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Should I give more than 2 weeks notice if I'm out of office before my end date? Background I work at a large international company as a software engineer. I'm part of a small specialized team of me and 3 electrical and systems engineers (I'm the software specialist of the team). In two weeks I'll be taking two weeks of approved PTO, and two weeks after I get back (6 weeks from now), I'm planning to resign and move more than 1000mi (~1700km). Problem This is my first job (and will be my first resignation) so I tried to do some research here. After reading online, it looks like it's almost never a good idea to give more than two weeks of notice. However, I'm worried it might reflect poorly on me if I take two weeks off and get back and drop a letter of resignation on my boss. I'm on friendly terms with everyone around the workplace and I'm hoping to keep it that way in case this move doesn't work out and I have to ask for this job back. Should I give my letter of resignation before I take my two weeks of PTO (more than a month before I'll be resigning)? Edit: If I do end up handing in my resignation after the PTO, it will probably be on Monday or Tuesday (depending on when my boss is free) when I'm quitting the next Friday. Would that be enough for two weeks? <Q> If your contract stipulates 2 weeks notice, then that is what you should give. <S> Giving a months notice is unlikely to enable you to get your job back if it doesn't work out. <S> The position would be filled. <S> There is also no reason why two weeks notice would create a bad impression, it's what is in the contract, what is normal and expected, and a perfectly reasonable way to resign. <S> Giving more notice doesn't advantage you and can cause you problems. <S> They may decide to terminate you immediately, you may change your mind about leaving etc,. <S> a lot can happen in a month. <A> Imagine if the situation was the other way around - employer decided to terminate you. <S> Would the company give you more time if you asked nicely? <A> In terms of etiquette, no one should fault you for giving the minimum notice required by your employment agreement or at least 2 weeks. <S> Giving your notice after your vacation is perfectly okay too. <S> Some folks may feel like giving more notice is better to properly transition your projects and will leave a good impression on the company you're leaving. <S> Personally, I prefer to give exactly two weeks notice. <A> I cannot count the times I've seen employees trying to be "nice" and give more notice that has turned out being very bad for them. <S> Once you give your notice, they can tell you to clean out your desk and leave immediately. <S> The only exception to this is if there are laws that say otherwise or union contracts. <S> By giving more than two weeks, you are putting yourself in a vulnerable position. <S> Give the notice, and move on.
| Two weeks notice means exactly that, and it is perfectly OK to give them only this much time. In your case I woudln't give the letter before the vacation because they may cancel your time-off if they know that you're resigning .
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Constant Interruptions During Lunch Break At my job if we remain in our office during lunch we are expected to still be available for work related questions/calls/etc... I find this to be very annoying as my lunch break is a time that I use to recharge for the second half of the day. I wouldn't mind it if I weren't interrupted multiple times every day, it just spoils the time to recharge. Many people take their lunch breaks at different times since we have a flexible start and end time during the day, so some people work while others are at lunch. My current strategy is to leave the office during my break to eat lunch at a park right down the street, go on a walk, or to do some shopping or minor errands in the area if possible. This works fine for now, I am enjoying getting outside during lunch. Come fall and winter though I will need to remain inside and we don't have a designated break area for my department, everyone just uses their office. Anybody have suggestions for creative solutions for this problem? I can't always get out of my office for lunch, but I want to preserve my break if possible. It may sound selfish but it helps me to stay focused during the day if I get an uninterrupted break in the middle to relax. To clarify, I do not have to actually do any work during lunch, unless something urgently needs done that minute (rare) but I just want to stop the interruptions. EDIT: Am I being reasonable to not want any interruptions during lunch? Or should I just be more tolerant of the fact that this will probably be an ongoing battle at my particular job? <Q> 1) Are you actually being interrupted or is this a hypothetical? <S> If it's a hypothetical, then it should probably be left a hypothetical until it becomes not a hypothetical. <S> 2) <S> When faced with these interruptions, kindly ask the requester: "Can this wait until xxx time? <S> I'm on lunch right now." <S> where xxx time is when you're finished your lunch break. <S> Eventually people will get to know that during lunchtime, if they need to request something of you, don't bother unless it's urgent. <S> 3) <S> Since you have an office (you mentioned everyone at your company has an office), can you put a sign on your door that says "on lunch, do not disturb" or something like that? <A> I certainly know how you feel... <S> And I think interruptions during a break should be avoided to give you the chance to recharge and clear your head. <S> After all, that is the purpose of a break. <S> Some rules that worked well for me in the past are: Whoever is having a break should not take phone calls. <S> Either someone else takes the call and tells the caller to try again later or the call is not accepted at all. <S> Whoever is having a break has the right to tell colleagues to come back later. <S> Estimate a time when your break ends <S> so people don't come back in 5 minutes or have to wait longer than necessary. <S> You could agree on some sign or item that acts as a "do not disturb" sign. <S> That way colleagues are aware of your taking a break before bothering you with their problem. <S> It could be dishes and cutlery on your desk or a literally "do not disturb" sign hung on the back of your monitor / on your desk. <S> When all colleagues around are currently having a break but a problem cannot wait, the one who already finished eating should try to take care of it until everyone else finished eating. <S> This could mean a "quick and dirty" temporary solution or getting rid of pestering customers. <S> If you have to interrupt your break, you should be justified to continue it afterwards in order to rest for the amount of time you are entitled to. <S> Obviously you have to ask your colleagues and manager whether these rules are acceptable or if they have different ideas. <S> But I think it's very reasonable to not want lunch break interrupted <S> and you should be able to explain your arguments easily. <A> office during lunch we are expected to still be available for work related questions/calls <S> /etc <S> This means you don't have lunch break. <S> You just can eat at workstation. <S> If you are expected to take "free" time and just be available for emergencies then you can have one way of reaching you with said emergency. <S> What you can do is to block your lunch time. <S> If you use Outlook in company or any service that have calendar feature you can mark time you're "OUT". <S> For anyone checking you will be seen as busy. <S> No phone calls can be made (if you have services connected). <S> usually also closed doors means "do not interrupt". <S> If the emergency arise people will interrupt you anyway. <S> You can also use "smiley face/sad face" tactics. <S> So a smily face means your in and can be bothered. <S> Sad face is when you're working on something (or just taking a nap) and shouldn't be interrupted. <S> Also you should take at Eisenhower box/matrix <S> It will help you, and your colleagues, decide what is really urgent and important and what can wait those 30 minutes. <A> If you stay in your office the office consensus is that you're expected to answer your phone. <S> Pushing against that seems a bit like you're unmotivated/committed to your job and willing to create some drama rather than handle it like everyone else. <S> Attempting to make your colleagues support what might be construed as personal laziness as others suggest isn't a great look. <S> My suggestion is find what is inexpensive, indoors and nearby to relax in. <S> I used to go to the library every lunchtime because it cost nothing. <S> But there should be plenty of options if you look for them, internet cafe's, gym etc,. <S> or look for somewhere within the building, all you need is enough room to sit down undisturbed. <S> Or just unplug your phone. <A> You can use my current strategy for getting out / getting work done at times, by going to a nearby cafe, store, library, or other indoor space. <S> Not something that will be too much money if done regularly, of course. <S> As an example, you can browse a store without buying anything. <A> For the winter, when you don't want to leave your office, just make a sign that says "Out on lunch" in big letters and put it up on your desk for exactly 30 minutes (or however long your lunch break is). <S> Reading a book, or taking knitting needles out is also a good indication that you are on a break. <S> Don't take phone calls, and if someone comes to your desk you wait a bit until you take the nose out of your book and point at the sign. <S> If there is something important and urgent, then you do it, and the 30 minutes timer for lunch break restarts.
| You said that you don't have to do work during lunch unless something "urgent" comes up, so simply clarifying with the requesting person if their request is urgent should solve most problems. I definitely advise you to speak with your colleagues (and maybe include your manager) and agree on some common rules.
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How do I communicate to a problem employee that they are being moved to a field office? As a recently promoted IT manager in a middle sized company, I've been asked to nominate a person who will have to change office and provide assistance to our teams working in the field. I consider this the perfect opportunity to improve the working environment by transferring a problem employee. The person, lets call him Jonny, is a historical figure in the company, but his permanently negative and dismissive attitude (consider this, his main responsibility is helpdesk/tech support... ) has turned him into an office-wide joke. To get a better picture, remember your last phone call with a customer assistance rep that answered like you just spat in his plate... And since it's an open space office, everybody gets a daily dose of Johnny throwing tantrums over a password reset, every conversation ends with him slamming the phone etc. Before you ask, no, I can't let him go, for various reasons related to the company culture and office politics. His attitude reflects badly on the entire IT department, me included, because many of his colleagues, even if more polite or competent, have way less visible roles. We've had new hires on similar positions this year and I wouldn't want to have him take it personally or think it's an issue of competency. The decision has already been made, I'm looking for help in how to tactfully communicate to him that he is no longer working in our office. <Q> If you aren't able to fire a problem employee, then your problems are not just with the employee, but also with your management. <S> And if your solution to a problem employee is to move him to a different location, where he will still be a problem, then you are also part of the problem, and that too will reflect very badly on you. <S> What will the impact be on the company to have bad field support? <S> No one is irreplaceable, and if he's as bad as you say, he's causing good people to leave, as well as annoying everyone around him. <S> But the much better solution is to tell him he needs to improve, put him on a PIP, and document and prepare to move him out of the company altogether. <S> If your management won't support you in that, then you might as well recognize that over time, all of your good people, all those with other options, will leave for a better job. <A> I'd treat this the same way I'd treat a layoff. <S> Be succinct with what is happening, why, take ownership of the decision, acknowledge that you value them in spite of what is transpiring, and allow them opportunity to ask questions. <S> Thanks for coming to see me Jonny. <S> Management has asked me to choose someone from the team for the X position in Y office for Z date. <S> I considered my options and concluded that of my available options you are the best fit I can make. <S> It will be hard to fill the gaps that this leaves in the team but ultimately it's what's best for the company. <S> Do you have any questions on this? <A> Just let him know the plain fact he's being moved then itemise his new location, role, and duties. <S> No reasoning needs to be given, he's not a peer.
| You're asking how to tell him he's going to move, and to do that, you just tell him he's going to move.
