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Employee Company Email Account after Termination What should be done with an employee's company email account after their termination? We typically change their password and forward their email to another company account so that no sales leads, etc. are missed. Is this the best way to go about it? Is this legal? <Q> As a systems administrator and corporate worker, this is not the correct way to do this. <S> As other people have stated, the email is company property and can be dealt with in any manner they feel proper. <S> I am writing this from a Microsoft perspective, but this applies to everything. <S> The account should be disabled. <S> This will prevent anyone from logging in as that user. <S> Do not delete the account from Active Directory, as this can cause dangling SIDs. <S> This means, any documents created, edited, associated with that user still show that user properly. <S> A knowledgeable systems administrator should know how to deal with this. <S> This allows the user to read old email, as there may be important information in there that needs to be referred to. <S> That user can then reply to old or new mail to he terminated user, with their own email stating that the old user is no longer with the company and that they are assuming responsibility for future contact. <S> Forwarding email to a shared group is not a good idea in general, as people can assume someone else is taking care of it and no one ends up replying. <S> Or just as bad, multiple reply to an incoming email. <S> One point of contact is the best way to go, unless there is some sort of ticketing system associated with the redirected email. <S> Depending in your business, local and federal laws, etc, you may be required to keep email for a certain amount of time. <S> Check with HR and/or your legal team to see if there are any requirements that need to be met. <A> The email account belongs to the company, not the employee, so you can do anything you like with it except impersonate the ex-employee. <S> Many companies deal with this by not using personal names in email addresses and instead using job title. <S> In that way when a person leaves the whole email account can be taken over by their replacement. <S> Your solution is widely used as well. <S> In theory any emails coming to that account are work related and therefore important for the company to access. <A> Company emails are not private. <S> They belong to the company (which is one reason you should never use a company email for any purpose where you would not be ok if anyone/everyone in the company could read it). <S> It is not the job of the company to provide personal email addresses to employees. <S> I would recommend exactly the behavior suggested in the question: change the password and forward emails to a monitored account.
| As for the email itself, generally you give another user read access to that email box and add it to their email client. Do not change the password.
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Can I convince an employer to hire me by demanding lower salary in resume? I want to a get visa sponsored job and that's the reason why the amount of salary doesn't matter to me for now. So can I use it to convince the employer to hire me? And I want to write it in my resume because I don't get any respond to my applicants. I have only six month related job experience and I've found many visa sponsored job advertisement that want's a junior/entry-level php developer. <Q> Think of it like buying a used car. <S> You go to the lot looking for a reliable car at a fair price. <S> The dealer shows you a car that meets your requirements and adds, "and we're selling it for 50% below the blue book value. <S> " <S> You'd probably be suspicious. <S> Is it really what he says it is? <S> Maybe the previous owner didn't get regular oil changes and the engine is corroded. <S> Maybe the brakes are no good. <S> Maybe the battery is about to give out. <S> Hiring managers want smart, reliable employees that will do the job they're assigned and add value to the company more than they want to save money on salary. <S> This is why I believe it's always better to sell yourself in terms of what you will bring to the company and leave salary negotiation for the very end, after they've already decided they want to hire you. <A> Be careful selling yourself cheap. <S> You should mention that the sponsored visa is important for you. <S> If an employer wants you but only wants to hire you for a lower salary it is likely that the employer will tell you this. <S> And then I think you can show that you are willing to work for less because the visa is important for you. <A> That's not how hiring works from an employers point of view. <S> They are looking for a certain combination of skills and experience to do a particular job. <S> I can understand where you're coming from as this has been an issue in IT since the "bad old days". <S> When I first started in IT back in the early 90's with my freshly minted degree in programming (in COBOL, ugh) companies were extremely hesitant to developers with no practical, real world experience in development. <S> So I took a job in operations working in a data center. <S> This got some experience in the 'other' things needed and allowed me to move into development several years later. <S> Now I'm on an R&D team doing some really fun stuff with some of the newer technologies.
| If you offer yourself too cheap people might think you are not good or have some bad issues.
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How to tell my manager that I don't want to be scrum master So I work for an organization in a large company (for a little bit over a year) and recently the scrum master of our team has been promoted to manager so he is now a manager. This led to an open role inside our team of scrum master and one of my coworkers and I were the primary options for it. I am in charge of another 2 roles inside the team while the other person isn't in charge of any (apart from another third person whom I don't know why he wasn't an option for the role) and I have also been assigned this role. While normally I wouldn't mind getting more responsibilities, I mind in this case as this is not the path which I want my career to follow. I am personally someone that do not like organizing things as I can barely organize myself. I also do not know anything about scrum more than what I have seen in the past year. My question is, how (if I should) can I tell my manager that this is not the career that I would like to follow? <Q> If you are sure about your decision, sit down with your manager and be honest. <S> AndreiROM raised a good point about whether or not this is the right decision, but the decision is ultimately yours to make. <S> If you are sure that this is the right answer, the path forward is clear: Be honest with your manager. <S> Schedule a meeting with your boss to sit down face to face (if possible) and talk about your decision. <S> Explain to her/him in the same way you have explained to us, that you see your career taking a different path, but make sure to express your commitment to the team. <S> Would you be willing to take on the role temporarily while they find a better fit? <S> If so, say so. <A> If there is someone else you recommend, do that. <S> This opens the door to discuss why you may not be the best choice, and shows you care about what's best for the company overall. <S> It also avoids the perception that you're only interested in doing things you want to do, or that you prize your career about everything and everyone else. <S> Don't talk about your future career aspirations. <S> Provide examples of how your lack of organization would create real problems with the scrum master role today. <S> If your manager feels your interests are the same as theirs they will be much more receptive to your message. <A> This may be a terminology issue, and the job you're really being asked to do is not scrum master but project manager, in which case this answer won't apply. <S> (That is, unless your boss really does want to be doing agile and just has made a mistake in how it's being implemented.) <S> Agile teams, at least in certain forms of agile, usually do not slot people into specific roles but implement practices that let a team that as a whole successfully fulfill their responsibilities. <S> There will often be a coach who helps the team do this, but a coach's job is to help the team do the work, not do the work themselves. <S> Thus, being a scrum master does not necessarily mean you need to organize everything, or even much of anything at all. <S> As is clear from this description of a scrum master's role , some organizations do see it as a coaching role rather than a project manager role. <S> (This is a view I completely agree with; I think that a team with project managers, even if they're named "scrum masters," is not really an agile team.) <S> As an example of how this works, let's look at what would happen if someone decides or notices that a story isn't being properly tracked. <S> The coach, rather than doing the tracking herself, would instead find the person who is supposed to be tracking it (often the one to whom the story is assigned, even if they're not doing the majority of coding on it) and work with him to improve how he's handling the tracking of the story. <S> If nobody's taken responsibility for tracking that story, the coach would sit down with the whole team and discuss who should be tracking it and how. <S> In a case like this, it's actually important for the agile process that the coach not do the work herself, because that doesn't help the team as a whole learn to do what it needs to do. <A> Step 1: <S> Determine <S> exactly <S> what the role of "scrum master" is, according to your manager. <S> Different people may have very, very different assumptions. <S> Step 2a <S> : If it is just what the role of the scrum master should be, that's not particularly time consuming, and not particularly difficult. <S> And can be easily passed on to someone else. <S> You decide if you want to do it long term or not. <S> I'd suggest you could tell your boss that you can take on the role preliminary, but will be looking for someone to replace you when possible. <S> Step 2b: If the job is more than what the role of scrum master should be, more a managerial role that you really don't want, you need to tell your boss that. <S> It's usually not a good idea to give a job to someone who doesn't want it. <S> There are two positive ways to go forward: The boss changes the requirements so we are back at 2a. <S> The boss finds someone else who loves to do the job. <S> And the less positive one that you have to take on work that you don't like, so you have to do your best to cope with it, and if you really don't like it, look for different positions, or look for someone willing to do the job.
| Tell your manager you appreciate the nice compliment, but you don't think you're the best fit for the role.
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To include my current 2 weeks working experience or not in the resume? I have joined a an Enterprise company since 2 weeks as Senior Software Engineer ( It's a permanent position ), despite the fact that I have learned a lot since I have joined, but I can't wait to get myself out of this environment. ( I don't want to go through why I feel like that in this question) My question is : Should I include the current position I am holding in this company and the things I have worked on so far? Or, Should I completely ignore this position in my resume and just adjust my previous position with the things I have discovered here? Obviously, at the end of the day, I will tell my future employer to know where I am working currently. My concern is just the first impression of the hiring manager when he/she sees my resume. P.S : Over the past 2 weeks I have learnt enormously on few new technologies that I wasn't familiar with in the past, thus it's important for me to include these either by stating my current position (2 weeks), OR Including what I have learn in these 2 weeks in my previous position. <Q> Because if you leave it out and for whatever reason someone finds out that you had that job <S> then this will raise questions like: <S> Why didn't he mention it? <S> What else did he not tell us? <S> And in some cases it might give them a reason to fire you because you didn't tell the whole truth. <S> If you want to avoid it then maybe you get away with that for a few weeks because your sent out your "old" resume which you "forgot" to update with your latest position. <S> But that won't work for long and is clearly not a good thing to do. <A> I am with the most stupid person on this one, but for a different reason. <S> Don't include two weeks on your CV/resume because ... what is the purpose of a cv/resume? <S> I would say that it is too tell a prospective employer what you can bring to them. <S> I would further say that you are highly unlikely to learn enough new stuff in two weeks, that you don't have from other positions, to be helpful to a future employer. <S> If asked about it later, explain just that. <S> Background: I had one perm position a few decades ago, so may not be up on the nuances. <S> As a developer of embedded systems, I am generally handed a bunch of "stuff to read" at the start of each new contract and expected to slowly start becoming productive after 3 to 4 weeks (longer for perms, imo). <S> That's on projects with 8 to 15 developers. <S> My current project is developing s/w for a military satellite <S> and we were told that we are not expected to be productive for 3 months (!). <S> Tl;dr <S> did you really do or learn anything new in those two whole weeks that could be of benefit to a future employer? <A> If I were you, I don't include my current position and I won't tell I am working currently in the interview also. <S> I will tell that now I am looking for a job. <S> The main reason for that is, most companies (At least in my country) don't like persons who changes jobs very frequency. <S> If they asked why you resigned before find new job I will said that It is hard to find jobs / go interviews because of limited leaves and workload. <S> And I will mention that financially I am OK or I am currently doing freelancing works too find a new job. <S> If they asked when you can join us <S> I will say I need to finish the freelancing works already started, so I need X weeks <S> (Tell the notice period of current job ) of time.
| I guess basically you have to include your current job .
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How can I cope with impossible deadlines under an adverse environment? I started in this new job as a software developer (java SE desktop) after 4 months of finishing college, I already had two jobs and I had quit the last one to finish my degree in computer engineering. I have not coded in for like a year and I never liked to code in the first place but most of the positions around here are only for programmers. Anyways I got a call from a company that outsource IT related personnel to business about adding some small modifications to a small module of a system that does purchases of truck parts for their spare parts warehouse. I got offered twice as much as in my last job, so I accepted and after the interviews everything seemed fine. Until I actually met with the staff of the company we were hired as contractors to find out they wanted a full blown ERP system to manage their entire operations nationwide, I had a panic attack right there at the project kickoff meeting and developed a nervous colitis for the entire weekend but managed to take it under control by Monday morning. Later in the Monday me and my teammates were assured not to worry because the last contractor left the project at "85%" advantage. When me and my coworkers (we are 4 in the team plus a project manager) reviewed the supposed almost finished code we found out it was worthless since nothing is validated and there is no database connection and the data it shows is hardcoded. So we discarded all and decided to start from scratch, we also found out that the requirements made by the annalist team were outdated and almost completely out of the scope that the users want. The ERP was divided in 3 projects and the one me and another coworker were assigned has been stalled for 5 years, every meeting we have to update the requirements keeps adding and adding more and more features and module, so we just kept adjusting the duration during planning, after a week and a half of reviewing the requirements and the old code we also found out we need to design and make and new database since the existing one is useless and that we also have to make the UI. We were hired as software developers and have been doing the job of DBA, Analyst, Software architects and technical support since our assigned PCs were all boggled down by the previous users and had to format them we lost 2 entire days on that. Then after 2 weeks we were told that the ERP was going to be developed using 10 year old technology (JSP, AngularJS 1.0, Glassfish 3.1 JDK6 netbeans 7.1 and MySQL 5.1 on MyISAM tables) we managed to overcome that obsolete environment and have a modern responsive web template to run on that. We adjusted our planning and reported that we could deliver it in 4 months if the 4 of us worked in one of the 3 projects fulltime; then in one meeting the development department manager after looking at our project plan asked hypothetically what would take 2 of us to finish it in 3 months so we stated some of the things we could do to achieve that with very precise conditions and the statement that it would only involve up to the development and using more current technology and frameworks, and not the testing and implementation. The next morning we were told we had 3 months to develop, test, implement and then maintain the entirety of the ERP instead of the 2 years we told it would take. Since the 4 of us were now going to be divided into 2 teams of 2 to tackle two thirds of the ERP in that time. Since I learned of this I have been scheduling interviews with other companies because I think this is like the titanic after it struck the iceberg. Right now I can live without a job since I live with my parents and they say it is ok if I quit or want to move to another job. So I do not have to worry about money. The entirety of the IT department is also run on pure chaos, nothing is standardized and no one follows the best practices. Yesterday the manager of the development department told they want a third of the ERP (an entire human resources module and a job exchange site) by April 15th instead of may 23rd Fully implemented and in operation, We all had a panic attack right there. The department managed noticed and told us that if we finished by that time they would renew our 3 month contract and even incorporate us from their provider. Every day the situation turns more kafkian and ridiculous every meeting more modules are being added to the ERP and they keep wanting reschedule delivery to an earlier date; at this point me and my team mates just nod to everything they ask us and joke about how we are the musics of the titanic that played until the end they plan to stay the contractual 3 months and then look job elsewhere or stay there. I am not going to work beyond my contractually agreed schedule since I am not getting paid extra and I am not going to sacrifice myself for the completely surreal expectations of management. This company is one of the biggest trucking companies in my country and their IT infrastructure is a complete joke running impossible deadlines not only in software development proyects but in all projects in general. I suspect there is a problem with how management of the project engineering department handles the time assignation for all projects. Me and my team mates have also found out we are the second or third team to retake the project and to experience this same situation and that one of the ERP modules (human resources) has been stuck in development hell for 5 years. Every day management keeps rescheduling the delivery date almost halving the previous one. I plan to stay the term of the contract but I am still getting offers from other companies, should I change jobs or wait until my contract expires? <Q> You have some impossible deadlines, so you have a problem. <S> The fact that all deadlines will be missed is not your problem. <S> Just tell your manager what will happen, do your job, don’t stress, and take your money. <S> When the company finds its deadlines are missed, they have the choice of giving you more reasonable deadlines, giving you new, equally ridiculous deadlines, or hiring fresh developers and giving them impossible deadlines. <S> None of that is anything you need to worry about. <S> If the pay is good, you stay as long as possible. <A> When me and my coworkers (we are 4 in the team plus a proyect manager) reviewed the supposed almost finished code we found out it was worthless since nothing is validated <S> and there is <S> no database connection and the data it shows is hardcoded. <S> I once had a plumber to my house to install gas heating, replacing an old oil heating system. <S> He gave me a quote. <S> While he was doing the job, he discovered that a lot of the piping from the previous system had become all clogged up and had to be replaced. <S> He then told me that there would be an extra cost to this bit of work. <S> This did not surprise me as the old system barely worked, and so I accepted the extra cost. <S> The point is, when the job is bigger than was originally spec'd - whether that's because new modules are added or the stuff that is supposed to be already complete is useless, it's perfectly acceptable and reasonable to announce the extra cost/time required to put it right. <S> You just need to be assertive about it. <S> Every new module is extra cost & time. <S> Starting from scratch as opposed to building on top of an 85% complete project, is a huge extra cost & time. <S> You - as a dev team - need to let the manager know this. <S> Just because they want it doesn't mean they'll get it. <S> Like my plumber analogy, if you bring a punctured tyre from your car to a repairman, but the hole is too big to repair, he'll be very quick in telling you that you need to buy a new tyre. <A> You have some scope creep and you got handed code that was less than perfect <S> so you threw a temper tantrum and tossed it? <S> Grow up. <S> The client is specifically requesting a particular version of Java? <S> That's unusual, but you've done none of the work necessary to find out why. <S> It seems like you really don't care about doing a good job in this role at all. <S> I recommend you reassess your commitment to the profession of software engineering. <S> You're not focused on helping your client, you're complaining about normal roadblocks that we all face at some point. <S> Get over it. <A> Someone with more experience would raise all the problems after the first day, no need for panic attacks you cant achieve random deadlines without planning and changing scope. <S> (A more experienced person with a bad temper would instantly quit after knowing this details) <S> Impossible requirements and restrictions made without any technical background or sense <S> , you have to raise that. <S> If its not heard, lay back and enjoy the explosion.
| The solution: Go to your manager, tell him that the deadline is impossible, now he has a problem.
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Asking for a job back after resigning A month ago, for some reasons I resigned from a job position for another one although I liked my old job. Now it's been only two weeks in my new job and I haven't found what I'm looking for, so I want to ask for my old job back and I think it's gonna be possible because I left on good terms and I have done a great job in my old position. When I resigned my boss told me that the door is always open and after I resigned he told one of colleagues that I was irreplaceable. And now I want to ask for my job back but I don't know how to start and whether I should wait a little longer to ask or go for it asap because even though it's only been 2 weeks in my new job I know for sure that it's no fit. <Q> This is a tough decision for you to make, with a lot of potential downside. <S> This isn't a decision that you should make lightly, but you haven't asked about whether or not this is a good idea, so I won't go there. <S> All I will say is I hope you are sure about your decision before you act. <S> If you are certain that this is the right decision, don't waste any time. <S> You should contact your former employer right away, today, right now. <S> You need to get your foot back in the door before they fill your old position, preferably before it is even posted as an open position. <S> Given that you have such a great relationship with your former supervisor, it might be best to start there. <S> Talk to your old boss and tell him that you realize you have made a huge mistake. <S> Ask for his help getting your old job back. <S> You should take steps to insulate yourself from some of your former employer's inevitable concerns. <S> You will be considered a flight risk for at least a little while. <S> You need to do some damage control. <S> Explain to your boss that you made a huge mistake and that the old company is the BEST possible place for you to be. <S> Make them understand that you want back in to STAY, not as a stopover to your next new employer. <A> Yes it's a good idea to ask for your old job back now. <S> Try to get into contact with your manager and ask if you can return. <S> Better to ask now than to wait for your replacement <S> then it might be impossible. <S> As it stands you might still have a opening. <A> Some food for thought based on your description: your former boss said you were irreplaceable, but apparently didn't do any counteroffer to keep you in <S> you liked your old job <S> nevertheless you decided to leave it, so I assume the reasons were pretty serious after just two weeks <S> you want your old job back since you don't like the new one <S> What you risk with such a sudden come back: <S> you clearly state that you don't know what you want <S> : you have left something you like and then want it back when you have something you don't like <S> you show you cannot commit to something <S> You are in the new job for only two weeks, you are still basically learning and being known. <S> Of course in your memories the old is better than the new, since the new is still far from being experienced. <S> Try to recall in your mind the reasons why you left: are they gone? <S> Are you so unhappy in the new position that this unhappiness is worse than the risks I listed above?
| If you are sure about your decision, contact your former employer right away, don't delay
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Letting an employee know that another is better suited for a task? This was a past situation. There was a presentation that only allowed one employee to present. Two of my employees, employees A and B, really wanted to do the presentation. Due to the time-frame and nature of the company, it was near certain that there would not be an opportunity like this again, so I couldn't say "Employee A this time, B next time". The employees were already not on great terms with each other due to personal differences outside of the workplace. Although Employee B thought she was equally qualified, Employee A was more qualified for this task, so I would rather her do it. How could I have let Employee A do the presentation without hurting Employee B's feelings, especially given the already tense relationship between the two? <Q> As a manager, it is important that you choose the best person for the job, that is more important than whether one of the employees will be unhappy. <S> The objective criteria is the starting point of your discussion with employee B. <S> This can be treated like other constructive feedback scenarios. <S> Let that employee understand what the criteria were and explain how the employee can work to improve in those areas. <S> It is important that these not come across to the employee as failures, but rather an area to improve. <S> No matter how good we are at our job, there is quite likely someone in our company that is better at some skill or function <S> and we all have areas where we could improve. <S> Employees want to know that they are being treated fairly in these scenarios, but they also need to know that fairly is not the same as equally. <S> If employee B can not understand and accept this objective evaluation, then you likely can't keep them from being unhappy/hurt anyway. <S> While managers should be sensitive to how they deliver the message, the facts still need to be delivered. <A> Just tell B "you have not been selected". <S> If B asks why then "I felt A would be stronger for this task". <S> If B feels they are as good then no good could come from debating it with them. <A> You might have asked them to define how you would make the choice. <S> Find some set of criteria which they could both agree on, suggested by them. <S> And then you decide. <S> You say there won't be another exactly like this, but there will be something . <S> A trip; the chance to be first to play with some new tech ... <S> A coin toss. <S> Tell them that you can't decide as you think they are equally good (even though you prefer A; saying this keeps the peace), so you will have to flip a coin (and state beforehand if it's best of 1, bets of 3, etc) <S> If you are not an only child, remember something your mother did with you as a sibling. <S> For instance, to divide a chocolate bar, my mother would have one split & one choose. <S> Perhaps one decides an alternative "goodie" as per my point 2) and the other gets to choose whether they want the goodie or to do the presentation. <A> Let both people do the preso and choose the best result to be used in the real competition. <S> Make it a battle of solutions, not a selection between people. <S> If the real preso takes too much time, timebox drafting and compare the drafts.
| As long as you have good objective criteria for the choice, which you seem to have, then you are on sound footing. You won't be helping this employee if you shelter them from sometimes painful truth. Offer some other "goodie". Just tell A "you have been selected".
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I want to turn down an award nomination; what am I missing? tl;dr I was offered an award nomination. I think I could do much better if I was to enter the awards next year instead, but I’m concerned turning down an award would be a career limiting move. What factors should I take into account? Details I am part of a minority group in my field. Today I received an email saying that I have been nominated to enter the field for an award in the Exceptional Young (Minority Group) in (Local Area) (Field) Awards. The email is from our General Manager and it asks me to please consider accepting the nomination. As a graduate who has barely finished my first year out, I can see that I only meet 1 of the selection criteria. This isn’t humility; graduates in my area need further training in the workforce before they can offer tangible benefits to the company, so I just haven’t done much yet. By the end of my second year I am fairly certain I will be able to address 3 criteria well and the others satisfactorily. Problem is, I can’t enter twice and I currently have no evidence that I would be able to better address the criteria next year. I am aware that I have no guarantee of being nominated again if I turn this down and I am willing to accept that risk, although I would like to minimise it if possible. Another factor is that I am being considered for a position as a full-time employee. My contract runs out at the end of this year, but my manager’s manager is considering putting me on earlier than that. However, that would require the General Manager’s approval. I am also suspicious that part of the reason for my nomination is that I am one of a very few members of my minority group in my workplace and I know that the company wants to be seen in the wider community as both being supportive and having high quality employees, so possibly they just chose me on that basis because ‘Thursday hasn’t been nominated yet’. Personal opinions on this aside, it may be that there are no other members of my minority group who the company can enter into the award this year. My questions are: What things should I take into consideration when deciding whether to turn down the award? Is there a precedent for this sort of thing? What should I consider when phrasing my rejection? <Q> Accept the nomination, as there is no way for you to know whether you would ever be nominated again. <S> The upside to accepting is that you at the very least on your resumé can claim to have been nominated for XXX in your first year out of school. <S> On a simplistic upside-downside scale, it seems the downside is potentially more harmful than the upside is beneficial. <A> Talk to your boss and explain your concerns about not having done enough yet to earn it, and that Next Year might be better. <S> Even mention tokenism, if you're worried about it. <S> But also make sure he <S> / <S> she understands that you'll accept their guidance. <S> If he <S> / <S> she still thinks you should accept the nomination, then accept it with grace, acknowledging that this is one of the downsides of being a rare minority in the field. <A> I recommend against accepting the nomination. <S> Tell them nominator via email that, while you appreciate their recognition, due to the fact that you can only be nominated once and that you only meet one criteria at this point in time, you would prefer to hold out hope that you might be nominated at a point where you are more likely to also win the award. <S> This will both increase your chances of winning should you be nominated again, and provide your firm with slightly more reason to offer you a position that will extend into next year. <S> I think it will demonstrate to your manager more patience and maturity on your part. <S> Lastly, if you're concerned that part of their reason for nominating you is too improve their own image, make them earn it a little more by keeping you in the company.
| The downside to declining could be risking to be percieved as an oddball, an over-thinker, ungrateful and so on.
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Contingent Job Offer after working for a couple of days I recently accepted a job offer via phone and email and started working the new job since last week. They emailed me to do a background check after I had work for them for a couple of days and said my job offer is contingent until a clear background check.Was it right for them to give me a job offer, have me start, and then state the offer is contingent after? I would have not accepted if I had known especially since I am still dealing with a misdemeanor. <Q> Employers do this. <S> I'm sorry it happened to you. <S> It's unethical to lead someone into quitting a job without a clear, non-contingent job offer or an upfront explanation of the contingencies. <S> Another game employers play, which still might be coming your way, is asking you to sign a non-compete agreement after you've quit your old job and started your new job. <S> This, of course, leaves you in a vulnerable negotiating position. <S> 18% of Americans are subject to non-competes. <S> More on that tactic here: <S> http://www.avidcareerist.com/2017/07/16/questions-to-ask-before-accepting-a-job-offer/ <A> No, it is highly irregular to allow you to start prior to conducting the background check. <S> Perhaps they were really desperate to get someone right away <S> or perhaps they found out about your legal trouble after you started and <S> as a result, are now asking for a background check. <S> In any case, you should probably start looking for other opportunities just in case. <A> Give yourself the opportunity to defend yourself. <S> After all, you've already started working there and your current situation may have no affect on your abilities to perform this new job. <S> Perhaps you could ask your employer <S> If anything happens to comes back on my background check, may I be informed of what it is and give any clarification on such information? <S> Maybe the background check they perform is only pertinent to more serious offenses and nothing comes back when all is said and done.
| You should read your contract carefully and see if it mentions anything about the job being contingent on a background check.
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How do I ask my current company how long they want to keep me around? I'm an independent contractor How do I ask my current company how long they want to keep me around? I'm an independent contractor. My contract is about to renew they confirmed they want to continue with me, but they are also bringing in someone new and asking me to train him. <Q> "Hello X, you mentioned earlier that the plan is to extend my contract, but since the deadline is coming up I'd like to make a more formal agreement. <S> Without it I will be forced to look for employment elsewhere since I cannot afford to risk being without work." <S> The key is to avoid any accusatory language and to make it clear that it's about you wanting to minimize a risk. <S> It's not that you don't trust their word that they will extend your contract <S> , you just can't take the any risks, no matter how small. <A> I'm always looking to get an renewal in writing at least two weeks before it finishes. <S> If they can't guarantee an extension, then start looking elsewhere. <S> One company offered to extend me at 3pm on my last day but, it was way too late <S> and I'd already accepted another contract. <S> It's a harsh industry, but you've got to look out for yourself. <S> The fact that they're bringing in someone for you to train up might suggest that you have one ( <S> maybe two) renewals left... <S> but that's contracting, unfortunately! <A> As an independent contractor, you cannot afford to be without work, so if it isn’t confirmed in writing, you will have to look for work elsewhere. <S> I think it’s better to tell them that your finances don’t allow you to take a risk. <S> Whether you tell them or not, if you don’t have a contract extension in writing, you look for a new position, and if you find something that you like, then you leave. <S> It is quite possible that some person really wants you to continue working, but doesn’t have the power to get the right person to sign the contract. <S> In that case you need to give them arguments to tell their boss <S> “I need X, and if that contract isn’t signed in time, he or she might just leave, and that will cost us lots of money. “ <A> I think everyone agrees that you need to get your contracts and confirmations in writing, and that you need to be responsible to yourself for making sure you have work. <S> Here's how to approach the conversation to clarify your situation (you have confirmation <S> but it looks like they may be preparing to replace you). <S> Make a short 15 minute appointment with your manager, the one you report directly to. <S> Let him/her know it's about your contract status. <S> You should start the conversation with something like this: <S> As you know, as a contractor I always need to be mindful of my future. <S> I am happy working here <S> and I am willing to stay on for as long as you need me. <S> Once we get Mary fully trained, what are your expectations for my role here? <S> Let the manager answer. <S> If it's an answer you like, great. <S> If not, too bad, but also great. <S> You're looking for clarity either way. <S> They may want to transition you to some other task or role. <S> If it looks like they won't need you anymore, you can approach it like this: <S> Great! <S> I appreciate the clarity. <S> Let's talk timelines and set some goals for Mary's training that will get her up to speed as fast as possible and at the same time let me plan for my future. <S> Of course, use your own words and personality, but keep a tone of working with the manager to help meet the needs of the company. <S> I would leave out any talk of personal finances and whether or not you can afford to be out of work for any period of time. <S> It just doesn't come across as professional. <A> As you have said, they have confirmed it, but seems like it is from verbally or email. <S> So you can request to renew it officially. <S> I mean you can asked from them to sign the new / renew contract.
| It’s your decision to tell them that if you don’t get an extension in writing, you might suddenly stop working for them, or not.
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How to ask more than normal salary increment (more than 30%)? Background : Very Small but old Software Engineering Company, Sri Lanka. I enjoy my job and work-life balance is really good when comparing other companies in my country. So i don't wont looking other jobs, only problem is my salary is too low. I have close (not personal, officially) relationship with my boss and he generally know that I have some financial problems. I have all 3 years experience and 11 month from current company. 1 year experience will be completed in next month. I think that there will be salary increment in next month because my 1 year will be completed. I think salary will be increased by 10 - 15%. That is common % in small software companies in Sri lanka. But I join this company for very low salary(I had to get that situation because of some personal issues in that time). Even my company increase my salary by 30% or 40% still my salary is in average or below average margin in software engineering filed in Sri Lanka. So what is the best way to ask around 30%, 40% salary increment by mail? I don't want to lose my job or I don't want to make a problem with my boss. So what is the best way to ask my boss from 30% - 40% salary increment? <Q> This is completely common in software. <S> The simple answer is don't mention "percentages" at all. <S> They have nothing to do with anything. <S> The language you want is simply this: Boss, thanks for another wonderful year. <S> Looking at the current market and my responsibilities, an appropriate salary starting in April would be $123,456 including the benefits system. <S> Could we discuss this? <S> It's that simple. <S> The phrase you want is " <S> Looking at the current market and my responsibilities, an appropriate salary would be ..." <S> You may want to add mention of your project or task purely as a reminder (KEEP IT SHORT - bosses are totally uninterested in detail), so "Looking at the current market and my responsibilities with the Boeing client, an appropriate salary would be ..." <S> It's that simple. <S> Never again mention or think of "percentages", and never again mention or think of your current salary. <A> So what is the best way to ask my boss from 30% - 40% salary increment? <S> Most companies are not going to give you a 30% to 40% raise just because you say so or based on the current market and such. <S> What would be their motivation to do so?? <S> The only real way to get that type of raise most of the time is by finding another job . <S> I know this is not the answer you want to read, but by finding a job that pays what you think <S> your worth <S> you do two things. <S> First, you validate that you are indeed worth what you thought, and two by obtaining an offer you have the option of negotiating with your current employer or moving on. <S> Companies don't like being forced to pay up like that. <S> It may be better for you long term to move on to a new company at the appropriate salary when the numbers are that far out of whack. <A> The key to a successful salary negotiation is to have a very good Idea of what your work ist worth. <S> If it is possible to find somebody else to do your work for the same kind of money, that´s the spot. <S> If you get less, you should demand more. <S> This in turn means you have to be prepared to move on if your boss is not willing to pay you this minimum. <S> It may be wise to formulate your expectations before you get a (lower) raise and see if your employer is prepared to meet them - and what he wants to see from you to get there. <S> This is something you should do in person, not by mail. <S> Just get a appointment with your boss to talk about your career. <S> Outline how you want to develop yourself in the future and also how you expect your salary to develop. <S> See if he can share your vision - if not, you know that you have to either cope with lesser goals or move on.
| A word of caution , using an offer from another company to boost your salary at your current place of employment is a risky move if you choose to stay put. There is no magical formula to get your boss to say yes to something!
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How to manage relationship between two companies I currently work at company A. I have worked here for over a year and I love the environment, job, etc. During this time, I have also started my own side business that isn't related to company A, it is more of a product than a business. This does not affect my work at company A at all (performance reviews have been fine, getting raises, etc). I have recently launched my side business product and it is doing decently well for a single person start up. Now, while I mentioned company A is not related to the start up, it would help them in a huge way. So my boss contacted me today during work and asked me how the side business was going and I said well. He expressed a lot of interest to integrate my side product into company A. And here is the problem. He believes that because I work for the company A, my side product will be 100% free. Not only free, but work to tailor it to their preferences to fit them. I do love working for company A but I have also worked very, very hard on my product. If I am honest, I would not give the product away for free to another company(and I have not). I'm afraid by saying "hey boss, this isn't free", he will take it as if I am leveraging my position (get paid salary from company A who then pays me agin for the product). How do I treat company A as a customer/client and not as a employer of mine? How do I manage this situation without it blowing up? Edit: he never said "it's nice this will be free too", but I am very confident he believes this is the case. Having worked with him for over a year, you start to understand how a person works. <Q> You can make them pay in other ways. <S> For example you can arrange a license to Company A if company A let you work some defined time <S> (let's say 4 hours a week) on it and let you to add the modification you make for them in the product (if they are worth and not too specific and/or covered by company's IP). <S> Of course the changes needed to tailor their needs should be done on company A work time. <S> Edit: My starting point was that you will sell/license the product to them with some sort of contract and not by word. <S> Once you make him sign a contract with your side business company, they will became a customer and you can threat them as such. <S> Then your boss has two options: if he allow you to work on company time on the product, company A is paying you since you are not doing their work while paid by them; if he don't allow you, then company A should pay a license/fee (eventually a little lower) and wait since every request they make will be managed when you work on your product on your free time and your planning. <A> What sort of income does your side-gig give you? <S> Could you live on it? <S> If not, is it growing at such a rate that it will earn you enough to live on before your savings run out? <S> If, tell the boss he has to pay like everyone else. <S> Just stick to your guns, and try asking the boss how he would feel if he were in your shoes. <S> If you can't afford to go it alone, then you are pretty stuck, unless you can get outside investment, maybe from family/friends in return for a share of he business. <S> But maybe you a <S> re worrying about nothing; maybe the boss swill understand when you explain to him, so the first thing to do it to make it clear that you put a lot of work into your product and expect to be compensated. <S> As a last resort, you might want to offer your current employer " mates rates ". <S> Who knows? <S> They might find more & more functionality to add, bringing you more income and letting you grow your business. <A> You have 3 parts to think about. <S> License to use the original product. <S> Work to be done to customize for your employer. <S> IP / usage rights for the customization. <S> You could tell your boss: <S> I am happy to provide the product, but we have to talk about the conditions. <S> As of now, all the work on this product was done on my own time and everything was nicely separated from my work here. <S> We will also need to do some modifications to it. <S> I want to prevent any mix ups in the future <S> so lets see under which conditions we can make this work. <S> Then you see if you can get to a mutually beneficial agreement. <S> Once you came to a solution, make sure you write it down, sleep about it, and if you still like it sign it. <S> You should have some Idea what you want, and how much, before walking in, but stay flexible on the details. <S> Questions to think about: <S> How much do you want for the product? <S> Bigger one time or smaller recurring payment? <S> How are updates / further developments handled and priced? <S> How is support/ bug fixing handled? <S> Do you want to do the customization on company-time or on your own? <S> If on your own, do you want to charge extra for the time or integrate it into the product as it could be useful for other customers? <S> Would you sell all rights and sources? <S> For how much? <S> Liability-issues? <S> All this should be clarified by a written contract, before you provide anything. <S> Edit: Also check your contract first. <S> In this case you´d need to talk to a lawyer on how to salvage your IP, if possible. <S> And not talk to your employer about the product again before counseling.
| Do not threaten to quit, but let him know that you are not afraid to be fired (and to seek compensation if you feel that you are unjustly fired). There are employment contracts where all work you do is automatically owned by your employer!
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As an intern, do I tell my boss I am going to interviews? I am currently interning at a small company, so I answer directly to the CEO himself. I started at the beginning of the year and the role was said to be for a few months at least, though we did not discuss formally how long it would be. I did specify at the outset that I would be later looking for a permanent graduate role and this was acknowledged. Now, in the coming weeks I have some interviews coming up during work hours, so will need to ask for a few hours off on someday, maybe multiple times a week. I am wondering whether I need to advise my boss that I am going to interviews? Because I am still getting a steady flow I presume they are under the assumption that I will remain for a while. My question is do I need to tell my boss I am going for several interviews in the coming weeks? Edit: I would say my relationship with my boss is fine, but pretty much purely formal. We rarely have off-topic conversations, majority of interactions are work focused. <Q> This situation strikes me as different from most "how do I handle asking for time off from my current job to interview" questions, because a) <S> it's an internship, which is typically limited in scope and timeframe, and b) the current employer has not given you specifics about how long they expected you to stay. <S> Under most circumstances, I would not discuss interviews with a current employer. <S> But, based on the above, I would discuss your plans with the CEO. <S> Let him know you enjoy working for his company (assuming that is true) <S> and you'd be interested in a permanent internal position but <S> you're also planning on using PTO to look elsewhere. <S> By doing so, you really have nothing to lose. <S> If he's a reasonable person with good intentions and he likes your work, he'll want to support you no matter what. <S> If he responds positively and has an opening for you, great! <S> You just talked yourself into a job at a company you already know and trust. <S> If he doesn't have room, he'll understand your plans and support your future. <S> On the other hand, if he's unreasonable, doesn't like you, etc. <S> - then no harm done, you're already looking elsewhere and good riddance. <S> Regardless, it sounds like you're doing the right thing by looking. <S> Lots of internships turn into permanent positions, but in other employers, the "internship" is just a way to get some cheap temporary labor. <S> I think it's generally understood that internships are temporary either way, so it should not surprise anyone for you to be job searching. <A> Here was my strategy when I interned for UPS. <S> I asked about different positions at the company to my direct manager, talked to my initial HR representative, and looked outside the company. <S> At the end of the day, although it would be ideal for you to continue with your current company (depends on the circumstances) <S> know that they are not obligated to give you anything at the end of the contract period. <S> If they offer you something, that's great. <S> But if they don't, you are left holding an empty bag. <S> Be proactive. <S> As far as time off, this may conflict with your regularly scheduled hours. <S> However, by telling them the reason, you can signal to them that you are serious about securing continued employment. <S> If they don't act first and offer you something, they will lose you. <A> You have absolutely zero obligation to tell them you're interviewing. <S> If you need time off, simply request it for "personal reasons", or some other non-specific purpose.
| Tell him you're planning for your future and give him some insight into the specific path you're hoping to follow in terms of career growth.
