you tackle it"?. The correct term of what I'm looking for has been used in one of the answers you have given to me, which is "to show I'm confident". And, as I said, this is the way I usually adopt when I apply for a job because I want to show how much I do care about the job I'm applying for. Again my question is whether or not this kind of effort is useful or not, if not what should I focus on (for the telephone interview step), if yes what can I do to improve? <Q> It can make the difference between getting a job and missing out. <S> Information is a useful tool, but don't expect it to get the job for you. <S> It will just help. <A> I would count this as not only "doing the homework", but the "extra also". <S> This can give you an edge in the performance, but as Kilisi wrote, this is just a slight extra, do not expect it to carry a big worth. <S> In case of R&Ds, if looking for a senior member, I would expect them to hire someone with a minimum reliable experience in the field. <S> You may prove to be considered as that, but obviously your CV would not show as the promising number one, so you will need to prepare well for this interview. <S> As for details, go for the coherence, relations, mechanics of the topic. <S> In rare situations, knowing details of his thesis might be decided as an attempt to appeal on his ego, and can also think it is an unprofessional way to gain some advantage, so be careful with it. <S> Keep it on the track of professionalism. <S> Expressions, like "I have found your thesis close to the matter (we currently speak about)" - but only use such if you mean it, and true to the core. <S> If the chance does not come up to mention, that you know his thesis, then that's it. <S> No point to force it or feel stressed. <S> Motivation is important, but the first key expectation (as for senior position) of the company will be that you own such experience, that they can count on you performing reliable, consistent results. <S> If you feel you can present those skills, it is a clear go mark. <S> If you are not confident (and believe me, it will be a key point) to present such skills, either you go honest with that and accept the outcome, or you maybe get the position, but it has high chance then to go awkward and many bad outcomes can be the result. <A> One thing to keep in mind is that most PhD holders (and active researchers) love to talk about their research. <S> If you ask questions about their thesis (or current publications), make sure you do so only after you are confident the interviewer has gained a good understanding of you. <S> The last thing you want is to get the interviewer talking about their research for a lot of the interview time. <S> This doesn't mean all PhD holders will do this, but definitely a large number of them will. <S> You want to avoid the potential for causing this to happen during your phone interview. <S> What you could do is at the end <S> ask a question like: <S> "I was looking at your dissertation and was curious how X applies at your current job. <S> It's very related to my interests and it looks like your thesis covered this." <S> You could probably just read the abstract of the dissertation for this purpose.
| If I were an interviewer, I would keep some "tricky" questions to see how the candidate perform with a question where there is no enough information for a clear call decision/analysis, specifics that can highlight shallow mindwork, and things like these. Any information you can find out is worth having and analysing.
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Need to let go an employee, employee threatens to sue for racial discrimination I need to let go an employee who reports directly to me. I had brought this up to them recently, and they got defensive and threatened to sue for racial discrimination, while we are both African Americans, my manager is white, and this employee blames my manager such that they are threatening to sue. I should mention my manager is an open supporter of a political figure who is often accused of being racist, so it's not the hardest argument that they are racist, not at all saying they are, but you could argue that. I should mention, we are letting this employee go due to their lack of performance. How do I go about mediating this situation such that I can let the employee go, and avoid the lawsuit? <Q> Termination isn't a discussion, the employee cannot threaten you to retain the job. <S> You mention you have reasons for letting the employee go - I assume those are documented and dated. <S> Release the employee <S> and, if need be, get a lawyer. <A> One step at a time. <S> He's been terminated. <S> When he shows up tomorrow, "You've been terminated. <S> You need to leave. <S> If you do not leave right now, I'm calling the police." <S> And then call the police. <S> Say nothing else. <S> Nothing. <S> Don't discuss politics. <S> Don't discuss his termination. <S> It's over. <S> Just tell him to leave and call the police if he doesn't. <S> Then say nothing else. <S> If you get sued, you'll get sued. <S> Anyone can sue. <S> 99% chance he isn't going to sue. <S> Once you get served with a suit, get a lawyer. <S> If you have an HR department, let them handle it. <A> Immediately. <S> It is their job to tell you how to protect the company in situations like this. <S> They will walk you through exactly the steps you need to take to show there is a genuine performance issue.
| If you are in the US, one thing you may consider is that they may have far less of a case if you do not give them a reason for being let go. In this case, the first step you take is to go talk to HR.