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What do I do if a job that was (mis-)sold to me as work-from-home, later changed, on day one, to working on-site, everyday? Yesterday, I started a role, as a contractor, that was sold to me as a home based job. I accepted this job at £50pd below my previous rate due to its home based nature. I’m now told on day 1 that I’ll have to report into office 5 days a week for the foreseeable future (contract duration). Being based in London means commute is a sizeable part of the equation. What do I do? EDIT: Had a straight conversation with both the manager and the agent. Pay was increased by £50 effective today. New contract will be issued in a day. Thanks to everyone’s advice. FURTHER EDIT: The Friday of the same week, I was asked to report for work, daily, at a different location, which would take an hour and a half by train, from where I currently live. As soon as the question was put forth, I got up, gave the manager a piece of my mind, left the laptop on the desk and walked out. A terrible ordeal and a valuable lesson learned. The advertisement clearly stated home-based. That the job was home based formed the crux of all discussions related to pay, etc. However the contract does not explicitly state home based. It has both onsite and home addresses for work locations. <Q> Don't take this lying down. <A> Terminate the contract and move on, learning the lesson to make sure such things are in written into the contract in future, where they make a material difference to the viability of the contract from your point of view. <S> If this is how they treat you on day one, are they going to pay your invoices on time? <S> Will they even pay your last invoice? <S> Unfortunately some clients/businesses are just out to get everything they can. <S> The trick is to spot them up-front or early on and find somewhere else to work. <A> You talk to your manager. <S> You tell him that the deal was working from home. <S> And you tell him that he has three choices: You are working from home, or he adds the £50 a day, or they can go and look for another contractor. <S> You also call your agency and tell them that they are trying to stiff you. <S> Remember that your agent only gets money if you start at the company, and stay for some amount of time. <S> So your agent will do everything to try to help you put pressure on them, and if you leave because of the company's behaviour then the company will have to look for another agency as well. <A> Ask for a meeting with your employer , explain that you expected to be working from home and predicated a lot of decisions based on it. <S> If it's a deal-breaker, make that clear, if it's affecting your income due to travel emphasise this. <S> Have a clear goal . <S> Do you want more money or is it simply untenable to work from the office regardless? <S> If you want more money then ask for it, If you can't support working from the office full-time, then explain that. <S> If your contract is held up as reason not to change, emphasise that you believe it was mis-sold to you and consequently under false-pretense and potentially null-and-void because of it. <S> Regardless of what it says in your contract, your newfound situation is not satisfactory and no amount of words on paper are going to help that. <S> If you have any records of conversations where they said you'd be working from home then you should have them to hand for this meeting. <S> Ultimately, they need you a LOT more than you need them. <S> You can walk away and get a new contract in short order, they'll have to find someone new at short notice when they're already expecting to be working, which will set their project back. <S> You have power here as long as the contract doesn't explicitly say you're expected to work from the office, and even then you should be able to swing it. <S> Get it changed, get what you want from it, or walk away. <S> Sort this out quickly, nobody wants it to snowball into a huge battle. <A> If WFH is in your contract, consider that contract broken on their end if they try to force you to work in office. <S> If working in the office is in your contract and you signed it, you haven't got much of a leg to stand on unless they severely mislead you (i.e. claiming the contract was the same as an example one they showed you earlier <S> but it was actually different). <S> If the contract is unclear, you are still protected by advertising standards and laws should anything negative arise from <S> you simply insisting that you work from home. <S> It's probably worth getting in touch with an ombudsman for proper legal advice too. <S> It goes without saying but don't accept contracts from this company in future! <A> Along with the other good answers, I'm going to make one more suggestion. <S> It's possible that your new employer wants you in-house while you are getting "up to speed" on your new role. <S> I would advise against bringing up my suggestion, since they may latch onto it as if that's what there intention was. <S> If they bring it up, it's much more likely the real reason. <S> However, make sure you set some (reasonable) goals with the manager, if this is the case. <S> You don't want to be working there a year and still not working at home, as that could set a precedence against your possible fraud case against your employer. <S> Make sure you document any goals set and what you do to meet those goals. <S> If the goals change, document it and whether you agreed with the goals. <S> Also, as someone else mentioned, make them pay extra for you to be in their office and pay for your travel time and/or mileage. <S> This helps make sure they are getting an incentive to having you work from home (by paying you less). <S> Since working in their office is something outside of their job posting, you should be getting rewarded for it and they should be willing to hold up their end of the bargain on, once you meet agreed upon goals. <S> If they aren't willing to pay you more, set goals, or work with you on getting you what they advertised, then I'd start talking with a lawyer. <S> Assuming it's a breach of contract and not starting may be a breach of contract on your part. <S> Also, starting the job (if it is their breach of contract) may imply that you are fine with the change, and may cause you issues if/when you do file a suit.
| You tell them the truth - that had they been honest about being required to be on-site you would have quoted them a different rate and you need to renegotiate the contract if you are to proceed. Once you get to some sufficient level of understanding of the role, they should allow you to work from home, as the ad stated. Make it clear that things have to change. As others stated, I would suggest you start with talking with your manager and ask them why they changed their mind about your work location.
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How to communicate by phone that I won't consider an internship position? My situation is pretty unusual: I graduated about 1 year ago and since then I get called about 1 - 2 times per month by companies that get my phone number from the school from which I graduated. They 99% of the time want to have a job interview for a position as an intern, but they don't say it right away. I discover this only during the interview. The problem is that I currently have a job so unless the offer is extremely stimulating (I hold the company in high esteem, interesting tasks...), I do not want an interview. So my question is: how do I, in a polite way, communicate by phone that I won't consider a position as an intern? Additional information How do I know that they will offer a position as an intern and not something more?It is common to offer freshly graduated students an internship position in my country. Plus I have had about 10 interviews this way and all of them offered to start with an internship. I could turn the offer down with a random excuse, but I prefer to be honest, and would also like to be sure that they are actually offering an internship, and not something else. All these internship offers are paid. <Q> When you've established who's calling, simply be upfront about it. <S> Sorry for interrupting, but is this about an intern position? <S> The actual wording doesn't really matter, but you're aiming to get to the core of the reason for the call fairly quickly so you don't waste any time. <S> And then deal with the response accordingly. <S> Then you won't have to deal with meaningless chatter and you can get on with your day. <S> There's nothing wrong with asking clearly for what you want. <S> You've obviously been through this conversation before, <S> so you should know what questions to ask in order to make a decision about continuing the phone call or not. <S> Get these questions in sooner rather than later. <S> Since you're in Italy, GDPR may serve to protect you, although it might take some effort to working out who/how to remove yourself from whatever directory these callers are using. <S> You should certainly call the school in the first instance to understand how your personal details are used, and to update your contact preferences. <S> But if you do this, consider that you may also be cutting off offers that you might find attractive in the future. <A> Although Snow's answer is good if you receive a call, the best thing to do is to try to prevent the calls. <S> These companies getting your information, reviewing it, and reaching out to you for internships is not only wasting your time, but theirs as well. <S> The right thing to do is to save everyone time by making sure they have the right information. <A> how do I, in a polite way, communicate by phone that I won't consider a position as an intern? <S> Your opening question should be something along these lines: "Thanks for contacting me! <S> I do want to mention up front that I already have a full time job <S> and so I am absolutely not looking for an internship. <S> Should we continue talking?" <S> Polite, but to the point. <A> Just ask? <S> You: Is this an internship? <S> Them: <S> Yes. <S> You: <S> Ah, okay. <S> I'm not looking for internships at the moment. <S> Them: <S> Okay, well thanks for your time. <S> You: <S> No problem bye. <S> Don't overcomplicate life. <A> If a recruiter gives me an unsolicited call about a job, I wouldn't ever agree to go to an interview, unless they first send me a job description, so I can see the full details of the job and make sure it is suitable and a good fit for me. <S> So, the first thing I would ask/demand, if a recruiter calls you, is for them to send you a job description. <S> No job description = <S> no interview, simple as that. <S> Most of these people also have very thick skin - don't be afraid to be blunt, say " <S> sorry, I'm not interested" and put the phone down. <S> After all, they are cold calling you. <S> Otherwise, I would strongly consider what Thomas Owens says in his answer, about putting a stop to the calls at the source. <A> Create a LinkedIn profile! <S> Recruiters will usually check your online presence before calling you. <S> If their search turns up a LinkedIn page with your current employment status, they probably won't want to waste their own time by calling you for a position you probably won't be open to. <S> (Of course, this is in addition to some of the other answers dealing with the call once it does arrive. <S> However, preventing is better than curing, and this is an effective way to prevent the call all together, even if you can't prevent your contact details from being handed to the recruiters.) <A> I wouldn't necessarily rule out an "internship" if you're just worried about "volunteer" (unpaid) labor, because where I'm at, computer jobs have sometimes included paid internships. <S> Just ask them how much pay they are offering. <S> If the number is acceptable, state that you may consider and are interested in hearing more details. <S> If not, let them know you have some different standards in order to be interested. <S> (Also, follow the advice provided by other answers of checking with your school to see if you can modify a "profile" with them, to let them know of your minimal requirements (or complete lack of current interest))
| If these employers are getting your contact information from your school, reach out to the school and try to figure out how to get them to either update the information to allow potential employers to see that you have graduated and are currently employed or to simply stop providing your contact information.