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Is periodically checking in with potential employers a good strategy? I raised a question previously about a politely worded response, which I was unsure if it amounted to a rejection/ go away, leave me alone.Quick background... I speculatively cold called several companies Dec last year and got through to the head decision maker, who asked me to send my cv and a week later sent this follow up. Hello, I sent a speculative enquiry (below)last week regarding an unpaidposition. I wonder if you had a chance to look over my details. Please do advise me of your decision. Thanks Hi Sally . Unfortunately we do not have any suitable openings at thecurrent time. I will definitely keep your cv under reference forsuitable junior roles in the near future. Best, Steve In the interim, I have been working on relevant, independent research but have been getting a bit itchy for work. This company has an excellent mentorship prog, as well as potential for career progression. I also have to say that this head comes across as incredibly polite and considerate in responding back to my emails, as I'm sure he too busy and important to think of my emails as important (and I mean that genuinely, not sarcastically).All of this gives me the impression that this must a worthwhile firm to be part of, and supports their excellent reputation. My friend told me it is a good idea to check in with potential leads every 3-4 months, in the vein of 'Hello, I'm here and still interested. Please keep me in mind'. This is what happened mid Feb Hi Steve. I’m wondering, any Unpaid Junior roles? Anything I can do tobetter my chances? Best Sally We really don’t have any positions at the moment Sally, although I definitely admire your energy. If anything suitable comes along I will certainly be in touch. Best,Steve I really hope so and look forward to it. Because I have research that I would like to show you then. Best wishes Steve Sally I'm pretty sure Ive blown my chances now, if there was any possibility previously, which is a real shame for the reasons I gave above. Can I ask, in this situation and with potential future leads, is my friend's suggestion of checking back every 3-4 months a good tactic? Has it worked for anyone here? PS: don't worry, unless I hear back from this firm first, I am never contacting them again!!! <Q> However, don't be too clingy if they answer (a lot of time they don't even bother). <S> The example you gave sounds a bit over the top, especially in the last mail you sent them. <S> Don't push it if they say they don't have a spot open for you right now : <S> Hello Steve, Message received, thanks for your answer and keeping me posted. <S> Best regards, Sally <S> The example your friend gave you is much more along the lines of something I would write, although obviously in a more professionnal manner. <S> On the other hand, I don't know if reminding them every 6 months for 2 years could hurt your chances, as that would imply that you didn't find a job in that time. <S> Hope this helps. <A> Checking back every few months is okay. <S> One of three possible responses: <S> Best case: You come in for a interview <S> So-so case: <S> They tell you the standard response you've been getting Worse case: They ignore you or tell you to stop emailing them <S> Either way it can't hurt you <S> but I wouldn't explain a very long email. <S> Save the research and stuff you've been doing for the interview. <S> In the email simply state: <S> Steve, Thank you for interviewing me earlier this year. <S> I am wondering if you have any opening that I might fit? <S> Attached is my latest resume. <S> Looking forward hearing from you. <A> I think the answer to this question depends on your long term plans, and those of the employer you're interested in. <S> Checking in once every 3-4 months implies that either: 1) You've found another job but are willing to jump ship at a moment's notice, or2) <S> You've been unemployed for months at a time. <S> Depending on the industry and employer, these may both be incredibly bad signs, or they may not be a big deal at all. <S> Checking in like that also implies that you aren't aware of, or are too lazy to check, the channels the employer uses to hire. <S> Do they have external job postings on their website? <S> Do they use a recruiting service? <S> Are you aware of those channels and are you keeping track of them? <S> Or are you expecting that this contact of yours is going to do that legwork for you? <S> If you DO check back in, I would only do so with purpose. <S> Don't check in unless you have something meaningful to say and keep it brief. <S> You mentioned outside research - perhaps you could provide some info on that, offer to share what you've been doing, or even ask for feedback on it (assuming that was appropriate in your culture/industry). <S> This is where professional social networking tools can be handy. <S> It's easy to stay in someone's peripheral vision on Linkedin or similar sites without being a pain in their side. <S> I try to maintain a moderate level of activity on Linkedin with respect to my professional interests - liking or commenting on articles, posting things I find relevant, etc - maybe a few times a month. <S> Doing so keeps your name in someone's feed, without the need to stalk them or pester them with emails, and it gives them a (passive) way to know what you're up to. <S> I feel like this is as much a question about professional networking as it is a question about recruiter/employee relationships - and when it comes to networking, you have to make sure you're offering something as much as asking something. <S> No one wants to network with someone who is asking for something but has nothing of value to say or offer in return.
| It is good to keep in touch with potential recruters every few months, and remind them that you exist and are still looking.
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I'm a full time Contractor, how and when can I ask for a raise? I am a full time independent contractor for a literary agency. I essentially review literary materials and submissions for representation and write up coverage reports for my bosses or sometimes for the writers themselves. I am paid per submission, to do as many per week as I can manage. I started as an intern there doing something very similar, I then signed a non compete to do this work for pay and receive a 1099. Being painfully naive back then, I did not request alterations to the contract I signed, so I doubt I could do this same work for anyone else. I have been paid the same rate for over three years, during which time I am certain I have had more submissions than any of my fellow contractors. I have been treated very, very well, my input has always been praised, and whatever I can and cannot do within my given time has ALWAYS been okay. I know my efforts are valued. However, I am at an impasse and I need to evolve; I need to make more money. To be fair, I have NO IDEA if anyone else who is doing the same work is being paid more than I am, I just know those who can only intermittently do submissions have a standard of 50 per, and those who are available to keep up with the consistent rate of submission are usually paid 65, like me. I don't know if anyone has negotiated anything higher privately. Is it fair to ask for more money in this case, or should I look for a new position in the same field? I sense that there are simple standard fees for such work, and worry that it might not be my place to ask my bosses to pay me more without actual promotion of position. Whatever I do next, I could use some advice on how to best approach it with utmost professionalism. <Q> As a contractor you should first have an idea of your value on the market, was it only a range. <S> Then you could consder that having worked for so long with them give you quite some leverage to negotiate a rate quite high in this range if not above. <S> Then about the "when", well it all depends when your contract ends. <S> If you’re working fo a daily rate you probably have like 3,6 or 12 month contract, so you will have to wait for that term to approach. <S> I would anyway let the client know in advance to leave them the time to negotiate, what they will most probably do, so I would also suggest that you start at a higher rate to eventually get what you indeed wanted... <S> Do also prepare the negotiation by thinking about why you raise your rate, although I wouldn’t mention these points before that possible negotiation as basically you’re not supposed to explain why you ask for more. <S> You’re indeed not an employee of them but a provider and providers don’t have to explain their prices. <A> As a contractor, you need to approach this differently than an employee would. <S> You are being paid a fee for a product not a regular salary. <S> An employee would need to demonstrate the value they bring to the company, which can include tangible and intangible factors. <S> As a contractor, you need to look at this from the perspective of unit cost to your client. <S> Can you demonstrate that your product unit is of better quality than others at the same cost? <S> That is basically the only leverage you have. <S> If you work faster, they won't pay you more per unit, you'll just process more units. <S> This might meet your needs as long as there is enough unit work available. <S> Remember that these are not your bosses, so they idea of promotion does not apply. <S> There is no employer looking out for your well being and a client is not concerned with your ability to maker the amount of money you want. <S> They are concerned about that unit cost and where they can get the best cost/quality source for their needs. <A> To directly answer the question in your title, as a contractor, you cannot ask for a "raise. <S> " Raise implies a salary is being paid by an employer, which is not the case for you. <S> You can negotiate terms on your contract when it is due for renewal, or negotiate within the bounds of the current contract (ie if it allows the fee to change for specific reasons). <S> If your current client is not receptive to this, then yes - you should go elsewhere (or just resign yourself to continuing to work under the current terms).
| If you’re contracted per submission you could just inform the client that as of date X you’ll be working for an higher rate for each submission.
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Boss won't stop talking I work in a small office with my store manager. She talks constantly about anything and everything. I have started to make mistakes in my job directly caused by the distraction of her chatter. I have made comments about " really needing to get things done " or " being way behind " and have even had earphones in: she just keeps going. Our store owner knows it is an issue and has spoken to her a few times in the past but she is touchy about it and she really doesn't know she is doing it. Her chatter is always aimed at me. Sometimes it is actually work related, but often it's personal or just rehashing of work things. She likes to retell stories again and again. I work alone in the office with her everyday and do not want it to be unpleasant. Plus, besides this, she is a very nice person. How to handle it without ruining my relationship with her? <Q> I think the best thing you can do is say " Sorry, I need to focus on what I am doing <S> so I don't mess it up. <S> Can we talk later? ". <S> This gets the point across without being too harsh and at the same time gives you the excuse to focus on work. <S> The other part of this is you have to ignore them and do your work from that point on. <S> It will be a pain in the beginning, but if you stick to the strategy, it will stop (or at the very least improve). <A> Yes at this one job I had a boss from another team who could talk on and on about things. <S> Otherwise a very nice person but just non stop talking. <S> The best thing to do is simply walk away. <S> What I started to do was get up and start walking. <S> Walk anywhere. <S> Don't have a purpose just walk away from your cube and wait <S> about a minute then say, "I have work to do, I'll catch up later." <S> And walk back to your cube. <S> That worked for me about 90% of the time. <S> The remaining 10% was an endurance test. <A> She talks constantly about anything and everything. <S> ... <S> I have made comments about "really needing to get things done" or "being way behind" and have even had earphones in: she just keeps going. <S> After explaining it to her keep looking at her while you wait for the information to be absorbed. <S> If you need to repeat what you said then so be it, she being such a nice person and all (you must keep it friendly if you work closely). <S> If it's clear that she can't understand what you're saying or ignores your protests and just keeps going then explain that you don't like to ignore her like she is doing to you <S> but if that's the only solution she has to offer <S> then you'll accept her idea. <S> [This is your idea, let's do that.] <S> Our store owner knows it is an issue and has spoken to her a few times in the past <S> but she is touchy about it <S> and she really doesn't know she is doing it. <S> Ask the owner to give her work that can't involve yakking to you, like calling the customer base. <S> Ask for an additional duty that gets you out of the office, deliveries, picking up supplies, etc. <S> then you get a certain break once in a while - that might be relieving. <S> [Ask her to hold stuff while she's interrupting your work, EG: You're watering the plants, thrust the watering can into her hands, walk to the next plant, retrieve the waterer or get her to do the next one - remove the reward from interacting with you]. <S> ... <S> often it's personal or just rehashing of work things. <S> She likes to retell stories again and again. <S> Say you dislike knowing personal details. <S> When something is a rehash remind her that she has explained that already and is taking away from the time needed to do what you were asked to do; was what you were told before unimportant ... <S> I work alone in the office with her everyday and do not want it to be unpleasant. <S> Plus, besides this, she is a very nice person. <S> Yes, but is she polite or needy, nice or annoying, bearable or overbearing, <S> Politeness Man (a polite nuisance)?
| In short: state that you are busy, go back to work, and ignore them.
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Can I email clients to let them know I’m leaving my position? I recently gave 2 weeks notice to my employer of 1.5 years. I work very closely with many clients and have built strong relationships with them. I emailed several of them letting them know I was leaving the position and that it has been a pleasure working with them. When my boss found out, she said that this was illegal. She claimed that I “stole client information”. Is this true? My email was non-soliciting and very professional. However, my boss is angry that I contacted clients personally and is now claiming I did something illegal. Any advice or thoughts? <Q> They are the company's clients not 'yours', <S> no matter how long you've been working with them. <S> It can be seen as personal use of a client list, which is a form of theft. <S> You need to apologize and not do it anymore. <S> If the company takes legal action then you should talk to a lawyer. <S> To you, it probably feels like you're just trying to say goodbye to people you've worked closely together with for a long time <S> but it can be viewed as solicitation. <S> By reaching out to these contacts, if you're giving them your contact details it implies you'd like to continue working with them, which is solicitation. <S> Even if you're not mentioning your contact details, it can be seen as you trying to stimulate them to ask for your contact information which is again solicitation. <S> In the future, should you find yourself in a similar position, you should always check with your employer how they'd like to handle the transfer, because this is (or at least should be) covered by company policy. <A> Telling them that you will be leaving, and giving them the name of a colleague as a new contact seems a reasonable thing to do. <S> Telling them that you will be leaving, and encouraging them to become customers of the new company you will be moving to is another matter. <A> I can't address legality <S> but I don't think it's good practice for you, as an individual, acting independently of your employer, to notify your employer's clients. <S> It's really up to the employer to decide the method, content, and timing of that message. <S> The relationship is theirs, not yours; especially now that you're leaving. <S> They have to maintain the relationship once you're gone, not you. <S> The transition is their business, not yours. <S> They very were <S> may want the email to come from you, but it shouldn't have come from you without their consent, and without including some sort of reference to the transition (ie "so-and-so is copied on this message and will be handling your relationship). <S> Even if you did not explicitly give them personal contact info or solicit their business at your new employer, it's pretty easy to see "hey I'm leaving!" and take it as a reason for them to follow up with you with respect to your new employer - especially since there wasn't an explicit hand off to someone else at your old employer to handle the account. <S> You've left it totally open ended, which is going to be problematic for your old employer. <S> Their clients are now in doubt and don't have a clear plan for going forwards. <S> All that said, I've had situations where I developed close, personal friendships with clients, and I spoke with them about changes in employment directly. <S> However, that was done through "friendship" channels (meeting them for dinner, a personal call to a personal phone number after the work day was over, etc), not through professional channels (email from my work account, phone call during the work day from my work phone). <S> If you don't know these clients well enough to be contacting them via personal channels after hours, you don't know them well enough to inform them of your departure without your employer's consent. <A> If you left your personal contact information then yes that is potentially bad for you, regardless of your true intentions. <S> The company - and courts - could see it that you are stealing clients and you may be in violation of any contract and/or laws. <S> Not only that if you contact those clients at your new job, regardless of intending to bring them to your new company, could put you and your new company in a heap of troubles. <S> Best to leave a memo like so: <S> Client A, I regret to inform you that I am departing from my current position to pursue new opportunities. <S> It has been a pleasure working with you. <S> Your new contact at company X is my colleague Z and his contact information is A, B, C, as well as CC'd on this email. <S> Thank you.
| It all depends on whether or not you were actually stealing clients. As an employee, it is not your place to tell clients you are leaving.
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OK to send Facebook message to potential employer after not hearing back? This startup was founded by graduates from my university. A year ago, I applied for a Deep Learning internship, but they rejected my application saying I don't have enough practical experience. They said they would consider me for a full-time position when I got the required experience. I have worked hard for the past year and I think I now have enough experience. I mailed them my CV and cover letter 10 days ago. One of the co-founders is friends with me on Facebook. My dilemma here is this: should I contact him on FB? Would this be appropriate? <Q> Contacting the company is a good idea. <S> Things may have fallen through the cracks, in which you following up will help, or they may be on the fence about you, in which case you following up will also help. <S> Contacting upper management is more sensitive. <S> How large is the company? <S> For a small (<15 person) company, this is maybe a good idea; for a very large company, maybe less so. <S> If you do contact them, make sure you indicate that you applied through the proper channels and are contacting them just to make sure that nothing falls through the cracks, as you weren't sure who is leading the search. <S> Contacting upper management through Facebook strikes me as unprofessional. <S> Things may be different in a young, start-up culture though. <A> Just inform him you applied. <S> Don't go into your experience or ask if he got your resume. <S> "Heads up <S> I mailed my resume to HR." <A> If he was your LinkedIn contact, I'd say go for it as LinkedIn is a professional networking group. <S> Unfortunately he's not, he's your Facebook "friend", and it doesn't sound like a very close friend at that. <S> While of-course there are exceptions, I tend to think of Facebook for your personal life, and LinkedIn is for your professional life. <S> I wouldn't mix work with pleasure. <S> But, feel free to email him at his work email and ask for a status update if you have any sort of "in" with him, and hopefully he would recognize your name in his inbox and give you a serious inquiry though.
| If he is your Friend on Facebook I don't see a problem. If you go this route, I would be very brief and simply say that you sent in your application, haven't heard back yet, and hope to be able to meet with him soon.
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How openly should transferring an underperformer from a team happen? I am a technical team lead. We have an under performer in the team (he joined one month ago, and is not picking up fast enough). We will most likely remove him from our team. What are the positive and negative sides of being transparent to other team members in the same project about the reasons for his removal from the perspective of keeping the team motivated? Remarks: This will not result in his direct termination, but he will be moved to another project None of the persons in the project is his line manager An HR person will be consulted regarding legal questions our rate of under performers is on the order of 10% More remarks after comments: At least one colleague in the team knows this already, and her input was a factor (about 20%) in our decision. I want her to know that the decision was made by us, not her. I told it to her and asked her to keep it confidential. I want to avoid the impression that people are sacked because they "don't get along with colleagues". It may seem like this to people in the team. We are consultants, so 1 month is maybe longer than it would be in other jobs (and his incompetence and/or lack of motivation are beyond my imagination) I am afraid that a part of the story will be communicated outside of my control (through customers) I want to make it clear to the team that we have objective criteria which have to to be met to remove somebody from a project My current planned approach: Do not make statements to the team about this person beyond that he was moved by his manager (which is a explanation which is always true). Ask the under-performer to be confidential about the reasons for his own sake. Make sure that the colleague involved understands the context, and ask her to be confidential for her own sake and her colleagues sake After 1 month, give a general presentation on which things are important and which are not for performance evaluations in the team meeting. <Q> What are the positive and negative sides of being transparent to other team members in the same project about the reasons for his removal from the perspective of keeping the team motivated? <S> Positives: <S> Nothing <S> Negatives: <S> Everything Don't publicly humiliate anyone. <S> Just don't do it. <S> Tarring and feathering anyone for any reason is not only unprofessional, but also unethical. <S> One of the worst things you could possibly do to another human being is violation of human dignity. <S> Moreover, no dignified person would "enjoy" this kind of public humiliation of another person, or in other words, they don't want this level of "transparency". <S> In addition, in the workplace context, public humiliation of an "underperforming" team member will intimidate other employees (because they now know what will happen to them if they too should underperform in future). <S> Just to drive home the point further, let me suggest you organize a send-off for him like you would for anyone else leaving the team with one important difference: everyone has to say bad things about the person leaving, and perhaps sign a card for him with some kind words on why he sucks. <S> You surely realize how absurd (and embarrassing) that sounds, and you can guess what your other team members will think of this idea. <S> Just don't do it. <S> Moving on, one month seems too short a time frame to conclude that a person is underperforming and needs to be kicked out. <S> All days are not equal, people go through highs and lows in both personal and professional life. <S> It could be an unfortunate coincidence that one of his lows occurred right after starting a new job. <S> Personally, I would give my "underperforming" team members a longer rope, and possibly work with them to bring them back on track. <S> Nonetheless, in case I forgot: Don't publicly humiliate anyone. <S> Just don't do it. <A> It should never happen. <S> A similar incident happened in my team a few years back and it created a army of hatred for that sacked employee. <S> Not everyone in the team had interaction with the sacked one and yet they started showing their hatred towards him. <S> They were opining with the TL. <S> It created ripples of negative connotation towards him that never stopped to subside. <S> It only showed how the team lead and the project manager misused their power. <S> The negative waves spread so fast that other PMs would purposely ask difficult questions which he couldn't answer and hence wouldn't be selected in any project. <S> Ripples can never be stopped. <S> Ultimately, he resigned from the company. <S> Don't be directly or indirectly responsible for one's resignation. <A> No, you should not talk to other team members about this specific case. <S> What you should do <S> : Make sure everyone understands what is expected of them, how they will be evaluated, and the consequences. <S> Development teams, often do work that affects everyone else, so they should know who isn't getting the job done already. <S> There shouldn't be any surprises. <S> Work out a strategy to prevent the hiring of people who are so poorly qualified to do the job. <S> The interview process is flawed. <S> Not all hires workout, but if you figured this one out in probably less than a month, someone made a huge mistake. <S> Hopefully, there aren't other problems with the management of this team.
| This will create a hostile work environment and even tarnish the company's reputation. To summarize: Don't publicly humiliate anyone.
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Employer Added Additional Job Responsibilities after I Accepted I recently accepted an offer for a senior leader position from a Fortune 500 company. After much deliberation I decided to accept the offer. A few days later I gave my employer at that time 2 weeks notice of my departure. After those two weeks I took a week of vacation to get my house in order since the new job required relocation. 72-hours before I started the new job I got a call from my new manager that there was a restructure going on, and he wanted to give me additional responsibilities because a senior leader had decided to leave the company, and instead of hiring a replacement for her, they thought they could save money by just combining her role with the role that I accepted. No pay increase. The manager asked if I'd be okay with that. Keep in mind, at this time I had already left old employer so I effectively had no job to support my family. I live in small-town America and there are zero opportunities in the town I live in. So when the manager asked if I'd be okay with the changes I said it sounded like a good opportunity, but didn't say yes. Later I texted him and asked if I was in a 'holding pattern' until a new offer could be arrangement in light of the doubling of the job responsibilities. He said that that wasn't necessary since the restructure was finalized and approved yet. I started the job the following week. Two days later they announced the org changes and my new (dual-hatted) role. I spoke with HR after the announcement was made. He said that the Compensation department thought that they overpaid for me, so they felt justified in doubling up my job responsibilities. Do I have legal recourse against this employer? Since the offer requires a relo there are clauses in the offer about paying back relo money and a sign-on bonus if I leave within two years. Are those clauses null and void since the role on the contract is significantly less than what they gave me 48 hours after I started? <Q> Unfortunately for you, yes your company can re-evaluate your position and add duties changes at the needs of the company responsibilities to your job. <S> In the case to be honest, I think your lucky to have a job at all with the restructure the company did. <S> In some cases, since you have no seniority with them, they could have just said goodbye to you and left you in an even worse position. <S> IANAL, but <S> I do not believe you will have any sort of legal recourse here as most states are right to work states and most times you can be let go altogether without reason. <S> I would work the job as is for 6 months and then evaluate your position. <S> This happens more frequently than you might think, but it still stinks none the less. <A> Essentially what you're looking for here is negotiating language . <S> I would give it a couple of weeks. <S> During that time, keep the issue "live" but without being a whiner. <S> Keep generating language like <S> "This dual-role is certainly a nice career challenge!" <S> "Holding up fine, but the dual-role is a lot of work, I may need an extra assistant, particularly for xyz issue." <S> Then, take the tack that it's simply too much workload for one manager <S> so a solution needs to be found . <S> Call a meeting and lead with ideas like .. <S> "It's definitely a challenge for one of me to take on this dual-role. <S> What should we do about this?" <S> "I'm concerned that anyone! can really perform well enough in this dual role. <S> I'm feeling ok but will definitely need some feedback from management." <S> You're a senior manager now, your role isn't to whine and ask for more money or ask for anything. <S> Your job is to be "part of the fabric", get everyone talking, ask questions, and develop a solution. <S> Note that it's perfectly possible <S> you'll have to move on to another company, if so just give yourself a few months enjoying the skills you are learning, and then do that. <S> Really it seems like a great opportunity to be a hero , and to be really proactive, taking ownership of the situation. <A> Before considering anything legal (You may want to update your question.) <S> , you need to focus on negotiating this situation. <S> Personally, I don't feel like this employer is acting in good faith <S> and you're already off to a bad start because of their actions. <S> Tell them you think they've done a " bait and switch . <S> " Everyone gets new responsibilities, but they're doubled yours. <S> It seems excessive, so review the list of responsibilities and see if any can be removed. <S> They may say no since somehow all of this is engraved in stone. <S> Next, ask how long this will last. <S> When will the next restructuring occur? <S> What will be the criteria to determine they've given you too much to do? <S> What are the consequences if you can't do two full-time jobs. <S> I think it is important for you to say things like "two full-time jobs" and "doubling the amount of work. <S> " How many hours a week do they expect you to work? <S> If they indicate that these aren't really two full-time jobs, then they let people for some time without doing enough work. <S> My guess is there are others at this company not pulling their weight <S> (this is not your assessment, but only a logical conclusion to this situation), so who can you utilize if things are too much? <S> For your own sanity, go through the list and try to see if you can drop the things you don't like to do. <S> Time is a factor, but I feel like I'd rather spend more time doing things I enjoy. <S> Nobody wants a headache, but getting rid of one feels pretty good.
| In short, your situation sucks , but its not unique in the USA by any stretch and to a point your lucky to have a job.
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How to have hiring manager still interested in candidate with impressive cover letter but weaker resume? I'm finishing up my freshman year in college, and have begun applying to various internship opportunities for the summer. Despite attending a very rigorous degree program, I still have less technical knowledge compared to upperclassmen from other universities. I won't name the company in question (but you've probably heard of it if you know anything about aerospace); however, suffice to say they expect very dedicated workers willing to forgo the work-life balance. While I most likely can't impress with my technical skills (technically, I do fit all the requirements in their application; but they seem suspiciously primitive), I think I can discuss my drive for success, with points such as skipping two years of high-school to get into college, approved to take two extra classes (one later-year class required an prerequisite override from the professor); something not usually permitted for freshmen, taking on two projects rather than the required one, studying and working on projects 80+ hrs/week, As in almost every class. These are points that reflect my work ethic, and I'd like to put at least some of them in my cover letter. However, I don't want the hiring manager to read an impressive cover letter, only to be disappointed (and potentially feel mislead ) to see that my technical skills are lesser compared to more experienced candidates when s/he looks over my resume. How should I mention these points in the cover letter without disappointing the hiring manager after s/he looks over my resume? <Q> I do not think any points you highlighted would "mislead" recruiter in anyway irrespective of level of your technical experience. <S> So I think you can include these points in your cover letter. <S> However, reading closely the points you have mentioned, you essentially have two major points to describe yourself. <S> High Aptitude <S> (Jumping grades in school and allowed to take multipleclasses) <S> Hard working ability (worked 80+ hours, multiple projects, etc). <S> So I think to keep your cover letter succinct, you can broadly talk about your aptitude and hard-work and mention other points as evidence. <S> Also, consider putting some of these points in your resume as well. <S> (Sometimes recruiter may skip cover letter completely). <A> Some of the points you mentioned are usually best emphasised on the resume rather than the cover letter. <S> To try to cover the points as you listed them: <S> skipping two years of high-school to get into college, <S> As you are new to the workplace, it would not be unusual (at least here in the UK) to mention your High School as well as some notable grades from your final-year classes. <S> At this point, you can mention you attended the school from "2015 to 2017" for instance. <S> If your employer is from the same area, they may take note of this. <S> If they ask you about the dates listed at a later time, this is when you can emphasise that you were able to skip two years without it coming off as bragging too much. <S> approved to take two extra classes (one later-year class required an prerequisite override from the professor); something not usually permitted for freshmen, If you are listing the various classes you took as part of your course, you can make a sub-section of classes with a title like "additional classes, approved by the faculty (see references)" . <S> Again, this can draw attention to the extra work you put in. <S> From your background, I assume you will have a college professor as a referee? <S> They can back this up too. <S> taking on two projects rather than the required one, Again, in describing these projects, you can emphasise a "main project" and "elective / optional / secondary project" or however you think is best to label them. <S> studying and working on projects 80+ hrs/week, Some employers may ask why you had to put in so much time for studying and project work if you mention this. <S> Was it because you were struggling, or did you just really, really like the class? <S> Be prepared with an answer to that. <S> There will be other ways this can be worded. <S> For instance, in your cover letter, you can talk about experience of working in "high-intensity environments" or "always meeting tight deadlines". <S> Something that will convey that you are a hard worker because you want to rather than just because you needed to be. <S> These, combined with your other resume additions, should not mislead anyone. <S> Curiously, my first job out of uni was with an aerospace company and going along these guidelines <S> probably helped secure the interview. <A> Adding an answer based on my comments above at the suggestion of @Fine Man: <S> How should I mention these points in the cover letter without disappointing the hiring manager after s/ <S> he looks over my resume? <S> In order to answer this question, you need to understand what constitutes "disappointing (a) hiring manager. <S> " You're focusing on what you're calling "work ethic" and technical skills. <S> Both are important but shouldn't be the sole focus of either the resume or the cover letter. <S> It's easy to find a grad with good grades, high energy drive, and an impressive list of classes. <S> What is difficult is finding a grad who can actually execute (to completion) on sometimes poorly defined, messy real world problems. <S> There's a subtle difference between working really hard all the time and accomplishing something . <S> When you're pursuing a professional position, you don't want to come across as a robot who can pump out as much as possible - what matters is showing the result of what you're pumping out. <S> You list these as your accomplishments: <S> skipping two years of high-school to get into college, <S> approved to take two extra classes (one later-year class required an prerequisite override from the professor); something not usually permitted for freshmen, taking on two projects rather than the required one, studying and working on projects 80+ hrs/week, <S> As in almost every class. <S> You're describing how much of a machine you are. <S> Instead, focus on the output you created! <S> For instance, instead of studying 80 hours per week, describe what you learned. <S> Describe the projects you finished and the difference they made. <S> Describe the research you did and what you learned, and why you were interested in that subject. <S> Get to your motivations and the output you created. <S> I realize that, as a freshman, you may not have a long list of stories to tell. <S> That's likely okay, since you're applying for an internship and not an experienced position - but if you really focus on it, I'm sure you'll come up with plenty.
| You can, for example, just mention or highlight the fact that you enrolled into college earlier than usual. You need to be deliberate about what you're pumping out, and show it has value.
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How to tell a coworker what to do? There is a person at work who has been in the company for almost 5 months. She was trained by other people. The problem is, she is very lazy. She never offers to help me and she often works on trivial, easy tasks when there are more pressing issues. We were supposed to work as a team but I feel like I am doing everything myself. I tried swapping position with her for a week so that she could understand how hard my job is, but to no avail. I am used to working alone or with someone who is competent. My supervisor wants me to deal with it; I think she was telling me to be rude if necessary. I am not the kind of person to do that well (e.g., I am not a native English speaker), and I really don't want to make the workplace uncomfortable. It is very hard for me to be passive aggressive, etc. Is there a way to deal with this kind of situation? I lack leadership, I know that, but I am not sure how to be a leader without looking like a jerk. Maybe I should just be this jerk, and be mad, and tell her to do her job right. <Q> Tell her you are relaying the instructions from the boss. <S> Make sure she understands what to do and is capable of doing it. <S> If she doesn't do it, ask her why. <S> Let her know it is your job to report her status back to the boss. <S> Do not do her work. <S> Make sure you get your work done. <S> Teachers have to be willing to let students fail. <S> It is part of learning. <S> Your boss will have to decide what to do if she doesn't get things done. <S> He seems to think you can just yell at her or be firm <S> and she'll comply. <S> He is managing in the wrong century. <A> Is there a way to deal with this kind of situation? <S> If you are specifically asking to deal with the literal situation in your title, "How to tell a coworker what to do?" <S> then it really just boils down to doing legwork as others have indicated (make sure your mandate from your boss is clear, making sure the other employee understands that, etc.) <S> and then addressing the specific problems in the work she is producing. <S> But I don't think that's the most effective approach. <S> If you're really asking, "what do I do when someone else isn't doing their fair share of the work?" <S> Or, "How do I change a coworker's work ethic? <S> " <S> then I would suggest you turn the question around and focus on yourself. <S> Changing other people is hard. <S> You state that your coworker is lazy. <S> If you try to "fix" that, as a peer, even with a supervisor's approval, you're right - <S> it's just going to make everything awkward. <S> And you're probably not going to make her any less lazy. <S> Why does this person's laziness bother you? <S> Do you have a clear understanding of what your workload is? <S> Does your boss understand your performance? <S> Are you satisfied with your own career development and the results of your own effort? <S> Make sure you're addressing your own problem, not your coworker's problem. <S> When you go to your boss, "my coworker is lazy" is a very different problem from "I have too much on my plate <S> , can you help me understand my priorities?" <S> You've made it known to your boss that your coworker doesn't pull their weight. <S> " <S> My supervisor wants me to deal with it" sounds to me more like <S> your supervisor wants you to stop complaining about your coworker, rather than a specific mandate that your supervisor wants you to fix your coworker. <S> To get back to your question <S> : Is there a way to deal with this kind of situation? <S> Focus on your own improvement and your own workload, and work with your boss to address your coworker's impact on you, versus trying to fix your coworker. <A> If your boss has appointed you to delegate tasks to her, you need to do as you're told. <S> Don't be passive aggressive, be authoritative. <S> I know you're working [easy/unimportant task] <S> but we really need to deliver [more important task]. <S> I'd like you to switch gears and focus on this. <S> Let me know if you have any questions or need help <S> These tasks are now owned by her. <S> If she doesn't complete them, then the failure is her's and not your's. <A> Even with the discussion in the comments, this line is a little unclear: <S> My supervisor wants me to deal with it <S> Does she really? <S> If your supervisor is serious about you handling this , then you need to do so. <S> I would Ask the supervisor to tell your co-worker that you are in charge <S> Clarify <S> what sort of recourse you have if she does not comply (can you send her home, fire her, etc.). <S> It's likely this person will eventually need to be fired, so you should clarify what steps have to happen before she can be fired. <S> Sit down with this person and tell her your expectations. <S> You can be friendly, but be very clear. <S> If she refuses to follow your instructions, use whatever recourse you have. <S> Or, your supervisor may be saying "handle it" as in "don't bother me." <S> In this case, I think you should make your supervisor aware of the situation -- I would draft a memo (you may need someone to help you with the writing) where you say something like: "Here is a list of what I did last night: [blah]. <S> Here is a list of what coworker did last night: [blah]. <S> This happens every night. <S> I wanted to document this so that I will not be blamed when things get missed. <S> Please let me know how you wish to proceed. <S> " <S> Then I would just do your work and ignore the coworker as much as possible.
| If a coworker's bad habits are causing problems for you, you need to address those problems yourself, with your boss. - explicitly order her to do what you want her to do, and don't be mad at her for not doing things you haven't clearly asked her to do. Don't expect her to offer to help you You can't really blame her for being "lazy" or choosing to work on easy tasks if there's no one telling her otherwise.
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Attach resume to interview thank-you? I'm sending email thank-you's to the hiring committee who interviewed me yesterday. I've read a couple of places online that suggest attaching my resume to these emails. Does that really make sense? Presumably the people on the committee already have my resume, so what's the point of sending it to them again? <Q> Speaking as an interviewer, I barely want the thank you email. <S> I know you want the job. <S> I know you're pleased we're considering you. <S> You came in for an interview. <S> Presumably you told me at the end of the interview that you want the job and are confident you're a terrific fit for it. <S> If you simply must send me a thank you note then please: do not send an entirely generic one that could apply to any interview <S> do not send me information I already have, requiring me to use some time to see if it is the same as before do include something that is both specific and useful <S> "I really enjoyed the tour of the lab" is specific, but doesn't tell me why to hire you. <S> Same for appreciating thoughtfulness, friendliness, technical skills etc of the interviewers <S> "I was excited to learn more about your plans for X" is better <S> "I was excited to learn more about your plans for X, because I would really like to focus on X in the near future" is both specific and useful " <S> I was delighted to learn that you need my A and B skills <S> and I would be able to work on C and D" is also specific and useful. <S> Don't be too <S> sales-y here <S> (just "my skills" not "my world-leading skills" or "my outstanding skills"), but a one sentence summary of the interview can help me. <S> you can include any extra information, but it should be specific and relevant, and you must clearly label it. <S> For example "here are links to my blog posts about A and B that I mentioned in the interview." <S> Focus on not wasting the time of someone who has a lot to do besides hiring you. <S> They are back at their desk thinking "ok, I have to sort through all those interview notes and come up with some sort of decision, but first I need to deal with the 50 emails I got yesterday while I was interviewing" and in comes one from you with attachments that they already have, no new information, just "wanted to let you know <S> I still want the job!" -- that sort of thing is likely to reduce your chances, not increase them. <A> All the thank you letters are for is to follow-up promptly. <S> They are a way that suggest your interest. <S> A thank you note is your opportunity to get your name in front of people one last time and leave a positive impression. <S> Attaching resume save them of the time needed to search for your resume and directly have a look at who you really are. <S> Because they might have interviewed quiet a few candidates so chances are less that they have resumes in hand. <S> So you save them of scuffle to look for. <A> EDIT <S> After my post the OP has mentioned in comment that they are USA based and the practice of sending " <S> Thank You" emails seems more common there. <S> I'll leave my answer unmodified for general use. <S> I would, however, leave the resume off the email regardless. <S> It's not going to help at this stage. <S> I'm sending email thank- <S> you's to the hiring committee who interviewed me yesterday. <S> I would not and never have. <S> When people interview you, they also have sifted through a lot of other stuff to get to you and the other interviewees. <S> My experience is that they're typically sick to death of interviewees by the end of this. <S> So when they get it it's a 50-50 chance that they'll consider it a sign <S> you're too pushy or arrogant or impatient. <S> It's not necessarily going to get you any advantage. <S> This would be something I'd only do if it was a cultural thing where you are (and they are). <S> And if it's not the cultural norm for them <S> they may even consider you are trying to "cheat" <S> - you had an interview, why should they give you another look when the other candidates may not have the same chance ? <S> I've read a couple of places online that suggest attaching my resume to these emails. <S> Does that really make sense? <S> Presumably the people on the committee already have my resume, so what's the point of sending it to them again? <S> None. <S> But it might irritate them. <S> The time to plant yourself in their minds was the interview. <S> Anything after that is too little, too late.
| OK, they might want to refresh their memories, but then again if they don't already have you in their minds after the interview, your resume is not going to make any difference at this stage.
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How to stop nicknames from being used? A while ago I made a Photoshopped image of myself, making fun of the fact that I look like Stretch Armstrong.My coworkers have now seen this image and bestowed the nickname "Stretch" on me, which I don't like. It's been a few weeks and it hasn't died down. I'm a bit disturbed by getting this nickname and am also concerned that it could affect an upcoming chance at a promotion. I do not want to bring HR or any other management into this as I am very sure it would bring distrust into our area (we're not really a big company). How can I use my influence to get others to call each other by their real name and not by stupid nicknames without hurting morale or pointing fingers? <Q> How can I use my influence to get others to call each other by their real name and not by stupid nicknames without hurting morale or pointing fingers? <S> I think in this case the answer is <S> you don't . <S> " Stretch " is actually a semi-cool nickname that I would suggest you deal with. <S> If it were legitimately offensive I would have a different opinion here, but in this case it is not. <S> As you mentioned your alternatives are limited, and in this case you definitely do not want to go to HR , especially if you are up for a promotion. <S> If people call you by your nickname it normally means you are well liked, so turn what you initially perceived as a negative into a positive . <S> Note : <S> The OP provided the nickname in the original version of the question, " stretch ". <S> You can apply this answer to any good-natured, non offensive nick name. <S> I realize there is a bit of gray area here, so use your own judgement. <A> How people prefer to be addressed is largely up to the individual in a friendly workplace. <S> Unless they are using offensive words in the workplace - where even if it does not offend them, it could be unpleasant or taken out of context by others - there is little you can do. <S> For your own nickname however, your objection should be emphasised as soon as possible, politely but firmly. <S> Any time it comes up in conversation, before saying anything else, just say <S> "I'm not fond of the 'Stretch' name, can you please just call me..." <S> whatever your name really is <S> (I assume it's not CostcoHotdogs...). <S> If they try to laugh it off, again be firm but polite, <S> "It was funny at first <S> but it really bothers me. <S> Can you please just call me by InsertNameHere. <S> I'm asking everyone to do this." <S> This will make sure nobody interprets your insistence as a personal telling-off and prevents you from having to exercise your authority over them. <S> You're asking them as an equal here. <S> When it comes to individuals using nicknames among each other, there is little you can do here without sounding like <S> you're managing with an iron fist. <S> Insistence that everyone use their proper names, even when you're not around will not likely go down well and may create a greater rift in your team. <S> The best you could probably do is bring it up in a circumstance when using real names is professionally and courteously more important, such as if you are introducing new starts, interviewing candidates or having clients visit the office. <S> Oh, and it should hopefully go without saying, make sure to avoid any references to Stretch Armstrong. <S> Be it a day or year down the line, try not to let anyone be reminded of the resemblance... <S> I've seen it happen where this can cause a previously buried nickname to resurface! <A> Them: "Stretch!" <S> You: "OK, if we could just stick with Mark, that's what I would prefer. <S> I'm not trying to be difficult, I'm just trying to be Mark." <A> From what you say, it doesn't seem like your co-workers are out to ridicule and humiliate you, but rather just to have fun with the mental image left over after seeing the slide. <S> This sounds good-natured and normal to me. <S> When someone pokes fun at you, but they aren't bullying you, you should consider it a sort of teasing at worst, and a rite of passage into the group at best. <S> You would be well-advised to go along with it, and try to be a good sport about it. <S> Really, unless it's a term you absolutely hate, or which is clearly intended to insult you, demean you, or hold you back, you should try to look at it as your official badge with the group, your personal team jersey. <S> Basically, accepting their nickname makes you one of them. <S> Indeed, you would be well-advised not just to accept the nickname, but to own it. <S> Be proud of it, treat it as a gift. <S> Go on Amazon and find someone selling a Stretch Armstrong doll and put it on a shelf next to your desk. <S> Tell people the Lilliputians built it in your honor. <S> Weave a grand silly story about your new identity. <S> (Or, y'know, whatever's appropriate for your actual workplace.) <S> Make it yours. <S> Being proud is far more appealing to others than being embarrassed. <S> You got some lemons, but those are good lemons for making lemonade, buddy. :) <A> I don't know if this will work <S> but you could try the following. <S> Ignore that nickname. <S> If someone says something like: "Stretch, can you come over here. <S> " just ignore it. <S> Edit to clarify this <S> : I think the OP should ignore it in a way that he does not go over there. <S> The same way as if someone would say: "Peter, can you come over here.". <S> He is not Peter and he is not Stretch <S> so why should he react? <S> I am sure if he does that a couple of times then people will use his real name again. <S> You are not this person Stretch. <S> If people want to talk with you or about you they should use your real name or a nickname of your choice. <S> People who like or respect you should change their behavior. <S> And the people who just follow what everybody else is doing should also get the message (maybe a little later)
| Make sure people understand that you don't like to be called by that nickname. Lighten up a bit , and enjoy having a cool nickname. The longer you appear to tolerate it or stay silent about it, the more the nickname is likely to spread.