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People involved in your job application I have been in a few interviews and at the end of the interview, the interviewer will mention that he will check with his colleague and get back to me if I make it to the second round. My question is this, the job interviewer's colleague was not present in the job interview so why does he have a say if I make it to the second round? <Q> There may be other interviews being done by other staff, so they need time to collaborate their results. <S> Sometimes its a polite way of saying "we've got a lot to think about" or "we have more interviews to do with other people" <S> Interviews are important, but some companies will have one person interviewing and picking their top two or three, and another person choosing two or three based purely on the CV. <S> Knowledge of the candidate in the interview may skew the purely-academic selection. <S> Personally I've never been offered a position straight from the interview; that would be particularly rare. <A> I've never been told straight out that that I made it to the second round while at the interview. <S> Not a single time. <S> I've had it alluded to and hinted at but even in cases where there were strong suggestions that they wanted me, I've gotten as many negative results as positives. <S> There are many reasons why an interviewer may tell you they want to ask a colleague. <S> It may be a group decision or at least one where group input is necessary <S> They may not want to tell you face to face that you're not what they want, to avoid a discussion or attempt to have their mind changed. <S> Colleague could also mean "person actually doing the hiring" and telling him/her <S> "you're going to interview with Jeffrey next week" might not be appropriate. <S> This list goes on and on. <S> Don't focus on what they say as much as what they do. <S> If you get a call, great. <S> You shouldn't stop looking though. <S> You've done your best now it's time to get another interview elsewhere. <S> Keep looking until you get an actual offer. <A> Usually interviewers don't like to give the feedback straight away. <S> Especially as they need to consider their answer. <S> You're the one on test and under pressure. <S> They already got the job so got the time to answer to you. <S> My opinion is just an excuse not to answer face to face, but it doesn't mean it's a negative things. <S> I got jobs in the past and they didn't tell me straight away I got it.
| There may be thoughts and impressions the interviewer wants to discuss with someone else to see if they share that opinion.
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How can I call the hiring manager when I don't have his number? I got a job offer today that I would like to accept. My manager called and left a voice message. He gave quite a few details and said to call him back on his cellphone. But he stuttered and mumbled and it sounded like he said 11 digits, not 10. I tried all combinations I could think of but they were not his number. I can call the number of the branch I have been in contact with. How exactly should I proceed and how exactly should I word this? It’s kind of abrasive to tell my manager “you mumbled when you left me a message” before the first day. <Q> Quite simple really - the polite (ahem) thing in this kind of situation is to blame a third party who will never care or have to answer for it ;) <S> e.g. <S> The line was breaking up as he spoke the number so you couldn't quite make it out. <A> There is no need to make up excuses or blame anyone. <S> Call the main number of the plant, ask for the manager by name, and eventually talk to him that way. <S> When you talk to him just say <S> "Sorry, I didn't get your cell number from the message." . <S> It happens. <S> There is no need to bring up that you think the reason was that he mumbled. <S> It's irrelevant anyway. <S> If you get his voicemail, just say the same thing in the message. <S> Remember, he wants to hire you and have you get back to him. <S> He would have liked you to call on his cell phone, but that didn't work out. <S> That really shouldn't be a big deal. <S> There should be nothing wrong with work-related communication via his work phone. <S> Perhaps he knows he'll be out of the office, and won't get the message for a while. <S> Send him email also. <S> If he has a secretary, leave a message that way too. <S> With all those, he'll find out you tried to get back to him soon enough. <S> He's certainly not going to figure you gave up on the company and offer the job to someone else before checking his voicemail and email. <S> You are overthinking this. <A> Email or call the work number of the manager. <S> It's not unusual that voicemails are garbled, and people often don't repeat phone numbers when leaving a message <S> (I often have to listen to a VM three or four times before I get the number written down). <A> Have you tried different ways to contact him? <S> for example you can find him on Linkedin or just google his name and you might find his direct contact. <A> I can call the number of the branch I have been in contact with. <S> This. <S> You don't have to turn this into a big deal or into some veiled insult. <S> Just say: Hey Bob, for some reason the voicemail recording cut out for a second when you were saying your number <S> so I had to call through the main switchboard. <S> Do you think you can give me your direct line one more time <S> so I can get it down on paper? <S> See, it's the voicemail's fault. <S> Darn technology. <S> Oh well. <A> Doesn't your voicemail system allow you to call back? <S> Press 1 <S> to delete Press 2 to repeat Press 3 to save Press 4 to dial back
| Failing that, call the company's main number and ask for contact details (or request a call back).