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How should I address a popular team member leaving? I had a "go to" guy quit my team. This guy always came up with new frameworks, technology, and all engineering stuff. Anyway, he did not really knew about these tech stack and always over engineered everything. Since he did not know the stuff and loved over engineering things, he applied so many things in the wrong place. He wrote one code pattern in one place, and another pattern in another place. This guy is respected by many junior engineers in my team and I have a feeling that they think we lost a good team member which is obviously not the case. After he left (about a week ago,) our work progress is much faster compare to when he worked in the team and touching code here and there. I do not want any of my team members feel that we lose anything. In fact, my team is much more productive without this guy. Should I address this in a team meeting by stating facts and reasons why he was out? or Should I just not say anything? What is the best thing to do in situation like this? Update The reason I felt I needed to address this was because he was a "go to" guy for few engineers. He talked as if he knew everything but he did not. I just did not want these guys to feel bad. What I did was, I waited until a weekly team meeting and told everyone that they had done a great job and I was so proud of them. A couple guys who picked up his code realized that it was badly design or over engineered. <Q> As the manager it is your job to keep your employees from getting distracted. <S> If it was me I would not mention of this individuals bad points or the bad code. <S> Something along the lines of: <S> Bob was a really great programmer and he will be greatly missed. <S> He has chosen to pursue another opportunity and we wish him well. <S> I am really proud of you as a team and how you are coming together to keep our timelines moving and continuing to do the great work <S> I know you are capable of. <S> This doesn't say anything specific, yet praises your team at the same time. <S> Over time you can carefully unravel some of the messes and tighten things up. <S> Don't bring them down from on high, but encourage the team to develop them and then ask them to hold each other accountable. <S> This should head off some of the problems you had. <A> By saying anything negative about them you run the risk of looking petty. <S> As a leader you are much better to just let results speak for themselves and let the team come up with their own theory on the cause. <S> If you have performance metrics that you are monitoring you can definitely congratulate the team on "a marked improvement in metric X over the past Y weeks" to foster that idea but definitely don't mention anything at all if your impression of improvement is purely anecdotal. <A> Should I address this in a team meeting by stating facts and reasons why he was out? <S> or Should I just not say anything? <S> What is the best thing to do in situation like this? <S> I don't think it's necessary. <S> If progress is much faster as you describe it they will also notice the improvements and draw their own conclusions. <S> Calling a meeting or similar to basically say "Don't feel wrong that he left, we are much better and efficient now" <S> is not something I would recommend (as it is basically throwing dirt to his reputation deliberately). <S> Perhaps he was not the best coder out there, but from your post I can see he was very enthusiast and keen, and even your "go to" person <S> , so I'd say you should give him credit for that and just let your professional relationship end smoothly. <A> We had one of those here before I started. <S> Loved new frameworks, design patterns and tools. <S> Really didn't understand them. <S> The problem was he had the old management enamored with his 'skills'. <S> New management with actual architectural skills came in and 'Bob'* (not his name) understood he was in trouble. <S> Bob <S> * just left and never came back, He couldn't support the code he wrote so <S> it was up to others (one of the reasons I was hired) to decipher the mess he left. <S> Much of his code was just copied from stackoverflow. <S> The problem was he didn't understand what he was copying. <S> How do you handle with your team? <S> Say "Bob* has resigned. <S> I know some will miss him. <S> Now it's up to us to keep moving forward". <S> Anyone experienced will know what really happened and the junior developers will eventually (when they have to support some of the stuff 'Bob' wrote) why it was best he left. <S> *No offense to anyone named Bob. <A> I would opt to very briefly (30 seconds or less, if possible) explain the technical and professional reasons why this person was not a good fit while still valuing who they are as a person. <S> Then never bring it up again while moving on to the work ahead. <S> While I agree with most of the answers here I believe a little transparency can do a lot of good for the overall morale and culture of the people who are still here. <S> Leaving them to draw their own conclusions has the potential to backfire and build mistrust <S> This can establish a good precedent for junior developers by clearly communicating what not to do (in this case, give in to certain self-serving "developer temptations") <S> Reinforce the fact that this is a team, and everyone is expected to code like a team <S> Remind the employees that there is a stable future as long as they are mindful about serving the company's needs <A> If you're using an agile programming approach, you could always bring it up during the scrum retrospective meeting once the current scrum ends. <S> Discussing the events of the scrum, how they affected the team, and how you can use them to improve moving forward is basically the point of them, right? <S> Discussing topics like this seems to fit right in.
| Mitigate fear that they might be next (since they looked up to, and admired this developer's skills and approaches) At the same time don't encourage the bad things he did either. Once the dust settles it would be time to introduce the discussion of various coding standards.
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Is it common for software development jobs to prioritise speed over security (or lack thereof)? I have encountered startups to large corporations (outsourcing work) to prioritise speed, go-to-market and churning out as much code as fast as possible. In this scenario, any software developer can identify continuous increases in security vulnerabilities. If one were to professionally take appropriate time for planning and security considerations, one is seen as "not being a team player" and/or "being too slow". Is this common in the industry, particularly with the new rush to IPO, secure funding, gain large user base ("growth hacking")? <Q> It's probably not true in the "rush to IPO" because I'm not aware of there being a "rush" when it comes to IPO. <S> There are many, many regulations around that, and by the time a company is at that stage they have already attained a tremendous amount of users and revenue (if not profit!). <S> So it's unlikely that some new killer feature programming tool will be of any relevance in the timeline to IPO. <S> BUT as to growth hacking or, to put it more mildly, creating product-market fit, yes, you don't care so much about performance/security/architecture/extensibility/back-log. <S> Nor should you. <S> Having a top-class IT team build a performant, scalable, secure system with beautiful design is just a waste of money if the system has no users/revenue. <S> On the flip side, having a wordpress site built in a week that shows that you have revenue/users is invaluable. <S> It will help secure further funding. <S> It will help determine if there is appetite for the product being built. <S> It's the ultimate in agile development, really. <S> All that stuff - performance, security etc - is pointless if you have no users . <S> Who cares if your database operates in O(n^n), you only have 10 users and 500 entries... <S> same with security. <S> So it is common in the startup industry - in fact, it is almost necessary in the startup industry. <S> The industry is now in a phase of low-funding (amazon secured half a million in funding from friends/family for an idea , good luck with that nowadays) and reliance on traction. <S> There are arguments for/against this, but the reality for now is that this necessitates cut-down concepts over grand design. <S> This is not true, however, in established companies. <S> If you're building software for a bank, for example, then security, performance, architecture - testing - these are all central concepts. <S> After all, any software you build is going to be used - probably quite heavily and with need to be expanded in the future. <S> In general, internal software for large corporates will need all the things that are considered best practices. <A> Nobody is going to buy a non-functional concept, so to get the product launched a lot of corners are often cut. <S> Once the product is "stable", niceties like security, backup and documentation are implemented. <S> Welcome to start-ups. <A> From what I have seen in the past, I believe the speed is more to do with a lack of understanding in security. <S> Not only from management, but also developers themselves. <S> Management wants a working product and saying that you're doing it <S> "right" doesn't sound convincing when they seen or believe a product can come out sooner. <S> Take it from the perspective of a car. <S> If a mechanic told you that he's working to make sure your car is "safe" for a simple tire change, you know it wouldn't take weeks to do. <S> So they have to be convinced that it is in their best interest to make sure their products are done right. <S> Developers are going to school and not really told about security. <S> In most cases, they teach how to handle proper input. <S> Never about what happens when someone enters something improperly, either malicious intent or just hitting the wrong key. <S> With that said, a lot of developers are making applications not knowing of potential security flaws that can be easily corrected. <S> It used to be hackers had to be sophisticated with their attacks. <S> Maybe even having a high understanding of looking at source codes and determining exploits they can use against a system. <S> That's no longer the case. <S> A simple script kiddie can hit a web page and within seconds gain access to user data all because a developer didn't know about sql injections and management failed to hire a security firm or check. <S> It happens to big companies too.
| This is common, but an unwise practice in the long run (see GDPR).