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How to handle a bully developer? I find myself stuck in an uncomfortable position at work. There is a developer who is well regarded by management and other devs. For some reason he has developed some animosity towards me and will block my diffs suggesting many unnecessary changes, not providing all the feedback upfront, giving unjustified negative feedback to my manager on my code quality etc. He doesn't do this to other people. We are both senior developers at same level but I have recently switched domains to the area where he has more experience and social capital in the company. When I bring this up to my manager I feel that even though he can see I have a point and the difficulty I am having, he is mostly expecting me to somehow sort out the matter with him. How should I handle this situation? <Q> I'm confused as to what you mean by- <S> block my diffs suggesting many unnecessary changes <S> Code review is a dialog, not a unilateral process. <S> If he brings up something in code review and says "why have you done it this way? <S> " then it's up to you to justify your reasoning. <S> If you can't justify it effectively then it may well be that he has a point? <S> An example: <S> Bully: <S> Why did you pick the colour red for this error message? <S> I think we should implement an arbitrary colour picker for error messages so that the user can pick their favourite colour. <S> You: <S> That feature wasn't in the design spec, and the client hasn't asked for it. <S> The scope for this issue was "display an error message to the user when X happens". <S> Bully: <S> Add it in now or I won't accept the PR. <S> You: <S> OK, well it's a business decision for [person who makes decisions], we'll put this on hold for now until we have an answer. <S> You've done your job, completed the task to the specifications- <S> and importantly you haven't been combative. <S> The delay in this situation is the "bully"'s insistence on his ideas being implemented, and not a bickering match or your refusal to do the work. <S> If the business decides that they simply must have an arbitrary colour picker then it becomes your job to implement that as well, no matter how daft it may seem. <A> Be more pedantic with your work until any complaints come across as petty. <S> Answer any queries on your work professionally and calmly. <S> Eventually you prove your worth and he has no ammo and any shots he takes <S> make him look childish or jealous. <S> This isn't a major problem yet <S> , it's just a person with a grudge for some reason, probably trying to look superior. <S> Be the better professional. <S> Good managers are aware that issues like this arise when new staff move in and take it into account. <S> Since you haven't been reprimanded I assume your manager isn't worried. <A> Maybe this person is (a lot) <S> more qualified then <S> you and <S> maybe he has important messages to you what you should do and how you should do it. <S> The fact that he is well regarded by the management and other developers is a sign that maybe he is not the problem here.
| If he really is suggesting large unnecessary changes then just elevate the decision to your manager, it's the company's time that's being wasted not yours so they're the ones that ultimately get to make the decision. Talk to the guy and ask him why he does what he does and listen to him.
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How can I prevent employer from making a significant investment in me since I may leave the job soon? I left my previous employer for a new company half-mindedly, mostly because I couldn't find a better opportunity. After working for just 1 month, I have interviewed for another company. The interview went well and I feel there are good chances I might get the job. However, I expect the results will take around a month. I find this job much more aligned with my interests. Meanwhile, my current company is on the verge of making a significant monetary investment on me in the form of trainings abroad. What is an ethical way to inform my employer of the possibility that I might leave? Should I inform my manager before hand about the opportunity I may get, and that he should postpone the trainings? If I don't get the new job, will it be a threat to my current job? EDIT : As pointed out correctly, my company might get hit by a bus if I leave. There will be no loss in terms of loss of expertise, as I am new to the company, but only a financial loss because it is not usual for my company to send people abroad for trainings because of the costs involved. I was hired with the understanding that I would stay for a substantial duration, and I might go back on my word. <Q> That one might leave is the assumed risk every employer takes with every one of his employees, since slavery has ended. <S> This is just the entrepreneurial risk your employer has to take to get the benefit profiting from your work. <S> You have no obligation to anything other than agreed upon in your work-contract. <S> You should never volunteer information that could potentially harm your interest. <S> You employer usually will not ask whats ethical <S> but whats legal and efficient to him. <S> If your employer knows you are thinking about leaving, this will not be beneficial to you. <S> He will not invest in you any more and he will probably fire you to free up the position for somebody they think they can count on. <S> That said, watch carefully: How long is your notice period? <S> Are you obliged to pay back some of the investment they made in you, if your leave before a certain time? <S> The upside is this may give you a better reputation which may be important in small towns or nice industries. <S> You have to weight the benefit of that reputation against the (possible) loss of income. <A> While I agree with @Daniel on the nature of the business relationship between you and your employer, there is some grace you can show in situations like this. <S> I don't mean doing something against your best interest, such as telling them you're interviewing for another company. <S> But don't go all out and completely burn the bridges by going to the training either. <S> It might be in your long-term best interest to not do so as well. <S> You never know when you'll meet the people here in another context. <S> You can say something generic such as needing a bit of time before the training for personal reasons. <S> But in general companies should be flexible with these things, and they shouldn't pry into why you can't travel right now for business. <S> This might mean also pushing the new company to hurry up their process. <S> I'd say 1 month is a bit much for a recruitment process. <A> Even if you don't get fired you will go to the bottom of the list for training, long project, and promotion. <S> You are announcing you don't intend to stay. <S> An idea. <S> Tell them: For personal reasons I would like to delay the training until xx. <S> If that is not an option I can attend. <S> I prefer to delay if it is convenient for you. <S> If they reply you need to attend now <S> and you later quit you can tell them that was the personal reason for wanting to delay.
| So I'd say try to find a way to postpone the training until you're 100% sure of the new job happening or not happening. Addendum: You can of course disclose your plans as an act of fairness - but be prepared to be out of a job immediately.
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How can I approach my boss about working on a low priority task? I am currently working on Task A, which is currently estimated to end in 2 months.There are five other tasks in pipeline: B, C, D, E and F. Task F is something I care very much about, because it is related to my previous work in the company. However, it is the least important one to my boss. I am planning to work after office hours and in weekend (unpaid) to complete task F. How can I properly approach my boss about working on a low priority task? <Q> I would go and ask my manager: <S> I am interested in Task F <S> but it has low priority at the moment, can I commit one hour daily to work on it? <S> If he says no because of the low priority, I would follow up with: <S> Can I work on it in my own time? <S> Lunch, weekend, after working hours? <S> This way you are transparent, expressing interests and/but "following orders". <S> See what he says and good luck! <A> It is not unethical (to most people). <S> The more important question is would it be appreciated. <S> That would depend on your boss. <S> Some would think hey I got F for free. <S> Others may think not so sure A did not suffer here. <S> I would explore F and be sure you can do it in the free time you allot yourself. <S> If you are pretty sure you can get it done then ask your boss if you can work on it outside of work hours. <S> Tell him F is of interest to you. <A> If you have to ask the question trying to get around the rule, you already know what the answer is. <S> However, it is not unethical to make that proposal to do the work extra hours on the task. <S> If it really is just a matter of priority then getting that permission should be as simple as asking. <S> It is also possible that it was put in the priority queue where it was because their are <S> decisions to be made about the task, and putting the task at the bottom of the pile was easier than making those decisions. <S> In that case your manager may not want you working on the project. <A> A boss should be pleased that there is any aspect of your job that you would want to do in your free time. <S> Only a fool would discourage you from doing it. <S> Obviously, he may give the other tasks more priority and want those completed first, but when people do things they like, they feel better. <S> It should only help this project in the long-term. <S> An exception could be if this task is so far down the line in priority that it may get removed from the project. <S> Your boss should let you know that. <S> If it is going to upset you that this could be removed, he may suggest you don't do it. <S> Even though you're doing it on free time, it will still need to possibly be integrated in to the project and continuously supported in the future. <S> There may not be enough resources to maintain it. <A> I'd say it's not strictly unethical, but as you say it might give a bad impression to your boss, <S> then why risk? <S> Also, doing company work on your free time is not necessarily advisable, as it may harm productivity during work hours. <S> A good thing to do would be to discuss your proposition with the boss, and see what feedback you get. <S> You can also put it as a form of exercise, that you will have to manage yourself and possibly bill for it (as overtime hours). <A> Take this as an opportunity to show initiative and interest, instead of being afraid of upsetting your boss. <S> Make it clear that you already understand and follow the priority he has set, but that you think you can add value by solving F without impacting his priorities and F is a subject that you're already knowledgeable about. <S> It's fine to mention that you're personally interested, but I would also make sure there's a clear value-add for the employer, in order to give him incentive beyond just letting you work on a pet project of yours.
| If you want to do work out of order you should get managements approval first. Explain to him that you'd like to work on F (in your free time, if that's acceptable in the culture of your employer - otherwise, during a small percentage of the normal work day).
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Career Interest and Opportunities I am in the Top of my career. I am a nutritionist with ~30+ years of experience. I am currently in a management position where I am comfortable and feel that I learn every day and stay abreast in the field. My company now has added an interview process where each director should have one on one meetings with their manager and ask about career interest and opportunities. How can I answer the question in a general way without being specific? I feel that I want to keep my position the way it is. I don't feel the need to go further, I am very comfortable in this position until I retire. <Q> I think the important thing here is that career interest and opportunities does not have to mean climbing the corporate ladder in the literal sense of advancing to positions with more and more responsibility. <S> To put it a different way, Development within a specific individual contributor position is a totally viable form of career development. <S> You mentioned yourself that you're already doing this. <S> Are there journals you read? <S> Continuing education opportunities you pursue? <S> How do you stay on top of new advances? <S> You mentioned you're a nutritionist. <S> I'm sure there's new research released all the time which could help you improve your skills. <S> If your employer wants a formal "career interest plan" there's no reason why you can't include these things in it. <S> Besides improving yourself, you have the opportunity to improve others. <S> You mentioned you are in a management position. <S> Are you mentoring and leading those who report to you? <S> Is there an opportunity to participate in leadership development programs within your employer? <S> If not, what about external opportunities? <S> It's always possible to get better at managing your direct reports. <S> With the years of experience you have, you're a valuable asset for those who are less experienced. <S> Now is the time to develop your mentoring and knowledge transfer skills, and that can be part of a "career interest" plan. <A> I think you need to balance the idea that you are happy where you're at <S> and you're not interested in a promotion or change with what your boss may see as a benefit to the company if you move up. <S> Focus on how much you enjoy it along with learning new things. <S> You don't want to sound complacent. <S> I wouldn't even mention retirement. <S> Just be prepared to respond to your boss in this meeting. <S> He may want to offer you a better opportunity for your benefit or he may need you to take on more responsibilities for his/company's benefit. <S> The more he does it for you, the more you can say you're happy where you're at. <S> He may think you're not a team player. <A> Emphasize how well you're doing in your own role. <S> How effective you are doing your job and how well your team works with you (and those beneath for for you). <S> If you're asked for how you'd like to progress, deflect the question away from you and seek to improve the careers of those around you so that you're more supported in your own role and benefits the company even more. <S> These interviews want you to appear selfish in wanting self-advancement. <S> You can spin this into moving things around your to suit yourself.
| Pitch yourself as being important to the company right where you are and highlight the benefits this presents. Growing and learning (developing your career) can happen totally independently of changing titles and climbing the ladder. Don't give the impression you're going to stand too firm.
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Ex-employer is offering a "compensation package" for some basic things like no ill talking the company but also my password. What do? So, I thought I hit the jackpot and was offered a full time and salaried position with a software company. This position was more customer focused with some back end responsibilities. I essentially took care of the support queue for local and external tickets and maintained current systems. I was hired for X, Y, and Z and I was capable of doing them. They had short and long term plans to bring new technology into the mix which was exciting. It would mean I would have to learn new things but I don't mind that at all. It was a fun job for quite some time. Things started to rapidly slow down about a month after I started. The work for me was so simple that it took me an hour to accomplish even though they gave me a week. I came up with a few ideas for some projects since I needed something to do and I got the manager's approval. This involved setting up hosted instances of bug tracking software, creating troubleshooting media, etc. But I kept running into issue after issue. They were using vastly outdated software, no one had any idea what systems were actually running in the background, and management seemed unaware of the work it takes to go from a 10+ year old piece of software to a modern one. Wall after wall caused me to slow down and lose motivation. During the time they kept dumping more work onto me (which I did ask for, to be fair) but this work required tech I didn't know how to use and wasn't required to be known from the job description. I was essentially self teaching myself how to use AWS and similar packages. As you can imagine, this certainly drained a lot of my time and them asking me to get X amount of servers on AWS that can do U, V, W, X, Y, and Z with each other wasn't an easy task. Most of the work came to a crawl and I explained to them that I had to learn everything before I dove head in. They seemed to be understand but called me into a meeting and told me that it was my last day. I didn't really say anything. Boss helped me gather my stuff and offered condolences. Told me they needed someone who could work faster and they would have to reevaluate what they are looking for. I got my last paycheck and everything seemed to be OK. Told me he would help me network if needed and I should ask for help if I wanted it. We shook hands and went our ways. He texted me later asking for my Jira Site Admin Credentials and then my local laptop password. I found the text a few days after he sent it since I had a family emergency to attend to. I noticed a follow up text telling me they bypassed Jira but still needed my local laptop password. Now, that makes me highly uncomfortable. I don't know exactly how to respond so I decided to wait on a reply and ask some friends. I got a letter in the mail from my employer (signed delivery) offering me a compensation package with some conditions. It says I can't do basic things like defame the company, harass the employees, etc. Stuff I am OK with agreeing to and stuff I never planned on doing. But I noticed a weird clause in the middle of the document stating I would have to relinquish my local computer password to them and won't be getting any compensation without it. Is this normal practice? I'm confused and a bit worried on why they need my password so much. I don't think they're able to get into the laptop but can easily wipe it for the next person without a password. What reason do they need my password for? Should I give it to them? <Q> Sign nothing before you speak to a lawyer. <S> Think SERIOUSLY before revealing any passwords. <S> By giving them your password, you allow them to put your footprint on the system and could cast blame and even liability your way. <S> Given that they're offering money, they must have had a major OH CRAP! <S> moment. <S> What they're asking isn't particularly unusual, but it is unusual enough to warrant going to a lawyer and discussing your options. <S> Something is very odd too about the way they're doing this in promising a bonus if you agree to their terms. <S> This raises a bunch of red flags. <S> See a lawyer and discuss your options. <A> Is this normal practice? <S> This is normal in the sense that nothing on your work laptop is normally private, but it's abnormal in that the vast majority of companies have ways to access your work laptop without needing your password. <S> What reason do they need my password for? <S> Should I give it to them? <S> I can't account for any special reasons you might have for not wanting to give it to them, but there are normal reasons they might want it. <S> For example, they might've messed up their licensing and have paid for software that can only be used on that computer and could be lost if they wiped it, or they might want to recover data from something on that computer. <S> These seem extra likely here because it seems like the IT department at this company dropped the ball a bit. <S> Other things to consider <S> If you have personal data you want to remove from the computer (saved passwords, etc.) <S> then you could discuss that with them before giving them the password, and you might be able to reach an agreement where you still get the money (companies are usually really touchy about this and you might have to be supervised). <A> Obviously you setup a quite a few things and they don't understand them. <S> They think your computer might be of some help, or a lot of help it seems. <S> So they want your password so they can login. <S> Downside is that you probably had a number of saved passwords there including personal email, google profiles, personal AWS. <S> It seems like a no sign to me. <S> You could potentially offer to help them with some particular account access or something, but the computer access is too much of a blank check IMO.
| If you used a common password that you don't want them to know, then you could ask them if you could change it to something you aren't using for other accounts and then give them that new password.
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Demanding time for continuous delivery as condition of taking job I have been asked to interview as a software developer at an e-commerce company. As I am very interested in test automation and continuous integration / continuous delivery I have set systems up for this at both my current and previous company, with partial success. The new company doesn't currently have any test automation, which is something of a red flag to me. However in the initial phone interview I was assured that this is something that the company would wanted and it wouldn't be a problem for me to act as a strong advocate for CI/CD and XP technical practices if I was to be offered and take the job. This question is about how I could protect myself from the risk of having to work in software team without these thing, where there never quite seems to the the time to set them up. During the interview, would it be a good idea to ask the management to make a written statement like the following and circulate it within the company as a condition of me taking the job: Company **** recognises the importance of test automation as part of a continuous integration / continuous delivery process to get software features to market in a timely and reliable manner. We also recognise that it is a problem that our software is not currently able to test itself. Therefore, we encourage each in house developer to work on building and improving test automation and software delivery systems, to the extent that they feel their doing such work is in the interest of the company. The company undertakes not restrict the time any developer may spend on such work to less than 20% of their working hours in each week between now and April 2019. This applies to current developers and any who join the company during this period. <Q> There's a big difference between "we're OK with you being an advocate for CI/CD", and "we're hiring you to implement CI/CD for us". <S> I don't think your proposed statement bridges that gap. <S> It's just another memo, easily ignored in a month or two as other issues take priority. <S> Perhaps a better idea would be to ask management what explicit steps they have taken or have planned and budgeted to take in the next 3 months to make this happen. <S> Actions speak louder than words. <A> Writing tests, like writing and maintaining any code, costs money. <S> Allocation of resources is a business decision informed by technical considerations. <S> I was assured that this is something that the company would wanted and it wouldn't be a problem for me to act as a strong advocate for CI/CD Translation: they have heard that not having automated tests is bad, but they have so far been unable to get buy-in to allocate developer time as part of regular feature development. <S> Building that case to management will be your job if you're hired. <S> It is not an invitation to dictate company policy as a condition of your employment. <S> (Note that I certainly think having automated tests is a good thing.) <A> You likely won't have any leverage to demand these things, or force commitment from the management, unless you are going to be technical lead, some kind of manager or executive. <S> And even then it could be a long shot. <S> Changing processes is often a strategic decision and the company likely want to hire a developer instead of somebody to oversee process change. <S> However you might have a opportunity to influence things. <S> Start by identifying the most critical parts of the solution which would benefit the most from automated tests. <S> Identify those parts in deployment process which could be improved significantly by using CI/CD. <S> The goal eventually could be to have 100% coverage, but realistically speaking that is extremely rarely achieved. <S> But if you can show that the company would save money, have fewer bugs, improve customer satisfaction, free up resources etc by taking even these smalls steps, your personal interest would align with business interests of the company. <S> If this is well received, you could try to agree on some x hours per week/month you could dedicate for this cause.
| If the company is serious about wanting automated tests and CI/CD, you could work out a plan with your future boss.
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If they've scheduled me for a day I asked for off, is it unreasonable to ask for them to change it? I'm 16 and this is one of my first jobs, and I've been there for just under a year. I've never been late and always been commended on my customer service.Thursday nights at the store are late night, and because my boss hasn't hired anyone else and people have been slowly leaving we only have 3 people. We need two people per shift and on Thursdays that means someone needs to take the morning AND night shift. I asked about 2 months ago to stop receiving the double shift, although I did say that I'm fine to do it until he finds someone else. About 1 month ago to have my birthday off - it's on a Thursday which is why I gave so much notice. Well I asked him a couple of times to make sure it's okay and he was really nice about it and said that they could definitely do it... He showed me the rosters to confirm a few days later and I pointed out that I was still on for the 5th and he crossed it out and kinda laughed it off, he forgot. Now I've been sent the finalised roster and I'm still scheduled. Is this their way of saying to suck it up and turn up anyway? Or did they forget again? They're always so nice so I don't know if they forgot or don't want to reject me. To make matters worse I just got a formal complaint (my first) that's about my customer service... Everythings going a bit crazy at the moment. I know it might seem a little over the top but I've been working 6 days a week for months now, as well as a second job and studying so having my birthday off is a big deal to me. <Q> I think you just need the right language to mention it to the supervisor. <S> What about this: "Hi Miss Jones. <S> Say, I just got this roster. <S> [Have it in your hand.] <S> Do you remember, I'm taking off the Thursday 6th. <S> But it's not mentioned here on the roster. <S> Help me out, what should I do?" <S> You should be fine. <S> Phrase your issue as a question. <S> Ask what to do; ask something. <S> Asking questions engages people, and is a basic negotiating technique. <S> Congratulations on your fantastic work ethic. <S> You'll always be rich and happy. <A> We can't tell what they are thinking, but if they agreed to give you the day off and crossed you off the roster, just bring it up again. <S> Either they'll tell you what they really want, or you'll be crossed off the roster again. <A> What does your employment contract say about the number of hours they can ask you to work? <S> What does it say about the notice they need for time off, and in what format (e.g. written, verbal)? <S> You should ensure you put in your required hours on your birthday week. <S> If you gave them more than enough notice, according to your contract, remind them of that. <S> With those points in mind, have a conversation with your employer and politely tell them you won't be coming into work on the date of your birthday. <S> If this goes well, then great, you can have your birthday off. <S> If you get the sense they will fire you if you take your birthday off (in spite of you following the rules), you need to weigh up whether taking your birthday off is worth your job to you. <S> Once you've figured that out, act on it.
| If you are regularly working over that number of hours - remind your employer of that. A great tip with this sort of thing is: always ask a question.
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Is it okay to change your clothes in front of your coworkers? So, I'm just minding my own business about to enjoy my lunch. A coworker sits at the couch near me in the cafeteria. As I start eating my lunch, my coworker decided it's a great time to start getting undressed and change out of his clothes to a new set of clothes. What I want to know is, is that okay? Why didn't he go into the restroom and change? Should I report this? If so, how do I go about reporting it? Edit: This is in the back work area. There was no one else around but me. And we're the same gender, but should that even make a difference? Also, this is a public library. He didn't get completely naked. He did leave on a white T-shirt, sky blue boxer shorts, and black socks. Edit: I've already confronted him about it the first time. I asked why not change in the restroom? His reply was and I quote "It's too small in there". I don't have measurements of the restrooms, (we have have two staff restrooms in the cafeteria area that were empty and could have been used) but seriously, how much room does one need to change their clothes? Yes, I get it's not a big deal, but still. It can be uncomfortable if another staff member walks by. <Q> This exact scenario was covered by my workplace Sexual Harassment training. <S> If it makes you uncomfortable, you complain, and the behavior persists, it fits all the criteria for Sexual Harassment. <S> In the US this is called a Hostile Work Environment. . <S> The key is that the behavior must be unwanted and repeated. <S> It doesn't need to necessarily be a sexual advance. <S> I am only familiar with US laws on this subject. <S> If you live elsewhere the laws may be different. <A> Exceptions might be made for a case of urgency when the restroom or changing room is not available, but not as a regular occurrence. <S> And even then, it would be better to ask if anyone objects before proceeding, and then to do it as discreetly as possible. <S> You also don’t need to make a huge deal out of it to report it. <S> It is possible that he assumed you’d be ok with it since you’re both guys, as in a locker room at the gym or in school. <S> If you want to report it, I recommend talk ing to your supervisor and simply saying something like, <S> “Can we encourage John to change his clothes in the restroom instead of the break room?” <A> I think it is sort of gray area, and being you the only one present when it happened makes it even more gray. <S> What I mean is that yes, a library is a public place, but in that very moment you were the only one present, and probably the coworker assumed it was not a big deal. <S> It would have been probably better to address the issue there on the spot, just by asking "hey XXX <S> , I get this is a back work area, but why don't you use the changing room or the restroom to change your clothes? <S> Now we are the only two, but others may come at any moment".
| If, on the other hand, you are fine with the behavior, and not bothered, there is no issue. No, it is not normal. It is not within the realm of accepted behavior to undress down to your underwear in an open area of the workplace, even temporarily.
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How to approach boss about payrise after offer from another company, after he already raise once I received an interesting offer from another company in another city, which pays around £10k a year more than my current job. I like my current job and I am fairly good at it, and my boss knows. However I believe that I am currently underpaid. Looking on the internet, the average salary for my job in UK (excluding London) is around £12k more what I earn now a year. I would rather stay at my current job, but the other option is also interesting, so I used it to try to get a pay rise. I approached my boss and told him that I have another offer and that, even though I like the company, I feel underpaid. He didn't ask how much more they were offering, and I didn't say. Few days later I told me his counter offer, which was "only" £4.5k a year more than what I get now. I told him that the other company still pays more, so I will still consider the other option (I will need to give a final decision in a week, and I told him that). At this point he asked me how much they were offering, and I told him. He said something like "ok, I'll let you know", but didn't look super convinced. To be honest, I think I would stay at my current job even if he cannot match the £10k more they are offering over there. I would for around £7-8k more, but £4.5k more is too low, considering that I can use this "trick" for a pay rise only once. I am on holiday for the next week. The other job expect an answer in around a week, so more or less when I am back at work. Please consider that IF at my current job they cannot increase the pay rise, I will happily leave (that is: I am not bluffing). THE QUESTION: What should I do if, in a week, he hasn't let me know anything? How should I approach my boss? A) Should I approach him asking "do you think you can get closer to what they are offering"?B) Should I give him the resignation letter directly? Sorry if I come forward as a greedy person. The two jobs are really similar in terms of what I am gonna do, one of them is closer to home and pays much better, but I know and like the current one - so overall they balance out, a part from the big difference in salary. NOTE: My boss has a very high position in the company, and thus I strongly believe that he can single handedly decide about my salary. <Q> I assume this is software related, "the average salary for my job in UK (excluding London) is around £12k times more what I earn now a year" <S> If that is really true, you should immediately leave the current company. <S> "How to approach boss..." <S> Here's how to phrase it: <S> "Hi John. <S> I've been offered £123.456 from Smith Software in Bigtown." <S> So, that's the exact language you need. <S> "The other job expect an answer in around a week..." <S> Suggest: you are making a real mistake there. <S> If this is software, nobody wants to wait a week. <S> If an engineer says "I have to think about it" ... <S> companies just move on. <S> If you contact them again "in a week" it's likely they will have simply forgotten about you , or the project will have totally changed anyway. <S> You mention a holiday; you can holiday any time; <S> suggest put it aside. <S> Grab the new better offer with both hands, tell them you want to start immediately or sooner, and enjoy that new role. <S> Everything you have said suggests current company is "cheap" . <S> That never changes, move on. <A> It is unlikely that you will be able to get the salary you want from your current employer, and even if you could get it do you think your boss will be looking to give you a decent pay rise next year? <S> Sadly, leaving is probably your best option. <S> Low pay jobs often are quite good in terms of work environment, because higher pay usually implies more responsibility and thus a more "serious" attitude. <A> Don't worry about coming across as greedy: "the labourer is worthy of his hire." <S> (Luke 10:7). <S> I would phone <S> /email your boss, and give him a deadline that you need a final answer by the day before you have to reply to the other firm. <S> Then as soon as you have an answer from your present employer, get back to the other firm. <S> Something like "Could you come closer to their offer? <S> even if you can't match it?" <S> Do consider the overall costs/benefits. <S> Will you have to relocate? <S> How much will housing and travel cost in the new location, relative to your current location? <S> (If you move from Hull to Bath, £10k won't cover your extra living costs.)
| Certainly prompt him that an answer below the other firm's offer would be accepted (but don't tell him how much).
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I interviewed at a company that offered to reimburse my expenses but after the interview they don't answer my emails anymore, what should I do? I was invited by a company for an on-site interview. Before I could even ask about it, I was told (in writing) by the HR person inviting me (let's call him David) that my accommodation expenses will be reimbursed and that I will be given some fixed amount of money to cover all the other expenses (eg: travelling, food). I went to the interview and after a few days I received an automatic mail from a service email account telling me I was not successful. I wrote to David (my only point of contact with the company) to get information about the reimbursement but I received no answer. A few days later I received another email by him telling me again I was not successful. This email was not "tailor-made" to me, but just a standard template. I tried again asking him about the reimbursement and again I received no answer. Two weeks has passed now since I tried to contact David the first time. The company is quite big (>10k employee) and I don't think there is any attempt here to save money by not paying me. My suspect is just that David is a little bit careless or busy elsewhere and my personal case is just slipping through the cracks. I am considering writing again to David, or looking for the email address of this boss/general HR and writing them. Is there anything else that I can do? Should I raise my voice or consider this kind of things "normal" and just wait for a peaceful ending? <Q> Escalate to the company HR, this is Davids job, not an accidental oversight, all sorts of dodgy things may be happening, but all you should care about is getting reimbursed if it's a considerable sum you don't want to write off to experience. <S> Don't assume they're not trying to save money, the size of the company is immaterial. <S> Ignoring someone owed money is a time honored tactic in the hope <S> they just go away. <S> Since all your communication is via email, use your records when speaking to HR and move forwards or give up after you get an actual reply and review your options. <A> These days, you are really empowered through social media. <S> These big companies go to great expense to keep their name clean. <S> If all other avenues fail for you, I suggest you post your concern to the companies Twitter page. <S> You'll for sure attract some attention to your cause and hopefully will get some followup. <A> If you are owed money, it is not HR <S> you need to deal with, but Accounts. <S> Send a demand for payment addressed to their Accounts Payable department, and including the relevant information such as the dates, the amounts, copies of receipts and a copy of the promise to reimburse you. <S> This is a legally required step before you can sue for payment, and serves as official notice that payment is required. <S> Taking this step shows you are serious. <S> Exactly how to do this may differ in your jurisdiction, but it is not difficult. <S> For example, in the UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demand-immediate-payment-of-a-debt-form-sd2 <S> Once this is received, they may choose to either pay, or dispute the payment, or offer a different amount, but you will have the attention of the right people. <S> If they neither pay, nor dispute the payment, the next step is small claims court. <A> Is there anything else that I can do? <S> Since you have some proof in writing, you may be able to sue the company. <S> I am not sure <S> the cost of a lawyer and the headache would be worth getting your expenses reimbursed. <S> Do not just show up at the company door demanding payment and creating an scene. <S> This could lead to you being arrested. <S> Writing a review <S> may make you feel better and save others the pain your going through. <S> Your best bet is to learn from this.
| Going forward if travel is involved, have the company pay for the expenses so you don't have to worry about reimbursement during the interview phase.
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On a job interview, should you mention that you've quit your job two days ago? For the last year I've been working as a software developer at a company whose culture started to get too much to handle psychologically. That's why I decided that it's time to move on. I gave my notice two weeks ago and will be leaving the company during this week. I've no guaranteed job offer from different company, but I have just enough funds to keep me on my feet for the next 4-5 months. Because my resume continuted to circulate on the job market, I already have a few scheduled interviews for different companies during next week. They all have seen my resume and know that I work at my current company. But by the time the interview-day arrives, I will be unemployed for 2-3 days. How should I handle answering questions related 'to my current employer'? Should I tell that I've resigned three days ago? If not, how should I escape giving 100% honest answer if asked about the company I left few days ago? <Q> Don't volunteer the information. <S> IF they ask, and you've not yet served out your notice period, you can tell them something along the lines of that you're looking for growth, and you've gone as far as you can in this job. <S> If they don't ask, don't tell them. <A> How should I handle answering questions related 'to my current employer'? <S> Honestly. <S> Should I tell that I've resigned three days ago? <S> Yes. <S> That's the easy part. <S> Of course, the next thing they're going to want to know is why. <S> Unfortunately, that's the hard part. <S> If you say that you didn't want to work at a... company whose culture started to get too much to handle psychologically <S> that's just going to create even more uncomfortable questions - <S> or it's going to leave them with the impression that it's just you, who can't get along with others well, and the company wasn't at fault. <A> Yes, as they're probably going to find out anyways, and it's better to hear it coming from you with reasons they will accept then finding out through their own research and thinking you had something to hide by not telling them. <S> Also quitting a job without having the next one is a pretty risky move, so I hope your reasons for leaving are rock-solid.
| They may ask why you're interested in leaving your current employer (which is more likely), so you can say "I am leaving because I'm looking for professional growth".
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IT having too much power I work for a small/medium-sized business (SMB) that has about 250 employees. I have two employees below me. And I am in charge of the IT department. We recently had an issue that caused of some data loss. After dealing with all of that, I am now being asked by the senior team that the question is coming up that IT has too much power and nobody to really account to it. Or really that I have too much power for only reporting to the CFO only. I don't really know how to respond to that except I think we should have an audit of our systems from an external party annually or something. To ensure to management that we aren't doing anything sketchy. Maybe the real issue is that some persons in senior management do not trust me. But overall, I want what's best for this organization, however I am just not sure how to respond to this issue. How can I improve my department to make sure we're as transparent as possible, to ensure people that we're just not spending our day looking at their files or whatever? <Q> Unfortunately, IT is one of those parts of a business that is almost completely invisible to the rest of the business as long as things are going well. <S> Generally, people don't know, don't understand, and don't care what IT does as long as they can get to their files, read their their email, and look at funny cat pictures during their lunch break. <S> You've now experienced the typical backlash of when things go wrong. <S> Again, most people don't know and don't understand, but they now very strongly care about what you do. <S> If all things go well, this will ease off again over time. <S> There are, however, things you can do to improve your team and people's perception of your team which should help people to understand what IT does: <S> Develop risk assessment, risk mitigation and disaster recovery plans, and enact them. <S> Publish them somewhere accessible to all staff. <S> Start producing an email newsletter - it doesn't have to be extreme detail or too frequent. <S> Things like "we're replacing an old server" and stuff <S> When things go wrong, alert the organisation, tell them roughly what you're doing to fix it ( point them to your mitigation and disaster documents), and then be transparent about what happened and what steps you will take in the future to reduce the risk. <A> I have faced the same kind of knee jerk reaction. <S> Consider getting audited against a known standard for information security such as ISO-27001 which can assure your management that sufficient controls are in place to ensure information integrity (which is the main concern for any business). <S> Other than your normal reports to your CFO, you should publish quarterly reports for all management and stakeholders summarizing the activities in the IT department and highlight any areas. <S> This keeps IT in their minds rather than some dark hole where magic happens and will make sure there are no surprises <A> My knee-jerk reaction is to treat this like any other project, and first thing is to elicit requirements and figure out what their needs are. <S> Then come up with some tentative plans that would meet those needs. <S> That way if nothing else then you are seen as a thought leader and problem solver. <S> Then the question becomes what is the value of the requirements you've gathered, and will they be funded? <S> Either way, you're working problems and providing options, which will elevate any IT manager to near rock star status. <S> If these endeavors aren't funded, then it's the businesses decision and not yours. <S> I do get that this isn't in your current job description, so nothing here is directly your fault. <S> for only reporting to the CFO only. <S> Yes, this is common that CEO's don't want the head of IT reporting directly to them, or they don't value IT's contribution enough to elevate that person to a CIO position. <S> One thing I can say with absolute confidence is that IT leaders that do not meet business needs are eventually shown the door. <A> I don't think too much power is the problem. <S> IT needs the power to inspect data, change data if require, backup, and restore. <S> You should focus on accountability part. <S> Business impact statement. <S> If a task needs business sign off before proceeding then have that in writing. <S> For example you may need sign off from accounting before changing any data in certain tables. <S> If there is data that IT is not supposed to see then encrypted tables or something. <S> Let them know the cost / impact to IT. <S> I suggest a report of the duties of IT and let them adjust if necessary. <S> If the business wants to interject over site on identified tasks then fine. <S> Network support PC support System support (server room) <S> Application support - list out all the applications <S> Identify the mission critical applications (and data) <S> Development - how are projects identified and prioritized Disaster recovery <S> I bet this the main concern. <S> If the server room burns down can we come up at a recovery site. <S> If you don't have it then propose a project to have one. <A> Establishing very visible boundaries in practices can help - eg not even trying to be smart when anything that affects a user profile has to be done, instead saying "please log in and stay around, we really do not have easy access to what happens under your login". <S> Also, whenever it comes to equipment and software configuration, a good rule to always follow is "IT owns the defaults, the user owns the setting". <S> Demonstrate awareness of privacy issues - any question like <S> "why do we not automate this and <S> this beyond, why do we not restrict this and this..." is an opportunity to signal "because that way, we would give ourselves more access to this and this than we want and need to have to do our job". <S> Sometimes, even small accidents (not ones with major data loss, though :) happening can HELP here - " <S> preventing it would have meant this and this unnecessary privacy compromise", "this will take a little longer to figure out, since we do not keep that kind of information conveniently accessible since it could be used for bad things.."
| Here are some tips: Have your department follow some established IT processes (such as ITIL), and have these processes audited.
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How to separate personal Facebook from professional FB while getting full benefit of FB? I am a web based software engineer in Sri Lanka and I have own my web design business. It is really important to engage with Facebook groups to get local projects. That's how you build a network and get local projects. But I don't like to use my personal Facebook profile to start group discussions and answer questions on the group. I don't like to post "I am doing web design business, etc" on my personal profile either. I want to use my personal profile to just connect with my friends and family. Yes, I can create a FB fan page. I have one. But I can't join groups as a page. Facebook doesn't allow it. So how can I engage with FB groups without mixing my personal life with professional life? <Q> The easiest answer to this (I've found), is one of two things; Create a second profile using your work e-mail (not advised) While technically against the terms of service unless you are reported no-one will check in all likelihood but be aware there is a risk Facebook will find out and take action. <S> I wouldn't advise this due to the ToS. <S> However as a Facebook app developer, I've found this quite handy to have second accounts for different projects. <S> Privacy settings & lists Facebook has several features for filtering posts and creating lists for people . <S> I'd look into making all of your posts viewable to 'friends only' (by default and retroactively), then creating a list specifically for those that add you for work reasons whilst removing them from friends (I split mine off into different categories and industries, such as web design or game development). <S> Relevant posts are then made with the audience set specifically to those lists and personal posts are set so that friends only can see them (you are also able to set defaults and retroactively change all posts in your privacy settings). <S> I'd then look at creating a page that can then be used as a workplace (I believe local business or company does this) and setting your workplace to this. <S> That way you can make your posts on this page and then share posts from here that only go out to your work lists. <S> You should then tinker with your privacy settings to ensure everything you wouldn't want someone classed as a friend not to see be hidden. <S> Hope this helps! <A> Facebook doesn't allow you to create more than one personal account for yourself - I expect you have explored this option and know this already. <S> What you can do is set the audience when you post so you can control who sees what you post, although this might not cover your needs. <S> I really suggest that you post this on the Facebook community to ask this question from the experts. <S> There's sure to be people there in your same position. <A> Beyond creating two accounts (which isn't advisable as it's against the ToS and Facebook have a reputation of catching / blocking these reasonably easily) there's a few things you can do: <S> Use your personal Facebook account for business only, and move all your social, personal content elsewhere. <S> May not be an option if your friendship group is only on Facebook, but it's worth considering. <S> While you can't join Facebook groups as a page / business, you should still be able to post comments / posts in a group as one <S> (there's a drop-down arrow by the text box where you write your post that will let you select who you're posting as.) <S> This should allow you to still post to these groups under a professional guise using your private account, and may be the best middle ground option to take. <S> Use your personal account to post "public" content that's not an advert, so would also be interesting to friends / family. <S> Not an all out solution to posting in groups of course, but friends / family may well still be interested in the sort of thing that you're writing, and then from a public perspective all your potential clients will see is "professional" type content.
| Set all personal content to "friends only", then start a blog where you're talking about interesting trends in the industry; post those as public posts to your Facebook profile.
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Can I be forced to call a colleague who is on vacation? Lately my boss and I worked on a software that has been developed by one of my colleagues, that I will call Bob, and I. We found a problem, and my boss told me to call Bob who is on vacation to ask him about it. Now, since the problem is not critical we can proceed with the development without fixing it. This is what I told my boss who still wants me to call Bob and get the needed information to fix it. I would like to not call him, but I am unsure what to do.Is there any legal problem with calling a colleague who is on vacation? <Q> This problem is really between your boss and your colleague. <S> If he does not want to be called during his holidays he has to stand up for himself or find other measures to avoid that. <S> You on the other hand should follow your bosses orders unless you feel you are morally unable to or they are straight illegal. <S> Denying to follow (reasonable) orders can have you fired, even if you do not agree with them. <S> We can not decide that one for you. <S> Also remember he does not have to Pick up the phone - in the times of caller-ID he´d <S> know that it is work. <S> A softer approach would be to text him and tell him to call you when it is convenient to him. <S> Edit: To make that absolutely clear to everyone! <S> I neither endorse nor dissuade the contacting of employees during their holidays! <S> Instead I try to give the OP advice specific to his situation. <S> He is not the one on vacation and he is not the one who has made the decision that Bob should be called. <S> Arguing with him, or me if that is ok is futile! <A> IANAL but this does seem pretty straightforward in broad terms. <S> the problem is not critical we can proceed with the development without fixing it. <S> First note that this is your opinion <S> but it is your boss who has the right to make the decision. <S> Your boss can over-rule you <S> and I'd suggest getting used to that. <S> Your opinion, in this case, would almost certainly not be a good enough reason to refuse a direct order to contact "Bob". <S> Also remember that your boss may regard it as critical for reasons you are not privvy to, and may be thinking of a larger business context than you are. <S> Can you be forced to do it ? <S> No. <S> Can you be fired for refusing an order to do it ? <S> Possibly. <S> Can you be disciplined without being fired if you refuse the order ? <S> Almost certainly. <S> Is it legal to ring "Bob" on vacation. <S> Yes. <S> Unless "Bob" has a court order preventing someone specific or a specific organization from ringing him, he's fair game for anything short of abusive and/or harassing calls. <S> Could it violate "Bob"'s contract of employment ? <S> Maybe, but that's a matter of a contract dispute between "Bob"'s employer and him. <S> So ring "Bob", say "Sorry, I was ordered to ask you this." and get on with it. <A> Your boss asked you to call someone to get information on a problem, so call them. <S> I see nothing wrong with that, most employees would not mind assisting with info only they have while on vacation. <S> If they did they might find a cold reception when they return. <S> Make sure you make it clear that you are calling on your bosses orders, be polite and as brief as possible.
| If you feel bad about Bob, you can apologize and tell him your boss made you call him. It's not an issue for you in any way if you are acting under a reasonable order (which it would be).