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Is it advantageous to mention that I met the company at a career fair (3 weeks ago)? Background: About three weeks ago, I attended a career fair at my school. The decision was made last minute, so I didn't know I needed to bring a résumé. In fact, I didn't even have one because this was the first time I had taken action towards getting a summer internship (I'm a junior in college). It has taken me the past three weeks to write a résumé I feel confident sending in. Question: When e-mailing companies, what are the pros and cons of mentioning that I met them at the career fair? Will it be beneficial because there is a greater connection, or harmful because it raises the question of why I didn't apply sooner? Should I bother explaining everything to them, or is that just superfluous fluff? Is there any specific thing I should try to mention or be careful to avoid? Potentially relevant details: I don't have the actual e-mails of any of the people I spoke with, just generic jobs@company.com pamphlets and business cards. Furthermore, I'm having a hard time remembering the names of the specific people I spoke with. <Q> You found the company at a job fair, and presumably liked what you heard from their recruiter. <S> This isn't particularly better or worse than other normal methods, but not including this information would leave a gap in your narrative. <S> Are they going to wonder why you didn't apply sooner? <S> Not likely. <S> Three weeks is a very short time, and taking that time to straighten out your resume is a good idea. <S> You don't even have to say when the fair was if you don't want. <S> Just say "I talked to one of your recruiters at a job fair at my school. <S> " Nothing weird there. <S> So certainly include it - <S> it is useful and relevant information - but don't make it the focus of your letter. <S> Your main points should be why you want to work for them and why they should hire you. <A> This is how a Student Career job fair works: hundreds of sweaty students in business attire (more or less) queueing at tables and asking repetitive questions to frazzled, exhausted low level HR reps who are here simply to pick up resumes and who have otherwise zero authority in their company. <S> You're one in hundreds. <S> And you don't stand out because you're one in hundreds unless you have to have the skills set they are dreaming about. <S> But even then, your face gets disassociated from your resume the minute the resume is in the pile. <S> You could mention that you were at the Career Fair, so <S> what? <S> They don't decide to call you in for an interview based on the fact that you were at the Career Fair but based on what's in your resume - that includes startups where the hiring process is much more personal. <A> Just mention that you talked with a representative and that he made the company sound like an ideal fit for you. <S> Possibly mention some of the things about the company that he told you that you liked. <S> To be honest though it would make more sense to bring it up in an interview not your CV.
| When you contact a jobs site, in your email and/or cover letter you should generally include how you found out about the company and position, and why you are interested in working for them. I would say that it is useful to include, though not really beneficial or harmful.
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Getting salary information from recruiter As a software developer, I get a lot of e-mails from recruiters. Last time I changed a comma on my LinkedIn page I got about a dozen inmails moments later. I answer something polite about not being in the market for new work, but can't help but feel like I could be missing out. When I do ask them about salary, they stay quiet or give me the generic "we need to asses your skill level, blah blah blah." In other words, the company they're hiring for isn't going to spend a penny more on their new recruit than what they need. (You do see management positions with salary though... double standards if I've ever seen any. Sorry, rant over.) My question is: is there a way to ask, politely and convincingly "hey, show me dollars or I walk"? <Q> I don't bother with most recruiters but it helps to have a feeling for what you're worth. <S> If a position interests me, I often respond with: "Thanks for contacting me. <S> The position looks interesting but I wouldn't be willing to leave my current job for anything less than $XXXXXX-$XXXXXX... gotta pay the bills! <S> :) <S> Is that the kind of salary range you're looking at?" <S> Naturally this might end with you getting an offer at the lower end of your range so you should be honest about what you'd consider. <S> Remember this isn't binding, you're under no obligation to accept an offer in the range <S> you said you'd consider. <A> My question is: is there a way to ask, politely and convincingly "hey, show me dollars or I walk"? <S> It's not hard. <S> Just try something like:"Thanks, it sounds interesting, but I'm not willing to put time into a job application without first knowing the salary involved. <S> " <S> You'll certainly lose a lot of recruiters quickly that way. <S> But the few that will proceed will give you the salary information up front. <S> Use the same approach for any basic information that you feel you need to know before you pursue the job. <S> For each addition pre-req you will end up with fewer and fewer opportunities, but it sounds like you care more about specifics than quantity <S> and you aren't actively in the market anyway. <A> My question is: is there a way to ask, politely and convincingly "hey, show me dollars or I walk"? <S> Hey, show me dollars or I walk. <S> More seriously, something like: <S> My time is limited, I'm not willing to invest time in a position that I can immediately know isn't going to be a good fit. <S> This could be a response to getting specifics on any aspect of the position: salary, company, product, location, etc. <S> Recruiters are sales people. <S> Both can be vague for a variety of reasons, but remember that you have most of the leverage. <S> Good ones are an absolute pleasure to work with, while bad, sleazy, pushy ones make your skin crawl. <S> Don't encourage or reward the bad ones. <A> Job looks interesting, what salary range are they offering? <S> Seriously, in IT, if the recruiter doesn't have a salary range then it's either below market rates, OR <S> its an imaginary job! <S> If the agent asks about your salary expectations, confidently ask for $5k more than you think you are worth. <S> If the agent goes quiet, and doesn't sound so keen to talk to you, then you are probably worth what you expected. <S> If they keep talking, next agent, add another $5k till your phone goes quiet. <A> You can ask for a range of salaries for different levels of skills and experience. <S> If you see yourself as a Senior Developer, just use that as a starting point. <S> Determining where you are on the scale is another matter. <S> It's important to let recruiters know you don't want to waste anyone's time. <S> Most management salaries are going to get negotiated, so I wouldn't put too much stock in a posted salary. <S> At least I always hope my manager has strong negotiating skills when it comes to requesting my salary increase ;)
| They work on commission, so if they aren't willing to make it easy for you, don't waste time on them.