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How can we familiarize new employees with the unwritten rules of the workplace? "Fitting in" in the workplace requires some awareness of the unwritten rules. Often a new employee is left on his/her own to figure this out, sometimes resulting in a less-than-positive experience in the first few months. When we hire a new employee how can we help ensure they know what our unwritten culture rules are so they don't have conflicts throughout their onboarding process? <Q> The best way to address this is to pair the person with a mentor who has been with the company a while and has good relationships with many of the fellow employees. <S> This doesn't have to be someone in a similar role. <S> This person can give introductions to people in the department, company, and people they might be working with in different departments. <S> The person should know the personalities involved and the goings on. <S> The person should be able to give pointers like. <S> Don't approach Bob on Thursdays, it's his busiest day. <S> or... Sue is a great go-to person. <S> She may not have the answer, but can send you to the person who does. <S> In other words, a person who has been around a while, has good relationships with people, and is involved in creating back-channels and knows who to go to for what. <S> You want to make this as unofficial as possible and it may need to rotate among several people depending on workload as you don't want this to become a full-time job for anyone as that will put them in an official role and thus become part of the "official culture" as opposed to one who is effective of navigating the unofficial one. <A> This is why companies compose an employees handbook. <S> It serves as a reference for most work related things as well as giving civil defence information and things like that. <S> If it's just minor common sense stuff like 'don't pee on the floor' which you don't trust staff to know on their own, then put up a sign. <A> The unwritten rules are mostly acquired through common sense. <S> Often they are what it defines the culture of a company. <S> It migt <S> Coffee breaks serve as a good excuse to hand around with people. <S> Often a strategy to fit in, if you are the type of bringing meals to work, is on the first 1 or 2 months going to meals with the guys of the office outside to restaurants. <S> PS. <S> I come from a very informal culture. <S> We also have a strong habit of eating in the restaurant, it is cheap compared to other European countries. <S> There is always a core group that eats everyday at the restaurant in any job.
| Depending on the culture, hanging around with workmates in breaks or mealtime also help, as they tend to confide on you to some extent how things really work from an insider perspective. If you have unwritten rules that need to be adhered to, write them down and give them out. help pairing rookies with someone slightly more senior, however observation and asking around informally when in doubt are still the most common used strategies.
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How can I ask for candid feedback from my manager? I joined my team a little less than a year ago. Overall, I think my manager is the best one I've had to date; my prior managers were extremely hands-off and feedback was pretty shallow. By comparison, my current manager freely dispenses tactical feedback in the moment. He has one-on-ones set up monthly, which are supposed to be more strategic and high-level "how are things going". I've asked for critical feedback every time. In our first one, he gave me minor feedback that has not come up since. Every other one since, though, it's returned as praise and to just keep doing what I'm doing. I'm obviously not perfect, though. I'd really like more candid, critical feedback; even if I am exceeding expectations for my current role, I could still have areas of improvement in an absolute sense. I've thought about asking about things I think may not be my strong suit, like soft skills, and asking for confirmation. But I don't want to come off as insecure, either, since I could list off a litany of things I have self-doubts on, rational/justified or otherwise. (Also, I'm not sure how to frame said self-doubts if I did.) Is there a good way to really drive home that I would really prefer negative feedback, and push back if it is uniformly positive? <Q> The kind of feedback you're after isn't that common. <S> Managers simply don't have the time to collect and collate information like this for every employee. <S> The ideal person to provide this level of feedback is you. <S> You have the intelligence and the maturity to evaluate your own actions and act on them accordingly. <S> Be your own feedback conduit. <S> Yes, you could ask for negative feedback and ways in which you could improve, but as you say, this could make you appear needy/insecure and won't come across well. <S> And no one really likes to say negative things about someone who's working to an acceptable standard. <S> Don't focus on the negatives, you'll get fixated by them. <S> Do what you need to do to do your work and support your team. <A> How fortunate to get constant praise from your manager - I know a lot of people would love to be in this situation! <S> What you can do (and I speak from personal experience here, the feedback I got a few months ago was 'you're doing great! <S> keep being you!' <S> which is very positive, and also very vague!) <S> is ask for more specifics. <S> If the word 'critical' isn't getting you the feedback you need, then there are other questions you can try: What would you like to see more of from me? <S> Stop / <S> Start <S> / Continue <S> - what should I stop/start/continue doing? <S> (It sounds like you're getting a lot of continues, but what you're after are some starts and stops) <S> How can I improve? <S> If I could do one thing even better, what would that be? <S> I don't know how productive it would be to mention things you think are flaws and then ask for confirmation. <S> Perhaps frame it as a 'I struggle with X, and I think you could help me with it by doing Y.' Good luck! :) <A> Ideally, your manager should have one-ones setup more frequently, but monthly is still miles ahead of what most managers do. <S> You want more feedback - the question is why . <S> Presumably you have goals, like earning more, or moving into management or leadership, or moving into business, etc. <S> You need to clarify your goals in your mind, then ask your manager for feedback pertaining to how best to attain those goals . <S> So if you want to be a manager, ask "I want to become a manager, what do I need to do or how do I need to change to get there?". <S> Now advice is much more useful to you than general critiques of your work. <S> This also has the happy effect of focussing their mind on what you want. <S> You want to get useful feedback in your meetings on how your performance contrasts with your goal (in this example, management), and also keep in the back of your manager's mind your goal, which is useful come promotion time.
| Leave areas of improvement for your formal assessments (if you have them) and propose anything that you feel is lacking.
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To whom should I address my letter of resignation? This is the first time I resign from a job. I am thinking a lot about how to quit the best way possible. I am quitting on good terms, so I want to leave a positive impression. The following is the hierarchy in my company: CEO Development Head Department Head Team leader Me The team leader is just the technical leader, who tells me what to do, but can't sign holidays, can't give me a raise and doesn't know what I earn. The Department Head is responsible for those things, and he is the one who I consider my boss. The Development Head has the right to sign contracts with new employees, hence he was the one who signed my contract. For several projects I report directly to him. I would call him "boss'-boss" when speaking with friends. Before I started I had two interviews, one with each the Development Head and the Department Head. There is also HR. To whom should I address my letter of resignation? I can think of two options: Only Department Head or both Development Head and Department Head. I would also send a copy of the letter to HR. <Q> I would resign verbally to your immediate superior, and in your resignation letter simply word it as " <S> To whom it may concern, Dear Sir/Madam, " or the standard equivalents in German. <S> Resigning in person to your immediate manager is the correct thing, and it's up to them to pass on the news and the letter to the correct channels - up the hierarchy and to HR. <S> This is an extremely common scenario and one that all managers should be familiar with. <S> Good luck with the new opportunity. <A> It depends on the company you are working for, there is not a rule which is valid everywhere. <S> If you are working in a big or well structured company, then the correct way to do is to give the letter to your manager, eventually he will pass it to the HR. <S> At least he will direct you to the HR if the company has a specific procedure. <S> If you are in a small company things are a little more complicated, since maybe there is not a "real" HR and/or a clear structure, so you formally have not a manager. <S> If this is the case, then I would handle the resignation letter to the person who signed your contract. <A> Then have a discussion about the reasons. <S> He'll then have an opportunity to address those concerns before letting you know what the process is for your company. <S> Having a verbal conversation about your plans just seems more appropriate than simply handing someone a letter (or them finding it on their desk). <A> The last couple of companies I worked for had "employee handbooks" (in either paper form, or on an internal website). <S> It's full of rules and procedures; one of them which actions to take when resigning. <S> You should first check whether your company has codified the rules of resignation.
| In the first instance, I'd arrange a one-to-one meeting with your team lead and tell him verbally about your plans to leave.
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What to do with conflicting instructions? We were between managers for a while recently and I was taking instructions directly from the owner of the business. This was the case for a couple of months so I became very familiar with my duties as the owner/big boss expected them to be done. The new manager is now giving me instructions that are in conflict with the owner’s priority schedule for me (which I was not informed would change in anyway upon the manager’s arrival). The owner is on holiday, so I have no means to check with him. The new manager is new to the business as a whole and has only been working for a few days. It seems clear that I should just follow my manager’s direction. But if I know for a fact that missing out certain assignments will have a very negative impact, then should I simply do as I’m told? I’ve told the manager I have concerns but they’ve brushed these off and told me they’ll take responsibility. However if the manager is giving incorrect direction by virtue of being new and not knowing the business yet, I am concerned that the owner, whose instructions to me have been clear, will blame me for allowing the business to have a real crisis next week. How can I handle these conflicting instructions professionally? <Q> I’ve told the manager I have concerns <S> but they’ve brushed these off and told me they’ll take responsibility. <S> I suggest you put this into writing, an email or similar, so you have a paper trail to back you up in case <S> this turns out to be a problem. <S> If the owner wants that done, he should tell your manager about such things so he can relay them to you. <A> I would write a email to just your manager. <S> Example like <S> so, Manager, Confirming the changes to widget X. <S> The owner is currently out on vacation and wants widget Y by Z, but I will drop that and pursue widget X to meet deadline W. <S> That way it's not offensive to your manager, but at the same time put the ball in his court that he is authorizing changes going against the owner. <S> If the owner asks why you didn't do widget Y by Z, simply attach the email in the reply and say you were shifting focus to widget X to meet the deadline W. <A> Get a written (mail) confirmation that he got your advice and declined to follow it, and then do what your manager says. <S> If you are questioned by the boss - you will have the chance to prove what has happened. <A> In the US Navy, I was taught <S> this about conflicting and contradictory orders: If an enlisted person in the naval service receives an order, which annuls, suspends or modifies one received from another superior, he or she shall immediately represent the facts to the superior from whom the last order was received. <S> If, after such representation, the superior from whom the last order was received should insist upon the execution of that order, it shall be obeyed. <S> The person receiving and executing such order shall report the circumstances as soon as practicable to the superior from whom the original order was received. <S> Works for me as a civilian too. <A> The owner in this case is who sets the strategic direction of the company. <S> The manager's role is to help in implementing that direction by managing people. <S> Doing some changes, like modifying priorities without altering the direction is normal work for a manager. <S> Changing the company's strategic direction can only happen if there has been communication between the manager and the owner. <S> Consider what kind of changes the manager is implementing. <S> Strategic. <S> Like stopping working for a client and doing work for a new one. <S> This can only happen with the knowledge and agreement of the owner. <S> Don't follow the manager's plans unless you are given a written confirmation. <S> Tactic. <S> The goals are the same. <S> The manager is changing things like the order/priorities for task completion or team composition. <S> This is normal work for a manager which can generally be undertaken without involving the owner. <S> Just follow suit. <S> Do get a paper trail in any case.