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How to get the attention of operations manager as a junior? The software development company I work for has around 40-50 employees with about 12 of those being developers. I work as a junior developer and have been working for about a year after completing an apprenticeship last year. This puts me at the bottom of the rank in regard to making decisions about our main product. But in saying that I have noticed a very large problem with the security of our product. A cringe-worthy problem that could cost the company a lot of money if it is exploited. I know that it is on my managers' radar as there are tickets raised but they are old tickets that look like they have been forgotten. When I first joined the company I mentioned the problem and he agreed it needed to be fixed but didn't say much more than that. This makes me want to take things into my own hands for my own protection of keeping it from being exploited and losing a job because the company has to pay a fine. How could I get the attention of my manager and potentially his manager and show them how much of a risk it is to not fix this security problem? Please keep in mind that I don't want to this to seem like I'm going above my manager to get my way, I have a good relationship with my manager at the moment and would hate to ruin it with something like this. <Q> Going over your manager's head is often a seriously career-limiting move , and to be honest if you go direct to the operations manager on this <S> then I'd fully expect your manager to see it that way <S> so you need to work with him on this. <S> in the behind later: Hi [manager], I've been thinking about the security issue from ticket 1234 <S> and I think I've got an idea on how we can fix it <S> and it would be good to have a discussion so we can see if we can sort this before it gets exploited which would be very costly/embarrassing for us. <S> Not the use of the word "us" - you aren't implying that <S> he's the one who'll get it in the neck you're implying that you're a team. <S> It's subtle but it does help. <S> If for some reason your manager keeps pushing back on this with you I'd suggest going to the next most senior member of the team/department (i.e. the person just below your manager) and discuss it with them, see if there might be history you are unaware of. <S> And if there isn't then they may be a substantial ally - firstly because there will now be two of you in the issue, secondly they will likely have their word carry more weight with your manager because of their seniority and finally it's relatively safe because they aren't over your manager so you aren't going over his head. <S> Also, and I cannot stress this enough, you must do communication on this with your manager by e-mail - in the worst case where he does nothing or actively rejects your attempts to get this issue resolved and <S> it then get's exploited your behind is sufficiently covered. <A> It doesn't seem like you are taking into consideration the current tasks that are prioritized higher than the security issues. <S> Look at what you are currently being asked to do and get some feedback on why they are so important. <S> Even if you didn't have the security flaws, you should still know this. <S> Learning to respectfully ask why is important to your development as a programmer. <S> Make sure they understand you're not trying to get out of work, but want to see the "bigger picture. <S> " Sometimes you have to use a buzz-word to get their attention. <S> Who knows, you may learn that if you don't get the next release/patch out, your largest customer is going to drop your product which may force the company to close. <S> Most decisions have a risk involved. <S> You need to understand the risks behind the current decisions. <A> I work in the IT Security profession as an IT auditor and your current situation is something I frequently encounter and sympathize with. <S> What I have found helps is to have hard data about the vulnerability you see, its impact to the company if exploited and the threat actors most likely to be able to exploit it. <S> Facts such as the below are useful to include in your analysis. <S> How the vulnerability can be exploited - MITM, remote access, user impersonation etc. <S> Conditions that need to be met for the vulnerability to be exploitable such as unpatched systems, systems using a broken protocol etc. <S> (e.g: TLS 1.0) <S> The impact to the company if vulnerability is exploited such as below: Describe what negative events can happen if the vulnerability is exploited. <S> Financial penalties in the form of fines and customer lawsuits Loss of market reputation if the vulnerability exposes customer data Loss of future customers due to the degraded reputation Describe the threat actors most likely to exploit the vulnerability and how likely each threat is. <S> See examples below: <S> Terminated employee <S> Black hat cyber criminal Competitor firm <S> After gathering this data, you should be able to go to your manager and use this research to quantify the severity of the vulnerability. <S> You may also want to look into a standardized vulnerability scoring system such as CVSS.
| The nature of the vulnerability you found Describe the nature of the vulnerability you have found. Your best approach is to raise it again with your manager directly, if you have a suggested solution to the problem then try and phrase it as if you're doing him a favor and suggest that your solution could be a way of avoiding it coming back to bit the company (and him!)
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How to silence a noisy typer I work in an office that's by and large very quiet and relaxed... until recently. A new member moved onto our team and oh sweet jesus does he make a noise... typing. He literally smashes the return key and spacebar so much so that my desk actually shakes and my monitor shakes. I'm a programmer and find it super distracting. Normally I try listening to music but that's not always possible especially if i'm pair programming with another developer. If it was someone whistling and humming I would politely ask them to stop. But to ask someone to type quieter... seems... it just seems a bit cheeky even if he does sound like he's using a hammer to type. How do I deal with this issue its driving me insane and its starting to affect my work as i'm finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate. I know some people do type louder than others, especially on mechanical keyboards but this is unreal, i've never seen anyone slam his hands on his keyboard like this fella. <Q> He has no idea what a nuisance he has become to you, so any idea that involves bringing in HR or his manager is overkill at this stage. <S> Can we find a solution that works for the both of us? " <S> Before you do this though, research some solutions you can propose, e.g. different keyboard, soft mousepads under the keyboard, etc. <A> Just say "whoa" and laugh a few times he does it, he'll get the hint. <S> It doesn't need to turn nasty and you dont need to embarrass him by "having a chat" about it. <A> Tell him that what he does is damaging his body. <S> Seriously. <S> There is very, very little force needed to type on any normal keyboard. <S> All the noise that you hear is force going into the table and making it shake, and an equal amount of force is going into his fingers, hands, and arms, and does damage. <S> That's why a good typist has their fingers at the shortest possible distance to the keyboard. <S> Usually the fingers are actually resting on the keyboard.
| There is going to be nothing more effective than having a quick, non-confrontational chat with him to the tune of " Dude, you're driving me bonkers the way you pound your keyboard...
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Is it an acceptable practice for IT to ask an employee for their password over Skype Messenger? I got an email saying my password would expire in a few days, so I clicked on the link in the email and updated it. After doing so, I realized I could no longer log in to my computer, except by disconnecting from the network and using my old password. I immediately opened a support ticket. The next day, I was working from home, and someone from IT finally contacted me over Skype messenger. He asked me what my new password was. I was desperate to get the problem fixed since I wasn't able to connect to certain essential services whose credentials were linked to my Windows login, so I sent it to him despite my reservations. My questions are: Is requesting a password over a company messaging system an acceptable practice? How should I have responded to this request? Aside from resetting my password again, are there any other steps I should take (such as reporting the behavior)? I care a great deal about security and I know that the upper management at my company does as well. To address some of the comments/answers: I'm sure that the email was legitimate because it came from a company email address and directed to a company website that I already had bookmarked. (I've updated my password twice since this incident using the same method). The password had been updated everywhere except on my personal laptop. (This is why I couldn't log in without disconnecting from the network.) I'm also sure that the person I spoke to was from the IT department because his account was on the company domain and he was able to log in to my laptop remotely with admin privileges to fix the issue. <Q> IT should have no need to know your new password, or your old one for that matter. <S> Reset your password again, if they skype again refer to your manager for approval before giving any passwords out over any medium. <A> This sounds very suspicious and personally I would CALL your IT <S> help desk line and ask if the email is legit and if the person you spoke to was legit. <S> IT help desk would <S> Why would they when they can reset it? <S> Doesn't make sense. <S> It's sort of like the IRS calling you to ask what your social security number is, or your bank calling you to ask what your account number is. <S> They'd have it, so why would you share what they already know? <S> As always never reset passwords via emails. <S> Never share your password with anyone who claims otherwise. <S> Always navigate to the website in question and use the password reset through that. <A> How should I have handled this situation? <S> I am only going to answer your second question. <S> For security reasons, you should never reply to a security request using a non-trusted channel. <S> For the email you received, you should have never clicked it. <S> You should have opened the browser, typed in the url you always use instead, and tried to find a way to reset the password from there. <S> For the Skype request you received, you should have never replied to it using your new password. <S> Instead, you should contact them by phone instead using the phone number you have for IT (and not any phone number that he provides to you through Skype). <S> Right now, this is still the only thing you need to do. <S> You need to contact IT through a trusted channel. <S> Either you call them on the phone, using a phone number you already know and that is already trusted by you, or you walk over to their desk tomorrow, ask to speak to the person who contacted you over Skype, confirm that this is the person who you gave your password to yesterday, and ask him what happened because you will most likely run into this same problem the next time you reset your password (which you'd like to do again, since you don't want a plain text copy of it to be on IT's computers). <S> And yes, I realize you said the first email wasn't a phishing email. <S> That it wasn't a phishing email doesn't really matter. <S> A good company that cares about security will regularly phish its own employees and generate reports on who took the bait, or not. <S> Because that is really the only way to check whether security practices are being followed, or not. <S> And if your management really "cares about security", which is what you said. <S> It's simply better to develop the reputation of being overly careful and overly paranoid over security than someone who usually cuts corners because of convenience or because he doesn't want to offend anybody. <A> IT SHOULD NOT ask you for your password. <S> This is very bad security practice. <S> Of course that doesn't mean that they WON'T. <S> I'd be very reluctant to give my password in response to an email or Skype message. <S> How do I know the person at the other end is who they say they are? <S> There are all sorts of tricks people can do to look legitimate. <S> Most scam emails are very lame and easy to see through, but some are very sophisticated. <S> Just a few days ago I got an email claiming to be from Bank of America saying that there was suspicious activity on my account <S> , they suspected someone had hacked my password, and I should click on this link and reset my password. <S> The email looked very official, professionally-worded, had the Bank of America logo and all. <S> I might have been fooled were it not for the fact that I don't have an account at Bank of America and never did. <S> I'd say, If you get such a message, call the IT department. <S> Not using a phone number that's in the email, but look up the number. <S> If they confirm that this message is from them, well, okay, you have an IT department with lame security measures, and how you deal with that is a whole different question. <S> Oh, by the way, I used to work for the Air Force. <S> Every now and then the security people would call random personnel, say there was some sort of problem, and then ask for the person's password over the phone. <S> If you gave them your password, they then yelled at you for giving your password over the phone, disabled your account, sent a memo to your boss saying you had broken security rules, and you had to write a letter basically begging for forgiveness before they would reactivate your account. <S> I didn't fall for it, but several people in my department did. <S> Because seriously, just because somebody on the phone SAYS he is from IT, how do you know he's not really a spy or a terrorist?
| NEVER ask for your password. No it's not acceptable security practice for most companies.
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How to assess non standard resume in a conservative industry I will be interviewing more candidates early next week, since I asked this question here . In looking at resume today as the team lead, one candidate had very impressive background ( CISSP , CRISC , and several years of experience at reputable firms), but the resume was in a non-standard format, and contains elements not commonly accepted in the United States, at least not in the InfoSec profession. Examples: Candidate photo Candidate birthdate Printed on colored stationary paper with background If hired the candidate is expected to show discretion and good judgement . These characteristics are important for any job, but especially for the roles in InfoSec due to sensitive nature of these jobs. Presenting a professional image is important for a first interview and I felt the candidates resume presentation falls short of industry expectations . I admit that this candidate may come from a culture where such resume elements (e.g: photo and birth date) are common. On one hand, I don't want to unnecessarily dismiss a qualified candidate by being prejudicial, but on the other hand, I do feel the resume was not presented as professionally as it could have been. My gut feeling is the resume is at least something to count against this candidate , but not eliminating from consideration outright. How should I best assess this situation? Is my belief that resume as described here is borderline unprofessional reasonable? <Q> I appreciate and sympathise with your concerns.. <S> coloured paper for a resume? <S> A background ? <S> Ugh.. so cringeworthy! <S> It makes me think that the candidate maybe got some of the relly bad "gimicky" advice a few years back about how to make your resume stand out. <S> That said you are looking to hire someone to do an Infosec role - how well they understand the professional norms of getting hired isn't something that's really going to affect their day to day ability to do that role <S> so I think: <S> My gut feeling is the resume is at least something to count against this candidate, but not eliminating from consideration outright. <S> Is probably correct - <S> if their skills and experience are otherwise strong then unless you have a wealth of good candidates and are looking to cut the field down a bit I would just count it as a minor mark against them and make sure I focussed on checking out their judgement during any interview process but wouldn't just bin them outright. <A> I would give the candidate a chance to interview if I were you. <S> Your #3 concern is not an issue to me. <S> Colored paper with background is probably not a good choice. <S> But, it just reflects this candidate's mis-understanding of the professional world. <S> In my location, resume with personal photo is standard. <S> Maybe the candidate is from a similar location as I am from. <S> No big deal. <S> My real concern is the birthdate. <S> It tells me that the candidate is not careful. <S> And you're right, any infosec professional should not spread out this personal information. <S> Again, this tell you that the candidate is probably not an InfoSec professional. <S> However, the candidate does have certificates, which shows that she/he has some of the necessary skills to do the job. <S> For that, give them a chance for an interview. <S> Check out if the candidate does have the necessary skills. <S> If yes, see if the candidate's professional attitude is trainable. <S> If yes, try the candidate, if no, throw the candidate out. <A> Your main options seem to be... <S> Ask HR for their insight. <S> They may know the source of the resume and be able to identify if this is normal/expected given the source. <S> If the candidate's resume otherwise demonstrates the desired qualifications competitively with other resumes, then schedule a phone screening and plan some questions to explore whether they have good judgement. <S> If the resume is good enough otherwise, and you don't have many other resumes, schedule a phone screening as in #2 Trash the resume - at least for now <A> If you have plenty of applicants then I'd just outright ditch this one. <S> Having lots of qualifications but making simple mistakes would make me wonder how much the qualifications are actually worth. <S> If you're short on applicants <S> I'd interview the guy with an eye to accessing if his skills are as good as the qualifications. <S> I'd certainly hold the resume as a point against. <A> The resume is to help get an interview not to get the job. <S> Really, you're placing too much emphasis on a piece of paper. <S> Can the candidate do the job? <S> A resume provides very little into how they will actually perform. <S> I've hired where what was on the resume was extremely impressive, the resume was very professional (paper, layout, etc) and the hire couldn't (to use a humorous term) 'code their way out of a paper bag'. <S> I've also hired where the resume was (ahem) kind of sloppy. <S> In this case the hire turned into a superstar coder. <S> To repeat - you're not hiring a resume you're hiring a person based on what they can do. <A> In that case, it would actually work, because the purpose of a resume is to get an interview. <S> I suspect that the last time this person hunted for a job was well over a decade ago where various stunts were being recommended to get your resume to stand out. <S> That would be the deciding point for whether or not I would invite this person for an interview if they met the qualifications for the position. <S> I wouldn't rule this person out, and they'd certainly would have gotten my attention, but it would be a mark against them.
| Personally, I'd be torn between tossing the resume and wanting to invite the person into an interview just to find out why they made their resume so unprofessional.
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What should I do after finding salary information on the company fileserver? We have a local fileserver on premises. It appears a manager synced his cloud storage account to a folder on this server (in a location that's not very hard to find). This folder is now accessible to anyone in the company and contains an Excel file called 'Salaries', in which the salaries of the employees of a certain department are listed. This is not the first time this manager has done this - on the same server I have found a file which contains feedback and evaluations of employees. What steps could or should I take? Do nothing and stay safe? Notify HR or Infosec (we have people dedicated to this with GDPR coming up)? Should I do this anonymously? Or maybe I should just straight up inform the manager himself? <Q> Be careful <S> You are in dangerous territory here. <S> You saw a file called "Salaries" and decided you should open it and see what's inside. <S> If you report this to INFOSEC, your decision to open the file will likely be as big a cause for concern as any careless manager storing files in the wrong folder. <S> In the future if you discover files that you think may contain sensitive information, don't open them up to dig deeper. <S> You have rightly recognized that you have an obligation to help safeguard the confidentiality of that document, but you compromised that confidentiality when you opened the file. <S> If you aren't familiar with how to do this, it will be simpler to report the issue to your IT Department or Help Desk and let them handle things from there. <S> In this case, I would contact the Manager who saved the file, and let him know that you saw the file name and were concerned about a possible exposure. <S> Let him deal with it from there. <S> If you see a pattern of careless behavior moving forward, reporting the issue to INFOSEC is your duty, but you need to keep your own nose clean too. <A> It could be a trap <S> Realize <S> here there is a chance you've been already caught in the Honeypot , and if you don't report this, you may still have to answer tough questions like why you opened the file. <S> Infosec loves to do things like this, whether dropping a CD in an open area with "Salaries" written on it, or perhaps in this case leaving a document in an easy to find place. <S> The idea around the honeypot is you see something desirable, and then do something you shouldn't (Opening this file). <S> This is a huge weakness for companies, because you can easily be socially engineered to give away your password and cause your company to come under attack. <S> In your specific case, this may well not be a trap seeing that you saw actual salary information, but you should be forewarned that not everything is as it seems. <A> Report to whoever manages permissions on the folders on that server that this folder is readable by anyone and most probably shouldn't be. <S> Do not elaborate. <S> Let them take this from there and remove yourself from this matter. <S> Unless your firm employs dedicated policies and processes regarding possible internal information leaks (by your description, not very likely), the tech person could just silently fix the permissions and be done with it, especially if it was their fault (even indirectly). <S> Judging by your description, it's highly unlikely that they will be able to see that you opened the file. <S> As an IT pro, I can attest that file access tracking facilities are a PINA to work with and eat up system resources like nobody's business. <S> So they are not enabled save for in high security environments where it's absolutely necessary. <S> If your environment was that, that manager couldn't have created that folder and set up cloud sync without infosec having scrunitized and authorized it in the first place (and you wouldn't know any of that, either). <S> Likewise, for the same reason, it's virtually impossible that it's some sort of bait or a mind game by a local Columbo. <S> Especially in the light of the previous similar incidents involving the same person that for all intents and purposes look legitimate. <A> In a previous life I wrote/supported a program that was used to calculate salaries and bonuses for employees. <S> For this I needed to get a feed from HR during salary review season. <S> The file was supposed to have masked/encrypted fields that were unpacked in my program and only viewable by a set of users and their access level. <S> One year, the program blew up when importing. <S> It turns out the HR clerk that pulled the data that year <S> didn't use the program written (that encrypted the data) but instead ran a Peoplesoft SQR which put the data into plain readable ASCII text. <S> When I opened the file to investigate I could see everyone's current salary. <S> I immediately notified my supervisor. <S> INFOSEC and HR were notified. <S> My manager notified senior management. <S> Then the CD the data was written to was placed in a secure disposal system by my manager. <S> This had some major ramifications but <S> as we (me and my boss) covered our buts <S> it was others (the HR person) <S> were the ones disciplined. <S> You can't be too safe here. <S> Notify your boss.
| Next time this happens, instead of opening the file to view the Salaries, examine the security properties of the file and notify the "file owner" .
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Is it wrong for my boss to tell my parents what I do wrong in the workplace? My boss keeps telling my parents the things I do wrong at work so not only do I get in trouble at work I get in trouble at home too. Is there any way I can prove that this is wrong and that she can not tell my parents what goes on in the workplace? I’m also 18 by the way. <Q> This is why it's best not to get a job organised by your parents or where your parents and the boss know each other well enough to do this. <S> It's actually a failing on both parts, possibly well meant but a failing nethertheless. <S> Your boss shouldn't be telling tales, and your parents shouldn't be listening to them. <S> All you can do is ask the boss to desist while you're looking for a new job. <S> Or just soldier on until you can leave. <A> This must be a frustrating and embarrassing situation for you, even without knowing any of the details as to why or how your boss is talking to your parents. <S> That being said, depending where you are in the world, it is highly unlikely that there will be any local laws to support your situation. <S> My recommendation is to calmly discuss this with your boss. <S> Explain how their "chats" are effecting your relationships at home negatively. <S> Depending on how this conversation goes and your boss's reaction, will determine your next move to either stay or look for other work. <S> Hope this helps. <S> Best of luck. <S> T <A> I am assuming you're American and your parents have classic American views on teen work. <S> That being said, it seems like a no-brainer to have your parents give you the easy job hook up. <S> Who wants to interview and risk rejection?! <S> As you can see, it comes with caveats. <S> They aren't giving you the respect of a young adult and encouraging you to be responsible for yourself. <S> There is another problem here too: you're vulnerable to abuse by your employer if your parents aren't respecting you as an adult. <S> I don't know your age or you're gender, but imagine a circumstance where your boss sexually assaults you: if you can't turn to your parents then who can you turn to? <S> The only way out is thusly (and this too will require you to have uncomfortable conversations but establish yourself and an adult): To your parents: express your gratitude for their help and then bluntly tell them it's now your opportunity to lose. <S> The chatter between them and your boss is not giving you the room to learn to be an adult and it needs to end. <S> You will need to speak sternly but respectfully; assert your need to grow. <S> They may ultimately say really discouraging things like it's their reputation and <S> you're embarrassing them ( some parents are dicks like that). <S> Be ready to hear it. <S> Kids are always an extension of the parents even when you're grown. <S> But that doesn't mean they have a right to hurt you with it. <S> To your employer: be blunt and tell him the job is between him and you and no one else <S> and you need him to respect that. <S> If he can't you will need to move on. <S> Be ready to quit or be fired in some unceremonious fashion. <S> Be ready for all of them to ignore your request and continue to treat you like a child. <S> If they don't get in line, quit (with notice even if they send you packing on the spot). <S> You will feel humiliated. <S> Remember that sting and don't repeat the mistake. <A> I think you need to look at this from another angle. <S> In most work places, bosses would just fire you instead of talking to your parents. <S> I'm assuming that your boss is friends with your parents. <S> Perhaps he doesn't feel comfortable firing you <S> so he tries talking to your parents. <S> You said you get into trouble both at work and at home, so I'm assuming your boss is talking to you about the issues as well. <S> The way I see it, you need to ask yourself this question: "Do I want this job?" <S> If the answer is no, then quit. <S> Find something better, explain to your parents about your feelings, and (very important!) <S> thank your boss for giving you this opportunity. <S> If the answer is yes, then you need to figure out why you keep getting into trouble at work. <S> Your boss is likely talking to your parents because talking to you isn't getting any results. <S> Any other boss would likely have just let you go by now. <S> You need to figure out what you're doing wrong and fix it. <S> Sit down with your boss and talk to him about it. <S> I bet that if your boss can resolve those issues with you, he will not be going to your parents anymore. <A> Given that you are 18 and thus an adult... I would say it is not wrong, it is illegal. <S> Your work contract has an expectation of privacy for work related matters and given that your parents are not priviledged anymore. <S> Internal Company Affairs are confidential by law - at least in most countries. <A> My advice is to not respond in any way. <S> Sure, you're parents may keep asking questions. <S> Just limit it to one word answers <S> so you're not being disrespectful. <S> In no way can you let your employer know that this is the way to handle you at work. <S> It won't make things better. <S> Have a grown up conversation with your boss that you prefer to be dealt with directly if there is a problem. <S> That's it. <S> You can't make him do it. <S> Don't go into details about how it makes you feel or what it does to the relationship with your parents. <S> It's none of your boss's business. <S> Which is the entire point. <S> To keep your sanity, just keep imagining the look on your boss's face when you tell him you got a new job.
| I agree with others that this is a failing on behalf of both parents and employer.
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New Manager who used to be colleague interfering with my work I am a Software Architect with decades of development and leadership experience. I have a new Manager since 6 months. Previously we both were colleagues as Architects, but when my previous manager quit, he was promoted. When he got promoted, he made it very clear to everyone that he does not want to be playing Architect role anymore, also that he would not have managed it time wise anyway to fulfil both Manager and Architect roles. We usually get along well and he seem to respect my experience. But since some weeks, he is interfering and micromanaging technical details in a way an Architect would do. Given his background, I took it lightly initially -- after all, it is good to have a manager who understands technology. But nowadays he attends meetings which are only meant for Architects (he has those meetings in his calendar from Architect days) where he is pushing his opinion. He attends architecture workshops which I conduct for the development teams and undermines the decisions I wanted to take. As they also report to him, they have stopped listening to me, though technically they seemed to agree with me. I am quite disturbed by this - I do not want to give an impression to the teams that I am insecure or so by his presence, but how can I remind him that he has a new role now and him playing the old role creates a conflict of interest? I thought of contacting his boss by chat to mention this, but not sure whether this would damage the relationships EDIT : I'd like to clarify -- in my org., both developers and Architects report to a Head of Development. Several Head of Developments report to CIO/CTO. So we have several Architects working under different managers , with Architecture group (a virtual team, so to say) having the overall responsibility to make technical decisions to protect the interests of the company (e.g. data security, compliance etc.). Here the source of conflict is that my manager on couple of occasions exercised his authority in a way that compromised established architectural guidelines <Q> Don't talk to his boss. <S> Instead, schedule a one on one meeting with your new boss and talk this out. <S> Remind him what he said earlier about not wanting to be playing the Architect role anymore . <S> Mention how it is impacting you. <S> It's likely that he's doing this out of habit. <S> Being an Architect comes easily, but management skills are probably still a little weak. <S> One of the hardest skills a new manager has to learn is how to trust his team and stay out of their way . <A> I would talk to him but not just to remind him that he wanted to step out of the architect role. <S> Instead I would let him know that it is frustrating to you to be second guessed in a meeting and could you meet with him first and go over the architectural plans and then go to the meeting on the same page. <S> This gives him a chance to object your design privately, you a chance to try to convince him and then gives you a chance to change to his final decision <S> (he is the final decision maker) and adapt your training or meeting plans to meet his expectations if necessary. <S> That way, in public, you look like he is supporting you and that makes the team more likely to listen to you. <S> It also gives you a chance to understand his reasoning to be better able to meet his needs with your future designs. <S> And in those private meetings, he is more likely to come to your view than in a public place where he would lose face for changing his mind if you disagree. <S> I'd expect that in private, you would convince him sometimes, he would convince you sometimes, and he would overrule you sometimes. <S> That is normal. <A> You take the good with the bad, in some ways you're lucky you have a manager that understands your work intimately, on the other hand it means you can't get away with much. <S> If you don't like the management style you should have pushed for your promotion, as it stands there isn't a great deal you can do. <S> Eventually new managers settle into their roles, it sometimes takes longer for those who rose from the ranks, because they understand their old job better and therefore cling to that role a bit. <S> You need to understand it from his side, he's in a new role, uncertain and nervous clutching at what he knows to some extent. <S> In time his confidence will grow and this will probably change. <S> Your best option is to be supportive. <S> People remember well the ones who supported them when they were struggling, they never forget the ones that tried to drag them down either. <S> Don't contact the boss, nothing positive is in that for you. <A> It sounds like he's having a little difficulty adjusting to his new role. <S> Your colleague has to learn an entirely new set of skills, and perhaps he is underestimating the level of challenge that he has taken on. <S> Furthermore, it's likely that he misses his previous role more than he thought that he would. <S> Management requires a lot better understanding of people and how they interact than software architecture does -- as you know, if you have a lot of leadership experience. <S> So he has to learn how to get good at it, and you — all of you — can find ways to help teach him. <S> One of the things that he has to learn is that managers can't give jobs to people and then try to do them themselves. <S> One thing that you might consider doing is looking up your old boss for a social visit, and asking his (her?) <S> advice on how you can best help your new boss adjust to his new role. <S> (If you thought he was a good boss, that is.) <S> He knows both of you very well, and if he was a good manager, he will probably have some insights that you will find valuable. <S> Other than that, you can apply your leadership skills to "manage without authority. <S> " Find ways to smooth the road for your new boss, just as you would with a new employee who was reporting to you. <S> And do your best not to get frustrated. <S> Give it another six months, and see if he starts getting more comfortable with his position.
| I'd say that he needs a bit of time to learn the ropes, and you all can try to help him understand that he has your support.
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How to prevent non-technical and disruptive persons from coming to our technical meetings? I work in a small team and recently we had to merge with another team (slightly larger) in a business vertical. Both teams are dealing with some satellite applications related to Business Intelligence. While day to day work is not affected, our product owner suggested to have some regular meetings to share our knowledge. This is great because we are virtually working on the same data warehouse and we can find out a lot. These meeting should be highly technical (talk about tech stack, architectural choices, show some code examples etc.) Each meeting is organized by one of the members, who invites all the members in the both teams. Last session was organized by one of my colleagues and invited all the members. However, one the colleagues in the other team immediately forwarded the meeting to his manager. So, we had this extra person during the meeting. The issue is that this manager has little technical knowledge, asks lots of trivial questions and usually eats up all the time and the meeting will take more than expected, usually not covering the agenda and reaching some conclusion. This is not an isolated case and many other colleagues complained about this behavior. We (my team) are trying to learn from this experience and thought about/done the following: approached our product owner : he agreed with us that the organizer should decide who participates, but did nothing prevent meeting forwarding : we found out that we can deny forwarding of the meeting, but this can be easily circumvented since the colleague can just simply tell his manager about the meeting. This option also marks our intention to avoid other persons being invited talk to the person forwarding the meetings - our relation with the guy is not really good and we are not sure about the reaction. He might tell his manager that we do not want him at these meetings and things might get complicated talk to manager's boss - while this might also be a good opportunity to draw attention about other issue as well, the hierarchical distance is quite high (he is leading over hundreds of people and this issue seems really small) try to make impossible for him to attend - we can find out about an important meeting the manager must attend and program the meeting in the same time interval. This should be more subtle, but have to deal with change proposals Question: Are there any alternatives we should consider? I know it sounds like a small issue, but our little team took these meetings really seriously and tried our best for the presentations and relevant discussions. <Q> The first thing to remember is to focus on behaviours, not people. <S> The problem is not that the other team's manager is attending your meeting - but their behaviour when they are there. <S> With that in mind, if a meeting is being disrupted by someone, it is equally the fault of the person chairing the meeting . <S> The chair should politely but firmly keep the meeting on track and on topic - in this case, it means curtailing any questions which are not appropriate for the intended audience of the meeting (the technical teams). <S> It may perhaps be helpful to offer to a separate less technical session with the other team's manager so they can also gain an understanding of what your team is doing. <A> Are there any alternatives we should consider? <S> I see one obvious alternative: Speak with the manager. <A> Depending on how the organization is structured, this can be a difficult situation because the manager is in a position of power. <S> In some companies (e.g. Google, from what I read) it's normal for people at lower levels in the organization to push back hard on management. <S> If you are in a company with a more traditional stratified power structure, it's probably not the best option to directly challenge the manager. <S> If this is a concern and it seems like it is, you will probably need to get help for your manager. <S> Explain the situation and convince them that it is leading to issues with their team's performance i.e. your ability to deliver. <S> If your manager is a peer or senior to the manager in question, they can address this. <S> If not, they will need to look up the chain of leadership for assistance. <S> Your manager may know what to do immediately. <S> If not, suggest they attend the meeting and make sure the agenda is followed. <S> This should prevent the other manager from monopolizing the meeting. <A> I presume he is attending because he wants/needs something from that meeting? <S> What about to make it a two-part meeting where the first 30 - 60 minutes is non-technical and the next 30 - 60 minutes (or however long it is) is purely technical and is communicated in no uncertain terms to the non-technical manager. <S> Possibly announce it during the meeting, eg. <S> "That concludes our general part, and now we'll continue with the technical part. <S> Mr Manager is not required but can listen in if he wants." <A> I would start by setting a proper purpose statement, agenda and audience for the meeting, in which you make it clear that this is a technical meeting to discuss technical details among the technical personnel that are doing these technical things. <S> That, hopefully, will make it clear to this non-technical manager that the meeting isn't intended for him, and that he won't get anything out of it, encouraging him to not attend. <S> Less confrontational than directly approaching him and asking him not attend, and if he does anyway, it's easier to swat down his interruptions by pointing at the meeting agenda/purpose, and suggesting that he should schedule a less technical meeting with his team to go over his concerns and questions. <S> If that doesn't help the situation, you can move on to more direct or confrontational approaches, but I've gotten a lot of mileage out this softer approach - most of the time, the non-technical folks are happy not to attend highly technical meetings that are advertised as such. <A> It's quite obvious that the colleague who forwarded the meeting request is a brown-noser, and his manager is a PHB political busybody who is merely interested in looking involved. <S> You don't want either of them in a meeting you hope to be productive, so <S> disinvite them both, then tell the brown-noser it's up to him to explain to his manager that their invites were revoked because you felt they were not contributing to the topic of the meeting. <S> The result will be that either the brown-noser grows a spine and tells his manager why they were disinvited (something the manager cannot argue with - it's your meeting and your rules); or he tries to make it your problem by claiming he doesn't know - in which case his manager comes to you, and you just deflect him back to his subordinate. <S> Eventually the manager will (correctly) believe the brown-noser is not telling him the truth, so the trust between them will suffer and the brown-noser's nose should become less brown as a result.
| Ask him if he'd like to have a separate meeting (with a smaller audience) to address the concerns he brings up in your team meeting, in order to allow you to keep your meeting focused on the agenda.
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How do I not join a project without telling the reason is I will probably quit before the project will be over? I'm working for a company which has started a one-year project with government aid. For this project the composition of the team and every member must be approved by the government. Because of some reasons it was easier to start the project without me and switch me and a coworker after two months. Now all documents for my approval are prepared and I only have to interview with someone from the government. Since we started the project I got an offer to work for another company with which I worked before as a freelancer. They don't have an open position, but they are willing to create one for me and we want to talk about everything in a few weeks. Because it's not an open position I'm not sure if and when I could start at this other firm, but I would prefer to work for them. Now I looked into the government contract and it stresses that there can't be an exchange of team members after six months. I'm pretty sure the new job wouldn't start until these six months are over but before the end of the year and therefore if I switch now into the team I would risk the whole project failing. I really don't want my current company to lose this project, but I can't think of an excuse why after all the preparation I now suddenly can't switch with my coworker and I don't want to tell them about the offer because at this moment it's too vague. What can I do? The interview could be this week and after that the exchange is complete. P.S.: I didn't sign anything new. I can legally quit and leave the company after 30 days if I want to. But the government put in the contract with the company that if they change the team after the 6 months the government is allowed to stop the project. I'm not a huge fan of burning bridges. I love to work for my current company and they were always more than fair. I finished my master thesis while working for them and they never had any problem with taking time off or leaving mid-day for a meeting with my prof. But I hear you and maybe I'm just a little naive to think they would do something similar if the roles were inverted. <Q> In my opinion, your priorities and obligations when it relates to work should be to yourself, your health, your relationships, and your career path. <S> Again, in my opinion, company loyalty should not be considered because no matter what, you will always be replaceable and if it benefits the company, you will be replaced. <S> While you are employed by your company, you should work as if you are going to be there for the next 30 years and retire there right up until the moment that you leave for your next opportunity. <S> If your new gig falls through, then nothing happens. <S> If your new gig works out, you can pursue it as long as your employment contract permits it. <S> Your company will get by. <S> If the whole contract falls through because you leave, that is a huge failure on the part of management for not having a manageable bus-factor. <S> You can use your unique position to make sure there is sufficient knowledge sharing and redundancy on the project to accommodate a loss of a teammate for any reason. <S> That should not be viewed as odd by anyone on your team since it is just good practice. <S> That way, if you leave, the team moves on and can absorb your absence and if you don't leave, nothing is impacted. <A> This is a many-times duplicate. <S> Do nothing. <S> Every programmer is continually looking for another job. <S> Every employer of programmers is continually looking for other programmers. <S> The possibility that you may be leaving in a month or two is irrelevant. <S> Say absolutely nothing. <S> If, as it happened, you absolutely know you will be leaving in a month or two, say absolutely nothing. <S> You'll be obligated to give a certain amount of notice (say, one week). <S> You should no more give them more notice, than, they would randomly give you more money in your paycheck one week. <A> The new project is probably to your benefit, particularly if the job offer never materializes. <S> The contract/exchange should have clauses for employee replacement in the event an employee quits, dies, or otherwise becomes unavailable. <S> Tying a project to a certain group of employees and making a contract that guarantees the project will fail if any employee leaves is just not reasonable - <S> but if that's the route they've chosen, that's their responsibility, not yours. <S> The only contracts you should concern yourself with are those you sign. <S> Don't feel you need to support some third party contract if your circumstances change. <A> I agree with Adam Davis that unless you have an offer, you do not change your plans about your current project. <S> Your current employer will get by. <S> You need to prioritize your own interest. <S> When I was in job market few years ago (I was looking to leave my first job after college), I was given an offer letter, which I quickly signed and returned to my new employer while putting my two weeks in. <S> Long story short, they did my background check <S> and I almost didn't get the job. <S> This is the reason why you should be careful quitting your current job or making it obvious you'll be leaving them soon. <S> If you really want to lookout for their best interest, may be talk to your manager and let him/her know you have a future vacation plan abroad <S> and you were planning to take several weeks off. <S> This would work depending on your company policy and whether your department have a resource to handle this project without you while giving you something else to work on. <S> Again, I would not do this if I were you. <S> Always look after yourself before anyone else. <S> That's why you're told to put your own oxygen mask on before helping others on airplane! <A> I've been in a similar position before, so will offer a different perspective. <S> Talk to your prospective employer and let them know about the situation you are in - how important the contract is for your current company, and why your delayed departure can affect it adversely. <S> Then, request them if they can hasten the timelines a bit to help you avoid burning any bridges. <S> The fact that you don't want to jeopardise a project by your premature departure displays your work ethics, and any competent hiring manager will view it favourably. <S> Also, Karma. <S> In my case, the nudge was sufficient to put things on the fast track. <S> There are only 2 responses you could get by calling their hand - either they hurry things up, which is an improvement upon your current situation, or they don't, which maintains the status quo. <S> (Personal Opinion) - <S> If the prospective employer maintained status quo without any concrete reason, after I explained the situation, I would consider that as a red flag.
| Unless you have an offer and a start date in hand, you should not alter your plans at your current job.
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How to deal with a potential employer that is thinking about going around our recruiter? So I was approached initially by email by a recruiter for a position at a company close to where I live. I emailed back, saying I was interested and to make a long story short I interviewed at the place and they would love to bring me on. I received an email from my potential employer saying that they would love to have me at the company, but they are not certain about working anymore with the recruiter that found me. I'm assuming they want to avoid the 20-30% finder's fee. So, now this puts me in an undesirable situation. The Recruiter contacted me back and asked if I had been in contact with the employer at all. I don't want to lie to anyone. I'm not certain if I'm supposed to be emailing the employer directly, but I already have. I like the employer and want to accept the job. I also thought that the recruiter did her due diligence in getting us in contact with each other and would feel terrible if she was to not get anything from making that contact. Is there any way I can remain honest and not risk my reputation with the recruiter while maintaining a good standing with the company that wants to hire me? And for what it's worth, the employer had multiple job postings on various sites. The recruiter had contacted them to help them find someone to fill the slot. Not the other way around. I'm not sure if that would make a difference or not. Edit Just so it is clear, I have not signed anything with the recruiter and from what I was told in the last interview I don't think the employer has signed any contracts with the recruiter yet. So, I will not have to face any legal consequences that I'm aware of. All the recruiter and I have so far is an email conversation where I expressed interest in the position that they presented to me. <Q> Don't take the job from this place. <S> The fee should not be so large that it's an economic burden to them, if it were, they would be so financially unstable that you're at risk of being laid off at a moment's notice. <S> Negotiating for a raise at an office this motivated to pinch pennies even if their finances are strong is going to be very difficult. <S> But most importantly, working with people who are willing to act with a hint of unethical attitudes this early in the process is almost certainly the tip of an iceberg of bad behaviors. <A> Is there any way I can remain honest and not risk my reputation with the recruiter while maintaining a good standing with the company that wants to hire me? <S> The way you present it here, it doesn't seem so. <S> Either you're honest with the recruiter, in which case the employer will probably pass on you to find someone else who doesn't come with the recruiter fee attached, or you play ball with with the employer, in which case you're being dishonest with the recruiter by not telling them you got the job they hooked you up with. <S> Which would you rather be? <S> As Stephen Colbert might say, pick a side, we're at war. <S> Of course, it's always possible that the employer will surprise you and hire you anyway, even though you insist on keeping the recruiter in the loop. <S> That would be the ideal outcome, of course. <S> However, the only way I can see to get that result is to risk losing the job by sticking to your principles. <S> Be polite with both sides, of course. <S> (I'm assuming you've already signed up with the recruiter, anyway.) <S> You could play out the employer side a bit first, to see how they react to the news that you intend to tell the recruiter, before replying to the recruiter. <S> That might give you a better idea of what the employer's intentions really are. <S> Of course, it might also result in them just dropping you cold and not replying any further. <S> But that's an answer in itself, really. <A> Tricky. <S> In order to make a good decision you need the full backstory. <S> I would approach the prospective employer starting with <S> "I understand you would prefer to not work with the recruiter. <S> Would you mind explaining to me why this is and what type of setup you have with the recruiter?" <S> That should give some insight on what the deal is. <S> If you get an evasive answer, you can crank it up to <S> The recruiter has approached me about our interaction and current state. <S> What would you like me to reply back to him <S> /her?" <S> If they ask you to tell the truth, that's what you should do and let the company deal with the fallout, whatever it is. <S> If they tell you to lie, I would seriously re-consider signing on there. <S> If they are unethical in this regard, they are probably unethical in other ways as well, including towards you. <A> Simply be honest to the recruiter about what is happening, and ask your possible employer if they indeed have a Contractual obligation with the recruiter, as you are conflicted. <S> It is not your battle. <S> If you go behind anyones back, you will probably loose out and burn bridges with both parties. <S> By being honest and up front, you only stand to loose one party.
| Let the recruiter know you've been contacted by the employer, and let the employer know you need to contact the recruiter before accepting any offer, in accordance with your contractual obligations to them.