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First "real" job search in late 20s. Don't know what to put in CV about 5 year gap As a student in my freshman year, I got into a very lucrative industry of selling MMO currency, accounts, and in game related services. One year fast forward I have over 3000 monthly customers and am making 10x what my dad makes. Fast forward another year I quit my uni , I am renting 2 apartments filled with PCs and consoles botting games on software I wrote. Taught myself C#, .net. Made a killing for 5 years. Got great programming experience and skill. All under the table. No reported income, never even made a company. 3rd world country I live in never cared for paypal money I was getting, never cared for me never paying taxes. Last year I proposed to a girl. She wants me to do something more adult with my life. I'm 29. I finished my school, graduated. Now I am officially a programmer that studied for 11 years and worked nowhere. What can I put in my CV? How do I explain the 5 years gap? How do I make my knowledge and experience known? <Q> Simple, register your business if you must <S> and you now have a legit taxable income. <S> Option 2, tell your gf to wake up, you're making a lot of money, and you won't make that much as a programmer, so does she want the good life or does she want to struggle? <S> Option 3, get any sort of job just to keep her happy. <S> Option 4, get a gf with a more realistic outlook on life in the third World. <S> 29 years old is not a great time to limit your potential. <S> You need a partner who supports you 100% to get ahead, not one that will hold you back. <S> That's a huge part of getting married. <A> You ran a private business. <S> Whether you filed paperwork or not doesn't matter from the point of view of the CV. <S> Established and ran a private business in the MMO gaming industry, providing services to more than 3000 customers a month. <S> Developed scripts and analysis routines in C# and .NET. <S> Etc. <S> (I have no idea how background checks work in your country, however.) <A> Be brave! <S> And remember: discretion is the better part of valor. <S> You just graduated college? <S> Then there's no real gap to explain. <S> Had you driven a cab for five years before deciding to go to school, it wouldn't be relevant experience to put on your resume. <S> Because of your experience of entrepreneurial spirit you will progress quickly given those expectations. <S> Or start your own business. <S> Or find a start-up that needs a founder CTO. <A> If you want to go legit, go legit. <S> One potential solution, depending on the legalities of the situation, is to simply... report your income, and pay your taxes. <S> There will likely be a fee for back taxes, but those tend not to be all that punitive for self-reporting. <S> Most likely, the fact that you actually have to pay your taxes is going to be the ugly one here. <S> At that point, you can honestly describe yourself as self-employed for the period, and I suspect that the woman you're with will appreciate you losing the legal liability. <S> Obviously, if you're going to do this, it would be wise to acquire the services of a lawyer or equivalent representative to make sure that you aren't setting yourself up for anything you can't handle. <S> Details are going to vary from country to country. <S> Also obviously, if you can't afford to pay your taxes, that's going to be a problem. <S> It's conceivable that you might be able to pull off going partway - where you admit to having not paid your taxes for five years (and then pay them), but falsify what you were doing in that time <S> and/or how much money you were making. <S> Again, this is the sort of thing to talk with an appropriately shady lawyer and/or accountant about. <S> You wouldn't want to try and get it wrong, and no one on the internet is going to be able to tell you the actual risks involved. <S> If you can't do that, start your own, legal business <S> You've been running a small business for years now, and getting skill at it, and you know what you're worth. <S> So stop doing the under-the-table stuff and find a way to leverage those skills doing something that will get you above-the table money. <S> If you succeed, great, and even if you fail, you'll have something to put on your resume, and a place where you'll have legit examples of your code to show off.
| Aim for an entry level job where you're not expected to have experience.