| Ask in written the manager if the owner is aware and in agreement with such change of strategy. I also believe that one should follow the orders that your direct manager gives ; the chain of command works better that way.
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Conference call for interviews - too expensive I have been given a phone number for my interview, using which and a reference number, I can connect to any number of interviewers in a room. The drawback for me with this is that I do not have a proper data plan with my provider for this call and I will be incurring enormous charges. How do I communicate this appropriately to the interviewer? Should I offer alternatives like them calling me on my mobile number? Will that be appropriate? EDIT: Wanted to add that the number provided to me was a 0330 number - both of us are based in the UK. I checked with my provider and the per minute costs are 20p, working out to £50 for a 2-hour interview - more than the cost of transport to that city! <Q> It's completely reasonable to mention that what they are suggesting for an interview will be very expensive. <S> If they are really interested in you they shouldn't be put off by this. <S> And if they are upset about it, you might not want to work for a company that is that rigid. <A> Find somewhere with WiFi that you can call from without impacting your data charges <S> (you'll probably get a better connection anyway). <S> Or simply buy a data bundle for your phone - paying for data upfront <S> is usually a lot cheaper than paying fees when you blow your limit. <A> Figure it out! <S> This is a relatively easy problem to solve and not being able to do so, could make you look incompetent. <S> Options include Make sure that the access number you have isn't already toll free. <S> WIFI <S> Skype calling using your laptop and headset. <S> You can upload a few bucks on yoru skype account and use it to call numbers anyhere in the world for very little money <S> Get an international access plan from a third party provider. <S> These are available for most countries to most countries and can be "pay as you go". <S> I can call Germany from any phone in the US for 1c/minute using something like https://deutschlandanrufen.com/ (not affiliated, no endorsement intended) <S> Borrow a phone from a friend or family member that have an unlimited access plan or enough to share. <S> Buy a one time data package from provider
| If you tell them that the data charges are a concern to you, you're in danger of appearing to be a bit desperate (or cheap). Most conference call services offer toll free access numbers Suggest a few alternatives (Skype, the company calling you, etc).
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An employer is asking me to sign a contract for 18 months, but says that we can "work out" if I want to leave early I just completed my undergraduate degree and I've been looking for jobs. A prospective employer who has offered to interview (in a different city) has said on the phone that I'll have to sign a contract for 18 months. When I informed them about my reservations about the same (telling them honestly that I'll apply for a post graduate degree next year), the HR said: "You can resign early. It can be worked out." I don't understand: why would they ask me to sign a formal agreement if I can leave early. Will this lead to any complications later on? The HR did not sound deceiving or anything but I'm just very uncomfortable doing this. I'm living in India. <Q> Have HR send you the contract and read it. <S> All of it. <S> The terms for early termination should be spelled out in there. <S> Read them and make sure you understand them. <S> Depending on your location, there may be local or federal laws that supersede the terms of the contract, so you can read up on those as well. <S> However, it's better to write directly in the contract what you want. <S> Don't take HR's word for anything. <S> You want it in writing as part of the contract. <S> Don't sign anything that you haven't thoroughly read and understood. <A> The asker has commented that this answer is not the correct interpretation of what's going on. <S> However, I'll leave it here because I think it will still be useful to others in a similar, though not identical, situation. <S> Are you sure this isn't a misunderstanding? <S> For all the fixed-term contracts I've worked, "the contract is for 18 months" doesn't mean "You must work for 18 months" – it means "You can't work for more than 18 months unless we rehire you." <S> Separately, there are clauses saying that I can resign before then, as long as I give a certain amount of notice. <S> I think it is very likely that the unsatisfactory answers you've had from HR are because they don't understand your question. <S> I suggest that the situation is as follows. <S> It is completely obvious to them that anybody can resign before the end of their contract, so they think you're asking some other question. <S> The only question they can imagine you might be asking is, "Will you be upset if I resign before 18 months?" <S> and they're saying that no, they won't. <S> But that's just my reading of the situation. <S> Ask to see the actual contract: it should explain that you can resign as long as you give adequate notice. <A> It's exceptionally easy to reprint a contract with changes. <S> If someone won't do that, there's no reason to assume they'll enforce any verbal promises, or even that they'll remember them down the road. <S> If it's not unreasonable for you to leave early, then it's not unreasonable for them to codify it in the contract. <S> If they won't do that, don't sign. <S> It's that simple. <A> Only the written contract matters . <S> This deal happens all the time : someone presents a written contract to someone else, and also makes verbal promises that either alter or contradict the contract, e.g. "We won't hold you to that". <S> It's well understood in contract law what happens next: Only the contract matters . <S> And typically, contracts have a clause (section) to remind you of this: <S> Entire Agreement : This written contract constitutes the entire agreement between parties. <S> It overrides any prior contracts, agreements, promises, or assurances, except subsequent agreements, which must be made in writing. <S> So if they're promising something that contradicts or just isn't included in the written contract, <S> they are lying . <S> "Lying" seems like a strong word, but if they're signing the contract, they ought to be reading their own contract, and they know, or reasonably ought to know that the clause is there. <S> This is your cue to walk away. <S> If you want to be smart/clever, you can fire up Microsoft Word, type the whole contract in and format it their way, and then add additional clauses which cover the verbal promises they are giving you. <S> Sign that version and give it back to them, and tell them that you modified it . <S> What happens next will be your final warning about doing business with them: they'll either read it and go " <S> Oh, I see you modified it, <S> let me compare to our original... <S> yeah <S> that's fine" (good) <S> sign it without looking (bad), or get angry at you for doing that (bad). <S> Fact is, a contract is simply an agreement between two consenting adults, even if one of those adults is richer than the other, or a corporation. <S> The guy who writes it generally writes it to protect himself , that's just obvious. <S> Though they try not to make it too burdensome to avoid scandal and to get people to actually sign it. <S> But you have every right to stick up your dukes and negotiate a contract that works for you too. <S> Honestly if you want to do a complex rewrite of a stock contract like the one Netflix makes their customers sign, Netflix is probably going to say "we don't need your $10/month that bad". <S> But for larger matters, absolutely. <S> Be bold about negotiating. <S> Worst they can say is "no".
| Never sign a contract based on a verbal promise that the contract won't be enforced. If you don't like terms, ask HR to change or amend them.
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How to remain hire-able as a software developer in my spare time? I signed a two year contract at this company expecting a developer role. However, something happened and now they need many configurations (SQL entries) to be done and I now am essentially doing data entry. It also doesn't look like this is going to change anytime soon since these configurations are "critical". My question is, what can I do part time in order to be hire-able as a software developer once my contract is finished. I was thinking of pursuing an online masters degree in comp-sci but I don't know if there are any reputable online masters degrees out there or if it's even a good idea. Additional information: 1.) This is my first job as a "developer", previously I worked in numerical computations in academia.2.) I have a science degree not a computer science degree (which is why I think I may have been pushed to this data entry work). Update Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Based on the comments and answers my plan is to Automate the manual configurations as much as possible In six months, depending on how things go, look into if there is a breach of contract (consulting a lawyer) which allows me to look for another job. Contribute to open source projects in my spare time. <Q> Using SQL is a critical skill and comes in handy as a software developer. <S> I would continue to refine your SQL skills and seek opportunities to at your current employer to assist with any software development projects that may come up. <S> Even it's a small role in a development project. <S> Make yourself seen particularly to the team leads or manager(s) of the department you want to join. <S> Make your desires of becoming a developer known gently, be persistent but not annoying. <S> I know many software developers without a Master's degree. <S> The Master's may help but won't guarantee a job. <A> they need many configurations (SQL entries) to be done <S> and I now am essentially doing data entry <S> How do you know what to do? <S> Presumably it is documented somewhere? <S> In my last job, I coded about 6k lines of C, and about double that in Python. <S> The Python scripts took the requirements from Doors and spat out a further 20+k lines of C. <S> Try something similar, generating your SQL schemas (schemae?) from the requirements, in a language of your choice. <S> That way, you remain an active coder & can describe yourself as such on your CV, plus I got some great praise for being so productive (not to mention that coding is much more interesting than manual data entry). <S> A bonus, of course, is that whenever the requirements change (and they will no matter what anyone might think), it is much easier and far less error prone just to run my Python script again, than to make many manual updates. <A> Are you actually "forced" to work for your employer for 2 years (in which case you usually can leave, you just get a penalty for doing so under breach of contract) or is it just a 2-year fixed-contract? <S> I've been on fixed contracts, and they have notice periods just like a permanent job, only your employer can "naturally" terminate your employment after 2 years. <S> I'd second thinking " <S> can I automate this?". <S> Also look out for opportunities where a program would come in useful - it could be possible to suggest doing that instead/as well as what you're doing. <S> I've sometimes had luck asking for better work - it doesn't necessarily get you out of doing it entirely, but a job's a lot less soul-crushing if you can intersperse unfun work with fun work. <S> - if it's a fully fledged "thing" that's out there, you could list it on your CV. <S> My home projects aren't usually CV-worthy, but I have used them occasionally in interviews as a demonstration of my skills. <S> If you have code on GitHub, and your profile is listed on your CV, I can confirm some employers will take a look.