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Is it rude to leave work chat you are no longer belonging to? In my company we still use Skype for internal purposes. One client can have many projects and each of them can have one or more chats (sometimes my list can easily contain dozens of them). Even if you turn off notifications, those chats are always going up and down, blinking, making it harder to look for current projects info (another dozens of chats). Usually when you are being assigned to another client, a manager of former project excludes you from chats of their responsibility. The last time I switched projects one of the managers didn't exclude me from his group chats and recently one of those became so annoying I left it and others by myself. A few moments later a manager of one of the most annoying project's chat said that I was rude and said to just turn off the sound and never leave the conversations. I left that project 2 months ago and will never ever come back to it. The manager was one of the many and not a senior one. We have no internal regulations on this regard and I never had such problems before. But now it bothers me if he really was right. Are there any rules of etiquette that apply in my situation? <Q> In fact, the manager of each chat wants you to do that - to be proactive and leave. <S> So that the chat manager doesn't have to clean everyone out. <S> Just as you literally leave a physical meeting - you don't expect the manager to hold your hand, get your bag, help you to the door etc !! <S> :) - you can, indeed must, leave Skype rooms when appropriate. <A> It is considerate to give a little sign off when doing something like this. <S> Whether it is excusing yourself from a meeting, asking to be removed from an unruly email chain with too many cc's, a Skype chat, a MS Teams channel, a Slack channel, etc. <S> It doesn't have to be much, but enough to let everyone know you are leaving the chat and are still available if they need you. <S> " <S> Hey everyone. <S> It does not appear like this chat is one of my projects <S> so I will be excusing myself from it. <S> If there are any action items for me or if there is any info/knowledge I can share, please feel free to add me back or reach out to me directly. <S> " <S> If you still get grief from this manager, you have two options: Either ignore the manager if they are in no way related to you or your dept/team or ask for clarification on the official policy when it comes to the chat channels. <S> "Hey manager-person. <S> I apologize if my leaving the chat seemed rude. <S> The project doesn't involve me <S> so I excused myself. <S> Please send me the link to the official document for how to handle the chat conversations <S> and I'll make sure to distribute it to my manager and fellow teammates so we can follow the rules." <S> This shows that there is no official documentation on how to handle it, you will gladly share with your colleagues this manager's viewpoint on having a million open conversations (which not many people will be in favor of), and the problem should go away. <A> I agree with @Fattie that in normal circumstances there should be nothing wrong with leaving chat groups you're no longer involved in. <S> It reduces the clients distraction level and makes seeing activity that you do need to care about easier. <S> If for some reason the people still working on the project need your insight about something that you did while working on it, the invite notice and/or the chat being automatically re-added to your list and then setting off notifications will make it more visible to you when it does matter again. <S> However, as always, the culture in your employer could be different than that. <S> So the question becomes if the manager who flipped out on you was just being a crazy micro-manager, or if the expectation is that your chat client should end up with a huge room list because you never leave anything. <S> There are two ways to figure out which applies. <S> The active way is just to ask your supervisor and/or colleagues who've been at the company longer than you have what is considered normal. <S> The passive way is just to see what your more experienced colleagues do after they leave a still-active project. <S> Do they leave the chat after a few days/weeks or do they lurk there indefinitely? <A> However, if you are unsure or otherwise have reason to believe it will not be received well, it is generally safe to make explicit what a should have been implicit. <S> "Since my involvement in this part of the project is complete I plan to drop out of this conversation. <S> Does anyone need any information before I go?" <S> Most of the time people get offended both inside and outside the workplace it is due to a construction they place on a person's intentions that may or may not be valid. <S> Making it explicit takes out the guesswork.
| It is 100% correct and good to leave skype chats, as you describe. In the general case, no it is not rude to leave a workplace group chat if it is not relevant to your work.
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How to handle a boss that I believe is non-maliciously setting me up for failure? I have been working with a company for about 6 months, with the job title of software engineer/support specialist. So far, I have done very little software work, but that was initially expected. The problem is with my boss, the owner of the company. I'm expected to support their software to corporate customers with very little assistance. The previous support employee left several months before I started, and the only other person able to help me is doing field work 90% of the time. He is unreachable almost all of the time when he's doing field work. My boss tells me to "jump into the thick of it and get my hands dirty" to learn the software. If a customer contacts me, I'm supposed to learn as I go to fix it. I had no problem doing this, but a couple weeks ago, I made a change that broke the customer's systems for 4 days. Eventually the field guy had to fix it when he had time. Now just two days ago, the system broke again even after I was being very careful. The boss is blaming me when I feel I haven't had the resources to succeed. He mentioned to me that "this system has been working for years and is now breaking", implying that I'm the cause. Another issue is that I have a couple of actual software projects that I haven't had any chance to start. The customers are waiting for work to be completed, but I just haven't had time due to my support load. I probably would have time if I was more knowledgeable of the software, but even after 6 months I'm not up to speed with how to fix things quickly. How should I handle this? Should I bring it up to my boss and what should I say? He's very headstrong. <Q> What you've told us is what you should be telling him as well. <S> However, more importantly, you should be looking for a new job. <S> These sort of chaotic workplaces may serve to teach you a lot, but are usually not worth the stress, and not all of those skills and habits you pick up may be good ones. <S> Especially when you have the threat of being fired for your boss's failings hanging over your head. <S> In the mean time keep telling your boss that you need more training and help, but your requests will likely fall on deaf ears. <A> I have to disagree with the other answer. <S> What you have described to me is this: the only free resource to handle these issues is you. <S> this makes you hard to fire. <S> Use it. <S> This is where you will learn the most. <S> Yes, you might get fired. <S> Yes, the stakes are high, and you will take the heat. <S> But this heat is what you learn from. <S> Fear of failure is the mother of all invention, almost. <S> I have always come out with a fresh perspective after going into the deep end. <S> Some I failed. <S> Learn to accept failure as a learning experience and use the motivation it gives you both up front and in hindsight. <S> This will prepare you to handle greater projects in the future. <S> I was luckily once put in charge of a pilot process because there were no others available. <S> Holy batman we screwed up alot, but in doing so learned enough about the process to defend a 500 MUSD capex investment. <S> Stick with it. <S> Edit: As an addendum, build relations with your customers and clients instead of your boss given your situation. <A> You need to try an look at this situation objectively. <S> You haven't specified the role that you applied for, i.e. was it a trainee software engineer/support specialist or was the role advertised as an experienced engineer. <S> Either way communication is key, but explaining that you are not happy because of X isn't necessarily the best way to handle things. <S> instead try putting half an hour of your own time in to writing a handover/update of your day to your employer. <S> It may go something like this; Today I have spoken to X customers, of which I was able help <S> X <S> I spent longer than I should have with customer X as I wasn't sure on what to do, after researching/contacting/asking for help <S> I come to the conclusion <S> X. <S> I definitely think there is in an opportunity for me to gain a deeper understanding around X issue, please could you advise the best way for me to get this information. <S> I also have X projects which I need to start and have customers waiting for however due to X time researching/contacting/asking for help today I was unable to start today. <S> I'm starting to worry that I am falling behind with these projects, please could you advise on what YOU think I should do. <A> One other approach I've not seen mentioned is to push your employer to hire more people to share the support workload so you can have some time to focus on some building.
| I would look for a sane employer, with more staff, where you can actually get some training.
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Using LinkedIn to find Information I'm currently job searching and writing cover letters, the job postings don't contain any information about who I'm supposed to address in my cover letter. I went to Linkedin, looked through the employee list, and found a few employees who provide there company e-mail addresses. Would it be okay to contact them, and ask them who I should address my cover letter to or is this unprofessional? I found this page , but it's about contacting the person directly responsible for hiring, I'm looking for the person responsible for hiring. <Q> It may not always be clear who the hiring manager/ hr representative is that will be reviewing your cover letter and resume. <S> Ideally you will want to address it to a specific person. <S> But if that information is left out of the posting then I would address it To Whom It <S> May Concern . <S> If you search for the person on linkedin or anywhere else, you want to be absolutely sure its the person who is expecting to receive resumes and cover letters for this position. <S> After your comment, I will add that reaching out to people in the company in search of a contact for your cover letter, I would say, is not professional. <S> It is likely that the person who you reach out to will not respond thinking its spam. <S> If no specific person is specified in the listing and its not clear after some basic searching, using To Whom It <S> May Concern is the way to go. <S> The person at the company is probably expecting that. <A> What I usually do (when it is not clear who to address my application to) is that I lookup the company website/LinkedIn and pretty much any resource about the company, then I filter my results by whoever works in HR (based on their position title). <S> I pick the highest position (If I found multiple HR personnel in my research) and I address them about the job I found and why I am interested. <S> And I just address it in a general way if I did not find any HR titles, something like " Dear Hiring Committee, ". <A> LinkedIn is all about networking, people love being asked stuff like this!
| Find and employee of the business in a similar role, explain that you are looking to apply, ask for some feedback about the role and their experience in the business, and if they know who best to send your application to. Otherwise, if you send it to the wrong person, it could be perceived as spam and not make it to the person who is a position to reach out about an interview.
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Being a significant other at a company event, of a company I resigned from After a year of working, I left for a higher position in a different field for another company. I gave my two week notice and the company overall understood my resignation since I wasn’t working in my desired field. Overall, I left on good terms with everyone. The company was only aware of my relationship with my co-worker a week before my resignation notice was given since it wasn't relevant until that point and we thought it would be unprofessional to bring it up out of context. With this being a smaller company (around 10-12 people), we are all very close. The company prides itself on having company events and activities where families and significant others are encouraged to come. This makes it a bit awkward since my boyfriend currently still works for the company I resigned from. Eventually, there is going to be an event that significant others are encouraged to join (like a holiday party). Since everyone at the company knows me and knows we are in a relationship, whether or not I go to an event can give a decent amount of awkward small talk for my partner about my presence/absence. I'm curious what my options are in handling an invitation to a company event as a significant other and if it would be considered unprofessional for my partner to bring me to those events. <Q> They are friends and former co-workers, you're invited to the event as a significant other. <S> They certainly would not expect any issues. <A> I worked at a company where there was a large redundancy. <S> In future events where partners were invited single employees would often invite ex staff as their partner. <S> Everyone really enjoyed this chance to meetup again. <S> So I doubt it will be awkward at all. <A> You've explained it yourself: at the time you resigned, your relationship wasn't relevant. <S> You did nothing wrong and should have no real reason to feel awkward, unless you left on bad terms or think a lot of people may hold a grudge about something you did. <S> There should be no problem with you attending a company event as your significant other's partner. <S> In an ideal world, you wouldn't even have to ask this question: people ought to be able to separate the professional from the personal, especially when the two start to intersect. <S> Unfortunately, an alarming amount of people are unable to do this: they perceive professional issues as personal and let personal likes/dislikes affect their professional actions/decisions.
| As long as you don't cause problems, there should be no problems. As long as you weren't fired or there were work issues that caused you to leave, and you left on good terms, there should be no awkwardness or problems attending work events where spouses and significant others are invited.
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Is it okay to turn down an invitation to my own retirement party? I had to retire from work after 23 years to care for my ill husband. No breaks. I’m here 24/7. I order groceries on line for delivery. I’m his caretaker. With his dementia and disease he cannot be left alone. I got an invite for my retirement party. Having to retire under the circumstances of an ailing husband is not something I want to be celebrating. Is it okay not to accept under the situation? <Q> If you don't want to you don't have to. <S> We understand your feeling you don't want to celebrate a sad event. <S> However you might consider that your colleagues don't want to celebrate something upsetting (if they understand the full story). <S> Instead they probably want to say goodbye to you properly, and to celebrate the many years you have had together. <S> It would likely be good for you to say goodbye to them too. <S> Also you are about to enter a time of your life when you might feel isolated from other people. <S> I understand you feel you can't leave your husband for even a short while, but I hope you can find someone who is prepared to look after him for a few hours. <S> You will likely need someone in the future. <S> As thursdaysgeek says, your plan to never leave the house for a period that may be many years is not sustainable. <A> Of course it is. <S> This isn't something that should be over thought! <S> Your reasons are legitimate humble and of sound reasoning! <S> And office parties.. once you've been to one.. <A> If you feel like its not appropriate to attend one, given you're the person of honor, it would be best to briefly explain to them that due to the circumstances related to you leaving your job, you consider best to not have a party at all. <S> That being said I do agree with DJClayworth's answer that you probably should re-consider this decision and humbly attend it <S> , after all there's no need to make it make it flamboyant with too much fanfare or flair, just to give the opportunity to the people that were your long time work partners to honor you with a goodbye while you embark in this new harsher reality.
| First, you are allowed to decide if you attend a party or not. Since you are the reason for the event make sure you give plenty of notice if you really don't want to be there. It might be good for you to take any opportunities you have for getting together with others - even if you don't feel like it.
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Is it too soon to expect a written employment contract? Firstly apologies if this is a naive question - I've only ever had 1 job and I have been there 6 years. I recently got offered a new job elsewhere - it's a significant step up and much closer in line with what I want to be doing career-wise. After verbally accepting the offer via a recruitment agency, I was sent a formal written offer which I had to sign and return to the new employer. I subsequently received an email from the employer advising that I had now completed all the "hiring steps" and that I would receive my employment contract in "due course" . The notice period for my current employer is 3 months, so I don't actually start the new job until the end of May. So far it's been about a month since accepting the written offer and I have still not received my employment contract. In contrast when I started with my current employer, I received the contract within days of accepting the offer verbally. My question is two-fold: Is this odd? Is it too soon to enquire about this? <Q> I joined the Civil Service 2 months ago, and I had to wait 6 weeks to receive my contract after receiving a written offer. <S> The delay was due to the length of the background checks and staff holidays. <S> I would contact HR, first by email, then by phone if you have no response, to ask for an update. <S> I always assume that the staff are well-natured and that the contract may be stuck in a process. <S> PS. <S> As mentioned before, I've worked in a lot of jobs. <S> From my anecdotal evidence, standards in hiring and onboarding in the UK have declined. <S> I too went from waiting a few days for a contract to months. <S> Maybe it is a symptom of many companies cutting costs? <A> Reach out to your prospective employer and ask if they have had a chance to get a contract sorted. <S> Maybe suggest that, rather than emailing it, you could swing by one afternoon/weekend. <S> I think a lot of companies fall behind on this stuff <S> and I wouldn't be too concerned about it myself, however if you have no proof of additional benefits, such as more than statutory holiday or perhaps overtime rates, then I'd be eager to get the 'finer' details sorted before you officially leave your current role. <S> Good luck with your new job! <A> After verbally accepting the offer via a recruitment agency, I was sent a formal written offer which I had to sign and return to the new employer. <S> This formal written offer, signed by you, is your contract, under UK law. <S> I subsequently received an email from the employer advising that I had now completed all the "hiring steps" and that I would receive my employment contract in "due course" . <S> Though people often term further information "contract", it's actually legally "Terms and Conditions" (Ts&Cs). <S> So far it's been about a month since accepting the written offer and I have still not received my employment contract. <S> Well, with your 3 month notice period my maths says your new employer still has 5 months left. <S> My question is two-fold: Is this odd? <S> Is it too soon to enquire about this? <S> Yeah, it's a little unusual. <S> I'd normally expect to receive Ts&Cs with the actual contract. <S> But it can't be too unusual given the legal requirement for within 3 months of starting. <S> I can't see any harm in following up with the employer. <A> It can vary by profession, company etc. <S> Your best bet will be to contact either someone in their HR department or the manager who interviewed you. <S> You're just asking for an update after all. <S> I'm based in the UK and a month is a reasonable time to have waited to confirm if there have been any changes. <S> All they may say is that it is in the mail or they have to iron out the finer points in the contract. <S> It is very unlikely they will hold it against you, just for asking for an update. <S> If you are due to start in May <S> but you have a three-month notice period, it may be worth enquiring about a change to the expected start date.
| No company should expect you to have handed in your notice before the contract has been signed and received by the company. Having worked in the UK and held a lot of jobs, I can tell you this is perfectly normal. In the UK your employer is legally required to provide you with written Ts&Cs by the time you've been working for them for 3 months.
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How to transition to a new job after a failed short stay at a company? I am a software developer (With approximately 6 years of professional experience), and have been at my current job for 3 months after being made redundant (along with my entire Business division) from my previous job. Due to several work related reasons, I decided I want to start looking for a new job. These reasons are basically cultural and personal fit within the group, and other things I am not happy with about the company (Bad Management and poor practices, and several personal problems with other team members). As to my question. I could either update my resume with this current company, and be prepared to be questioned about why I want to leave, and give a politically correct answer along the lines of "I found that the role is not a good fit for me because I thought I was going to be working on some new exciting project but I ended up inheriting legacy code and working on something else / I find the company not structured enough to be a good fit for me..." etc, Or, I could very well leave a 3 months gap, and have a really good explanation for it such as: "I got made redundant so I took a few months off to go back to my country and visit my family, as well as learning a few things on my own and working on some personal projects (Which is true), and now I am looking again for a new position, etc. Which one would you think it is the best approach? PS: I know there are similar questions on this site about crossing short term employment, but I feel my case (being a bit longer in time) is still relevant. <Q> Gaps are generally undesirable, especially as they become larger. <S> You can explain them away to an extent, but it is better not to have a gap in employment if possible. <S> A short explanation which does not place blame is the best approach. <S> E.g., "After I started, I found the job was not what I anticipated." <S> Alternatively, "After my division was closed at Company A, I accepted the first reasonable offer, which was Company B. However, Company B is not an ideal fit for me <S> so I am looking for a better opportunity elsewhere." <S> A reasonable employer will understand that your first job after a layoff was an emergency decision that may not align with your personal goals and preferences. <S> Repeated job-hopping is a red flag, so you don't want to land a new job only to realize that it is another bad fit. <A> Sorry that I'm not going to be much help here <S> however I do want to stress that as an employer I find it very difficult to deal with people that take shots at another business <S> and I feel it's not the best way to deal with the situation. <S> I don't fully understand if you have been lied to i.e. been told you WILL be working on new and exciting projects or weather you haven't done enough investigation to fully understand the job that you accepted. <S> Furthermore unorganised management is never a good reason to leave in the eyes of a new employer to me that says, not good at working with people. <S> It maybe that you have been lied to, that the work culture is terrible and the managers don't know what they are doing but you can't use these as reasons to leave. <S> Personally I wouldn't mention on your CV about this particular role and <S> like you said used the time to do <S> X HOWEVER <S> a 3 month holiday isn't a good reason, explaining that you used the time to develop your own skills to compliment your current academic success would be better. <A> Leaving within 3 months is not unusual. <S> You go to a job interview, the company thinks you're Ok for the job, you think the job is Ok for you, and you start. <S> Then there will be a few months time where the company learns the reality about you, you learn the reality about the company, and either side can come to the conclusion that you are not made for each other. <S> And either side quits. <S> It's normal. <S> With more experience you will get better at picking jobs, and this will become more rare. <S> Of course if the company outright lies to you, there's nothing you can do about it. <S> Put this job on your CV. <S> Don't hide it, especially through lying. <S> If you lie about it (like your "really good explanation" which is in fact a lie), and that gets found out, then is likely to get you fired immediately, even years later. <S> Taking the job was a mistake, you figured it out, and you are acting to fix it. <S> Everyone makes mistakes, how you handle them is important. <S> And as an employer, I prefer someone who quits after three months to someone who stays for two years, is unhappy, not performing, and pulls everyone down.
| During interviews, you should look for an opportunity to ask about the conditions which prompted you to search for another job.
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My boss emailed this to me. How should I respond? I got this email from my boss. It has been brought to my attention by others that you spend a significant amount of time on your personal phone(s), laptop and physically away from your cube during the day. One of the changes I made when I took on this supervisory role was to remove job assignments, which I believed would allow everyone to learn all aspects of the work requests our unit handles. The down side to that is, it could allow someone to not actually do any specifically assigned work and let other members of the team pick up their slack. I saw you on your personal laptop during the 12 o’clock hour, which I assumed was your lunch. Can you please advise me of where you have been since 3 p.m. as Skype has you away from keyboard for over 35 minutes? —————— I went to the bathroom then spoke to a coworker about my project and looked at the project he was working on. —————— How should I respond to his email? <Q> Your answer is in your question. <S> It‘s perfect, because it‘s brief, it‘s precise, and it‘s <S> not emotional at all. <A> What your boss is saying is that he is getting complaints about you being unproductive. <S> This is a serious problem for you as a professional. <S> This is not about just one time being away from your desk for 35 minutes, this is about others having noticed a pattern of behavior. <S> Your team feels that they are doing the work you should be doing. <S> You have been labelled a slacker in the minds of your coworkers, your boss and your boss's boss. <S> You need to seriously attend to this or you will be fired. <S> First, you need to detail what you have actually accomplished in the last few weeks and then take that to your boss in person and discuss his concerns about your performance. <S> If you can do an analysis of what you have accomplished in comparison to other people at your same level (assuming it comes out in your favor), then that is a powerful tool to fight this. <S> You said in a comment, you have difficulty remembering all the points you want to make in a face-to-face discussion. <S> Well, write a list and take it with you. <S> You need to ask your boss for the specific actions you need to take. <S> And then you need to take those actions whether you agree with them or not. <S> But just talking to the boss and eventually responding to the email (detail not only the explanation requested but any changes to your behavior you intend to take) after consulting the boss is not enough in this case because multiple people have complained about your behavior. <S> You need to be seen amending your behavior. <S> Stop using your phone at work or at least reduce it by 60-80%. <S> Don't leave your desk as often. <S> Make sure to check in more code than anyone else and take on the more complex, difficult to solve issues. <A> Then email after that talk confirming what was talked about. <S> Just sending an email about this is great for paper-trail stuff, but it can come off a bit impersonal and tends to let issues lie unresolved. <S> In your talk, you can mention everything you noted here about what happened, and then ask him if he has any further questions. <S> It doesn't sound like you're a terrible employee, but it's still useful to talk to people. <S> Don't apologise - that makes people feel that they're "in the right". <S> Instead just inform him what was happening. <S> You'll both have a chat, and then go back to your desk, respond to the email that started all this with "as we discussed... <S> " and then the rough summary of what you discussed. <A> I think you should explain the absence from the keyboard as you did in your answer, and I would take the additional step of discussing in person how employees are evaluated. <S> Some managers / companies get obsessed with perception over substance. <S> Perhaps you can do this by asking for feedback on your recent projects or on your throughput as an employee, or attempting to focus the discussion on substantive things you are doing and have done. <S> The reason that I and others have suggested getting out of there ASAP is that companies that focus on perception wind up giving promotions and raises to favorite employees and not top performers as personal feelings heavily skew perception. <S> I would not be confident that I'm getting fairly evaluated in a place like that.
| You should go and talk to your boss. Ask him if he has any other questions or concerns, noting your phone use is for work purposes and if possible, you'd prefer the firewall was less restrictive. It doesn't seem fair, but once you have a rep as a slacker, the only way to get past it is to conspicuously not be a slacker and be a top performer instead.
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How can I find out whether I am expected to take "optional" training courses? My workplace offers several training courses that are nominally optional, but that are being heavily marketed by HR as just what the doctor ordered in terms of shaping up our skills and giving us what it takes to shine in our jobs. I have looked at what is offered and determined that the courses offered are unlikely to be helpful to me as they are "basic skills" classes in subjects in which I have significant or extensive experience. For example, one of the courses is a basic course on how to use a computer, while I have extensive experience in IT and have been using computers for 30 years. I am a little worried that, by not enrolling in these courses, I am offending management (or HR) or limiting my career growth (e.g. maybe there are whispers in management saying "No, we can't promote @RobertColumbia, he hasn't taken the basic computer skills course, and all our non-entry level jobs require computer skills."). How can I determine to what extent I am expected to take these courses? I am interested in building my skills, but not very interested in spending time and company resources sitting in a class that is far below my level ("This is a mouse and you can click on it, yes yes, now let's all try it! Now, does anyone know what the Internet is?"), and possibly preventing a co-worker who actually needs the class from actually taking it because I enrolled in the last seat. Obvious options that I see: Just do nothing and wait to see if I am told to take the courses. E.g. "Mr. @RobertColumbia, your annual performance review is as follows: Why didn't you take the Basic Computer Skills course? Everyone at this company must know how to send and receive email and know that a megabyte is not a kind of medical emergency. You are being placed on a Performance Improvement Plan until you enroll in and complete the Basic Computer Skills course." Ask my supervisor directly whether or not I am expected to take the courses given my current skillset. I am worried that this option may result in blowback or a negative impression from my supervisor, or that I will receive a pat or incomplete answer (e.g. they may just repeat the official spiel that the courses are optional, not telling me that passing them is an unwritten requirement for promotion). Just enroll in the classes anyway, sitting quietly and trying not to get angry at the silliness of it all. Ask if there is a placement test, pretest, exam equivalency, or pre-enrollment counseling that I can take to determine whether or not I need the courses. E.g. "I'm not sure if I need to enroll in the Basic Computer Skills course, is there a pretest I can take?" My inclination is to go with #4, as it both signals to management that I am interested in skill-building while also indicating to them that I have, or may have, some skills that they may not be fully aware of and that I am also sensitive to using company resources wisely. This is not an IT employer and I am not in an IT role. <Q> A combination of #2 and #4 should be a solid approach to the problem. <S> Ask your supervisor how to determine whether you should take a specific course. <S> (This answer is pretty short but you already did a good job of looking at the alternatives. <S> There is no secret to this. <S> Just go ahead and ask.) <A> Email HR and copy your manager (or vis versa depending on what your gut tells you): <S> "Hi [HR person], it looks like in this case the training being offered is in a subject I am already proficient in. <S> Are these seminars something I should be signing up for?" <S> If they say, "Yes," then do it. <S> It's their time they are wasting. <S> Or maybe they want you involved so that you can better understand where the rest of the company is. <S> Maybe corporate is really pressuring them to push the trainings as a test to see if support calls go down. <S> In these kind of situations it is usually better to make the question explicit rather than relying on an assumption. <S> Explicit questions take the burden of mind reading off of you. <A> From a managerial standpoint, doing the bare minimum work will get the bare minimum results. <S> If you aspire to get promotions and benefits over your peers you have to show that you put in that extra work. <S> Even if the optional courses are easy for you, taking the time to complete the courses and proving that you have those skills will make you a better candidate in comparison to others competing for the same promotion. <S> Since this applies to a job outside of IT and this isn't an IT role, having proof of even basic computer knowledge through certifications and coursework will look better in comparison to someone that can't show proof of these skills but says they have them. <S> Realistically, if the company is marketing these skills to you and the other employees there is probably reason for it. <S> The company is going to take note of who puts in extra time and energy into building skills. <S> Don't worry so much as expenditure of company resources on you when they are offering. <S> As for how to get through the class, that is up to you and how you handle redundancy. <S> If the company is marketing this to employees, it is probably for their own benefit in the long run and you might take at least something out of it. <S> If not, at least you have the required course work in case <S> there is ever a situation where it would be better if you acquired it. <A> Short and sweet answer. <S> Speak to your manager/hr and explain you would like the opportunity to learn more and carry on progressing but feel as if the courses wouldn't offer you much more insight. <S> Then ask for their suggestions. <A> Training courses cost the company a lot of money. <S> Both in form of having to pay for the teacher and for having to pay you to sit there instead of doing any of your actual work. <S> So not taking part in any training courses you don't benefit from saves the company money. <S> Dragging you to courses you won't learn anything from is just nonsense from an economical perspective. <S> However, there are some courses which are mandatory for legal or political reasons. <S> You might not think you need a course about how to not break your back while washing your hands correctly, and you might be right about that. <S> But someone thinks everyone needs to do this course to keep the company safe from a lawsuit just in case someone gets injured in a freak accident involving a bottle of hand sanitizer. <S> Another topic are courses about cultural sensitivity, workplace harassment, conflict management and similar social behavior rules. <S> Those people who think they don't need such a course are often those who need it the most. <S> And it is hard to argue against taking such courses from a cost/benefit standpoint, because the benefit is entirely subjective. <S> So there are some training courses you just won't get around, <S> no matter how little use you feel they have for you. <S> But when it comes to a hard-skill course, then the best way is to discuss this with your supervisor. <S> Ask them which of these courses are obligatory and which you can skip if you already have the necessary skills.
| Tell your supervisor you are not sure if and what classes to take as you don't want to spend company resources if it's not needed.
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Lying about not already signing an offer I made a rather stupid mistake: when I received an offer from my dream company and accepted it I was already in the interview process with another company. About 1 week after accepting the offer, I was called by the other company and told that I am invited to the final interview. I thought this is a good way to practice my interview skills and accepted it, even though I already took the offer. So, I went to the interview and (I think I) nailed it. At the end, I was asked if I have other offers. I was rather scared (but didn't show that) so I said I have an offer from the other company (and told the company's name), until next week. They asked me what it is about and I told them. They said that I will have the answer from them by then. I didn't realize that I might be burning a bridge and now I don't know what to do. Will they talk to the other company about the offer? To worsen this, I found out that the recruiter lead at the company from which I have the offer is a former boss of the HR person I met at the final interview.Even more bad, these are world-level companies. These are internship positions in software development (I'm still a student).I don't even know why I said that.. What are the chances for this to backfire at me and what can I do about it? LE: I was told by the technical interviwer that I will most likely receive an offer. <Q> For future reference: Don't tell anyone where you are applying for jobs. <S> That's the only thing you did wrong; you shouldn't tell one employer about a different employer. <S> So the fact that you are applying elsewhere is nothing any reasonable employer would hold against your. <S> And having other offers? <S> Well, that will happen as well. <S> And even after an offer, it is normal to have more interviews until you signed a legally binding document . <A> Very doubtful they'd talk to the other company, BUT, and a big BUT is that the managers may know each other. <S> They may talk or they may make a mention that so-so came to the interview and said he had a offer from his company. <S> This is pure speculations though since I don't know them or who they are. <S> I don't think you'd lose your job offer though. <S> In the future, stand your ground. <S> Just remember they are only spoken words, and in the end, they mean nothing. <S> Don't be afraid of nothing. <A> I really don't see anything bad in going to this latter interview. <S> More,I even find it polite from your side not ignoring them even after having the signed offer from other employer in the pocket. <S> Interviews can be very interesting meetings where professionals exchange their opinion,their information and improve their skills of presentation no matter if the interviewee have been hired or not. <S> Is there anyone who can disagree that after each interview the job sicker is enriched by new experience and strengthener negotiation skill? <S> I would send them for sure <S> one thank you letter focusing on benefits of meeting them and talking to them, expressing the openness to cooperate with them someday in the future. <S> Since they already know that you have been hired by other company it will show to both companies(if managers know each other) that you don't calculate anything,don`t hide anything and that you play on professional manners with open cards. <A> You have been made an offer and it has been accepted they can't take that away because you have been for an interview with another business. <S> Don't panic over this, the reality is you went for the interview for experience, and applied to the role before you was given an offer. <S> However I hope that if this situation arises again, you know how you may differently handle it!
| When you apply for a job at company A, company A knows that you are applying elsewhere (the only exception is when you are happily employed, but see an outrageously great offer by A, and you are applying to them alone, but would be happy with your old job as well). If you are uncomfortable mentioning something, just say, "I don't want to disclose that." I do not think you're in jeopardy of losing your dream job.
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Receiving only positive feedback on my performance review is not realistic I've been working for the same company for few years now and I've been promoted few times, my salary was also increased, so I don't have any complaints from financial/role perspective, as I think stuff are developing with a good temp. However, on each feedback I receive, and every performance review I have, I always receive ONLY positive feedback and no constructive criticism, no improvement points, no areas for improvement - nothing. On each review I asked more than once for any recommendations, constructive thoughts, etc. and people always say they can't think of anything (I've switched managers and teams, so it's not even the same people on my reviews). I do agree with the positive comments about my performance and recognise my strengths. I've always had above-average performance in my previous jobs too. But I don't believe it's realistic to be said that there's nothing in a person's work that can be further improved - technical skills, soft skills, time management, list is endless. I have a list of 50 criteria to be assessed on in my review and I don't believe there's a person alive who can be "exceptional" in 10 of those, and "good performance, without comments/suggestions" on all of the remaining 40 of them. I know that this might seem like non-issue and like I'm just a crazy person to many people reading this, but this is important for me. I want to continuously improve myself and keep growing personally and professionally. Without being given a hint in which areas I should focus my attention, it's really hard to do so. As I mentioned - I've raised the question more than once, and when the answer is always "nothing", I'm afraid keep pushing is just crossing the line with being too pushy. I've also raised the question in other occasions where feedback was discussed, and have tried to pop the question in informal conversations with my managers too since I've been working here. My questions here are: is there any point of keep pushing to receive any constructive feedback, and how should I do this given that I already tried, but failed? Or should I just drop it and avoid potentially getting myself into trouble because of this? Also, if for a second we do accept there's nothing in the "con" side from their perspective, shouldn't this actually be an indication that I'm just not challenged in my current work and should consider switching to different role/company so I can keep developing my skills further? <Q> This is an unfortunate side-effect of a work culture that doesn't thrive on that constructive-criticism feedback loop. <S> It sounds as if the company as a whole does reviews to satisfy the HR requirement, but no real review come as a result of it. <S> The first half of my career (10 years) was like this, I always got stellar reviews, and no negative feedback. <S> Goals and constructive feedback were almost a joke to the employees in the fact they didn't do it seriously. <S> I grew technically in my position, but the way I related to others was weak <S> (I just didn't know it) <S> I then switched jobs, and immediately I got some good constructive feedback. <S> After I was done pouting about the first real feedback I received, I got to work fixing the problem, and keeping up to date with my manager on how he saw my progress. <S> I realized I craved that type of feedback, and over the course of that job I grew tremendously, and asked my manager on many times if he had any more feedback to offer. <S> I say all this to say, it may be time to consider a job change. <S> There are absolutely companies out there that take reviews seriously, and work out this type of feedback loop. <S> Honestly, if you are looking for career growth, nothing helps more than to have a colleague in your field point out improvements you can make. <S> If you interview, the questions you should definitely ask around are: <S> How will my work quality be measured? <S> Tell me a common feedback item you usually bring up on performance reviews? <S> You should be able to tell with those questions what type of feedback culture you are going to encounter at the company, and how the manager will approach feedback with you. <A> When I review or coach someone I usually ask, What do you think has gone well. <S> What do you think you could have done differently/better given another chance and how can you continue to deliver what went well while also changing what you would have done last time. <S> So with regards to receive feedback, if you are not getting it, coach yourself, where do YOU feel as if you could improve? <S> How can you do that? <S> and whats the resource needed? <A> there any point of keep pushing to receive any constructive feedback, and how should I do this given that I already tried, but failed? <S> Ask specific questions. <S> Questions like: <S> "I have been focusing on my email communication the past quarter, do you feel it has been clear and easy to digest? <S> What suggestions on how to better improve how I communicate via email?" <S> "Hey, that meeting we were just in, how do you think I did trying to communicate clearly/effectively?" <S> "We've been working together a while now, do you have any things I do which bother you?" <S> "Can I get feedback on the last we were part of? <S> Did I come across as too direct? <S> Too confusing?" <S> As tempting as it is to ask broad "give me feedback please" you will nearly never get this unless the giver is very good at feedback (and protip: <S> most people aren't). <S> Asking broad questions about performance results in "pretty good" nearly 100% of the time. <S> The above types of questions are even better when paired with prepping and goal setting. <S> Telling someone such as your boss: <S> "Hey, I want to focus over the next month on writing more effective emails, I will be trying to ensure that they are easy to skim <S> /parse" " <S> Hey boss, I want to become better at code reviews and am going to focus on X, Y, Z <S> , can we setup time at the end of the to talk through this?" <S> and then following up on it after some time passes is 1000x more likely to get useful and actionable insights than asking a generic "do I communicate well? <S> " question. <S> The goal here is making it easy for someone to give feedback by providing context for them. <S> Is it as valuable as "give me all feedback you might have?" -- no. <S> But you are far more likely to get useful feedback, even if it's over a small scope. <S> Don't forget to make it easy to give you <S> feedback because if you react negatively, you will stop the feedback process entirely going forward.
| You probably aren't receiving this type of feedback, because the people who are reviewing you are not receiving feedback like this as well, nor are they comfortable with giving it.
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How to politely tell your boss that they're overreaching on what you're capable of So let me preface this by saying that it's not that I don't want to do the work my boss is asking me to do, but that they don't seem to understand my limits and constraints. I was hired and have the title of junior front end developer however lately my boss has been treating me as though I'm a senior full stack developer. Currently he has asked me to design a database for an entire application and has plans for me to build it out entirely in python as well as handle the front end ui/ux programming. I am an ok developer but I only have about 2 years of experience and often find myself wishing I had more experienced developers to go to. I am the only dev on our team that knows any python though and he's being insistent that it be built in that language. The other back end devs on our team are very fluent in php and wordpress and have all but washed their hands of it. More so he doesn't seem to have a wonderful grasp on just how complex it is to build an entire enterprise level app from scratch and that you can't just use plugins and frameworks to do all the magic for you. How do I go about telling him that his expectations are not reasonable without risking talking myself out of a job? <Q> I believe your focus is wrong. <S> You could potentially gain significant experience and widen your skill-set from merely front-end to more full-stack - all paid for by your employer, who seems confident that you are up to this task. <S> Take that as a compliment. <S> Many (if not most or all) senior-level developers have early in their careers found themselves in similar situations where they had to leave their comfort zone without being able to lean on seniors. <S> Despite the insecurity and occasional frustration, it is an excellent way of gaining experience and discovering/refining your own problem solving methodology. <S> You should not be resisting, but rather concentrating on setting expectations. <S> Insist that this will be a learning process, there will be set-backs and possibly even dead-ends; if your boss seems to understand this, you should go ahead. <S> Use a project model which promotes transparency by having a short feedback loop <S> , so your boss is never kept in the dark regarding your progress or lack thereof. <S> You can never ensure that your boss won't get mad or disappointed; you can only do your best and maintain total transparency. <A> If you tell yourself you can't do this, then I guarantee your results will be exactly that. <S> However, if you dive head first in these projects, setting up expectations with your boss that you are learning , and may not be able to deliver on time <S> , that will give you the time to learn the right way to do these advanced technologies. <S> As you are learning, check your assumptions with the experts on Stack Overflow. <S> Get some code reviews internally if possible, and if that isn't an option there are other stack exchange sites for those. <S> You can learn this stuff, <S> yes you will make some mistakes, but that is how we get better. <S> I say all this to say, take the bull by the horns and be happy for the challenge! <S> Just some advice from a developer with 20 years experience <A> Sit down with your manager and have a discussion. <S> Set expectations based on your experience (or lack) in a specific technology. <S> This is something that will happen to all of us at many points in our careers. <S> Technologies change. <S> We have to be willing learn different technologies. <S> Two years into my development career (early 90's) I was doing COBOL. <S> I was thrown onto a state-of-the-art system written in (gasp <S> ) VB6. <S> I knew nothing of VB6 <S> (I was a Mainframe developer who didn't do these new-fangled desktop systems). <S> I straight up told my manager that there will be a learning curve and I will make mistakes. <S> If he was willing to live with this then I was on board with the change.
| You need to work with your supervisor to set expectations. Say you're ready for some stretch goals.
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I want to leave the company immediately, but I may lose money About 2/3 weeks ago, I had a one-on-one meeting with my direct superior/manager in which I explained him that I'm considering leaving the company for different reasons (not related to him). He understood, but he also said that he hopes that I would wait for a bit more (about the end of summer). I didn't promise anything back, but we closed the meeting on these (friendly) terms. Further events happened after the one-on-one, which basically contributed to my 100% decision of wanting to leave the company. Therefore, I'd really like to leave now, which means giving the resignation notice and actually being able to leave at the beginning of June (I'm in Europe). This would be fine, but I've also heard that in such period the company may be acquired by a bigger one. Since I have some "options/shares" (the company is a startup, it's not on the stock market), I would lose money if I quit before the acquisition. As further context: I heard about the acquisition thing through an indirect way (a manager told one of my colleague who told it to me), and it may or may not happen (the manager is not even sure about it, but I know that it has not been orchestrated in order to keep me in the company). The rational thing to do would be to hold strong, wait few months for a probable acquisition and then leave/decide what to do. However, I really have no drive/motivation to go further. I'm continuously looking at my screen, but I'm not doing anything, and if this protracts for a while I may also risk to burn bridges (hence future recommendations). Should I ask for another one-on-one with my manager? If so, should I be honest about the acquisition thing and everything else (in theory it's a secret). Also, next week I have a meeting with the CEO (it's a small company). What should I tell him? I don't think I can tell him about the acquisition thing, as he would get furious (he probably told it to few people, and then the news got leaked to few others). In other words: should I tell my manager/CEO that I made up my decision to leave, but that I'm staying for X months (they will ask why...)? Keep in mind that I don't have another job as backup , and the reason for not looking yet is because of the acquisition thing (it would be weird to search for it now, and then say to an eventual company that I will be able to join only in 6 months). <Q> My advice is not to leave your job until you have a concrete job offer to go to. <S> I would ignore the shareholder aspect for 2 reasons: <S> You are making a life-changing decision based on an unsubstantiated rumour <S> If you divulge that you waited to leave and gain financially because of this information, then you may be accused of insider trading <A> Start looking for a new job and ignore the acquisition rumors. <S> Do your existing job well. <S> Without a new job that's all just speculation. <S> In order for you to move this along, you need to go actively looking. <S> You already have mentally checked out and your performance has suffered. <S> This will create problems if it drags out too long. <S> You need to get moving. <S> You can't make good decision on rumors. <S> You need real data and sufficient information. <S> You don't have that at the moment <S> and there is no reasonable way for you to get it, so <S> it's best to just ignore it <S> Even if it happens, it may not result in an immediate financial benefit. <S> Many of these transactions have some strings attached to prevent an immediate mass exodus: lock out periods, vesting schedules, pro-ratings, etc. <S> See point 3). <S> Depending on how your current equity is structured, you can perhaps still benefit, even if you leave right now. <S> If you have stock grants, they are yours. <S> You keep them, regardless of whether you stay or leave. <S> If you have options, you can consider to exercise some right now or shortly after you leave (there is typically a grace period before they expire) <A> Simple. <S> If you will lose money by leaving then you need to figure out how much, is it worth your while staying, and you make your decisions. <S> Don't stop for things that may happen. <A> should I tell my manager/CEO that I made up my decision to leave, but that I'm staying for X months (they will ask why...)? <S> No. <S> Decide for yourself if you want to stick around due to the potential acquisition or not. <S> If the former, be aware that rewards for sticking around aren't usually immediate. <S> In every case I have experienced, you'd need to be there at least 6 months post-acquisition to get anything. <S> Once you have decided then act accordingly. <S> If you have decided to stay, then just keep it to yourself until you later decide to leave. <S> Playing games like "Well I might stick around or might not." <S> or "Well I might stick around because there may be a bonus later. <S> " are more likely to backfire than not. <S> If I were your manager/CEO and you proposed that to me, I'd almost certainly tell you to leave now. <A> I left a job three weeks before my first options vested. <S> (Best guess at the time was $5000 to $10,000, as this was pre-IPO.) <S> I didn't like the job, and the Director of Engineering was so impressed he made it clear <S> I could come back—even though the quality of my work was career-worst—and that I would have a favorable reference. <S> However, I had come into a considerable sum of money unrelated to work. <S> Even skipping $10K was not that painful. <S> You will have to balance whether a better recommendation is worth the cost. <S> We don't know what your equity is worth, but you might be able to find out. <A> Startups often have fake aquisition/partnership/mega customer rumors to keep the morale. <S> I would consider selling my shares to colleagues if possible. <S> Utlimately the question is How much do you value your time being bored in front of the screen ? <S> versus <S> What is probability times amount of money gained in the merger ? <S> No one can do the math for you
| If you may lose money then don't let that stop you. If you have decided not to stick around, then find your next job, give the appropriate notice, and leave.