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What can one do if boss asks to do an impossible thing? What should one do in the case when I'm a worker who has studied mathematics and physics and boss has not studied those things. Then the boss asks to try to solve one problem by given methods and you know and can prove that the given method won't solve the problem or even that the problem can't be solved at all. The boss won't accept my reasoning why the problem is unsolvable and he is not willing to read an proof or the theory where the situation has been proved to be impossible. <Q> Seniors, the internet community, maybe a paid consultant. <S> After a while, if all of those just deliver reports about how it cannot be done, even your boss will be tired of paying yet another consultant to tell him things you told him half a year ago. <S> However, this is not delivering any value. <S> While your boss is slowly waking up to the fact that what he wants cannot be done, prepare and regularly show him alternatives to his business problem . <S> Chances are, he's not in the business of formulating mathematical proofs. <S> He is in the business of making money. <S> If the problem cannot be solved soundly in mathematical terms, maybe it can be solved in a way that still earns him money? <S> Sometimes "good enough" is all that's needed, although it makes us theoreticians shiver. <A> Instead of trying to prove that it cannot be done, try to find out what can be done and how you can do it. <S> (Your boss will likely not be able to prove that it isn't optimal anyway). <A> Your boss doesn't want you to solve the given problem by a specific method. <S> In fact, he doesn't necessarily want the problem that he has posed solving at all. <S> What he does want is to change an unsatisfactory situation that is affecting the business into something more satisfactory . <S> Give him a way to doing that, and he'll forget the specifics of what he actually asked for. <S> The scenario you described seems like a typical example of an XY problem . <S> Often, the hardest part of solving an XY problem is discovering what the real problem actually is! <A> I hope that I am not coming across as glib, considering that none of us has seen either the text of the problem and are not privy to the reasoning why the problem is unsolvable. <S> Here it is: redefine the problem so that it is solvable while keeping compatibility with the original definition of the problem, thus keeping the needs of the boss met. <S> solve the problem and refine the solution to optimize the fit to the situation at hand. <S> When in an argument with the boss, back your argument with documentation. <S> People will have difficulty with accepting your reasoning if your reasoning is not intuitive. <A> Find another job. <S> While looking, do what others advise and try to find the problem the boss actually wants to solve, and offer a solution. <S> If you succeed and earn the boss's trust and gratitude, you can always cancel your job search. <A> This question already has several good answers <S> so I'm not sure that this will help. <S> Try approximating a solution with iterative methods. <S> This is what my experience from when I was studying ME in college suggests to do if possible. <S> If not it would help if you could boil the proofs down to a graph or simply summarize why there is no solution.
| You do the same thing you would do if you thought it might be solvable: you ask for help. For example, if your boss asks for an optimal solution to a problem, and you know it cannot be found in any reasonable time, find a way to find a good solution in a reasonable time and present that.
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Is a PhD an asset or a hindrance for someone looking to keep their job options open? Given the option to get a PhD at the same time as working and gaining useful work experience (with only a little extra work put towards the PhD), will the PhD offer any benefit to someone who does not wish to pursue a career in academia but instead wishes to explore different work areas in the future? To be more specific: I'm talking about a PhD in the natural sciences in Europe (so there is very little coursework to do, and most of the work is applied research in a fairly standard work environment on a mediocre salary), and different but related work areas afterwards could be anything from software development and data analysis to building a start-up. <Q> It depends. <S> In general, I would only advise people to start a PhD track in two cases: they want to continue in Academia they want to pursue a career where a PhD is useful because it is: necessary, or having one <S> will <S> more than make up for the time and money they invested <S> This related question on Academia attempts to cover the link between a PhD and being overqualified. <S> Sadly, the accepted answer there is rather oblivious to the US situation where a doctorate definitely does close a number of doors or, if you forgive the tortured metaphor, certainly makes them harder to open. <S> This answer on that question is more realistic. <S> Now, that being said, I take some issue with your claim that you could only put " a little extra work put towards the PhD ". <S> You seem to drastically underestimate the amount of work that goes into successfully completing a PhD track. <S> Of course the experience will vary by region, field and your own skills but for the vast majority of people a post-graduate degree takes an enormous amount of time and effort. <S> You should also keep in mind that doctoral programs in the US are not free and even in Europe where PhD students can ear significant salaries (they're considered semi-faculty) <S> you still need to consider the impact that delaying your entry to the workforce will have on your career. <A> There are enough PhD's with this attitude that they have tarnished the whole PhD population and the ones who flaunt their degrees in the faces of their "lesser" colleagues have made it harder for the nice, pleasant PhD's to get fair consideration. <S> Many of the PhD's I encounter in my line of work <S> (software development) keep quiet about their degree and hold out their Masters degree more often as evidence of qualification for the work. <S> Generally, an advanced degree does help you get a higher starting pay and maybe starts at something just above entry level. <S> But after that, in most work settings, it's all about what you can do. <S> You won't advance any faster than your colleagues unless you are actually better at the work than they are. <S> Aside from the medical and sociological fields, where a PhD is specifically required, there are some non-academic areas of work that are structured similarly to academia, such as research departments or highly focused science-based work. <S> These opportunities may only be available to those with adanced degrees. <S> You need to be clear about what your intentions are regarding the work opportunities you will pursue. <S> A PhD is less likely to be an asset in landing a regular software development job. <S> However, if your goal is to land a job that requires a combination of software development and physics expertise, you might be on the right track. <S> You should investigate that job market, though, since it is likely very narrow, and therefore very competitive. <A> I have a PhD in an Engineering discipline <S> and I'm currently running a sizable product development team. <S> That's at least one data point that a PhD can be compatible with a non-academic career. <S> Almost every career decision that you make will give you more specialized experience in one field at the expense of less relative experience in other field. <S> In this regard, the PhD is no different than choosing your first job after your masters. <S> It's all experience that's relevant to some career paths and not relevant to others. <S> The more you know where you want to be, the more you can assess whether your next step goes in the right direction or not. <S> In my experience, the title itself doesn't count for much in North America (different in Europe, though). <S> What counts are your work and achievements and how much they are relevant to your next hiring manager. <S> PhD is useful to network, actively participate in conference and professional associations, publish and get your name out. <S> Ideally you make yourself a reputation as a recognized expert in your chosen field. <S> The PhD should clearly demonstrate that you are a disciplined critical thinker who rigorously applies scientific methods. <S> It should demonstrate that you can independently tackle complicated problems and that you can communicate clearly and efficiently. <S> All of these can be great assets in the workplace, even if the actual topic of your thesis isn't particularly relevant. <A> I think a PhD opens more doors that it closes. <S> If you are looking at machine learning or data science then it would help. <S> They look for strong analytical skills.