| If the crapwork persists, I'd recommend having a meeting with your manager to explain that the job isn't very fulfilling, and you'd like something harder/more interesting. Another option outside of certification is to produce your own app/website
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Freelance programmers: do you charge when you get stuck? I'm contracting with an awesome company that gives me challenging work and is very supportive. Occasionally I can't figure out why my code isn't working. Classic programming, but I feel bad billing the time spent troubleshooting. (Sometimes I'm stuck for hours.) Do you charge for this kind of "work"? <Q> Are you debugging your code during those hours you are "stuck", or are you walking your dogs? <S> That time is not billable if you are walking your dogs. <S> If, on the other hand, you are debugging the code you have written, that is a core part of the programming process. <S> So is determining what you think you are supposed to do prior to writing the very first line of code. <S> The time spent writing lines upon lines of deliverable code should represent a small fraction of ones time while programming. <S> Except for toy problems, nobody writes code that is perfect from the very start. <S> Once you get past that initial testing stage, there likely remain ten to fifty bugs for every thousand lines of code you have written. <S> Getting that defect rate below one bug per thousand lines of code is one of the key reasons why concepts such as agile and test-driven development have been developed. <A> If you where employed by the company there would be no question about getting paid for the time. <A> Developing software consists of three steps: Design, coding, fixing problems. <S> No software works after the "coding" step. <S> Since you are paid to develop working software (I assume), the customer needs to pay for all three steps and you are fine to bill for all three steps. <S> If you think your skills finding and fixing problems are too low, then there are other sites to ask questions about this. <A> Do you charge for a full eight hours if you solve the problem in 2? <S> If not, then you shouldn't discount the hours you spend figuring things out. <S> Programming is thinking, not typing. <S> It's all part of the process of getting things done. <A> If your agreement with the customer is that you are paid by the hour, then yes. <S> Your customer buys you "as a package" with your things where you are fast (since you already know how not to get stuck) and the thing where you are slow (e.g. get stuck when you don't know the solution already). <S> See if the quality of the code is right - and not too high. <S> If you get stuck on things which could have been easy, but you took the hard way, consider if that was needed. <S> (e.g. not using an n <S> log n algorithm instead of an n^2 algorithm is not always the end of the world.) <S> If you or your customer feel very uneasy about this, consider changing to a more well defined way of defining work packages and not being paid by the hour.
| As a contractor you should bill for that time also and having that knowledge gained from that work is sure to help down the road.
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How to react when your colleague answers questions instead of you? I have a situation: sometimes a people from different offices in our company send emails and include a lot of people including my colleague and ask some questions related to my project. Usually, I answer them, but sometimes my colleague jumps in an gives strong answers but he is not very qualified to do that properly, actually, it is not his job title to answer that type of questions, but, as he knows something, he tries to answer. Quite often his answers are wrong and I need to find a polite way to correct them. As he still continues to answer questions he is not qualified for, I need to find a way to talk with him politely to ensure that he will get the message and won't do it again. How would you recommend to structure a discussion and communicate the issue to him in a nice and professional way? <Q> Talk to the colleague who answers the mails in private. <S> Keep in mind that they probably wanted to be helpful and saw nothing wrong with their behavior. <S> Following the general rules of constructive criticism, you should: Start with something positive. " <S> Hey Bob, I saw you answered that mail on Monday with all the questions about X. <S> I'm really thankful that you want to help, but... <S> " <S> State objectively what you observed. " <S> ... <S> You answered that we implemented feature ABC for customer XYZ. <S> Unfortunately that information is wrong and caused some confusion. <S> It was decided not to implement this feature in our meeting last month." <S> State what should be done better and how. <S> "In the future, please don't answer mails addressed to me. <S> I know I'm busy, but I'll try to answer mails in time. <S> When you have the feeling I forgot or overlooked something, feel free to tell me." <S> Instead, the answer was wrong. <S> Show them the consequences of their behavior. <S> If you just ask them to stop answering your mails, they might speculate you hate them. <S> If you sum up the consequences, they know it's nothing personal. <S> If possible, talk to them in private. <S> They will feel attacked if you pick up the topic in the middle of lunch break with all your colleagues listening. <S> If necessary, repeat this talk with every single mail he answered incorrectly. <S> Hopefully he will think more carefully before answering your mails. <S> If all that fails, keep a paper trail of mails that you had to correct and escalate the issue. <A> It's not really clear why your "users" are sending emails to many people, or if your colleague, although often wrong, is authorized to answer. <S> If he is not, that's for management to sort out. <S> If he is, you have to suck it up. <S> However, it is a bad idea to have "users" emailing Dan@company.com; they should email support@company.com, then, <S> when Dan moves on, support can continue uninterrupted, hopefully without users even being aware. <S> Again, this sounds like a management issue, to establish a Process (and to educate "users"). <A> Be direct, blunt and honest. <S> Simply talk to him and tell him he's not qualified. <S> It's blunt, honest and truthful. <S> You may wish to let him down easy with a compliment about his own work, which he does know about (I assume), but being direct never hurt anyone. <S> Telling him you do not want him answering questions about your project, or those implicitly directed at you, leaves no room for ambiguity. <S> Which is important, as people have a tendency to read between the lines and hear that which they want to hear. <S> If afterwards it continues, do it in writing, such as an email, and include you guys' manager/boss. <S> Questions implicitly directed at you, but including others, might also have as a reason that others may answer in your absence. <S> If no-one is present, it should not be a problem to have an answer wait a day. <S> It's not a text message <S> , it's an email, a few days of turn-over for an answer is perfectly acceptable. <A> If the e-mail is directed to you and anyone else in CC <S> and it is your project <S> then there is nothing wrong asking your colleague to let you answer the question since it is asked to you <S> and you are more familiar with the details.
| You should avoid blaming or attacking your colleague like " You answered with the wrong information and you caused loss of time". You may wish to clear up internally that project specific questions should be answered by those working on those projects. Lay out the situation, stick to the facts, but escalate it nonetheless.
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Is it acceptable to create a company name for my resume as an independent consultant? I’m a former management consultant and for the past year have been busy with numerous engagements for corporate clients on my own accord. In this, I also draw on the efforts of vendors and peers. I never created an LLC nor updated my resume or LinkedIn profile. I’m now considering a move to corporate management (as an employee) and need to update my resume. Listing “independent consultant” on my resume seems weak. Is it acceptable to simply create a company name and list myself as “principal” on my resume? <Q> I think you shouldn't make up a company name, especially if yourself actually never presented you as such to your actual customers, for several reasons. <S> Background checks <S> First, this causes confusion. <S> If potential employers / other customers want to do some background checking, they will try to refer you with the company name, and this could lead to "XYZ company ? <S> no, we never worked with them, it must be a mistake" . <S> If the confusion is not cleared out, the potential employer could even see you as a liar. <S> Name collision <S> Secondly, there is also a risk of inadvertently using an already existing company name, creating even more confusion (and even, depending on countries, a legal issue). <S> When you create a company, you usually have to do some administrative paperwork to register officially, and this prevents any collision with existing company (to some extent, IANAL) <S> The first point I mentioned is not a problem if you make a company name with your actual name in it. <S> However, the potential collision issue with another existing company name is still valid, especially if you have a common name, and if you didn't officially create a company afterwards. <S> Independant consultant is not weak As an additional remark, and as you wrote in comments, I think that your premise of "independant Consultant title looks bad on a resume" is wrong, at least partly. <S> Your satisfied clients and successful projects will be the actual proof that you can be trusted, whether you're in a company or not. <S> You should try to highlight this part. <S> Also, working as independant consultant also implies positive skills that had to be built. <S> Some that come to my mind : sense of responsibility, good organisation, self-discipline and able to work autonomously, negotiation skills... <A> There is nothing wrong with 'Independent Consultant' <S> that having a company name beats. <S> Provable experience is more important. <S> Either is a point against you with many employers, companies are often wary of hiring consultants and entrepreneurs full time for many excellent reasons. <S> I'd advise against putting anything fictitious on your resume. <A> If you want to use a company name, the simplest (and possibly only) way to do this honestly is to create a company. <S> In the UK, you would only mention it when it can be found on the companieshouse website, which may take a few days. <S> I assume in most countries it's easy to check if a company exists.
| I'm not saying it's in any way necessary to have a company name on your CV, but the only way you can have it without causing you trouble is to have a company. Maybe there will be some concern on your ability to work in a team, but since your independant activity is management , it seems obvious to me that this not an issue in your case.