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How to deal with unequal pay for the same job title? We are a 2-year old startup that was established without any HR policies regarding pay. We still don't have them up until this moment. Few months ago, my manager "opened up" to me about a colleague, who was the HR manager at that time. That colleague confronted our manager about why people with equal qualifications, job titles, and responsibilites receive different hourly rates. My manager was really mad about it and told me "I have my reasons to do that". That colleague is no longer the HR manager, and now we don't have one at all. Last month, another junior employee, whose job title is identical to mine, told me he saw my payslip and that his hourly rate is 80% more than me. He asked me why I receive less although my experience is obvious and I'm 1.5 years more senior than him! Now, my manager (also the owner and the CEO) obviously has strong feelings about this. I feel if I raise the issue with my manager again I will be out of the job entirely. We work on T&M basis, and I think he can do that. I do need this job, but I feel I must stand out for what is fair and need to have some self-esteem! What would you do if you were in my position? <Q> I feel if I raise the issue with my manager again <S> I will be out of the job entirely. <S> Ask for a raise. <S> If you feel that you are under compensated and take no action then you are culpable. <S> If it you do not receive a raise then you can choose whether or not to continue working there. <S> If they fire people for wanting to discuss compensation, then is that really the type of organization you want to work for? <A> TL;DR <S> You have no leverage if you don't feel comfortable in leaving. <S> Your CEO has already shown their hand in terms of not wanting to pay equally. <S> If you want a large pay increase (of 80%) then you need some leverage. <S> Usually you can threaten to leave if your pay request isn't met, but you don't want to do that. <S> You could seek legal aid. <S> I'm not necessarily recommending this (and this site doesn't offer legal advice), but it seems to be the only other leverage you have. <S> I say this because you're unwilling to leave, you can't go above your manager's head or appeal to HR or a trade union <S> (I doubt you're part of a union being in a start-up?) <S> N.B. <S> You may well lose your job/career prospects if you take the legal route <A> First things first: <S> You are paid as much (or as little) as you are able to negotiate with your employer. <S> The world (especially the corporate world) is not 'fair'. <S> Just because someone receives salary X for job <S> Y doesn't mean everyone with <S> job Y should somehow receive X . <S> This has nothing to do with what others make, unless there is some union agreement that entitles you to a certain minimum <S> and you're being paid less. <S> So how do you deal with this? <S> The same way you would deal with any situation where you are feeling underpaid. <S> The question <S> How should I properly approach my boss if I'm feeling underpaid? <S> is basically what you need. <S> The short version is that you should tell your boss your desired salary (or probably something higher so you can allow them to negotiate you down somewhat) and justify that salary by illustrating your value to the company. <S> Be prepared for the possibility that you will need to take a job at another company in order to receive the kind of raise you want, especially when it's 80%.
| As long as you are being paid the legal minimum wage or more, the rest is basically down to how well you can negotiate.
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Do recruiters/HR personnel screen on the basis of time spent at previous jobs? First time, long time. I'm an IT professional in my mid-20s in the US. I have a very diverse range of experience and a good reputation among employers in my area, but I'm concerned about my future employment prospects on account of my tenure (or lack thereof) at previous jobs. This is what my employment history looks like (most of which were as a software developer/DevOps person with one or two stints as a network engineer/sysadmin): Company A 3 years 4 months Company B 1 year 6 months Company C 6 months Company A 1 year 4 months Company D 11 months (current) As you can see I haven't stayed longer than two years at any job since the first one that I had out of high school due to my wish to expand my horizons and receive better financial compensation. Thus far this has worked out very well but now that I'm approaching a decade into my career I'm wondering if continuing to "job hop" will shut me out of new opportunities. I interview well and am confident that I can satisfactorily explain each of the transitions to my prospective employers (not to mention the fact that I still talk to all of my former managers in a friendly capacity, left on good terms, and even returned to one of them), but I'm worried about not even progressing to the interview during applications on account of my resume being passed on due to job hopping. My question is this: do recruiters, HR departments, or hiring managers at tech companies typically discard resumes outright on the basis of shorter periods of employment at previous jobs? The research I've done is all over the map, with some indicating that my employment history is typical for people my age and others saying that it's absolute career suicide. This type of advice doesn't address my question, which is basically "can I still get my foot in the door?" I very much appreciate any insight that you all can offer. <Q> No they don't. <S> In my 11 years of recruiting within in the US market I would say that within your industry, "job hopping" as you call <S> it is very, very usual, for a multitude of reasons. <S> It is the exception, definitely not the norm, for an individual to remain within one or two companies over a period of say ten years. <S> Yes it shows loyalty and commitment when I see a resume or cv of an individual where they have progressed their career over time within one organization. <S> But as I said, it is the exception. <S> Taking the distant mountain view, you are at the beginning of your career. <S> If as you say you are able to confidently explain each move, no matter how short, then you are in good shape moving forward. <S> The fact that you are still are on good terms with your previous employers also speaks volumes. <S> So to answer your question, do recruiters, HR departments, or hiring managers at tech companies typically discard resumes outright on the basis of shorter periods of employment at previous jobs, I would say no, no they don't. <S> Every company has it's own culture and way of doing things, some may be prejudicial while others may not. <S> If both are strong and show growth and maturity, then it just comes down to the likeability factor. <S> Hope this helps your confidence to carry on with your best foot forward. <S> I wish you all the luck in your career. <S> T <A> Your pattern of employment and your stated reasons for moving so often would both be reddish flags to some hiring managers - they might not specifically filter based on the pattern, but it will be a factor when choosing between you and other candidates. <S> Hiring and onboarding is not cheap - after advertising, selection, interviews, onboarding and training, the company will have invested in many man-hours above just your salary. <S> They want a decent return on that, and if it looks like you're going to head off somewhere else for a bit more money after only 12-24 months, they're going to think hard about the other guys who might be more likely to be around 3-5 years. <S> Sure, past performance doesn't always indicate future behaviour, but experience also shows that short-timing is a persistent behaviour. <A> The other answers disagree, and I think I can explain why. <S> Some companies really want to recruit and retain the best people. <S> They pay above the market rate, with excellent benefits, and are otherwise a great place to work. <S> If you left previous jobs in order to get these things, then you're unlikely to leave them because there's little chance of doing even better. <S> They might even see these moves and proof that other people saw your potential. <S> Other companies know that they can't (or the CEO won't) pay the market rate, and don't offer much chance of advancement. <S> They need people who will accept that. <S> (maybe their staff are very local, or don't want the hassle and risk of moving). <S> This sort of company will definitely see job-hopping as a problem - however you probably don't want to work for them either, so don't worry about it. <A> Not in my experience. <S> There are a number of valid reasons why someone would leave a position, particularly in early-career when one's capabilities/interests evolve much faster than one's job description and compensation. <S> So yes, you should still be able to get your foot in the door. <S> You seem to already know the counterpoint to my answer -- this will strike many employers as a negative, potentially a significant one. <S> Hiring and on-boarding is expensive and disruptive, so we'd prefer not to have to redo it every year or two.
| Overall though for most companies, they will open the door and judge you on both your skill-set and your passion for the work.
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Bringing junior developer up to speed despite shortage of tasks that can be delegated I am in the position of Architect/Lead Developer and I have one junior developer on my team. In the last few months we were delivering projects under tight deadlines so I was struggling to find tasks that can be delegated to allow the junior to learn while still keeping the schedule. In the cases where I did, I spent as much time explaining the work and providing guidance as I would doing them myself. I'm (and my manager) OK with this person not contributing in a significant way to the current project. I'm worried that he is not learning. From my experience, the best way to learn something is to have a real task to do, with real obstacles to overcome. What are things we can do that will first provide this person chance to learn by doing and err, second keep the additional load on me reasonable and distant third potentially produce something of value in our projects? I'm thinking of launching a side project with a more "asset building" profile and no tight deadlines, and alternatively to sending the developer to help the test team with test automation. <Q> Yes, it is good to have hands on real world application development in early stages of career. <S> There are always some tasks that can be delegated for try out. <S> Examples are Code Refactoring, Small Change Requests and bug fixes Technical debt - updating libraries used, research about using new language features <S> Can help in writing part of code <S> say method of other team members that can be worked independently Some UI/UX fixes <S> , UI alignment issues Unit test case writing, improving code coverage, code analysis <S> Testing application - it gives feel of how application functions <A> As a still fairly early career professional myself <S> I'd advise caution against giving somebody only tasks like documentation, bug-fixing, manual UI-testing and logging, especially to us poor little millennials. <S> Of course if your company needs to get this stuff done then someone has to do it, and as a member of them team the junior developer will need to do their fair share. <S> But if you don't give somebody something stimulating to sink their teeth into eventually they will leave, speaking from experience here. <S> There will be tasks which then popup throughout this interaction which can then be allocated to the junior dev. <S> Also include this person in meetings even if they are just a spectator. <S> I've learnt allot by just watching the pros interact, the language they use, what's important, risks and concerns in projects and so on. <S> Just a little note too <S> I feel that as a professional it's everybody's duty for their industry to help train the next generation, as we all benefit from some more experienced person than us investing time in us. <S> This junior developer may not be able to help with this project at all. <S> But definitely the next. <S> However one day when they are a senior developer and they are the manager of the project, they will remember what you did for them when they were joining their first project and do the same (; <A> How's the (warning: ugly word rarely seen in most companies follows) documentation at your place?
| As to what to do I would allocate some time to pair programming and and having them do this with various people. I think the most important thing you can do for people starting out is inspire and motivate them. Assuming your company will keep this person around despite a small pipeline of future work and excellent learning tool would be to turn this person into a pocket BA and have him reverse-document existing processes that you feel they would need to know to tackle future projects.
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How to deal with boss asking employees to wear specific clothes when it is uncomfortable? I am facing a difficult situation wherein my client visit is due over in next week. We have a formal dress code except on Fridays. On this day, my boss asked us to wear a Company T-Shirt that is provided to all employees with no cost charged. However, based on my body fitness, I feel extremely uncomfortable in a half sleeved t-shirt. I don't know how to deal with this situation, what reason should I give for not wearing the 'Team' dress? Also, I don't want to take leave on that day, because it is important to get versed and know more about the business. I would also like to know what needs to be done in general. For example, I talk about technologies in conferences where similar requests about dress code (half t-shirt featuring the company's product) are also there. Update :Thank you all so much for overwhelming response and considering my situation, I feel more confident - Underneath long sleeve T-shirt or jacket is solution for now. I hope management and more people start considering the preferences of the individuals across the world. <Q> I'm not skinny, and I still dislike a lot short-sleeves tee-shirts, and I can easily understand what you feel. <S> I don't like people staring at my arms, and some tattoo from shoulder to elbow. <S> I love my tattoo, they're very nice, but private, I don't want to share them outside of the very close friends and family ring, and never outside. <S> What I did, as a employee, was to wear a long-sleeves tee-shirt underneath (1) . <S> Now, as I run a small business, I provided my teammates with both short and long sleeves tee-shirts. <S> And I still hide my body, as my coworkers have to do it. <S> I recommend that you ask your boss first, and tell them that you'd like to do that (long-sleeves underneath). <S> Go to them with a solution, not a problem. <S> And they'll tell you if it's ok. <S> (1) I wore a white long-sleeves underneath a white TS, and black underneath black; women also kept some of their clothes underneath the TS; we never had a problem. <A> Simply wear the t-shirt over a long-sleeved shirt . <S> As long as the colours match, no one will think twice of it. <S> If someone does mention it simply reply "I'm cold" or "I don't like short sleeves". <S> Again, there is no need to offer an explanation or mention your "body fitness". <S> Keep it simple and straightforward and don't overthink things. <A> I would not have thought about it but a required short sleeve shirt is inconsiderate. <S> Some people may not want show their arms for reasons of their own. <S> OldPadwan does not want to show a tattoo. <S> If women were asked to wear halter tops clearly that would be unreasonable. <S> I would approach it as "for personal reasons I don't want to expose my arms, may I wear a matching long sleeve t-shirt underneath. <S> " You might get asked why you are wearing the shirt so have a pat answer like I chill easily. <A> The other answers correctly deal with your situation with regard to the event next week, but for a longer term solution, I would advocate to management to provide some variety in the official dress-down/casual clothes. <S> You should check the opinions of colleagues - I expect there will be others not entirely comfortable with t-shirts who will back your position.
| Instead of just t-shirts, ask if they can also include long sleeve tees, jumpers/sweaters, even logo embossed trousers & jeans. There is no need to have a (potentially awkward) conversation with your manager about this. If they ask why you want to do that, just tell them that you want to look like the team, but really feel uncomfortable with short-sleeves.
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Job title for someone who inherited a business What job title is appropriate on a resume or on LinkedIn for a person who has inherited a family business, completely owns it, and handles more or less all the day to day operations for it? Owner is an option, but looking for something less obvious. Founder or Co-Founder does not fit, as the person did not do that but inherited it. <Q> Owner is the only recommended title in such a situation. <S> Especially if you're talking about a small business that only has a few or no employees, anything else will come across as overly pretentious or, worse, misleading. <S> You said that "owner" is obvious, but that's because it's the only title that's truly correct. <S> Proprietor is synonymous on paper but less common and can refer to specific legal entities. <S> I also feel like it's at title <S> that's more often used in the service industry but can't say for sure. <S> If you're in a partnership, (Senior) Partner can also be used. <S> If you're talking about a company with at least a few employees you could opt for one of these: <S> President (Managing) Director General Manager Business Manager Chief Executive <S> But all of those hide the fact that you own the company, for no real reason. <S> I'd only opt for these if I wasn't the sole/majority owner or if I had a reason to downplay ownership. <S> Avoid Chief Executive Officer unless you have a larger company that already has a middle management layer and a C-suite. <S> If you don't have at least a few other CxOs who truly deserve the title, you shouldn't use CEO either. <S> Similar to Jim's suggestion of "Owner Operator" you can combine owner with pretty much all titles just like you can have the often dreadfully overblown "Founder and CEO". <S> It's typically unnecessary to combine titles unless you're listing the ownership on a resume with other concurrent jobs/roles or when your role changed over time. <S> So if you inherited the company and ran it for a few years but then let someone else take over daily operations you could list "Owner and General Manager" for 20XX-20YY and then just "Owner" for 20YY-20ZZ. <S> Finally, make sure that you've verified that your title is legally correct. <S> In some countries, like the UK, your title can have legal repercussions depending on how you've structured or incorporated the company. <A> Owner Operator works. <S> Some people can be leery of titles like President and CEO especially for a smaller operation as it's easy to make stuff. <S> If your business is very customer-facing and you can get away with it you can also invent a 'fun' title like Chief Entertainment Officer, Architect, Head Data Dude, 'I fix plumbing problems within four hours', you get the idea. <S> One of the benefits of LinkedIn is that you can low-risk experiment a little with the title. <A> It depends what you want to achieve. <S> On a resume I would stress what I do not what I own. <S> The "owner" owns the company but not necessarily makes all the business decisions. <S> For LinkedIn, Your profile is more a profile of your company. <S> Instead potential business partners/customers will check out your profile. <S> How about just "Boss" on LinkedIn.
| So "Owner & General Manager" or something similar. No recruiter is looking for an Owner, so the fancy title doesn't improve your marketability.
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How to leave the office early as a boss? I'm a co-founder of my company. I use to arrive earlier than any of my employee, and leave only after most of them have finished. I have the feeling that my presence is motivational to them, and that they really appreciate it because they see me as someone they can rely on. I have been doing this for almost one year and now, I'm kind of tired. How could I leave the office earlier than them, without having any impact on their motivation ? <Q> I have a boss who is often not in the office, sometimes for weeks. <S> But I and my colleagues still do our jobs. <S> We all know it's his company and he provides the work <S> and he pays our salaries. <S> As long as he provides enough work for us and pay our money we don't really have to see him. <S> And if we have some questions we email him or call him <S> and we get answers. <S> So we can do our work without him being present. <S> Sometimes the boss is at home (and works?) <S> and sometimes he is traveling to see customers. <S> How much of his day he really sees customers is another question. <S> But nobody really cares as long as he gets his work done. <S> And his work is providing us with work and making sure we get paid. <S> I don't know if this will work for you. <S> It obviously depends a lot on your work. <S> If your employees could do the same without you and make double the money then probably you should not leave them alone - otherwise they will do it without you. <S> But if you do your job of making sure they have work and get paid and you are available when necessary <S> then it shouldn't be a problem if you are not so much in the office. <A> I think you have made a good first impression for a year, so that good-will should last some time. <S> Here are a few suggestions: Don't come in so early if possible. <S> If there are things you can get done that really help everyone out. <S> Otherwise, ask around if someone else would like to arrive early and take care of things. <S> Give everyone some lead time and tell them everyone is going home on time. <S> Threaten to unplug their computers. <S> If there is any chance of burn-out, you're doing everyone a favor. <S> Arrange for dinner to be delivered for those staying late. <S> If you want to buy me dinner and leave, more power to you. <S> No one can possibly predict if any of this will work. <S> Have a conversation with people and find out if this is really a problem or not. <S> If people are actually getting things done instead of sticking around in front of the boss to make it appear like they're working, you have a much bigger problem. <S> Make their jobs easier whether you're physically present or not. <A> Working long hours motivates your team in two ways: One, if I see that my boss is working his <S> *** off instead of being a lazy <S> ********, then I will feel bad about not pulling my weight and work harder (as a tendency). <S> Two, if my boss is in the office I won't be twiddling my thumbs because he can see it. <S> The first is a very positive effect. <S> If you have to rely on the second then you have a problem. <S> If you don't have work outside the office, then I would suggest that you leave some days at lunch time (so there is no effect "the boss is gone, so I can leave as well" which would happen if you leave at four instead of five in the evening).
| My guess is they'd let you leave early if it means they don't have to come in early.
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I see myself consistently falling into micro-sleep at work As a web developer, I see myself consistently falling into micro-sleep - mainly at the beggining of afternoons and during the end of mornings. Obviously, my productivity isn't the best. I pay attention about what I eat, how much I sleep and the sport I do ; and I have tried over the years to get some technics to trouble-shoot that problem, but nothing seems to work out. Any idea, any tips on how to solve this kind of issue ? PS: I am not too sure if this question is suitable for the workplace - so if there is a site on stackexchange network that is more suitable than here, please let me know :) <Q> Medical issues aside, I'm not a doctor, nor is there enough information to draw a meaningful conclusion. <S> I face the same issues as you describe. <S> I often am pretty productive until around lunch. <S> After lunch I get another hour or so of productiveness, but then the sleepiness kicks in. <S> Near the end of the day I get more productive again. <S> I have done the following to counteract this: I used to drink a lot of coffee, think liters not cups, I try to keep the coffee to a maximum of 4 cups before lunch, otherwise I crash after lunch <S> and I'm not worth anything anymore for the rest of the day unless I keep tanking coffee. <S> I lunch <S> late, I noticed I can keep going before lunch much easier than after. <S> So I take my break later than most, giving me at least a morning and a half of good productivity. <S> Eat breakfast at the office before starting work if you can't wait so long. <S> I drink at least two glasses of water with my lunch. <S> It helps break down the caffeine that's been building up since the start of the day. <S> I don't drink any coffee for at least two hours or so after lunch. <S> This mitigates the caffeine crash effect during the afternoon. <S> I go to bed early and get up early. <S> It's easier to last the whole day at the office if I've been awake for an hour or two before work already. <S> I use a headset if noise breaks my concentration, I need this time. <S> During the afternoon I shift my activities to doing code reviews, doing research for upcoming issues, etc. <S> If I still get sleepy I drink some more coffee, but at least two hours after lunch and 2-3 cups at most during the afternoon. <S> (yes I have a problem with caffeine). <S> I also drink a glass of water with every cup of coffee in the afternoon. <S> If I really can't stay concentrated and drift off, I put on some fast or loud music, try your favourite game's music if you don't know what to listen to, game music is designed to hype you up while not being a distraction. <S> And like the others have said, go visit a doctor. <A> The first thing to consider here is your sleep quality. <S> Is it good? <S> do you get enough of it? <S> (you mention paying attention, but not a number of hours) if not, start by improving this. <S> Then, you have to admit that your performance varies with the time of day. <S> The last thing you have to consider is, as @Erik said, your motivation. <S> Do you love your job? <S> If not, your lack of energy is but a symptom of your lack of motivation. <A> This is a medical issue that I also struggle with. <S> When was the last time you had labs done? <S> For me I am borderline diabetic and am struggling to keep my blood sugar down and lose weight. <S> It is a bit of a vicious cycle as I could lose weight more easily if my blood sugar was lower, but I need to lose weight to lower my blood sugar. <S> The most important take away from all of this <S> is to see a doctor and possibly a dietitian. <S> It may be a sleep apnea thing, or it could be a blood sugar thing. <S> I don't take them every night <S> but Belsomra is a great non addictive sleeping pill. <A> If this is occurring at the beginning of the afternoon, is there any chance you could take the last 10-15 minutes of a lunch or any other break and take a nap? <S> In some workplaces (traditional), if you do this at your desk people with think you're slacking off. <S> Have a conversation with your boss about it and make sure she knows you're trying to do something about it. <S> Hopefully, she'll recognize that you're better off than trying to fight through it. <S> Your work will suffer. <S> Some people struggle to fall asleep. <S> I don't, but when I'm tired, it is very difficult to stay awake. <S> Being able to nod off for a few minutes really helps and is sometimes unavoidable. <A> I suggest you learn autogenic training . <S> Whenever you feel the tiredness creeping up, you log out of your time tracking, if any, seek a quiet place and take your 5-10 minutes to regenerate - just as your colleagues having a smoke, only much healthier. <S> I know this can be a little hard ´do in some places, but try to find a way. <S> This is for the benefit of your employer also, so if you tell him that you found a way to maximize your productivity and they do not have to pay for the time, they should be supportive.
| I, like you, find myself more easily distracted or even drowsy around noon, which is why i use that time to perform more physical tasks (even replacing a coffee break with a 10-minutes walk), or more engaging ones, where my motivation compensates for my "tiredness". I try to binge code during the morning, finishing as much programming work during my most productive time. Apart from making sure to have a thourough checkup from a doctor to see if there are any medical reasons that need treatment, Now if you sleep for 8 straight hours each night, eat healthy meals (inc. breakfast...), love your job and still fall asleep, it is time to go see a doctor. It can also be overnight sleep related, but that can also steam from blood sugar issues. In the short term, getting up and taking a walk or incorporating a standing desk is a great idea.
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How much should I tell my boss about how his staff feel? My boss is quite hard to work for. After not receiving a wage rise for 10 years (aside from minimal increases across the board due to the rising cost of living) I recently asked for a wage rise with the (private) intention of quitting if refused. I was granted the rise and that has suited me well because I really enjoy my job. Therefore my current intention is to stay long term. However multiple employees have confided in me that they are strongly thinking about quitting. I understand their reasons because I previously considered these myself. I know for some it may come to nothing. But I know of others who are actively interviewing elsewhere, and who therefore are very serious about leaving. This will have a massive impact on our team, on our work and on the business as a whole. In fact, multiple people leaving at once could near cripple us, at least for a while. My boss has had numerous staff members raise complaints with him privately over the months and years. I have also written reports twice previously to show that we are understaffed and overworked. However almost all of this seems to go over his head, and he rewards staff members' successes with more work but no thanks. So while he must have an inkling that there is mass discontent, I feel confident in saying that he is (whether by choice or not) vastly unaware of how critical this is becoming. Should I tell him? He may want to know who is thinking of leaving and that's information I would refuse to give him, which would possibly cause me more problems. If I do tell him that there is a general problem I can't be certain he would act upon it and improve things, and it might look like I am spearheading complaints, which is not an image I want to portray. However, if I say nothing, and multiple people quit as I believe they will, then not only will it affect my job, but my boss may wonder why I didn't speak up. What would be the advisable course to take? (Just to be clear on my job, I am supposed to supervise the work of about half of the staff. We do have a manager in charge of HR who is in between us and the boss, but she is on long term sick leave, in part due to stress caused by my boss, so I currently report directly to him.) <Q> Don't just write a memo that he's going to ignore, or never even notice. <S> Clearly outline the big-picture issues in the company: <S> No show of appreciation to overworked employees. <S> No raises in line with market (check the market rates for those positions and point out how underpaid employees are!). <S> Severe under-staffing. <S> And, I should note, don't throw your employees under the bus by saying that people have confided in you that they are interviewing elsewhere. <S> Then propose a few immediate steps that could be implemented to improve morale (have these printed out and hand them to him): Hire another person in [this] key position. <S> Create a senior dev / supervisor / team lead role, and promote [this person] because that's essentially what they're doing right now anyway. <S> Give a modest raise to [these two people] because they're our top performers. <S> Hire a delivery company to keep the lunch room supplied with coffee/tea/milk/cream. <S> Little things that will cheer people up, in other words. <S> Carefully watch how he reacts. <S> Does he show concern for the situation? <S> Is he willing to work with you, and other managers to try and improve morale? <S> Or does he get angry at people's "lack of loyalty", or some other BS like that? <S> If he shows concern, it's worth trying to help your employees out. <S> If he demonstrates a lack of empathy to their plight, lead the charge out of that place, because the guy will never change (which - don't kid yourself - is the most likely outcome). <A> I don't think your boss is unaware of the issue. <S> But he probably doesn't care. <S> And as long as there's people willing to work for him and things work out they or the organization isn't likely to change. <S> Perhaps a bunch of people up and leaving will shock them into realising things need to change. <S> Frankly the situation you're describing sounds toxic. <S> No raises for 10 years[1], people on long term sick leave because of interacting with this person, multiple annoyed employees etc sounds very bad. <S> IDK about the industry <S> you're in and the availability of jobs, but even in a buyer's market employees should have the expectation of decent working conditions . <S> Doubly so if it's a seller's market and jobs abound. <S> [1] Cost of living adjustments not whistanding. <S> Your purchasing power hasn't increased, but presumably your contribution to the organisation has. <A> I think you are missing that if several people quit you have credible deniability. <S> Boss does not need to know you knew. <S> If you approach him and people still quit he may place some blame on you. <S> You knew and you could not stop this. <S> It does not matter that you can to him. <S> You have told him and he has ignored. <S> I don't see how being more direct will do any good. <A> Rogix, As one who has been in this situation there is nothing good that can come from this. <S> Either the boss knows and doesn't give a d**m or (s)he is clueless and will take anything like this as undercutting their position ("what, are you trying to take my job"). <S> Something that has gone on for this long will not change without a change in the supervisor. <S> I know you said you don't want to leave <S> but that would be the only way (for you) to change the toxic situation. <S> It's admirable <S> you're concerned with your direct reports as this is what a good manager does. <S> In this case you're powerless to affect any real change.
| As a leader you have a responsibility to speak up on behalf of your reports. Book a meeting, sit down with him, tell him that there's a strong undercurrent of discontent, and that you strongly fear that many are going to leave (don't be vague about this; be forceful, clear, and confident). Organize an employee lunch (paid for by the company) to show your appreciation for their hard work.
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Why would human resources need my resume and grades at the end of my internship to extend my work contract? I'm currently an intern in a very large company. My internship will end next month, I really like this job and my supervisor wants me to stay for the summer. He made a demand to extend my work contract and a member of the human resources called me and asked me to send my CV and my grades. This is odd, because I already sent them my resume and grades when I first got hired a few months ago. Even if they "lost" my resume or grades, why do they need them? <Q> Because their formal employment process requires them. <S> To be consistent if they require them from external hires they will require them from you. <S> It may be that the internship prices is entirely separate from the hiring process. <S> This is rather common - disjointed processes across large organisations are the norm. <S> Or it may be that the HR teams are doing the right thing and not holding copies of your data any longer than they need to. <S> In one of my previous roles, we would discard most copies of candidates CVs, applications etc as soon as we had hired or turned them down. <A> You have been an intern of that company for a few months now. <S> The resume you sent them before you were hired is not current anymore. <S> You should update your resume to include your experience with this company to make it current. <S> Then you apply for an extension of the internship contract formally. <S> I think this is actually a good sign. <S> They must be happy with your performance so far. <S> You should do what they say if you want to continue to work for them. <A> For the industry I'm in this <S> is part of the regulatory paperwork for such things as audits (in our case FDA). <S> It needs to be kept updated every 6 to 12 months. <S> I got my bachelors in '79 and masters in '83 <S> but I still have to keep updated.
| Some companies/industries require a current resume as part of an employees paperwork.
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Reimbursed travel expenses to interview- shorter distance than what the company thinks Location: Germany, Branch: Engineering Background: I've been invited for an interview at a company's main office. They offer a (fixed) travel reimbursement based on travel distance from your home address. I had a trip planned to my parent's house that happens on the date of the interview, so I will travel from their place to the company. Their house is perhaps half the distance to the company (but still in the range of several hundred kilometers). Seen on a map going through their house would be a massive detour from my home address. Dilemma: Is it ethical to not disclose that my travel distance happens to be shorter than expected? The travel home was planned before the interview was arranged. I would have needed to travel the longer distance had it not been for the trip that I have already paid myself. <Q> Personally I would consider declaring my actual travel costs that directly result from the interview most honest and most ethical. <S> Thus, I would seek reimbursement for the distance from my parents' home to their office and then back from their office to my home address [1]. <S> A short comment on their reimbursement form might be appropriate. <S> I'm sure they would appreciate such honesty from a candidate if they notice. <S> Probably the hiring manager won't notice, but if they do, it might give you a small advantage. <S> [1] I work in the public sector in Germany and my traveling is regulated by the Bundesreisekostengesetz . <S> This is what would be reimbursed according to regulations based on this law. <A> Take the simplest and most honest option here. <S> Just declare the driven distance between your house and where the interview is taking place without any detours. <S> This is your billable travel distance, so stick with that. <S> Anything else on top of that is your personal mileage, so keep it personal. <S> If you end up in profit because of this, then it doesn't matter that much - the company's finance department will note where you live (if they happen to check), so the mileage claim will all add up. <S> Your travel expenses have already been budgeted and approved, so indicating that you've made a personal visit to make up half the journey and expecting your expenses to be cut appropriate will just confuse matters and might add too much complexity. <A> My opinion is that you are overthinking this non issue. <S> Should you be hired you will likely discover that reimbursements usually even out, being sometime lower than actual expense, sometimes higher. <S> Many businesses has policy for reimbursement that are quite cumbersome and any deviation is a pain in an unpleasant place to be handled in a special way by someone: if you ask for an exact amount, the company may have to pay a couple of people to handle your special case and this may be an expense higher than the amount they save thanks to your kindness, so the company is not happy in the end. <S> If a tailored reimbursement makes you feel better go with it, but I would definitely take the fixed amount and leave ethics out of all this.
| The company has policies, these policies set a fixed amount, take it and be happy you get out green.
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How to deal with colleague who uses unintelligible colloquial/slang terms? A colleague consistently uses slang terms and I find it hard to understand them. At first, it was somewhat amusing within the office and I think they play up to it now. But it's got to the point where my colleague's inability to adequately communicate their meaning/my inability to understand what they're talking about could affect the job. In one recent example, the colleague used the term aired to mean ignored , when I took it to mean expressed/presented/something along those lines . The conversation went something along the lines of: Colleague: Has [the customer] aired [the remote session] again? Me: No My colleague took this to mean they had sent through a remote session (because in my colleague's view, the question was "Have they ignored it?"). Whereas I understood I'd been asked if the customer had sent the session details through, so my negative response indicated they hadn't . In terms of background, the colleague is in a different team to me, but their team is designed to support the activities of my team. In the example above, I vented my frustration directly to my colleague in an unprofessional manner when I realised the mistake, which I feel was a mistake in itself... Should I take the time to make my concerns clear in a more professional manner to my colleague? Should I raise it with his manager? Should I just make an effort to double-check meaning when we communicate? Any other suggestions? <Q> Since you know you might not understand this person correctly, I would avoid yes <S> /no or other terse answers. <S> Constantly checking to see what they mean before answering is exhausting. <S> But Colleague: <S> Has [the customer] aired [the remote session] again? <S> Me: They have not sent the remote session even though I reminded them this morning first thing. <S> Whether you both think aired means sent, or whether you think it means sent and colleague thinks it means ignored, the question is answered. <S> And you've even answered the next followup which will be "have you asked for it? <S> how many times? <S> " etc. <S> It's a good habit even with people who make perfect sense, to say "No, I don't have the report format from the customer yet" instead of just <S> "No. <S> " <S> In this case, simply drop the yes/no since you don't actually know the correct answer, and give them a sentence that includes the information they want. <S> Should they then come to you and say "why can't I ever get a straight yes/no from you, why is it always a whole speechy thing? <S> " you can say I sometimes am not familiar with the connotations of some of the words you use and am honestly unsure whether the answer is yes <S> or no <S> , so I tell you what I know. <S> I want to be sure we both understand each other. <S> Perhaps that would bring home that language, especially in the office, has a primary purpose of transmitting information. <S> It's fun to enjoy wordplay -- just not to the point where information is no longer correctly transmitted. <A> I would suggest two approaches: reflect the question back to himn <S> Colleague: <S> Has [the customer] aired [the remote session] again? <S> Me <S> : Do you mean if [the customer] had sent the session details through? <S> With that approach you play the ball back to him and he needs to verify if you understood it correctly or not. <S> Rinse and repeat as needed. <S> And he will maybe understand, that his slang terms can be hard to comprehend and therefore adjust. <S> Talk to him straight about the misleading communication style of his. <S> Only after those approaches failed I would bring it to your manager. <A> This may sound odd, but it makes a big difference where the slang comes from. <S> The social function of slang is to create "in-groups" and "out-groups." <S> It isn't meant to be understood by everyone, but its shared use and understanding can help create social bonds and communities. <S> If the slang is personal to your coworker (words he's just making up) or relative to a group that has nothing to do with the workplace ( <S> i.e. his frat brothers) <S> , then it's unprofessional and needlessly alienating for him to use it constantly in a work setting. <S> In that case, you're well within your rights to ask him --politely!-- to stick to standard English at work to minimize confusion. <S> On the other hand, if his slang is actually " jargon ," work-related terms that are in common use in the industry, or by other people in your workplace, then really, it might be on you to take the time to learn them. <S> Nearly every job has at least a little of its own characteristic slang , and learning it is a part of the standard workplace socialization process. <A> I know that when some people speak, and depending where they grew up or lived for a while, their dialect could make one word sound like another or the words chosen to use are common where he is from. <S> Such as could be possible while overhearing or listening to the conversation. <S> What if instead of saying "aired" he was saying "erred" (as in made a mistake) from the term err. <S> Would this make a difference in the perception of what was said?
| Make it a friendly talk without any accusations but try to get your point across.
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Given job offer when expecting interview/meeting Here is the background. About a year ago I applied with a company and had a couple interviews. My circumstances changed and I informed them I wasn't able to work for them anymore. Recently, my circumstances changed again so I emailed asking if they're still interested in me working. Several emails were exchanged and a short phone call was made, but almost all of it was filling out forms and almost nothing about the job itself. Since it's been a year and I no longer have the job posting, I actually would like reminder of what the job entails in specific? I was under the impression I would have another interview, but suddenly got a 'job offer' (actually it reads more like 'you start work this Monday') This job is part time and I told them I would be working another job so would have to schedule accordingly. So far they haven't given me specifics as to the work schedule. How can I phrase the email asking for details? I was under the impression we would have another interview but am glad to have received the offer letter. As discussed, I have other work and not sure if I'm able to come into the office on Monday. May I ask what times and what days works is? Also are the shifts static or change and if so how often? Are the hours worked in a week the same across all weeks or do they vary? Clarification: The document they sent me appears to be (what they consider) an official offer letter. It contains the start date remuneration information the pay schedule the fact I work part time legal stuff involving termination and probation period etc. What I need to know is details regarding the part time and the hours worked. The first sentence of the email is "welcome aboard, you start Monday. Please fill out the paper work." I find this abrupt as I was really under the impression there would be another interview and (depending on the time) I'm not available Monday. <Q> Without a written contract you really are flying on blind faith that everything will be as you expect or intend. <S> There is nothing saying that the employer couldn't say that you'd agreed to work for three months for free. <S> If they've said "Start Monday" and this was a surprise, then you need to push back in a professional manner. <S> Something like: <S> Thank you for the offer of employment with XYZ. <S> Before we commence, we just need to ensure that we have finalised the remaining details to ensure that we are all agreed as to the terms of the role. <S> Could you please send a contract to me outlining the details of the offer as soon as possible so we can get everything in place prior to my commencing the role. <S> If you can send it through tomorrow and we agree to the terms, then we will be able to start on Monday without any delay. <S> TLDR <S> ; Push back for a contract, if you don't get it prior to the requested commencement date, then don't start work. <S> Verbal contracts aren't worth the paper they're written on. <A> With respect, I would recommend not coming across at all snarky or smart in this communication. <S> Unfortunately the written word can be read in so many ways depending on the mood of the reader. <S> I feel your mail makes you come across as a little uppity and potentially difficult to work with. <S> If you are available, I would send them a brief thank you and say that you look forward to working together and you can discuss the details fully when you see them on Monday. <S> Going in and talking to them face to face on Monday will get far more done than a drawn out email exchange that could potentially go south. <S> If on the other hand you are not available on Monday I would recommend you send the same email but add that you will be available at these two or three times on Monday to discuss both the hours and the scope of the project. <S> Be upbeat and exited to work together in all your correspondence. <S> Either way best of luck. <S> T <A> Do not ask so many questions in the email as you have drafted. <S> Just ask them politely for formal offer letter and contract. <S> You could say something like: <S> I am excited to have the opportunity to work with you. <S> As mentioned earlier, I am currently working so I will have to get back to you on if I can make it from Monday. <S> In the meantime, could you please send me the detailed offer letter and specifics of my role? <S> Thanks <A> After your edit, it sounds like you have a written offer that includes many details one would expect (pay, start date, etc.) <S> It sounds like you have a specific outstanding question for your employer: <S> What I need to know is details regarding the part time and the hours worked. <S> And it sounds like you're asking us for help on how to get your employer to answer that question, since you said this: <S> How can I phrase the email asking for details? <S> Given all that: I have a simple recommendation. <S> Pick up the phone and call. <S> The handful of questions in your suggested email are all fine, and sending that email would probably get you your answers, but sometimes it can be easier to have a conversation versus a series of emails <S> - you can respond to the person's answers immediately instead of waiting for another round of emails, you'll get an idea of tone which can help you form your questions, and you can make an actual human connection instead of just being another set of words on a computer screen. <S> Also, I would drop the question about you being surprised at the lack of another interview. <S> If you have questions you would have asked in an interview, ask them now! <S> Clearly, they don't have any other questions they need answered before they can consider hiring you.
| You really want to be cautious about starting any role, part-time or otherwise, unless you have a written, signed contract outlining the expected duties, hours, remuneration and initial duration of the contract.