| Many PhD's attempt to enter the workforce with a feeling of entitlement to greater pay and greater advancement opportunities because of their additional academic efforts. In my experience (in the USA), it isn't the additional knowledge that limits your job opportunities but rather the attitude that seems to accompany the PhD.
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How to get coworkers to keep office clean? I work in a consultants room with a dozen other people. It is a room of roughly 500-600 sq ft. It is located on client site but most of us who work there (with the exception of two) are from the same consulting shop, which also manages the project. None of the client's employees sit in the room. Because the client does not provide coffee, several coworkers (myself excluded!) pool money to buy coffee and they have a coffee machine. The immediate surroundings of the coffee machine are beyond disgusting. The whole area is unkempt and resembles a biological experiment with a focus on bacteria. I do not participate in using that area except for the filtered water and I do participate in maintaining that. The room does get janitorial attention but the janitor lady who comes in does not do a very good job and she seems like a downright slob herself. However, I am not sure the coffee area is her responsibility. My manager, who sits in the room, projects little to no authority over my coworkers so I don't want to ask that person do drive the coworkers to clean up. The account rep (liason between our company and the client, and our company's employee) sits in the office next door, which is much cleaner. Should I ask that person to intervene about the cleanliness of our office? I joined not even three months ago. I am aware that I have higher sanitary standards than most people but this is not tolerable by any low standard. I do not want to put myself in the position of directly nagging to my office mates. I would like to escalate the issue to an authority who would handle it professionally and also make sure it keeps clean and tidy in the future. Or should I contact building maintenance? Seems like a trivial situation but it makes me angry every time I walk by. It's not a subconscious aspect of hating my job, which I don't, quite on the contrary. But I want the communal areas kept clean. <Q> Get up, walk over, and clean it while muttering about 'pigs in a pigstye'. <S> Then if you feel so inclined, put up a sign. ' <S> Please keep this area clean' or something. <S> I'm actually being serious. <S> It usually doesn't take long before everyone does their bit. <S> If not, I don't care, if I'm using that area I'll help clean it. <S> I'll save the complaints to building maintenance and several managers for something more serious that I can't fix in a few minutes. <S> I'd probably clean it in less time than it took you to type the question and chances are others would assist so that no one thinks they're the aforementioned 'pigs'. <A> Make an appointment to talk to both the account rep and the manager. <S> Represent to them both that the state of cleanliness of the room would be a reflection on the company as far as the client is concerned. <S> And while the client has turned over the room to the consultants, it's still the company's room and the consultants have an individual as well as a collective responsibility to keep the room clean. <S> It is absolutely undesirable that the situation be given any opportunity to escalate. <S> Follow up the face to face conference with a written memo summarizing the situation and highlighting the action item. <S> Bcc that memo to the manager's supervisor. <S> If you feel strongly about the state of cleanliness of the room, be prepared to escalate to the manager's senior management should the manager fail to take adequate action. <S> When I am the consultant and I am at the client's site, I make damn sure not to leave obnoxious footprints of my presence. <A> How cool is your manager? <S> It would be 1000x more efficient to let him set the standard for cleanliness, to let him clean the area while grumbling about lazy ass subordinates. <S> If you can talk to him and ask him nicely if he could clean it while grumbling and being visibly disappointed it would mean the world. <S> Try saying you will do it the next 2 months if only he could do it once, sometime when the others are around, just once. <S> Especially since he is not a very "controlling" manager these things will get noticed.
| In terms of the managing the company's relationship with the client, keeping the room clean on behalf of the client is a small matter - a small matter which remains small as long as the situation is managed rather than ignored. I've been in similar situations and just set an example.