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How to tell colleague nicely that it is not fine to make jokes about my team mates? I'm a team leader for a group of people including trainees. Recently, I had a chat with a colleague from another department and he made some jokes about the trainee from my team. The joke is not that rude to escalate to the senior manager as it can be read in many different ways but given his smileys and the way he structured sentences clearly tells me that he is making a fun, also he is known for making fun of others. I want to take this up with him during the next week and I need to find a way to correctly approach this situation. I want to start by clarifying the statements he made and his intentions, but I clearly miss vocabulary here and need some hints how to structure a conversation and give him implicit understanding that it is not fine to make fun of my teammate. How would you handle this situation properly? <Q> How would you handle this situation properly? <S> Do nothing unless it happens again, in which case tell him then and there that it's out of line. <S> Currently you have nothing much to complain about, nothing that warrants you confronting a person from another department over which you have no control about a joke he made a week ago. <A> You don't need any special vocabulary, yours is perfectly fine: <S> it is not fine to make fun of my teammate. <S> It is often enough. <S> I used it from time to time and I can confirm that it works. <A> "why would you say that?" <S> and continue in this vane, so to answer the constant response of "I was only joking" "why is that funny?" <S> This is used by many women in the face of sexist "banter" getting someone to explain a joke is really uncomfortable and really discourages repeat performances. <A> By not engaging with the joke. <S> If it's the first time with you, then there's a chance he'll learn cracking <S> jokes about employees is not OK to you. <S> If people aren't laughing, or he's getting things like a quick "not OK" look or a "..."/"not cool" response in chat, <S> then to most, that's a clear indication that the comments were not appreciated. <S> I wouldn't necessarily tell him to outright stop, but explain how it makes you feel uncomfortable and you're not OK sharing in that kind of banter. <S> For some people, this kind of thing is OK, so telling him how he shouldn't do it at all may come off as you pushing your own beliefs on him (and being overly PC). <S> And hopefully he'll more sensitive to not sharing those kind of jokes with people who don't want to partake. <S> I'm in the UK, so people making fun of each other is normal. <S> But it's known by most people where the line is drawn, however nearly everyone accidentally crosses it at some point. <S> I once did by saying a negative comment to one guy I didn't know was related to the guy I was commenting about. <S> He told me "not OK", so I made a mental note. <S> Awhile later, things got back to normal, as I knew not to cross the line (and he realised I wasn't being mean). <A> An alternative answer is to go along with it instead of reprimanding it. <S> However, this heavily depends on company culture, the specific joke itself, etc (information we don't have from the question). <S> In every company I worked at so far the environment was very cool, and we always joked about and with juniors, pairs and even seniors. <S> In my opinion it helps the team bond way more than a strict management and environment as you feel you can be comfortable around your teammates (and the team leader is a teammate) which in turn leads to smoother teamwork. <S> Again, and just to reiterate, this obviously depends on your specific context, and it doesn't mean that the office has to turn into a playground.
| If it persists, or you can't wait that long, I'd arrange a private meeting to tell him "not OK". A good tested answer is pretend you don't understand, so ask with a completely honest face
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Does it make sense to omit a failed master's degree from my resume? Due to some reasons, I failed most courses in my master's degree. Would it make sense to leave this degree work off of my resume? FYI I went there as part of a leave of absence from my job and not after quitting the job or right after my bachelor's. *Also, I registered for distance learning course. Do I need to talk about this ever in my resume? <Q> If it's not on your resume, then it's almost likely to not be talked about during an interview unless you explicitly bring this up for whatever reason. <A> Should I include a failed master's degree on my resume? <S> Unless there's something about this master's degree that outweighs the failures, you should leave it off. <S> There's no point in bringing negatives into your discussion unless it is necessary. <S> Your reasons for failure are likely to be vastly important to you, but not at all important to potential employers. <S> Consult your local laws to see if that is different where you live and work. <A> If you don't include the master's degree, the employers won't talk to you about why you didn't complete it. <S> I have an uncompleted 2nd undergraduate major that I don't list for the same reason. <S> The exception here being if employers explicitly request that you disclose all educational history such as the US government <S> and then you should list your masters degree. <S> You may consider listing the incomplete master's degree anyway, because the admission to a graduate program alone could tell a lot about your skillset if it's a selective program. <S> For instance, UC Berkeley's Master's of Computer Science program in 2013 only had a 1% admission rate. <S> Even if you did not complete your degree due to unforeseen circumstances, you still were accepted into the program over your fellow applicants. <S> Another bit of advice, don't refer to your incomplete graduate degree as a "failed" degree. <S> Focus on the positive of what you were able to learn in your time there. <A> Your resume is your presentation of yourself to your prospective employer. <S> It's expected to be biased in favor of things you accomplished and against things you, well, "failed" (as others have said, <S> failing to complete isn't necessarily a failure in and of itself, if you can spin it the right way). <S> So employers aren't expecting you to put negative information on your resume, and wouldn't (or shouldn't) be put off by you not putting it there <S> and then it later coming up in conversation. <S> So you don't lose anything by not having it there. <S> So the question is, does having it there gain you anything? <S> It certainly could lose you something; if the program wasn't particularly prestigious, or you didn't do very much in it, or you don't have anything to say you accomplished, then it most certainly could be seen as a failure and work against you. <S> So if you are going to put it there, you have to understand why you are putting it there and what you hope to gain from having it there. <S> Remember, your resume is expected to be very heavily biased IN FAVOR of you; if you put something there that's not in your favor, expect to be grilled about it. <A> If you passed certain subjects and/or completed certain courses, I suggest that you list these. <S> I can very well work with somebody who had 4 semesters of math but failed to continue e.g. physics for whatever reason. <S> In an ideal case you can make it sound like an natural extension to the bachelor.
| Unless the undertaking of the master's degree is a significant factor in your credentials, you were never credited the degree itself, so I don't think there's a reason to put this in your resume. In my locale, there are no laws requiring you to list any degree or any failed courses.
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How to interact with a coworker who thinks that he is the sole owner of the air conditioner and ignoring others? I am working with two other guys in same room. I have a problem with one who started working lately with us. Air conditioner is adjusted to 22 Celcius by me and other guy in consensus then this guy comes and increases it to 25 Celsius even without asking any of us like he behaves as if he is the sole owner of the AC. How do I deal with this kind of behaviour? I also sensed he is trying to provocate and forces us to do an angry move but we are not people like that. How should I approach this? <Q> I'd like to offer a more general perspective: there are quite different standards of preferred AC in different regions of the USA, in Europe, and in Japan. <S> Generally, US < Europe < Japan in terms of desired AC temperature. <S> In the US I encountered cases quite a few times where people would carry jackets with them in 40+ degrees (C) temperature outside, because they had to put it on inside, at a temperature of 15-16 degrees (C). <S> In this situation, as a European, I got (once seriously) ill a few times, due to these temperature differences (despite jacket); so there is a serious health aspect to having the temperature that low inside (apart from the energy wastage, but that does not seem to be an issue in the US). <S> Airconditioned indoors climate is not equivalent to outdoors climate at 15 degrees even when jacketed, plus one is exposed to it for prolonged periods while sitting a chair. <S> So, wherever the AC discussion starts, it should be kept in mind that it is not just one party who is uncomfortable at higher temperatures, but also the other one who might get ill at lower ones (despite clothing up!). <S> The choice between who is going to be uncomfortable and who is going to get ill is what we are discussing here and empathy should go both ways. <S> Speaking of discomfort, it is also not clear why, during summertime, when one should be able to travel lightly, people should have the discomfort of carrying around pullovers and jackets with them by default to counter an overzealous AC (assuming it is enough to combat the AC effects). <S> That being said, in the present's OP case, 22 degrees would probably be reasonable even for Europeans (but perhaps not so for Japanese, who prefer higher temperatures). <S> By ignoring their position, even if you manage to impose your preferred temperature, you may be putting their health at risk (which also may explain their unhappiness in that matter). <A> Embrace the power of cool. <S> Don't make a big deal out of it - talk to the guy and discuss a possible solution to the problem. <S> Don't buy into his negative attitude, act like it's not there. <S> Go for the compromise and set the temp to 23,5'. <S> If all else fails - you can try to change your working space or try taking it upstairs (which I don't recommend). <A> I had the same problem once in a small office where we all had a room. <S> We solved this problem rather easily by purchasing magnetic vent covers, and the person who is too cold simply installs them partially, or completely over the vent in their office to control the amount of cold air entering their space. <A> Just talk to them about it <S> We had a similar issue at my work and resolved it by talking about it. <S> People who felt cold simply brought a jacket to work or switched desks to sit near a window, in the sun, or away from an AC vent. <S> Basically, if you just talk about it <S> I am sure you can compromise and come to a resolution. <S> It is important to recognize that while they are not the sole owner of the air conditioner, neither are you. <S> It basically comes down to most simple workplace problems, if you talk about it and are respectful, 95% of the time you can find a solution where everyone is satisfied with the outcome. <A> Others have addressed how to handle this guy, but I just wanted to add that when it comes to comfortable office temperatures <S> it's best to go on the cooler end of the scale. <S> It's easy to put on more clothes. <S> Long sleeves or an extra layer. <S> It's harder to take clothes off and cool down beyond a certain point though. <S> Therefore people who prefer an abnormally hot environment can easily accommodate others, where as the opposite is not true. <A> I would consider discussing it with your Manager, if this coworker is not willing to listen or compromise. <S> Tell them that you are concerned it is leading to tension in your workplace. <S> Hopefully your Manager will then discuss with everyone involved and define a clear policy for how the AC level should be set, which should put an end to the arguments.
| As consequence, I suggest you take into account that there is a - possibly serious - reason for your fellow worker to prefer a higher temperature and discuss with them a compromise.