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New job starts before the end of notice period at my present job Two weeks ago, I started looking for a better job. I got a job offer from another company. They know that I am currently employed, and have to give 30 days notice. Now they want me to start early in two weeks because it is urgent. They won't wait until the end of my notice period, but I really need that job and don't want to lose it. How should I negotiate this situation? <Q> I'm assuming that by "30 days render" you are referring to a 30 day notice period with your existing employer and that your new employer wants you to start earlier than this. <S> Depending upon your jurisdiction you may be legally obligated to fulfill your notice period if your existing employer requires it. <A> As motosubatsu pointed out, it actually depends on your jurisdiction and terms of employment. <S> You could check your earlier offer letter and see if there are any 'buy-out' option for the notice period. <S> You could also speak to your current supervisor/HR and find out. <S> You could ask the 2nd company to buy out. <S> In another approach, if the 2nd company wants you to ramp-up on any specific technology/skill, which they think will take 2 weeks and if you could do it independently, you could start on them so that you hit the road running (you have to ask the 2nd company if that is the case). <S> Otherwise, starting in parallel on both jobs, it would be difficult. <A> Negotiation is the best way forward here. <S> The reason notice periods exist is to allow your current employer time to find replacement resource and for you to hand over any knowledge and tasks to someone else. <S> With a 30 day notice period, it's not uncommon that a company won't be able to recruit a replacement within that time anyway <S> (since they may also have a similar notice period with their employer) <S> so typically you end up handing over to an existing employee and/or documenting your work, which may not take up all of your notice period. <S> My point being that if you speak to your existing employer and can work out a deal where you hand over/document all the necessary information within two weeks, they may be happy to accept an earlier end date. <S> After all it will save them two weeks of your wages, during which time you might not be doing much productive work anyway. <S> This is definitely a conversation worth having. <S> Supposing <S> they are reluctant to let you go any earlier <S> then you really only have two options: Tell your new employer that you cannot start any earlier than X date due to your contractual notice period. <S> If they were aware of your notice period anyway <S> then it's pretty poor of them to now demand you start sooner. <S> If they don't and they pull the job offer, I'd have to question if that's the kind of company you really want to work for anyway? <S> Leave your current employer after two weeks anyway, even if they don't like it. <S> Yes it's a legally questionable decision and there may be consequences but, <S> depending on your jurisdiction they may only be able to take action if they can prove actual financial loss as a result of you doing this. <A> Think what you want to achieve. <S> First, you don't want to end up without a job. <S> Second, you want the job with the new company. <S> Third, you don't want to get sued by the old company. <S> The rule is that you give notice when you have a signed contract with the new company. <S> If you talk to your old company earlier (like "I have an offer from another company, would it be possible to leave with only two weeks notice"), there's the risk that the old company says "Don't worry about notice, you're fired" <S> and then the new company says "we changed our mind and hired someone else". <S> So you can't do that. <S> You can't sign a contract to start in two weeks if you need to give 30 days notice, because that means you can get sued by the old company. <S> That's completely out of the question. <S> The only way you can start with the new company is if they offer you a job with a start date 30 days from now. <S> In addition, you can agree to start earlier if you can reduce the notice period, so with this contract in hand you can give notice and ask for a shorter notice period, or the new company can call the old company and offer them cash to let you go earlier. <S> If they insist on a start date in the contract that is earlier than your notice period ends, then they are entirely unreasonable, and there is no way you can accept their job offer. <S> One, because you will be in trouble, two because you don't want to start with a company that proves itself to be unreasonable before you even start.
| This being the case all you can really do is talk to your existing employer about the situation and see if you can negotiate an earlier leaving date and if they won't budge on the date then you'll have to go back to the new company and explain that you cannot start until the end of your 30 day notice period.
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Is it wrong to not update my boss about my plans to leave the company? I resigned from my company and my boss took it very personally. I am a software dev and found myself in a position of a sole owner and maintainer of a rather complicated project. I gave a proper resignation advance notice of more than a month, which is longer than the contractual or the legal mandatory period of advance notice. He stated that it was morally wrong not to raise flags and to make an appearance of an employee that is content with his position. According to his position, although I am not at fault legally or contractually, I did put my company and himself personally in a difficult position, and he maintains that I have should avoided it by being upfront about my plans to find a new place of employment. I am aware that it will be difficult/expensive to replace me in a short time, but I don't see it my responsibility to mitigate this risk for the company at the expense of me disclosing my plans and as a consequence putting pressure on myself to leave in defined a period of time, or limiting my options. Does he have a case? What is the norm in such circumstances? How can I behave to diffuse the situation on one hand, and assert my position on the other hand? Currently I am under impression that my boss is very tense and is acting out of emotion rather then reason. I don't want to alienate him or make the conflict protracted by hurting his ego, but I also don't want to take the fault about something that I don't feel I am at fault with. EDIT: I'd like to save the good relation with my boss, though I'm in doubt it is feasible now... <Q> Bad leaders always blame their subordinates for their problems. <S> He takes no responsibility for knowing how you feel about your current job. <S> Did he ever ask for any feedback? <S> Is he open to new ideas to make your situation more enjoyable? <S> Good leaders motivate people. <S> No contingency plan. <S> He allowed a situation where there is a single point of failure. <S> Why are you the only person on this project? <S> Did he account for you needing to make sufficient documentation for someone else to take over? <S> People leave for reasons outside of their control (e.g. Hit by a bus.). <S> He took a major risk and lost. <S> Companies and leaders too often create an adversarial situation where employees fear for their jobs. <S> They are afraid to voice complaints. <S> Advanced notice is rarely given for fear of being instantly let go. <S> Your boss is the type of person who tries to make this a personal matter and has the nerve to blame you and question your character when he is just a bad leader. <S> Be thankful you have another job. <A> I am aware that it will be difficult/expensive to replace me in a short time, but I don't see it my responsibility to mitigate this risk for the company at the expense of me disclosing my plans and as a consequence putting pressure on myself to leave in defined a period of time, or limiting my options. <S> You're correct, it's not your responsibility. <S> If it were the other way around (you were being let go), then you could likely bet that the company would give you the minimum notice they could, so why should you behave any differently? <S> As for your boss - you may well just have to put up with him being moody for the rest of your time working there. <S> Try to ignore this, and don't get drawn into any discussions about your resignation (replying with a firm "I'm sorry you feel that way" or similar to any such remarks <S> is sufficient.) <S> If you want to save the relationship, then do as good a job as you can, document everything you can, and make the transition as easy as possible. <S> If you do that right, it'll mean you leave on a positive note, and have a higher chance of getting remembered as "the guy that documented everything he did well and made the transition a lot easier than it could have been" rather than "the arse that left with no documentation behind and made this whole thing a nightmare." <A> The fact he is behaving this way when you gave the notice is even more reason not to have informed him in advance. <S> He reacted out of emotion and made it a problem with you. <S> If you had told him in advance he would likely have lashed out at you. <S> Worse case terminate you before you could find another job. <S> You have very little power to him placing fault with you. <S> I would focus on a clean transition. <S> Even if a new person is not found before you leave document everything you can. <S> Focus on finishing up existing task rather than start a task you will not finish. <A> He sees the situation from his perspective and his perspective is that you created problems for him by quitting. <S> There are plenty of reasons for that: <S> If you tell your boss you are not happy or planning to leave, they can hold it against you and even fire you. <S> I've always signalled that I'm not happy and tried to solve problems by discussion <S> and I assure you that this is a very valid risk. <S> It's easier to search for a new job while having one and at the beginning of job searching <S> you can't normally tell how much it will take you to find a new one. <S> You are not responsible for solving company's problems as they wouldn't care about your situation if they wanted to get rid of you. <S> I don't know where you are. <S> Where I live however, the notice period is always the same for the employer and employee. <S> Which means they would be able to fire you with exactly the same notice period as the one you have after you've decided to leave. <S> Companies normally want to have a short notice period in the contract because this makes it easier for them to get rid of employees, forgetting that this will also cause them problem when good employees leave with a short notice, however, it's only fair this way. <S> They signed your contract and you are not obliged to do more for them than your contract makes you to. <S> To diffuse the situation you can assure him you will work as engaged as you were before till your very last day. <S> But treat catering to your ego as a favor to him, not something you are obliged to.
| You can also assure him you will do all you can to secure a smooth transition to the new person. However, from the employee's perspective it's much better to wait with resigning till you have a contract with your new company signed. The fact you did not complain is not a negative in my opinion.
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Can I tell my boss I'm leaving after he travelled to meet me? I'm currently working in Spain for a global company and I want to leave. Another company wants to give me the job I applied for and I will receive the offer in the coming days. My future boss told me to not resign until we have an agreement, but I'm pretty sure I'll accept the job. My current boss who is in America right now plans to fly to Spain to meet me, as he does every year to talk about objectives and trainings. I feel bad because I don't want to let him travel so far and then tell him I'm leaving. But I don't want to tell him (or anyone else) that I'm leaving before I'm officially leaving. What should I do? <Q> Propose him to have a skype call instead. <S> Tell him you wouldn't feel ok for him to invest so much time and effort into this meeting. <S> But then it's his decision whether he's coming or not <S> and if he's decided there's not much you can do. <A> If you tell your present employer that you are going to resign and that your manager should not come over to see you before the offer is in then what do you do when the offer either does not materialise or does not live up to your expectations. <S> You have burned bridges at your current job and have nowhere to go. <S> Let him come over. <S> If the offer comes in before the date of the meeting you can resign and he can cancel his travel plans if that is necessary. <S> Until you are certain that you are going to leave you must just keep up the pretence that you will work there until you retire. <A> You don't have an offer yet, and you haven't resigned. <S> It's potentially possible that neither of those things will happen, so continue as normal until they do. <S> Don't change your bosses plans for him.
| The basic rule is don't tell anyone that you are going to resign until you have the offer, decided that it is acceptable and have told your new employer.
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Is it ok to ask my employer to reimburse me for meals? I was recently hired for a few days to work for a certain employer at a certain location. The place has no facilities whatsoever (no fridge, no microwave, etc.).Would it be OK to ask my employer to compensate me for meals because of their lack of fridge? I start work early in the morning so by the time lunch comes around, even if I were to make a sandwich it would no longer be good even with an ice pack. <Q> It is ok to ask for reimbursement if you travel to a customer and are forced to buy lunch (travel expensens, most employers have a fixed allowance) <S> There are options that work without fridge or microwave - even a sandwich normally survives some hours without cooling, just skip on the mayonaise! <S> Beeing there for a few days only suggest you are in some kind of freelancing situation, so this may be somewhat of a gray area. <S> Normally anything you don´t negotiate for in your salary negotiations is not included. <A> It's not ok unless you have that in your contract. <S> You can try asking your boss for advice how to deal with the problem however. <S> We all need to eat, so maybe there's a fridge somewhere else that your predecessors used or a different solution. <S> However, I don't think your sandwiches would be wasted by lunchtime <S> (let's say max. <S> 8 h out of fridge) even if you are in a warm climate. <S> You could also think about buying one of these bags that keep products cold. <A> I am one who doesn't like getting up early in the morning. <S> So I make my sandwiches last thing at night. <S> They sit in the fridge overnight. <S> The following morning, they go in an insulated lunch box (just the sort with a bit of foam padding, not a proper cool box), along with a couple of ice packs. <S> They are still perfectly edible by lunch time, and the cold drinks I put in with them are still cold. <S> The ice packs remain frozen until the afternoon - at least six hours. <S> So get a decent lunch box, and a couple of ice packs, and stop being so needy.
| It is not ok to ask at your regular place of work , even if it has no facilities to accommodate your choice of preparing a meal.
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What is the most professional way to handle disagreement over technical problem or code review with a colleague? I would like to get a consensus from more senior level colleagues here on how to handle a situation where you may disagree on a technical problem or code review with a colleague in an environment that has no standards. <Q> I always try to sell ideas from a position of confidence and assertiveness. <S> I do my best to defend my ideas, not shut down if someone disagrees. <S> I would come back and tell them that I considered what they want to do and why I decided on the other approach as well. <S> If I knew a more senior person that agreed with me, I would try to get them to present the idea and utilized that, not to get my way, but to learn how to disagree and resolve disagreements in that organization. <A> Basically, depends on the situation. <S> If it is something that you are experienced on and if it is your responsibility, and if someone is talking without having a clue, I would possibly suggest to put your reasoning with examples. <S> In case you think what your colleague is trying to sell is not any good, list the disadvantages of his/her approach. <A> A lack of standards seems to be the particular issue here. <S> I am a senior developer (15+ years) and in most of my experience there are usually established patterns in existing code that can be followed when solving new problems. <S> In the absence of any precedent, if your colleague is of the same experience level as you, then can you not seek the opinion of a more senior staff member? <S> If I disagree with the approach someone with less experience has taken, I try to explain it by exploring some of the issues that can arise with the approach and why other solutions may mitigate them. <S> That said, in software development there are usually many "right" ways of doing something, just as there are many "wrong" ways. <S> Most modern software teams adopt the Agile methodology and the KISS principle ("Keep It Simple, Stupid") which advocates that if two or more solutions achieve the desired outcome, the optimal choice is the simplest one to implement. <S> Anecdote <S> : in my earlier years as a developer I struggled with this principle because I wanted to perfectly engineer my code and use lots of design patterns and abstractions, partly to make the solution elegant and also to future-proof my work. <S> Only through experience have I learned that it's as likely <S> any future-proofing is wasted effort due to the ever-changing nature of software systems. <S> Trying to forward-engineer usually makes it harder in the long run, except in that rare case where your early optimization happens to fit the change you didn't know was coming. <A> First of all, you can support your claims with evidence from people who have studied these sorts of problems longer than either you or your colleague. <S> Read some books from the likes of Bob Martin, Kent Beck, Martin Fowler, and Michael Feathers. <S> Second, code talks louder than words. <S> People are often easier to convince when looking at real code, instead of just a theoretical better implementation. <S> Also, sometimes you might be surprised yourself when you think a certain way to write it will be cleaner, so you write it that way and find out there are problems you didn't consider. <S> Finally, people are more willing to make changes when it's earlier in the process. <S> A code review feels like the last step before calling a change "done," and people are loathe to make significant changes at that point. <S> Try to foster a culture of doing design reviews earlier, before you spend a lot of time coding. <S> Start by asking for whiteboard design reviews of your own code. <S> When other people see how it improved your design, they will start asking for it for their own code.
| Be assertive that it is your responsibility but be open to hear the other side and ask questions to understand where your colleague is coming from. Learn how to describe the problems with code in more concrete terms than, "This way feels cleaner."
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Raise complaint against manager about to leave in 2 weeks? Manager is unprofessional, sexist and racist, but he will be leaving the company in 2 weeks. Should I complain about him to HR? A new Engineering Manager took charge of our team about 8 months ago. He has great technical experience and this was his first time discharging the duties of a manager. The first few months were lax as he was catching up with what the team had been up to, understanding the architecture and thinking of ways to improve on them. Since the time he has taken full control, there has been a steady decline in his enthusiasm regarding the company and the work that we do. He is very vocal in pointing that the problems we are solving are hardly worth being called as problems and that he was worked on "real" problems all his life. He has been convincing 2 of the 6 members of our team to pursue higher studies and others to quit this job and join a real tech company. Ever since he put in his notice 2 weeks ago, he has also become downright racist and sexist. He talks about how women are after mens' money and comments about black people which I will not be repeating here. This is now making me really uncomfortable. I was about to lodge a formal complaint when I found out that he has decided to leave the company. But his behaviour since then has been appalling. Should I go ahead and make a complaint about this? I am not sure if any action will be taken against him and if that will be of any help to anybody. Our company is based in India where being racist/sexist is not considered as big a red flag as it would be in any other tech company. <Q> It really depends on how you think this will be perceived by your managers. <S> Working on the assumption that you can handle their nonsense for the next 2 weeks, the only reason to raise would be to show company management that you won't tolerate this nonsense from other managers <S> This is on its own a pretty strong reason to make a formal complaint. <S> However, from your question it seems that nobody else at the company is showing this level of behaviour. <S> Given nobody else seems to be exhibiting this behaviour, consider this: <S> They might look poorly on you because, say, your upper management are themselves prone to these views and support them being aired in the workplace . <S> Raising this issue would then give you the label of "troublemaker". <S> You have to weigh this up on your own, as nobody here can tell you what your management are like. <A> I would report him, and encourage others to do the same. <S> The best case for you here is for HR to understand how volatile he has become and dismiss him immediately before his notice is up. <S> HR may not care much about what he is saying, but they certainly should care how this is affecting the morale of other employees. <A> What do you hope to accomplish if you did this? <S> He's already leaving the company. <S> Most complaints to HR would need to be investigated which would take more than two weeks. <S> Are hoping that something will be posted in his HR file? <S> From what I understand, in the 'official' record this will not be shared from his file. <S> Companies do not give bad references (even for stuff such as this) as they don't want the legal liability if he uses you company for a reference and does not get a new job because of that reference. <S> An old employer had as a policy that they would only give hire & termination dates, job titles and a 'would you rehire' flag. <A> Knock on HR's door. <S> They obviously should know that this manager has given notice. <S> Then you ask them "I have a complaint about X, and it's pretty bad. <S> I know X has given notice already. <S> Do you want to hear about it?" <S> It's quite possible that HR will see this as unnecessary work for them - which it is to some degree. <S> If not, you'll tell them your complaint. <S> It's up to them then to take action or not. <A> Looking at the risk/reward ratio, I wouldn't say anything. <S> He's going to be gone soon anyway, likely before any disciplinary action would be taken. <S> I've seen a lot of overhead resentment towards peers who raise complaints, no matter how legitimate. <S> That's wrong but common, and while it would be nice to get justice for this guy, I don't think that's even possible at this point without going out of bounds. <S> Some problems take care of themselves. <S> If he were harming someone then heck <S> yes, do something stat, but he sounds more like an aggravation than a danger.
| If you suspect - and I only note this due to your last sentence - that you will be looked upon poorly for raising the issue, then don't raise the issue.
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Boss and Boss's Boss have differing philosophies on code, I'm caught in crossfire I am a developer working directly under Boss (hereafter B) but so communicate fairly frequently with Boss's Boss (hereafter BB). B and BB have differing philosophies when it comes to code, to the point where it is very difficult to write code that pleases both of them. BB is ultimately the one to sign off on code, but it must also get the go-ahead from B. However, if I write code that B likes, BB typically hates it, and vice versa. What can I do to facilitate a common understanding between my bosses? <Q> Create coding standard guidelines and ask them to provide input and sign off on it. <S> Expand and nuance the standard as you meet new issues in the same category. <S> This wastes minimal time of your superiors (as opposed to arranging a meeting, or handing the problem over to them, or continue as now) <S> and it also creates a document that you can refer to when you have code reviews, or even inline comments. <S> Now you have a document telling you how to navigate the treacherous waters, and your successor will thank you for it. <S> The power of written standards will also make your B and BB accept more solutions than they previously did. <S> It also helps with the deflection of the blame game, should it appear. <S> (It won't be anything wrong with your code, the error will be in the standard) <A> You should request a meeting with both of them at the same time. <S> Let them know that you like your job <S> but there is a problem you need a solution for. <S> Show them a specific instance of code that one likes but the other doesn't. <S> Ask them which "philosophy" you should follow. <S> They'll hash it out and give you an answer. <S> It shouldn't be a problem after that. <A> In a management perspective this is more of a power struggle. <S> You are under manager B and therefore, you are responsible to deliver to his standards. <S> Simply put, BB shouldn't manage you but he should manage your boss. <S> The fact that BB is going directly to you and managing your work is the issue. <S> Talk to your boss B and let him know that your code is will be created per his standard since he is your direct manager. <S> If B's boss (BB) have an issue with it, let them both deal with it. <S> If BB comes directly to you and ask you to change your code, defer him back to B and let him know this is what he wanted. <S> If this can't work, I am afraid you'll need both of their higher ups, come in and mediate.
| If the manager of B; which is BB doesn't like it, BB should directly talk to B and not to you. The best way to approach this IMO is to handle it politically.
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Is it unprofessional to talk around an interpreter? English is my first spoken language but I have an understanding of a couple of others, as well as a good knowledge of sign language (though the chances to put this to use have been rare). It came up in my interview, it's on my CV and I assumed that HR might note this somewhere. We had a visitor to the office recently - let's call him 'Ryan' - who communicated using sign language exclusively. He also came along with an interpreter provided by our company. I was not directly involved in anything Ryan and the managers did before lunch. We were only given a brief introduction. At our lunch break, Ryan and the interpreter sat with me and we were having a casual conversation. Ryan asked me something through the interpreter and I responded with sign language before the interpreter relayed it. Ryan was at first surprised but politely responded afterwards and seemed happy to continue in such a way afterwards. We both understood each other and I'm confident I said what I intended to say (which was all positive!). Ryan did mention that nobody told him there was someone in the company who could use sign language. At first it was just the interpreter, Ryan and myself. When others joined us, I spoke as well as signed; something often do anyway as sign-users I've met before could lip-read well and if I'm not sure of the sign for something. Later in the day, a manager brought me aside and insisted that if there is an interpreter provided for visitors, we do all our communications through them. From my discussion with the manager, I know for certain that Ryan was not discomforted by the experience, I said nothing inappropriate or incomprehensible, the through-interpreter-only rule is not an official company rule or policy, and despite having to communicate with clients across the globe, HR keeps no record of what languages etc. we each know. I can appreciate that if this were a formal meeting, I would defer to the interpreter's greater skill to reduce the risk of something being conveyed incorrectly, but this was a casual conversation that had very little to do with our work. I wasn't disciplined as such, but this is the first time I've had to be so sternly warned by a manager not to do something. It caught me quite off-guard. My question is; in a UK-based workplace, if an interpreter is provided for a visitor, colleague, client etc., is it considered unprofessional to communicate directly to the person(s) that need the interpreter? <Q> Typically it goes against company policy to work around interpreters where business is involved. <S> To put it bluntly, being fluent in a language, even if it's your native tongue, does not certify you to interpret within your company on company business. <S> Many companies will note your languages, test you for proficiency and then assign you trainings and credentials for interpretation. <S> I will give you a simple example: you work at a hospital as a patient care tech or something similar. <S> Your patient is a non-English-speaking hispanic and your primary languages are English and Spanish/Portugese. <S> The doctor intends to diagnose this person with cancer. <S> You, as a native speaker and a human being, may attempt to soften the blow by using hedge phrases, or softer/humanized language. <S> You may give the patient an altered understanding of the situation. <S> The interpreter, as a certified agent of the hospital and privy to the way the hospital expects patients to receive information, conveys the diagnosis as the doctor intended the patient to receive. <S> Doctors, as professionals, are trained to communicate differently with patients than the average person does. <S> The interpreter knows this, but you may not. <S> You present a liability, as patients have rights to receive their healthcare information a certain way. <S> Does that make sense? <A> Well this is quite an unusual state of affairs I must say, from my experience interpreters for spoken languages are generally relieved when they don't have to do much, as well there still on the clock. <S> I would say it's likely that the manager has a vested interest in Ryan <S> and he precieved you taking control of the situation as an unforeseen risk that the otherwise trusted resource (the interpreter) would of handled. <A> The literal answer to your question is "yes" because it's unprofessional to do anything your employers don't accept. <S> They get to decide what's "professional" under their roof, and professionals abide by the rules. <S> That said, in the uncritical context described, I think they are full of it. <S> I think you were pragmatic, polite, and welcoming, but it's my luxury of detachment that permits my view; as an employee, you don't get that luxury. <A> One concern the company could have had, is that you were keeping others at the table out of the conversation. <S> It was no different than if you had decided to have the conversation in a language that only you and Ryan knew. <S> The purpose of the company providing the interpreter was to facilitate the conversations, and the make the experience inclusive. <S> Going around the interpreter for a short phrase, such as a greeting, would have been fine; but an extended side-conversation wasn't. <S> It was impolite. <S> As to company policy. <S> Unless they are in the regular habit of providing interpreters it is unlikely that there is a policy that tells you how to use them. <S> I think it falls under the guidance of being polite to the others in the conversation. <A> It's just that the managers don't know what you're talking about with Ryan. <S> Since the interpreter is not a part of your company, he or she doesn't know what you should or shouldn't be talking about. <S> I'm unsure what the occasion of Ryan's visit was, whether he was a potential client, a potential employee or a regular visitor. <S> For all the managers know, you might be telling Ryan the funniest thing that happened to you last weekend, or you are relaying company/client sensitive information (unintentionally). <S> But there is no way for them to know, since nobody can understand what you're talking about.
| In casual conversation I find it awkward (if not rude) to force a less familiar language on someone. I can imagine that it's not necessarily unprofessional.
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Interview question - "Describe your personal and professional network" In a recent telephone interview, I was asked to "describe [my] personal and professional network". The job was a junior engineer position in a European satellite company, which I applied to after graduation. My question is: what would the interviewer be looking for in the candidate, in response to this? I can only guess that they would hope to see evidence that the candidate has been part of a hard-working, perhaps international, bunch at university/in internships. But I could be completely off the mark. <Q> Some key things they would be looking for are (a) that you made an effort to connect with and keep in touch with classmates and people you have worked with, and (b) you were active in professional organisations or attending professional events related to your industry, and making connections there. <S> You should mention how your network has helped you in the past - this is evidence that you make meaningful connections that bring value. <S> If you happen to know someone in that industry that the interviewer knows then that will really make you stand out. <S> As a student I made an effort to get involved in professional organisations related to my industry, and saw that employers really value this. <S> It's an easy way to make you stand out. <A> Unless the job is based on contacts (such as sales engineer), I think they are looking for information about your personality in a way. <S> Ie. <S> did you make a lot of friends during your studies, since you're applying for a junior position, and what kind of friends. <S> Basically how active you were during your studies in discussing ideas and maybe doing some prototype projects with your classmates. <S> They might be also looking for information on who <S> (= a more experienced person, possibly a parent of your class mates) could give you a reference. <A> “Describe your personal and professional network.” <S> My question is: What would the interviewer be looking for in the candidate, in response to this? <S> We can only imagine what the other person is thinking ... <S> They want to know that you: are well connected with people whom would benefit the business. <S> speak well of others. <S> know famous and important people, that you're a namedropper. <S> It's a personality test: <S> how do you handle off the wall questions, random unrelated input. <S> do you tell people that you know reasonable people, or speak of your drinking buddies. <S> is everyone you know categorically similar. <S> They're reading off a script: someone came up with: it's a useful question to ask everyone, so ask. <S> they've had problems with other employees and their life away from work. <S> they ran out of questions and wanted to think up a better one, so they stall with this. <S> What would they expect you to say about people you associate with, something negative? <S> Unless these people are going to affect your work, or you'll be expected to recruit them, or tell them what a great company it is then I don't see how the question is either universally applicable or specifically useful when recruiting a junior Engineer - was your Engineering School known for stunts/pranks/problems? <S> Obviously you'll want to provide a short list of useful and interesting people whom you've not been in contact recently and provide a positive tidbit about each of them. <S> Sort of like: "Tell me about yourself ...", <S> but it's "tell me about whom you know". <S> It also depends upon how the interview seems to be going ... <S> They might be trying to get you to engage in conversation and assess if you seem like a likeable person. <S> I been to so many interviews where it seemed like the owner really didn't know much about the subject at all, they just wanted to chat to see if they liked you before handing you off to someone else. <S> It's tough to assess these things without more context, so you might consider replying with the generic answer <S> I offered 4 paragraphs previous. <A> I've never heard or asked this question in any technical interview I've been in, so in addition to the above excellent comments (which I've +1'd) <S> my only response is to echo that it's likely they are evaluating your ability to maintain good relationships with others in your field, and if you have any mentors.
| They want someone who is good at connecting with people, and who is keen to go out there and make business connections that could benefit their company (and if you already have those connections, then that's a big bonus).
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Can I put a start date on my cv? I made a speculative enquiry to a firm, who said they would keep my cv on file for suitable opportunities. I was going to send them an updated cv this week, as I have recently completed a benchmark professional qualification. Can I include the date I'm available from on my cv ie.available from Mid June onwards? <Q> Yes period, although it's also practical if that is a hard 'no earlier date', such as if you are in school until that time or are planning a move. <A> Of course you can, I already did it before when looking for summer or student jobs. <S> As for a "real" job, I can't see why you couldn't as you could be employed elsewhere and have for instance a 2 month notice before being able to quit. <A> Just make sure it fits the format of your CV. <S> Cv formats are more open to the situation than many traditional resumes would be considered. <S> One of the more important things to stay consistent and to make sure you are documenting what is important from your work/educational history. <A> If I were you, I'd definitely prepare myself for being asked anyway, as it may get forgotten about or ignored ( these things happen ). <S> The only issue with doing this though is that once ' mid June ' rolls around and if you haven't found anything, you'll need to update your CV again otherwise it'll look outdated which will work against you if you send it out to a prospective employer.
| It doesn't really matter if you do or not, but these types of things tend to be present in a cover letter stating any notice period you have to work out in your current situation, so it'll sort of depend.
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How to convince manager to let me work on higher priority tasks? My line manager keeps badgering me about low priority administration tasks, despite knowing fully well that I am at maximum capacity doing higher priority tasks that keep projects on track. I have had a discussion with him about this, but I do not feel convinced he understands. He is always nitpicking on the lower priority work being not done quickly enough. I have suggested distributing the work between the project managers, but he hasn't completely bought it. What is the best way to manage this? <Q> List out every single thing on your plate, attached LOEs (Level of Effort) to each item and then sit down with your line manager again. <S> So something like: <S> Task 1 - Recurring - 2 hours/day <S> Task 2 - Project based - 100 hrs total <S> Task 3 - Recurring - 30 <S> min/day Show your line manager your (more than a full) work week and then put it on them to prioritize what is important. <S> Then follow management's direction. <S> At the end of the day, you need to make this your manager's problem. <S> Not yours. <A> Ask your manager what proportion of your working day should be dedicated to the lower priority tasks. <S> From this he should understand that diverting you away from the high priority jobs will result in them being delayed by x hours and reinforce the fact that you can only work a set amount of hours per day. <S> If he wants you to do everything at once, point out that this can't happen and ask for additional resources to help work through the workload. <A> It is your manager's job to decide the priority of your tasks. <S> If he asks you to work on the administration tasks, then that is the higher priority task. <S> Priority is not determined based on what you "enjoy" doing more, what you find more "challenging", or even what you consider more "important". <S> Thus, you have an XY Problem . <S> Your actual issue is you are spending too much time on "boring" tasks. <S> Raise that as the issue with your manager, instead of questioning the "priority" of the tasks. <S> Something on the below lines: Boss, I have been spending a significant proportion of my working time on the administration tasks, which are certainly important for the overall project goals. <S> However, I think I should be contributing more to the project management tasks where I am more productive. <S> Can we work out a plan to rebalance my tasks? <S> If your boss agrees with this suggestion, then it would be a good time to provide your suggestions, such as distributing the administration tasks among the project managers. <S> The plan you eventually agree on may not entirely match your preference, but make sure you work according to it. <S> Since your boss has assigned you those tasks, he obviously considers them important. <S> Showing reluctance in doing them shows a lack of confidence in your manager's judgement. <S> It also sends the message that you will put in full effort only when you consider it important.
| Make sure to "time-box" your available time and make it clear that only the work at the top half of the list gets performed. Do not show a lack of interest in doing the "boring" tasks.
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Should I look worried by problems on the workplace? I always look relaxed, even when there are troubles, I look like a zen master, seeing my worried face is extremely rare. I have a coworker which is always worried of everything, usually we are ok but sometimes, he gets really angry with me, because he says that he can't handle the impression that "I don't give a fuck about anything". Obviously, this is his own point of view, I'm just confident, if a program has a bug, I will check the problem, fix everything, test it and release the fixes. I really don't get the needs of his "always worried" lifestyle, and I ask to myself if he's right when he says that I should look worried when something bad happens. From my point of view, an employee who can always be relaxed, cold and ready to think, maybe is the best thing that an employer can look for. Should I look worried by problems on the workplace? <Q> Different people react to stress differently. <S> (see that pilot that landed the plane when part of the engine came off recently. <S> Would you really have wanted her to be panicky if you were on the plane?) <S> So your reaction is just fine and normal. <S> However, apparently your colleague does not operate that way. <S> Sometimes, in order to make the workplace more effective, you need to bend a little to help out others. <S> I am not saying look worried or act panicky, but... <S> Is it possible that you can verbally express concern without looking worried? <S> Something to indicate that you do care if the bug gets fixed and that you are getting right to fixing it? <A> I think you have the right idea and attitude . <S> Why stress out over things that are out of your control? <S> I tend to offer up the advise of being aware of what is going on at the company level and more directly between you and your manager. <S> For instance, from the bigger picture Is the company making its numbers? <S> Are people being laid off? <S> Are raises being given? <S> If these things are all positive, then from a company perspective <S> you are good to go. <S> From a more direct perspective, specifically yours , you should know or ask these things of your manager : <S> Are you satisfied with my work? <S> Is there something I could do better? <S> Is my attitude in line? <S> If the answers from these two perspectives are positive, then in general there is nothing to be concerned about. <S> There are other factors of course, but these guidelines should take care of most case, from your perspective. <S> Don't let someone else's un-necessary stress impact you. <S> Do your job and forge ahead in a positive manner as you have been. <A> Coming from a family with a history of stress related heart conditions, I make sure to minimise the amount of stress in my life. <S> This approach has been a benefit to me and my employers. <S> I once worked in an environment where most of my immediate colleagues threw stress temper-tantrums for many reasons, from the office being to warm, their computers being too slow and not being cc'd into an email. <S> Being stressed at small things is simply childish. <S> Being able to work complex tasks under difficult circumstances whilst being professional is something an employer will value.
| Perhaps he gets more worried than you because something really bad happens in the past and perhaps it partly happened because someone else was unconcerned and didn't do his part of the job. Some people remain calm no matter what which is often a good trait.
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I started a new job, and I hate it. Should I ask to be moved? I'm a little lost and looking for help. I recently started a new position within my organization and I am really uncomfortable. Luckily, I work for a company that allows folks in a certain program (that I am in) to rotate every 9-12 months to see different parts of the company for your first three years or so while working. The idea here is to find the best fit both for you, and the organization. I accepted this new role because I was looking to get a certain kind of experience (security / cyber), and that is what the job was titled and how it was explained to me (or, rather, how I understood it to be. ) However, when I arrived, I noticed it was not quite like that in all. In fact, it is a very heavily software engineering oriented position and I am feeling very uncomfortable. My background is not in software engineering, nor is software engineering an interest of mine at all. I feel mislead, confused, and scared about how to approach this situation. I would like to discuss this with my manager and explain that I think I misunderstood the job responsibilities, and believe I may be able to make a bigger impact on the business in a different area that more closely aligns both with my current skillset AND with the skillset I hope to gain in this rotational program. This is obviously a super effective and very bright unit, but I am not confident I am the best fit for the job, nor is the job the best fit for me. My worry is that I will seem like I am complaining / whining that "waaaah, I don't like my current job, move me, move me!!" which is not the case at all. I am more than happy to stay here and learn, however it is not necessarily what I am interested in doing nor is it anything I have experience in, so the learning curve is mighty. Enough with the venting -- my question directly is: Is it inappropriate for me to discuss with my manager that I may have mistakenly accepted this offer? Obviously, I would frame (and aptly feel) the question in a way where I would propose that I could make a bigger business impact elsewhere, and that it would dually be beneficial both for my own development AND for the organization. Thoughts? Thanks in advance for any help - I feel alone, mislead, and frustrated right now. <Q> They aren't using you to your strengths, and you're now in a job that you aren't necessarily qualified for. <S> Either they can move you, or you can move yourself to another company. <A> Have that conversation as soon as possible. <S> It seems that being in your current position is just a phenomenal waste of time and resources for everyone, so stop it as soon as possible. <S> And since you landed in a group of software developers and have no interest in software development, it won't take 12 weeks until these developers pick up on the fact and start complaining about you. <S> Once that happens, you are at a disadvantage, so get out as soon as you possibly can. <A> If I put myself into your managers shoes for a moment, I'd say that I would much rather you had this conversation with me than just stayed silent. <S> Then I can do my job! <S> Worst case, I'll want to keep you in the current rotation for a period of time. <S> This might be because I want you to learn more before deciding it's not for you (I know from my own experience that sometimes a job can grow on you). <S> But I'd definitely have a think and a further chat about how we can make the experience the best that we can before reviewing things (less software dev heavy perhaps, maybe just a softer introduction to the work). <S> On the other hand, maybe I'd know that the problems you're having are not going to go away <S> and we can move you. <S> That would also be a positive outcome, as the point of the rotations is to get you to figure out what you want to be doing, and that includes finding out things you don't enjoy. <S> Right? <S> Unless your company is rather backwards, I'd say that your manager would like to know that you're having some issues so that they can do their job and help you out to be the most productive that you can be.
| No, it's not inappropriate to have that discussion.
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How do I manage the feeling of being incompetent? I know this will come off really immature, given that I am 30 years old. I joined a university as a PostDoc after completing my PhD 6 months ago. I am yet to publish anything after joining here. I was planning to join the industry after a year of joining (it was initially a one year contract, but it got extended for 3 more years). My professor is very understanding, and he is very motivated. His team is getting into theoretical machine learning and the papers he published are already making strides and catching everyone's attention. I, on the other hand, am just starting in the area of datascience. I am an average coder, and my math skills are also pretty average. If I work hard I can crank out some papers ( that is how I finished my PhD), but lately I have been feeling very unmotivated and distracted. I have a few family problems (I am gay from a conservative family), but that is no excuse for not being motivated, I know. I tried out to be a datascientist at an Internet company but was rejected after the on-site interview following a Skype interview, the reason being that my practical skills were not on par ( I did a mainly theoretical PhD, and my knowledge of practical algos is lacking). On the other hand my colleague who is a PhD student (only 25!) has been publishing and his works on machine learning (also theoretical), have been attracting researchers from Facebook and Google, at a recent conference. As for me, the very idea of going to a conference gives me shudders. I am out of ideas and out of steam to be honest, but I really want to create pathbreaking research and join a top company to start my career as a datascientist. But I feel lost. For context: I did my PhD on random graph analysis. I really need some guidance. I know I should have figured this out already given I am a 30 year old graduate, but unfortunately I haven't. I can blame that on my depression, but how long can I do that for? Anybody who has been in the same situation as me? Any input is welcome. <Q> Rejection is the norm while interviewing, and you need to get into the practice of interviewing and accepting rejection to be any good at it. <S> One rejection doesn't tell you anything about who you are as a person -- it's a pretty random and unscientific process. <S> Furthermore, you may have a lot of academic skills, but you need to learn interview skills specifically to get into a top tech company. <S> Read books like Cracking the Coding Interview and work through the problems. <S> Get good at answering typical interview questions. <S> As someone with an undergrad science degree, I would kill for your kind of academic CS pedigree. <S> You have very bright career prospects, but to get there you have to apply yourself and not expect to walk right into it. <S> If you're in a PhD program, you're more than smart enough. <S> Academia has a way of cultivating imposter syndrome in smart people, and as soon as I got out of that environment and into the work world I felt much better about myself. <S> So you're not the next Alan Turing -- neither am I. <S> But I'm doing fine, if you don't mind me saying so. <S> Finally, it sounds like you're pretty obviously dealing with burnout and depression: consider seeking outside help if you aren't already, and try not to deal with burnout by pushing yourself even harder. <S> (That leads to worse burnout, which can take years to undo.) <S> Take care of yourself. <A> You first need to decide whether you want to stay in science or move to a company. <S> Normally people do that after their PhDs at the latest. <S> The more you are waiting the more difficult it will get. <S> There's no one way that suits everybody. <A> Coding is more like a sport or a musical instrument than like theoretical skills, practice, practice, practice, practice! <S> You are thirty and a post-doc. <S> Unless you have a family and kids, you definitely have enough time to practice coding. <S> You will find that it is not only beneficial for your career, but it is also fun. <S> Finally if an up and coming professor was willing to hire you and extend your contract for 3 years, you must have some level of competence or skill, so don't sell yourself short.
| If you become talented at interviews, getting a good job will be easy -- but you have to practice. If you aren't into theory and publishing, use the next months to brush up on your data science skills and apply like crazy. Adding to what Danny Newman said, it is not (that) hard to bring yourself up to par in terms of coding.