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How to tell if posted job is real? I get lots of job postings from agencies, many of whom I'm not familiar with. I've heard it said (on this forum and elsewhere) that many such postings (and those on sites like Monster) are not for real potential jobs; they're either a way for the agency to build up a database of resumes, or maybe the hiring company is researching the talent pool or something. Is there a way to tell if a job is fake? I assume that if I see the same job from multiple agencies, they didn't make it up. Although maybe the hiring company did. <Q> No, you can't tell. <S> It's an arms race you can't win. <S> Many of these jobs are from old postings. <S> So they were real, they just aren't open anymore. <S> A recruiter without an exclusive deal will obscure details on real jobs, to increase the likelihood that you'll apply through them. <S> There are many other tricks, but those two basically box you in. <A> There are virtually no way, for every single company, of knowing if your CV was dismissed or if they're building a database. <S> However there are some points to consider : <S> In my opinion , the company doing that are more likely to be recruiter company, not real companies. <S> This is an easy thing to check by googling the company's name. <S> Job description really vague to match to a lot of CV. <S> This might be a good indicator that they're not building up a CV database. <S> Maybe some sites even show some statistics about some relevant number (jobs offered, number of answers,numbers of jobs that had a positive answers,...). <S> So here is the most high probability of an ad to be fake (still IMHO) : recruiter company <S> Job descriptions fits to pretty much all CV of the domain. <S> If you call them they would ask for CV first and can't give you more information about the job. <S> Very fews offer on the site and they matched to the previous point. <A> Job posting is <S> months old Job details are <S> non-specific Jop posting says "multiple openings" Job posting is by an agency you haven't heard of <S> For a few. <S> The reason behind these phony job postings can be anything from a recruiter building a database of resumes to companies and government agencies posting jobs that already have a clear and intended candidate to fill the position, but due to either union contracts or regulations must post every job opening, even if they have someone ready to step into the position.
| I am not familiar with hiring sites, however you can probably search if the company posted others jobs .
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How to land a job in a field that does not traditionally use wanted postings? I was an organist for a church way back in high school. I landed that job because a friend of mine who was an organist at that church wanted to quit. After high school, we went our separate ways. (I am currently a software/web developer during the week and I would like to earn a little extra doing something else that I like.) Now, I live in a different area and have been looking for a pianist/organist position for the last 20 or so years. I looked at local newspapers and websites and I have not found a single listing for that position. For a while, such a position is, I guess, "obsolete" because worship has become contemporary, in general? I've asked my acquaintances here and none of them knows anybody who knows anybody (and so on) that knows of a local church who needs a pianist/organist. No local web/paper listings. No acquaintances in a close enough network proximity to such a church. I'm thinking of calling every single church in my area to ask them if they're in need of a pianist/organist. I don't think I'll find one this way, though. I know there are jobs in bigger cities, but they're hundreds of miles away, which isn't viable for me. Is there a better way to approach a job search like this where jobs are not traditionally listed in "normal" ways? <Q> For specialty part time positions in very small organizations there are lots of roles that would rarely ever be posted. <S> For these the backup/assistant of the outgoing person will often just replace them. <S> Church organist is a great example, outside of cities small appliance repair person is another good example. <S> For things like this networking is the most important thing. <S> I'd advise against straight cold calling on the phone. <S> In person makes a stronger impression. <S> Given the typical size of these organizations if stop in to the location during their operational hours <S> you are likely to meet the person who would be responsible for hiring. <S> Let them know you are looking for current or future work. <S> If possible also talk to the person presently in the role you are looking to fill and make sure that it isn't a huge hassle (eg toxic church internal politics, unreliable equipment, etc). <A> Contacting area churches would be a very good idea. <S> There are many who still use organs. <S> While there may not be any positions immediately available, you could ask to have your name put down as a potential substitute organist. <S> This is a fairly common need; besides Sunday services, churches may need someone who can play for an occasional wedding or funeral. <S> It would be good to start attending a church as well, if you are not already. <S> Churches with a traditional worship style are more likely to hire an organist/pianist. <S> Those with contemporary music in worship are more likely to rely on volunteers. <A> Seems like you'll just have to start cold-calling places in your area and asking if they have an opening. <S> Be sure to highlight what you can personally bring to their organization (be specific, research the organization first!) <A> There are comparatively few churches that pay anyone on the worship team apart from the worship leader - even then, few of those are full time. <S> Mega-churches do pay the worship teams, but these are generally contemporary worship, and the people in the teams are often professional musicians. <S> The suggestion for putting your name down as a sub is a good one - but you'll need to be able to back it up; can you sight-read, do you have any recordings, etc.; especially if you're not a regular attendee, you're going to have to be a really good salesperson. <S> I'd suggest instead getting a good stage/portable keyboard and joining up with a gigging cover-band (one of the few that gets paid). <S> Many more opportunities for that. <A> To answer the more general question: Apprentice. <S> Understudy. <S> Talk to others in the profession or related professions. <S> Consider taking a job in one of the related professions for experience and to build contacts. <S> Ask your teachers to suggest openings and/or recommend you. <S> Look for ways to do solo projects -- demo CD, for musicians, can be both marketing and, if you go out and hustle it at every busking stop or gig, a possible income source. <S> Oh, right, for artists busking is another way to publicize. <S> And so on. <S> Widen your goals to open more opportunities, and be prepared to "pay your dues" and work your way up slowly. <S> If you can't play for a Broadway show, maybe you can play for rehearsals, or a summer-stock company, or rehearsals of a summer-stock company... <A> I know someone who did church music for several years (before deciding to concentrate on teaching about a year ago) as well as someone else who's been part of a choir my entire life <S> so I've seen a fair amount from the insidish. <S> AFAIK all of the positions she auditioned for were ones that she found out about via professional networking; both from classmates also in the area and via people she'd worked with in the past. (Possibly also via her music teaching, but I don't recall any being mentioned that way.) <S> Since you're new to the area and don't have any initial contacts joining a church choir is probably your best bet to start making new contacts. <S> Smaller congregations in particular often need back players for when the primary one is unavailable; and those are generally found/promoted from within the ranks. <S> From there you can begin to acquire the reputation/standing needed to pursue regular positions.