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While evaluating a person for a role, they seemed competent, but were unaware of one of the most popular tools in the field. Is that a red flag? Another team in my department recently hired a data scientist. I am the only one with any real data science training in our department and my manager asked me to have an informal chat with him to gauge the level of his knowledge and see if he can help our team as well. Since he was already hired and if he did collaborate with us, it would have been on an informal "their team is doing our team a favor basis", I wasn't in a position to ask him pointed technical questions but instead I had to assess his skill level indirectly from the informal get to know each other meeting we had. I asked him if he was comfortable coding in R, and he said yes, but he didn't know what RStudio was, which in the last 4 or 5 years has become the de facto standard IDE for writing R code. Am I right in seeing this as a red flag? I personally find it very surprising that someone who has been keeping up to date on the latest statistics and machine learning techniques in R, isn't aware of the IDE that everyone else is using, and I am tempted to go back to my boss and say that he doesn't know as much as he claims he does. But I feel that I might be being too hasty in passing judgment. Based on the answer and some of the comments I got, I need to clarify something: I don't expect him to be proficient in RStudio, if he's comfortable with another IDE or with command line, that's perfectly fine. In fact I would be impressed more by someone who doesn't use RStudio and uses the basic R interpreter or R Jupyter. But not using the most popular IDE is one thing. Not having heard of it at all is another thing. A Windows developer who doesn't like Linux is fine, a Windows developper who hasn't hear of Linux is alarming. <Q> I code in vim. <S> I have no idea what IDE all the cool kids are using these days for the kind of programming I do <S> ; vim works, it's powerful, and I haven't had any reason to explore newer alternatives. <S> I explore additions to languages, new libraries, new tools, new algorithms, new ideas -- why should I also check out every new IDE that comes down the line? <S> So, no, I wouldn't see this as a red flag. <S> What matters is how well he knows and works with R, not how familiar he is with the latest flashy new toy associated with R. <S> It's like worrying about hiring a writer that isn't familiar with all the bells and whistles on the newest, fanciest word processing app. <S> You're hiring a writer, who needs to understand grammar, voice, and the kind of writing they are being hired to do -- not a specialist-in-this-particular-word-processor. <S> Same thing here: you're hiring someone who does data analysis and programming in R, not a specialist in a particular IDE. <A> I think your question undersells RStudio a bit. <S> RStudio is more than just an IDE really. <S> RStudio as an organisation are also responsible for several popular R packages (examples: ggplot2, shiny, stringr, dplyr and others , especially via Hadley Wickham ). <S> They have had a notable impact on R as a language over the years and have quite a big presence in the R world now. <S> If the person in question has supposedly been using R every day for a few years with a job title like "Data Scientist" then I would find it surprising that they have never heard of RStudio. <S> If they use R a lot but their main job is e.g. biological researcher, economist etc I would be less surprised. <S> If they are a "Data Scientist" whose main language is not R then I would also not be concerned. <S> Your question only mentions that you asked them if they are comfortable with R <S> and they said "yes". <S> I assume you would not have asked this if their main language was R, so I don't see it as a red flag. <S> Summary: I would find it strange only if they have been working in "Data Scientist" type jobs for a while with their main language as R. <S> (FWIW, I am an R user) <A> I don't know what tools you would be using, so I can't tell if not knowing X in your area is a red flag or not. <S> But it doesn't need to be a red flag: If you have two candidates that are otherwise equally good, and one knows the tools that you are using and the other doesn't (whether these tools are something everyone uses or something really obscure), you take the one with the advantage of knowing your tools. <A> The accepted answer seems right. <S> But I'd like to add another option to consider: <S> Assuming RStudio is to R what Visual Studio is to C#, <S> if anyone told me they're comfortable with C# but haven't heard of Visual Studio, my first thought would be that they didn't hear me well. <S> Or not necessarily "heard" but "understood". <S> Perhaps they did "hear" me <S> but they call it VS, or maybe they just think of it as the IDE. <S> ( You mean to tell me there are other IDEs?? ). <S> Imagine someone that is comfortable using S-Q-L asked about Sequel (see here , here , and if you have enough rep here )...
| Not using their IDE isn't an issue, but someone who hasn't heard of RStudio at all has probably not been proactively keeping up with R developments very much.
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Changed mind on accepting job at last minute I had applied for a job and received an offer. Though I accepted the offer and agreed to come into the office at the start of next week, I changed my mind. There are several red flags that after further consideration, simply are not worth the risk. The job is part time and entry level. It pays close to minimum wage. Ranging from aggressive non-compete contracts to a simple sense of disorganization, I do not thinks this is a good idea. I feel like I’ve jerked the company around as they had already agreed to push my start date back to accommodate my other job. How should I write an email saying I’m not longer coming in this week? What should it say and include? I never signed the official job acceptance contract (or most of the other heavy duty paper work, they had me sign things like PCI compliance well before the start date). HR is in a different country and they keep calling and emailing me complaining I haven't signed the paper work fast enough. This is really irritating because of the complex wording of the contracts I wanted time to go through them thoroughly and they never said in the first place there was a deadline (e.g. a week vs tomorrow). <Q> It depends on your personality and on how diplomatic you want to appear. <S> You normally include: <S> "Thank you so much, oh so much for the offer!" <S> However, several stipulations of the contract you've sent me are unfortunately unacceptable for me, which is why I've decided to withdraw my application. <S> Alternatively, if you want to make it even easier, you can lie that you need to withdraw your application from consideration "for personal reasons" and add that it wasn't an easy decision. <S> "Thank you again for considering me for the position!" <S> And don't feel guilty. <S> And if the contract is really doubful, there's nothing you can do apart from withdrawing the application. <S> P.S. <S> Mind you <S> , I'm not a native speaker of English. <A> If you haven't signed any legally binding contract that requires you to start, then you call them and say "I'm sorry, but I changed my mind and will not start with your company". <S> I wouldn't add anything more, don't give reasons, and especially don't lie about reason. <S> Giving reasons will just lengthen an unnecessary discussion. <S> Lying about reasons has the risk that the lies are found out or just not believed, and then things get really embarrassing. <S> Just a plain "I will not start". <S> That's all the company needs to know. <S> If you have signed a legally binding contract, you do exactly the same. <S> You may say "I'm really, really sorry" instead of "I'm sorry", that's the only change needed. <S> It depends on the company how much trouble they will cause you (and this seems to be quite country dependent). <A> Being involved in the past in several complicated contracts, I can pretty much tell you what you feeling is normal when going for a new job. <S> If the contract was worth it, I would probably tell you it might be worthwhile reconsidering listening or not listening your gut feelings. <S> As you say it is a lowly position, I wont go that way. <S> Given you already having a written trail and at least a signed document, I would talk with them and put in writing <S> you are not going through with the job. <S> Whilst while talking, I would mention I do not feel at ease, depending on the conversation tone, in writing on <S> would mention anything more than being sorry, but you feeling you are not a fit for the position. <S> As you have not signed any contract yet, and have not yet started worked for them, nothing more would be required of you in principle. <S> I would have a look at the wording of any paper you signed. <S> Some documents have a set number of days, either specified or by default in law for you to repudiate them. <S> (for instance, I can repudiate a written contract in 8 days without any compensation clausule going in effect). <S> Nevertheless, besides the contract dates, there is also the experimental term. <S> I would not feel bad about not starting, there is also people that starts and then gives up for similar reasons. <S> Consider the experience a dodged bullet.
| If the company had some major red flags about you they would also withdraw their offer.
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What can employers do if an employee disappears? If an employee just goes AWOL, i.e. he/she just stops showing up for work, and does not respond to phone calls or emails, is there a general protocol the employer must follow? I imagine for the first few days they would try to get in touch and see if the employee is sick/injured/dead/etc. But what happens after that? How long before they can fire the employee, or dock his pay, or remove him from the employee records? If he disappears mid-month can they not pay his salary? (or only pay him half?) (Personally I'm in the UK, but generally interested in what happens in other countries as well.) <Q> Depends greatly on the company and their policies Note that it is best to ask ones own company to get details on the steps that they will take, since it will vary by company. <S> With that said here are some examples of things one could expect. <S> Stop <S> Pay For hourly employees if he does not show up he does not get paid (exceptions do apply). <S> So if he stopped showing up then they will stop paying him. <S> For salary it gets more complicated, but the most likely outcome would be failure to show up for work puts him in breach of his employment contract, and would be used as grounds to fire him. <S> So his pay in that situation would stop when they officially fire him. <S> If he is fired during the middle of a pay period he would still be entitled to whatever he worked up to that point. <S> If the pay check was normally given in person, then it would be mailed to his last known address. <S> Police Welfare Check <S> The company can ask the local police to do a welfare check on him. <S> At this point the police will go to the guy's residence and try to contact him and if they get no response they will enter the premise and check the residence for anyone unconscious or otherwise unable to respond. <A> This actually happened with someone I 'worked' with some years ago. <S> He started a couple of years after me, at about the same time as I changed teams. <S> Very soon after, we got scheduled together on the same training course at the company's HQ in the USA. <S> After a few days, it became apparent to me he was struggling with the course content; and then he stopped attending altogether. <S> He didn't show up once I was back in the UK, either. <S> After a few days, my boss came to me and asked if I had seen him. <S> I related the story about him struggling with the course and then disappearing. <S> Apparently, HR then contacted his mum (next of kin) and was told he had gone to India to 'find himself'! <S> He had also stolen the laptop and corporate credit card he was issued, and used the credit card to buy his plane ticket to India. <S> The company declared him to have resigned, and pursued legal measures to recover the cost of the laptop, plane tickets to the USA, everything he had spent on the credit card, etc. <S> Between establishing that he had deserted the company, and declaring that he had resigned, was very quick - just a day or two IIRC. <A> With every job I have held thus far (in the USA), the 'offer' (as opposed to contract) of employment has always contained a voluntary quit clause/section. <S> I imagine it differs from region to region, but in my particularly small corner of the world, this is how businesses seem to handle this situation. <A> The actions they can take are dictated not only by morals and ethics, but also by local law. <S> It's also highly relevant if the company is generally interested in retaining the employee or not. <S> Another important concern is known or suspected medical causes, such as depression, which will sometimes affect the legal situation.
| Invariably, it states that if the employee is absent for 3 days with no contact, they are assumed to have voluntarily quit (this is to remove the possibility of claiming severance/unemployment insurance otherwise claimable under dismissal). When the company sets their policy (which will sometimes only happen once they encounter the situation you describe), they will consult an employment lawyer. In many cases they would also notify relatives, or the police, on the same day the employee goes missing to check the employee's home - again, they'll check with an employment lawyer first, regarding potential violations of privacy laws.
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Is it normal not to have much interaction with development team? Background : In my previous jobs, I was Software Quality Assurance Engineer. The recent company had many running projects, I was QA for 3 projects, did both Manual and Automation Tests. We did Scrum, so we had Daily Standups every day involved whole team (BE, FE, PO, QA). And as QA, I had directly worked with developers, ie. direct discussions, planning, etc. Which I really liked this way, and I am used to Scrum. Situation : I try to describe it as much sense as possible I have started my new job for 2 months, as fully Automation QA Engineer (it's like Developer in Test), it's my first time doing 100% automation tests . The company has only one big market product, which is very successful. We have BE Team, FE Team, and QA Team, but we don't have a team lead for each team, instead we have a CTO on top of everything. And we do Kanban ( another first time ). Once in a while, the CTO gathers all team members spontanouely and says we are doing standup now, to give updates on what's going on. So we don't have much interaction with each other. Only when Manual QA members do testing, they will interact with FEs or BEs if they find something. And for me, as Automation Engineer, I have much less interaction with develpoment team. And as I mentioned, we don't have team leads, so so far I have only discussed/worked with one (kind of) senior Manual QA. She would tell me which features could be helpful to be automated, etc. And then I would do it alone. I am not involved in planning meetings, for example, but the Manual QA members are. So I don't know which features are being implemented or something like that. We don't use Jira too, we use Redmine ( another first time ) Questions : I know it is a new company, new environment, new structure, new role and all, but I am still a little bit worried about the career path I am heading to. Needless to say, I do love Automation, but I would also like to have interaction within the team (like I had in my previous jobs). So my questions are: In Kanban, is it normal that we don't have that much interaction with each other like Scrum? And as an Automation Engineer, is it normal that I don't have much interaction with development team? Or is it normal that I work alone as Automation Engineer? <Q> For question 2. <S> It's a problem or not, depending on the organisation. <S> What you need as a test scripter is proper specifications of what to test, and a good visibility of the evolutions of the software that will impact your work. <S> So the real question is : are you correctly fed with those 2 informations? <S> I know I am well for the first part(specs from the functional team <S> are excellent), but not on the second one(release notes are basically impossible to use to know what script has to be maintained, in our case), and it's a problem for us. <S> But wether the information comes from the development team, or any other source, is not relevant IMHO. <S> For Kanban, no clue. <A> Is it normal? <S> Well, it is unfortunately common. <S> Is it good? <S> Probably not. <S> Kanban is less rigid and prescriptive than Scrum. <S> That's good, for a mature Agile team. <S> However, for an immature Agile team, less isn't more, it's just... less. <S> The agile manifesto values: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation <S> Responding to change over following a plan <S> And in my experience, that has positive benefit for a software development organization. <S> It sounds like your organization, possibly due to rapid growth (just the CTO trying to be a CTO, but also apparently manage everyone and even run standups, is clearly not able to spend time at it) <S> is happier putting folks in silos and running. <S> The good news is, you can have a part in changing this. <S> Show initiative. <S> There's nothing preventing you from "talking to a dev" but you! <S> I'd imagine that not participating in planning and knowing what features are coming provides for a significant gap in automated test coverage; keep those metrics and advocate with your teammates and CTO for closing that gap via closer collaboration. <A> This response is after conversation in comments. <S> I know scrum not Kanban <S> so sorry if some (or all) of this is useless. <S> In my previous company manual testing was embedded in the DEV teams but automated were external as they covered many different products. <S> Our automated teams got very detailed test plans which you don't. <S> But come with solutions (it is a horrible truth that people like you coming with problems and solutions <S> make their job easier) <S> so here is my Idea: Sprint reviews <S> , everyone is invited. <S> It is where the devs show off their work to anyone involved. <S> You have a very good reason to go you are involved very directly. <S> Go to these, see what has been written, it should also tell you what is inline for next sprint. <S> Participants in the sprint review typically include the product owner, the Scrum team, the ScrumMaster, management, customers and developers from other projects. <S> https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/agile/scrum/meetings/sprint-review-meeting I would classify you as a dev from another team, or maybe even a customer. <S> If you see something important that looks good for automated testing arrange to speak to the team leader after the review to discuss it further. <S> I would write a detailed test script and pass it to manual testing for review "can you just check the expected results please? <S> " <S> I am not sure how senior you are or how much autonomy you have <S> so you may be able to just say you will be doing this and check the manual testers have time. <S> These test specs are really really useful when an error is thrown in that script in 2 or more years time and nobody can remember anything about it.
| Your first port of call is your line manager/ immediate superior and talk to them about your problems.
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Answering "Tell us about a technical decision you had to make in the past" What is a good way to answer a question such as "Tell us about a technical decision you had to make in the past" during an interview for a software development job? Is this a trick question to see if the interviewee jumps into giving a technical answer? What would be a proper answer to this? <Q> As a hiring manager I've asked questions like this in the past and from my perspective <S> I want to hear a story where you had to use your brain to decide on a course of action and how you implemented it. <S> Was the decision technically sound? <S> Did you know the path to success, and were you confident? <S> Were there inter-personal, inter-department, or other 'fuzzy' issues that could have prevented it from being successful? <S> Can you show me some passion that you were responsible for it? <S> If you can't think of anything technical that closely relates to the job description, then tell me any story where you made a decision and ran with it. <S> I can really get a lot out of this answer ... <S> How you deal with uncertainty, are you motivated to solve problems, can you communicate clearly to me, can you hold my attention from start to finish, do you have the technical and emotional chops to survive in my place of employment, and a few others. <A> This technique is called "behavioral interviewing." <S> The best answer to a question like this does showcase your success, but also goes into details about how you overcame issues and conflict (ideally without coming across like a rabid wolverine). <S> There are plenty of people whose examples provide a questionable thought process - "I wanted to use it because it was new even though it might not have been a good fit <S> /I wanted to use it even though it was old because I'm familiar with it", "I just went ahead and did it even though others objected because screw them <S> /I gave in to what the lead wanted because who cares anyway"... <S> You want to project confidence, but confidence that is warranted because you understood the technical and organizational impacts of that choice <S> , you can successfully negotiate technical decisions with others, and you can show good judgement and select implementations that will be successful. <A> Anyone seasoned in the industry will have hundred of such stories. <S> It is a fairly easy question to answer, and it is not a trick question. <S> For me it is much a more saner question than filler BS questions as "were you see yourself in 5 years..." or "what are your strengths". <S> I will take pleasure in answer such a question with a couple of examples. <S> In reality, I just have to ask how much time they want me to spend on that question, running the risk of taking too long. <S> Those kind of questions are mostly to gauge your maturity, line of experience and thinking. <S> Even when around new work mates, we usually share these kind of war stories over a cup of coffee. <S> (cultural note, here we tend more to gather together over coffee than beer) <A> Is this a kind of a "trick" question to see if one jumps into giving a technical answer? <S> How should one give a proper answer to this? <S> Not really. <S> When this -very common, IMHO- question comes around the idea is to get a feel of what kind of things matter to you when making a complex decision, and to see which points do you prioritise. <S> It is true that the technical level at which you give your answer matters (as with experience you should get better at understanding what is the role in the organisation of the person that it is in front of you - and that's a valuable communication skill), but it shouldn't be the most important part <S> Instead, the "trick" is more on showing that you have been in a relatively complex situation in the past, where you have been considering multiple options , and where you finally ended up making a sound decision . <S> An answer with something like that should be more than adequate. <A> A question like this can also help to weed out candidates who are just pretending. <S> When people make technical decisions, if they researched the decisions and implemented them, they usually end up knowing the tiny details as to why the decision was made, how it was implemented and how any issues related to this decision were resolved. <S> With people who pretend to know, they will try to provide very little detail and will usually get stuck when the interviewer begins to pry.
| By asking about a time you actually did something, ideally the interviewer can get a better sense of how you do things than just asking a hypothetical - real life is complex, and they want to know how you deal with real decisions in real environments, where people disagree for good and bad reasons, where the best technical option isn't always the feasible business option...
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What is a good way to ask for detailed requirements? Where I work, everything is done through the Telegram messaging app. There are bits of information that managers post in the communication groups, and no formal requirements and/or design documents. The information posted in the Telegram chat group is too little to act on. But when I ask questions to the manager, he gets short with me and becomes terse. In the latest case, he said "Aren't you familiar with the current software?" (again, over Telegram). In fact, I am not familiar w/ the software, because I've been with the company for less than two months, and the entire code base has zero comments (I am thinking this is some sort of security measure against having trade secrets stolen; i.e. to make the software harder to understand). On top of it, the manager is currently overseas due to his family situation, so you can't just walk up to him and ask questions. There's a time zone difference as well (three hours). EDIT (per comment from berry120): "Take a look at these folders: x, y, x and follow the pattern there." "Use any one of the available methods as a template." I don't have a list of the available methods. If I had this list, I could pick one based on my years of experience. But the codebase is huge, and as I said, has no comments. <Q> You won’t get detailed requirements, probably because your boss doesn’t care. <S> On the other hand, detailed requirements are needed, since otherwise nobody can check if your work meets the requirement. <S> Ask the only person who has the intelligence and the interest to write the requirements - which is you. <S> You write the requirements, send them to your boss, and tell him that this is what you are going to do unless he complains quickly. <A> This problem comes up a lot in software engineering, and I'm sure it's the same in any field with a steep learning curve. <S> Try to have that conversation over the phone, since you can't do it in person. <S> Furthermore, when you have a question, try to ask everyone else about it first. <S> But in general, I've found it's better to risk annoying your boss than to risk wasting time building something the wrong way. <S> Right now your supervisor is probably too busy to think about you, and put themselves in your shoes. <S> But it's their responsibility to manage you, so it's important for you to be visible and assertive. <S> It's much better to deal with your boss's short term annoyance than having them ask you later why you wasted two weeks of work. <A> How is testing done without specific requirements? <S> What are you producing and is it correct? <S> I don't see how this can be done without requirements. <S> As others have stated - you write some specific requirements based on your understand and (this is important) <S> get signoff on what you're producing before real coding starts. <A> The toughest thing to understand when dealing with our managers is how busy they and how much is on their mind. <S> Your questions are valid, but they are just one of many they get throughout the day. <S> Either you just keep asking questions or find another resource. <S> Messages always tend to seem blunt especially when they say things we don't want to hear. <S> A busy manager is going to minimize his interactions as much as possible. <S> There is a risk he is not giving you enough information, but he's still willing to do it anyway. <S> When he asked, "Aren't you familiar with the current software? <S> " Your answer should have been, "No." Ideally, managers are aware of getting their people on-boarded and up to speed, but this company doesn't seem very structured in that area. <S> Could you ask someone else to train you or put a plan together to split the time up among several people. <S> This is why I like to see a manager who is willing to do some of the dirty work, but too often, it is at the expense of having time to manage people. <S> I'd rather chop down trees with a quality sharpened ax than have me and my manager swinging two dull pieces of garbage all day long.
| If there's a more experienced dev to help you, seek out their advice. You should try to have an open conversation with your boss about how often you should bug them, and how often you should try to figure it out yourself.
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Can a boss request from IT to change your password and log on your PC as you? My Boss requested from IT to change my corporate password while I was out of office without telling me. He used the new password to log on my PC as me and copied my project (I don't know what else he did). When I was back in office, a yellow sticky with the new password was on my desktop. He told me that is my new password when he saw me in office. Is this violation of security? A privacy breach? <Q> You should not expect to have privacy on a company-owned machine. <S> However, in a healthy IT environment your manager would do this by asking IT to send him the files he's looking for, which they can retrieve by accessing the computer using their own administrative accounts, not by accessing with your account. <S> If they do it this way, there is never an auditing question of who accessed the files, or whether an action taken by your account is actually an action you took. <S> Your IT department should also follow any guidelines they've been given to facilitate the access - this might include getting permission from your company's legal counsel, providing justification documentation, etc. <S> Whether or not this is a security violation depends on company policy and applicable law/contractual obligations. <S> You can bring this up with your manager if you want and voice your concerns, and there are quite a few valid ones. <S> As mentioned, logging into your account directly defeats auditing - your security team can no longer be reasonably sure actions taken by your account were taken by you if other people log into the account. <S> Depending on your job, you may also have access to information your boss does not - this could include HR-related information, client data for contracts your boss is not on, and so on. <S> However, changing the system to allow for this kind of access may not be considered a worthwhile investment for a small company that doesn't handle sensitive information. <S> Also, as Edgar mentioned leaving your password out on a sticky note exacerbates the auditing issue, since now anyone in your company could have accessed your account while you were gone. <S> At the very least, if the company is unwilling to change their policy on resetting accounts, you should ask your manager to tell you the password in person when you get back in the future, or have IT reset it again to something generated by a secure random password generator and don't write it down, then reset and allow you to pick a new password when you get back. <A> The "yellow sticky notepad with the new password left on my desktop" is definitely a violation of security and the boss of any company should know that. <S> He might have a reason that he has to access your PC <S> and he might have a reason to ask the IT to reset your password. <S> But it is inexcusable that he put that new password in the open. <S> He should have informed you that he had to reset the password <S> and then IT could have reset it again and give you a new password - which your boss does not know. <S> Edit: About using the user account or a different account: Yes, IT should be able to get data from that PC using a different account. <S> But in real life it is often just so much easier to logon with the "normal" user account. <A> The legal implications will depend on the country. <S> In France for instance that would be a terrible thing to do as you are allowed by law to have personal data on your computer. <S> Please note that I am writing terrible thing and not illegal thing as he may still access your professional data as he seems fit. <S> Then comes the question of traceability. <S> From the moment he got your password to the moment you changed it he is in responsible of whatever happened with your account. <S> In particular if you do not change your password he is still you. <S> You may want to specifically document that. <S> From an information security perspective (something I can comment on first hand), such an action shows that your company does not have sound security policies. <S> This may or may not be an issue, depending on the industry you work in.
| I think that is a question of company policy and the circumstances and not easy to answer.
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Ethics of renting out an assigned workplace parking spot I work in a downtown environment, and everyone in our company is assigned a parking spot in the lot. There are numerous lots that charge anywhere from $5 to $10 a day to park within blocks of my office. I don't use my spot because I ride the bus. The idea to rent out my parking spot popped into my head as I was walking by one of the 10-dollar-a-day lots; I figured that it would be over $300 a month if I let someone use my spot. I checked the company handbook and there is nothing in there about the assigned parking spots other than not to park in someone else's. Do you think this would be an ethical issue or otherwise problematic? The parking spot won't ever be given to anyone else; it was included in the offer letter that I would have a free parking spot in this area because it is hard to find a place to park. <Q> Unethical, unwise, and potentially a severe career limiting move. <S> The company, and perhaps the building as well, will want to know who is in that spot. <S> If it's not you, then there's going to be a problem. <S> This is the equivalent of renting out a company laptop because you are not using it. <S> Yes, really. <S> It poses nearly the identical liability risks, and the same ethical ones. <S> You would be misusing company property assigned to you and opening up the company to liability. <A> Let your boss know that you don't require your parking place. <S> It can then be allocated to someone else in the business who would appreciate it for their own commute. <S> It's really unlikely that you'll be allowed to sub-let it for your own profit. <A> At a previous employer we could either have a reserved spot ( <S> after 15 years it was in a garage, before that surface lot) or we could choose to have the bus ticket subsidized. <S> Couldn't do both. <S> I your case I would have a discussion with your supervisor. <S> Mention that you use mass transit. <S> Ask about (maybe partial) reimbursement for your bus pass. <A> The company owns the spot, so this is something they need to be okay with. <S> If the thought of asking bothers you, you already have your answer. <A> (A mild variation of the above comments) Approach your boss or whomever is responsible for assigning parking to employees and ask them what they will give you if you voluntarily give up your spot. <S> Possibilities (nobody jump my case over this) are any tickets to sporting events floating around, stuff in the Marketing closet, an extra vacation day, extra paid training, etc. <S> Most companies wouldn't pay cash for it, but yours might. <S> If it ends up being nothing, so be it. <S> That makes it the company's decision and completely legitimate, avoiding any ethics issues. <S> Also you're giving the company a little bit of flexibility which they will likely appreciate. <S> Another possibility is to give your spot to an employee that does not get one. <S> You can score major brownie points for this, especially if that employee has a genuine need for it such as a disability or are expecting. <S> Or a major client. <A> You want to rent your space out. <S> So obviously you don't need a parking space. <S> So your company is paying out money for a parking space for you that you don't need. <S> If you don't need the space, you tell your company so they can give it to someone else. <S> You have no rights to the space except parking your car there. <S> Since you have no right to rent the space, whoever rents it has no right to keep their car there, so they can be charged with trespassing, clamped, etc. <S> If this gets found out, you can be sure to lose your parking space forever, but a worse outcome is not unlikely. <A> If this is something you want to do, and you feel comfortable enough asking, do ask. <S> But don't ask your boss: while they might have an answer, the odds are your boss isn't the person who has the final say on this. <S> Worst case is your boss says yes, you do it, but it's actually not permitted, and you get in trouble anyway <S> - your boss approving it doesn't necessarily make it okay for you (they will also probably get in trouble, but not as much as you much of the time). <S> Ask HR in writing. <S> They're the ones who would represent the business itself, and can be treated as the final word, and asking and getting their permission will protect you if something goes south. <S> They're also very very likely to say no, unless it's officially permitted in documentation, but they're the one to ask. <A> Do you think this would be an ethical issue or otherwise problematic? <S> This space is not yours to rent. <S> That seems clearly indicated by "I checked the company handbook and there is nothing in there about the assigned parking spots other than not to park in someone else's ". <S> Relying on the fact that the company handbook doesn't say that you cannot rent out assigned spots is rather silly. <S> It also doesn't say that you cannot pitch a tent in that spot and live there. <S> It also doesn't say that you cannot paint the spot in your favorite colors. <S> It doesn't say that you can dig out the spot and turn it into a barbecue pit. <S> Lots of things are omitted from handbooks. <S> Those omissions don't give you blanket permission for everything else. <S> I'm sure you already know that. <S> But if you ask permission first, and then follow the company's guidance, it will be ethical and will not be problematic. <S> Any other route could lead to both ethical issues and/or problems for you at work. <S> Alternatively, you could ask the company to give you the parking benefit in cash (presumably whatever it costs them to actually provide the spot). <S> Or, you could ask that they pay your bus fares instead of giving you the spot.
| If you rented it to someone, they would be parking in someone else's space . Assigned spots are not just for convenience, they are for security. Ask your boss about what they think about this idea.
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How to politely ask colleagues to be quiet Unfortunately our office is small and open-plan. We have around 20 employees squeezed in and for the most part everyone just gets on and does their job. However, one department has a group who literally never shut up. Rarely is their talk work-related, generally it's random babble, just chitchat about nothing in particular. I get that socialising at work is a good thing, I'm social, I talk to everyone about my weekend etc. But then I get on with my work.. Sometimes this group talks about work which makes sense it's probably more efficient than talking via slack but it almost always descends in to banter. They seem unable to appreciate a comfortable silence. Yesterday we had silence for just 30 minutes as two of this group were away and the third member got uncomfortable saying it felt like a library. They attempted to start random conversations with other team members. I've raised this issue with my manager and he agrees that it's a problem and he'll raise with the CEO. I guess this is all I can do? The problem stems from the fact this groups manager has been away from the office for a number months working in a different location, from June he'll be back and no doubt will sort them out. But that's a long time to wait.. It really grates, this group are loud-mouthed, they love to brag about everything. Meanwhile I need silence to focus on my work and I feel very frustrated. Okay rant over, is there anything else I can do? I'm tempted to message/chat to them one to one and ask them to keep it down but this will probably lead to an awkward relationship.. <Q> I've raised this issue with my manager and he agrees that it's a problem <S> and he'll raise with the CEO. <S> This is the correct thing to do. <S> There's an issue, you raise it with your manager. <S> That's all you should do. <S> There are now three possibilities: <S> There's a general agreement that this team is too loud. <S> Words are had, things improve. <S> There's no agreement this team is too loud. <S> Maybe you're being too sensitive here (quick reality check: are the other 16 members of the office as angry about this as you are?). <S> In that case, you'll have to work out what you want to do. <S> Management is weak and ignore this issue. <S> Unfortunate. <S> I'm tempted to message/chat to them one to one and ask them to keep it down <S> but this will probably lead to an awkward relationship. <S> And probably an awkward conversation with your manager as well. <S> You're not this team's manager, you don't get to tell them how to behave. <A> I'm in the exact same situation. <S> Here's how I mitigate it: earbuds. <S> I listen to music, but you could play rainfall or white noise to switch off the menagerie. <S> Coming in/leaving early. <S> I work 8-4. <S> I know this isn't an option for a lot of people, but it gives me some private time to get shit done (I totally don't spend it bullshitting on stackexchange). <S> This works especially well, since the loudest of the bunch didn't show up until 10:45 yesterday. <S> Here's how I brought it up with the menagerie <S> : if I'm on a conference call, and I can't get them to shut the f*ck up, i'll give them a short "Ladies, please". <S> It normally does the trick without generating animosity, since I've got a valid reason for asking for silence. <S> Or maybe it does generate animosity anyways, but they can suck it, I've got work to do. <S> We once had some people have a loud personal conversation outside the door. <S> We heard it all, and the menagerie started up right away with the comments about how it was innapropes. <S> I snorted and asked them if they saw the irony. <S> They know they are loud, and they all occasionally run into the same problem with noise that you are. <S> Its inherent to an open work space. <A> This issue is about you needing silence to work, not about others needing to talk. <S> If that's the case, then what you need to do is ask for support in getting that silence rather than taking action against anyone making a noise. <S> The simple solution here would be for you to work from a more isolated environment rather than an open plan office. <S> If this isn't possible in the office itself, try to get an arrangement to work from home. <S> The fact that there was always low background noise distracts from the effect of something breaking the silence. <A> +1 both of the above. <S> Raising the issue with management and directly with individuals is always the right call. <S> Another right call is to get a pair of Bose (Beats, whatever) <S> Noise Cancelling Acoustic Headphones, a subscription to Spotify (Pandora, buy lots of iTunes songs, whatever), and get your work done while jammimg to music. <S> If anyone notices or complains there are lots of witty comebacks such as 'I don't get paid to talk about my Fantasy Football team for two hours.' <S> Good luck.
| If you think you can get away with it you can relocate yourself to someplace quieter, maybe even home or some extended work hours at the closest Starbucks, and if anyone complains just tell them you can't get work done with all the noise in the office. One thing that I used to find quite effective was to put on music at very low volume. Another factor that might be in play is that they might have a talking-type job such as Marketing or Vendor Management, whereas you (and I) have more of a heads-down coding job such as most of IT, and the two by design will conflict with each other.
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Quitting within 6 months because of poor working conditions. How to mention it to a recruiter? I recently quit my first full time position after just 6 months. I have had several internships in past so it was not my first position. My main reasons for quitting were, Very long working hours: 10 hours/day compared to 8 hours/day which is normal here everywhere. Micromanagement: Lots of it. I had to give update 2-3 times a day. Too heavy a workload: Staring at screen constantly without being able to take a break also used to hurt my eyes. No vacations: Although I was allowed x paid vacations per year, they were always rejected every time I applied for them during my time. Later I was also suggested to ask 1-2 months in advance in future. Lack of senior developers: My colleagues were around same level as me, and I am not even a senior developer. Lack of quality code or even initiatives: It was development agency and their goal was to ship product ASAP without proper testing whatsoever. I tried to take initiatives in ways such as refactoring code I am working on, but my boss used to push me work fast and deliver working results, rather than spending time doing this. So far, the only reason I have told recruiters is that I quit was due to poor working conditions, and when they ask, go on to tell about the 10 hour days. My friend suggested it's not a good enough reason to mention to a recruiter and that it may reflect poorly on me. How should I handle the question "Why did you leave your last position" in the future? <Q> I agree with your friend. <S> Focus on the "forced us to ship without enough testing" and "lack of senior developers". <S> Anything else could be misinterpreted by the recruiter who could weed you out just because that recruiter does not know any better. <S> That being said, make sure that you don't end up with a similar employer again in the future. <S> When being interviewed, and near the end of your interview, you can ask to speak to your future co-workers and ask questions such as what is your typical work day here. <S> For instance, at what time did you go home last night? <S> And at what time did you come in the morning? <S> Is that pretty regular? <S> And what about crunch time? <S> What happens if you have a deadline? <S> Until what time do you work? <S> Do you also work on weekends? <S> And if they ask you "why", "Would that be a problem? <S> ", you could just say, no, no problem. <S> It's just that if you work 12 hours a day, I know to ask for way more money (since I'll probably be exempt from receiving overtime pay). <A> The best policy for any interview question is always, be honest. <S> However, within the realm of honesty, you obviously need to tailor your responses to meet your goals. <S> So - before thinking of your answer, you need to ask yourself: what is my goal during this hiring process? <S> If your goal is to avoid working for a certain type of company, then you can tailor your answer appropriately. <S> That may result in you not getting a job offer (as has already happened per your comment on another answer) but sometimes, not getting an offer is a good thing if the company would have been a poor fit. <S> Besides honesty, another good interview policy for any answer is, when talking about negatives, take the time to show how you've learned or grown. <S> Once again, you need to balance this against your own goals. <S> You mentioned being unhappy because your last employer had no senior developers. <S> I'm guessing that made you upset because it meant there was no one to mentor or guide you. <S> So: instead of just saying, "they had no senior developers," you can say, <S> what I've learned is that I'm interested in an environment where I can continuously grow, regardless of my own level of seniority or experience. <S> My last employer really wasn't able to offer any sort of mentorship, continuing education, or other growth opportunities. <S> That way, you're being honest, you're helping them understand a factor that's important to you, and you're avoiding the impression that you just like to complain about your past employer. <S> All that said, as a footnote: <S> It's important to also take time to reflect on your own contribution to the problem of "poor working conditions. <S> " You mention things like vacation requests requiring a certain lead time - that's common with lots of employers. <S> And having to give updates 2 or 3 times a day seems pretty reasonable for a junior employee who may need extra guidance. <S> Make sure you're learning from this experience about the importance of understanding and reviewing policies as appropriate, upfront, and taking things in context, before blaming the employer. <A> If they ask what a typical day entailed, you can briefly tell them what went on, but not elaborate unless they ask.
| You could say the position was not a good fit for your skills, and as such you left the company to find a position that did.
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applying for a position below your level I recently came across a listing for a junior position at a company that i would like to work for. i am presently at what most would consider the mid to full professional level of my career. would it be inappropriate to apply, hoping that with my experience i would be considered for employment at the higher level? i was either going to simply apply, or, contact the company directly and ask if they would consider a more experienced person. <Q> Inappropriate? <S> No. <S> But keep in mind if they were looking for a mid/senior level person, that would be what the listing was for. <A> A company usually thinks of its employees like "progressing". <S> Therefore wanting to stay in the same position is already kind of strange and sometimes not well perceived. <S> Even more weird can be the will to step down, so the crucial point here is how you motivate the question which you will get: with your experience, why are you applying for a junior position? <S> If you are able to tell a convincing story there would be no big issues. <A> It's not professionally inappropriate, but it might be inappropriate to yourself. <S> You might not have any opportunity to advance at this new job, so it's unfair to yourself to assume you can finagle something comparable to what you have now. <S> It's also slightly unreasonable to expect them to accommodate your hopes instead of filling the position for as little cost to the company as possible (their goal). <S> If you can live with the job listed, then go for it. <S> I would not "call ahead" to ask if you're "too good" for the job, as that tips your hand to them about the ulterior motive. <S> It would be best just to wow them and nail the interview. <S> Talk about needing a change of pace, or how much you just love their brand to overcome reservations about over-qualification. <S> If you do a great job you can usually move up in most workplaces, but if they get a sniff of that as a near-contingency, that could prompt a search team member to start a discussion among themselves about those doubts after your interview, and that conversation never goes your way...
| You can ask to be considered for a more senior level, but if they don't have that kind of opening available, you probably won't get very far
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What's the appropriate way to connect after filing a job application? I'm applying for an entry-level software engineer role at a 15-person company. I've found the engineering team leader on LinkedIn. Is it appropriate for me to connect with him and send a message in addition to my application, so that I stand out? What should I be trying to say or prove in that message? I have heard that this is a good idea, but I'm at a loss as to what, specifically, my message should include. <Q> While I (personally) wouldn't consider it to be a negative, it does get kind of annoying. <S> I've even had people I don't know contact me on LinkedIn asking me for a recommendation which is just ridiculous. <S> Apply through the proper channel. <S> Make sure your resume is well formatted and contains the right information. <S> If the hiring manager(s) think you have the credentials, they will contact you. <S> Don't try and cheat the system--it won't work. <S> The only possible exception is if you really go above and beyond researching the company and go into specific details about how your unique skill set could benefit the department. <S> Even with this approach, though, the chances of it having an impact are probably 1 in 100 and almost zilch for an entry level position <A> Is it appropriate for me to connect with him and send a message in addition to my application, so that I stand out? <S> What should I be trying to say or prove in that message? <S> Don't know where you heard it was a good idea, but I would suggest you don't send such message , at least not with those intentions and content. <S> Surely, there is no problem in you connecting with them, as it is quite common to connect with people you don't necessarily work for/with but are part of the industry and area of knowledge you are. <S> This could be frowned upon and affect your chances of landing that job. <S> In any case just connect with them and send a friendly and professional message (or just connect), but I would suggest you don't try to bias their processes in any way; your application and qualification should speak for yourself, without having to recur to lobbying techniques. <A> Well that's the purpose of LinkedIn <S> isn't it, to connect with hiring managers or people from company you want to work with, so you should connect with him and just send plain text politely asking about your application e.g <S> " It would have been pleasure <S> if i got this job as it's been my dream to work with so please look into my application and if that's what you looking for consider my application. <S> Thank You". <S> I hope you will find this information worthy.
| As someone who gets a ton of LinkedIn messages from applicants trying to find a way in to my company, I can tell you that it has close to 0 affect on the hiring process. However, sending such message "to stand out" could be perceived as you trying to bias their decision process in your favor .
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How to understand a strange request from a recruiter? I met a very helpful recruiter today who gave some valuable insight into my target industry, having been in it herself for over a decade. She gave me a specific role to apply for, and I agreed that that role would be a nice fit for me. However, in addition to the mentoring for the role that she was trying to fill, she also advised me - insisted, actually - that I reach out to a former manager of mine. This former manager is pretty high up in the corporate hierarchy of the company that he works for, and she insisted that I meet him, in person, and ask about the state of the industry, where I would best fit now (after graduate school), and where are currently some good spots to land. All very good advice ... but ... isn't this recruiter risking losing me to my former manager's contacts hiring me directly and thus losing her opportunity to earn a commission? Why might she insist on my having this meeting to reconnect with my old boss to ask for industry updates and job openings? Is this, in some ways, advantageous to a recruiter? <Q> The question <S> why? <S> in some form is always appropriate and worth asking, especially when somebody asks you to use your social capital in a surprising way. <S> You should ask politely. <S> Maybe you could say something like, "I hadn't considered doing that. <S> I wonder what you think would happen if I did do it? <S> Why do you suggest it?" <S> Surprising suggestions often have interesting reasons behind them. <S> It's always good to ask. <S> If the recruiter reacts negatively to your request for a conversation about the suggestion, that's a bit of a red flag about the recruiter. <S> It's possible the recruiter just wants you to get her some good info on what's going on in your former company. <S> You have a duty of confidentiality to your former company: politely avoid breaching it. <S> The best recruiters build honest long-term relationships with people like you. <S> If she doesn't place you at your next job, she may place you at the one after that if you are still in touch with her. <S> Or, when you become a hiring manager you may choose to work with her to find good people because you trust her. <A> It doesn't matter why, it sounds like you're being given a one-time opportunity, don't pass it up. <S> It costs you nothing to meet this guy and drop her name. <S> He could decide on the spot to hook you up with a sweet gig, or farm you out. <S> don't miss it. <S> Maybe your recruiter knows him well and is impressed by you and wants to do him a favor. <S> Or maybe she thinks your cute and doesn't care about commission. <S> Or maybe she's completely delusional and thinks your someone else. <S> Point is, it doesn't matter why, and nobody but her can say, so just answer the knock of opportunity and see what's behind the door. <A> Recruiters don't get paid by the people they place, they get paid by the company that takes on the new hire. <S> Recruiters don't typically have to look too hard to find someone who wants a job - everyone wants money - but they do have to find people who want a role filled - <S> nobody likes spending money. <S> Your recruiter is being really helpful to you, and if you get a good role, you will probably want to use this recruiter. <S> They've already proven to you that they care about placing people and doing a good job! <A> Total speculation, of course: <S> The recruiter must know your old boss somehow. <S> It's likely that they mentioned, in passing, that they were working with someone that old boss knows. <S> Old boss; knowing that you're looking for work, possibly showed an interest in talking to you again, before you are placed somewhere else.
| If the recruiter is working with your old boss, then their relationship with their customer is worth a lot more than potentially missing one placement.
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