| Getting to know a few church leaders and current organists may help. Talk to folks who hire this kind of worker and ask them where they look when hiring.
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How should I present transitions from "acting" to "permanent" status in the same job? After a staff departure in my department, I filled an open management position on an "interim" basis for over two years before transitioning to a more permanent status in the same position. Should I represent this as two separate CV entries? Should I present the entire period as a non-interim position? <Q> If it were me, I'd keep it simple and just list as non-interim. <S> It's more about what you did than what they called you. <S> Your responsibilities remained consistent (presumably) so go with the regular title. <A> I would separate them by actual formal title. <S> This then matches up with anything your background check might find. <S> In the job where you were an interim, if you retained your former title, I would make sure to put selected to be Interim Manager of the department from Aug 2014-Aug 2016 and include your duties. <S> Then you can put in the promotion in a separate entry. <A> Both are equally valid.
| Personally, I prefer to show that it was a separate employment, I withhold a few responsibilities from the temp position and put them into the permanent one to make it look even better.
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How can I make a consulting career at one company stand out on a resume? I've been a consultant at my firm for six years now and it's time to move on. We're a decently well-known firm and our parent company is definitely a big name. However, this is the only job I've held since college and I feel like having just one position on my resume looks weak compared to others. I've worked for nine clients on engagements ranging in duration from a few months to over a year and I feel that if each position was a "real" job for the companies itself, I'd have a nice variety of experience and it would look much better. I know the standard practice for consultants is to break out some of the biggest projects and list them, but this still feels like it'll be seen after a recruiter already counts my number of employers and makes a judgement. What creative ways can I handle this? As a follow-up question, do any of these rules change on LinkedIn? I'd love to list my clients under employers (with a title of consultant and concurrent employment dates with my firm) so that I actually get the logo on my page and it shows up easier for recruiters. <Q> Beware custom formatting on resumes, you'll be filtered out without a human ever reading it. <S> Creativity in the formatting and structure can kill you. <S> Most recruiters sit behind scanning software, so they'll never even see your resume if it isn't parsed correctly. <S> Those algorithms are looking for blocks grouped by employer/position, followed by words, usually in bullet points. <S> Deviating from that can render you invisible. <S> There is no shame in being at one place for long. <S> You had varied responsibilities, external visibility and career growth. <S> You cannot list that you worked for company those Fortune 100 companies, even as a consultant. <S> It's misleading. <S> Should someone at company Y receive a call verifying your work, you'll look dishonest. <S> Since you have permission, you can list that you consulted through company X for company Y on your LinkedIn account. <S> No icons, sorry. :-( <A> What creative ways can I handle this? <S> Format accordingly . <S> In a "normal" resume you'd list your work history by company with bullet points to provide relevant details: accomplishments, major achievements, important projects and so on. <S> In that case, the formatting you use would emphasize the title and/or company name as the central object in a single tier structure. <S> In your case, you'd simply use a two-tier layout : your title / employer would be listed first with a secondary heading level to list your projects, clients or roles, whichever makes sense for you. <A> You can format your resume however you like. <S> This way you can show how your skillset grew and your responsibility increased from project to project. <S> Regarding confidentiality, check the client websites and your own company websites to see if they publicly announced working together. <S> If so, you should be fine putting it on your resume. <S> I would not recommend doing the same on linkedin, but you could always ask your clients to write a brief blurb for you.
| In this case, list your employer and the main responsibilities, then list out the project you were involved in and provide details.
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