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How to think of being moved under a less experienced manager? I am the founding engineer at a startup. Since the beginning of the company I've reported directly to the CEO and then the CTO after he was hired. Our company has grown considerably since then (from three employees to 100 employees). A while ago we hired a manager specifically for the engineering team that I am on. All of our junior engineers and engineers hired since then have been put under him. Lately, our CTO has been talking to me about moving me under the manager. He tells me that it's just because he doesn't have time for me to continue being his direct report, which I don't necessarily doubt since he's a busy person these days. However, this concerns me because our manager is more junior of an engineer than I am and I don't feel that I have as much to learn from him as I do our CTO. Also, I'm honestly insecure about seemingly being moved down the chain at a company I've been at since the very beginning. I suppose I need to talk more about exactly what this move would mean and what it would mean for my standing in the company. How should I be thinking about this? Is this certainly a negative for me or is it possible for a re-org such as this to be a positive move? If the latter, how can I make the most of it and make the transition as smooth as possible for all involved? <Q> Seems to me that you are more interested in your prestige position of reporting directly to senior leadership and working on special projects than anything else. <S> By rights, the time to handle this was when the engineering manager position was announced - you should have applied for the role in order to cement your seniority and maintain a leadership position. <S> Now though, the company has evolved from a lean startup to what is hopefully an established, successful business. <S> By staying on the engineering side of things rather than moving into a leadership position you've decided to be one of the grunts, a cog in the machine, and you need to accept this. <S> Aside from this, it is incredibly rare to learn technical skills from management. <S> That comes from other engineers and books and online resources. <A> Your manager's job is just that - managing. <S> He may do a bit of engineering on the side (I like to get my hands dirty too - it helps keep me in touch with the project). <S> If you were, for instance, senior engineer <S> and he were being made uber senior engineer , then you would have cause for grievance. <S> As it is, you are an engineer and he is a manager. <S> Unless you feel that you have superior managerial skills, go along with it. <S> This sort of growth is quite normal for start-ups and eventually you have to develop a more formal hierarchy. <S> It is certainly no poor reflection on you. <A> Look at the differences in responsibility between you two: he/she manages a team of engineers and you do the engineering. <S> Why would you expect a manager who might be in charge of team budget, performance reviews, conflict resolution, non-stop meetings, strategy, etc need to be a more senior engineer than you? <S> Your manager's job is to support you, figure out/listen to what you need, give it to you, and then get the hell out of the way. <S> Offer to review resumes, participate in technical interviews, etc. <S> Propose a fund for technical staff to go to conferences, have renown people come on site and do trainings. <S> You need to also ask yourself where you would be most happy. <S> If you want to manage, you need to communicate that. <S> If you want to develop, then manage-up and let your manager know what you need to succeed. <S> If you want status and recognition and to be known as 'founding engineer', that ship might have sailed once you transitioned from startup to mid sized company.
| If you want to continue learning from the best, help the manager hire people better than you so you can learn from them.
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How to switch roles when your expertise is in a certain field I am a developer with expertise in Qt GUIs. I was assigned to it when I was a fresher in a different company. But overtime I've started to hate working on the technology. The reason simply being that I get constant changes which are never documented (despite my effort). The timelines are not moved. When pointed out, I am told that apparently this was part of the original estimate. Apart from the above mentioned, GUI is simply speaking given the least priority and importance while it is also the first thing the user sees. Basically, over the 2 companies I've worked with(one being a government PSU; in India, you don't leave them. I still did), the teams are understaffed while expectations are high. Last but not the least, the projects are always ancient with zero documentation and large number of permutations for testing (which are unknown to everyone as GUI people don't stay). One requirement generally means a hundred more changes (the requirement to create a building in 3D also entails the ability to delete it for instance). Also, I have a personal amazement for back-end work. I like to be the guy who creates all kinds of data structures and what not. The problem is that my CV contains different ways for using Qt GUI. This prevents me for applying for a good C/C++ coder job (The interviewers basically state that I don't have any experience with C/C++. No technical questions asked). My current company needs more Qt people (no one is willing to learn it and the freshers whom I've trained somehow magically end up getting a better paying job in Qt at a different firm) so, they won't let me switch no matter what. Edit: Forgot to mention, I've never seen a position for a senior developer in the field in my area. <Q> You might need to search for more junior roles and then emphasise your knowledge in the interview stage stating that you would like to broaden your skill-set by moving into a different field. <S> A junior role may not pay as well as what you're earning now, but at least it gets your experience down on paper <S> and you have the option to move upward within the company that you're moving into. <S> Or not, as the case may be (but at least you have experience with this skill on your resume). <S> Basically, you might have to demote on a temporary basis yourself in order to cross to another technology. <S> It's going to be easier to do that than to get a "good" job by blagging your way in without having some experience to demonstrate your skills. <A> What you need to do is gain experience in the role you want to move into. <S> Barring that, you also have the option of doing freelance work, volunteering for charities, or participating in collaborative and/or open source projects. <S> Then, your options open up. <S> Companies may or may not wish to risk taking you on in a senior role even after that, but they're not going to look at you at all if you cannot demonstrate proficiency. <A> Agree with other answers that volunteering for different kinds of work within your own team or company is a good first step. <S> It's quite a big jump you want to make, but <S> another way you can try to make this change is to focus on your experience with the kind of application rather than the programming language. <S> If you've spent a lot of time working on a product in a certain domain (for example CRM or collaboration) or with a certain application architecture (such as microservices or client-server), you may be able to apply to companies making similar software and sell your domain knowledge and expertise with that kind of application rather than with Qt GUIs. <S> Whatever approach you take you will probably need to accept a step down at the same time as others have suggested.
| If there are opportunities within your company to take on responsibilities that deal with the technologies, do so.
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Almost fired after trial month, but they let me stay "to see improvements" one more week. What does it mean? First of all, I'm not a bad worker, I maybe was just too confident everything would be OK. The thing is that I didn't opened myself as I should (and can) to let them see the value I could contribute to their company; I told them I'm really introvert; I admit that. For example, I know I can improve things, or tell ideas, but I didn't do it this month since, like I said, I was too confident, and also justifying that 'I'm learning how you work' . So today I got a call from HR and told me basically that. I explained everything, and admitted some guilt, and after 30 minutes they (HR and my direct boss) told me we can have another talk next week 'since you(me) look enthusiastic' . They did told me what to improve, and what they expect. And I am. It is a cool place to work for a while, so I don't want to get in more trouble. Do they really let me have a 2nd chance? But in what sense? <Q> Do they really let me have a 2nd chance? <S> Seems really evident to me that they indeed let you so. <S> Otherwise the call would have been much different and you would likely be without job right now if they haven't reconsidered. <A> Turnover is expensive <S> It's expensive to terminate an employee and pay out severance. <S> It's expensive to recruit a replacement, and risky. <S> It's expensive to set up new documentation, payroll, insurance, etc for a new employee. <S> Keep in mind that, in most cases, the best outcome for the company is for you to stay. <S> "Improvement Plans" are very common in many industries. <S> It sounds like you've given them reason to believe you could improve enough to meet the job requirements, and they would prefer that to having to start from scratch with a new employee. <S> Do Get a clear list of expectations of how you should be improving Be proactive. <S> If anything is unclear, reach out to you manager. <S> Try to find a mentor to guide you on company culture, self improvement, etc. <S> Don't Assume that you will keep you job. <S> As has been mentioned, it's possible they already have a replacement, that you won't meet their goals, etc. <S> Start preparing for being unemployed as well. <S> Disagree with their areas of criticism. <S> If they feel it's a problem, it's a problem. <A> This is more or less a second chance since they appear to find your enthusiasm as a positive point. <S> However, since they did go out of their way to tell you about it, for this second chance period, you're most likely going to be under a microscope, so to say. <S> Not that you've done something wrong, but more on the fact that you've been doing less than expected. <S> The trial month's where they'll be looking to get a good first impression from you and they were clearly expecting more. <S> I think the best way to go about this is to just focus on significantly improving on the points they mentioned, since that's what they'll be looking at when they observe you, and since you yourself admitted that you've been complacent. <A> I've been told this in the past, and in my experience I'm going to disagree with the others here and say you are being fed BS. <S> Your company probably moves in hiring "waves", where they hired you and a bunch of other people at the same time <S> but then they didn't hire anyone else for a while. <S> Your job is probably already posted as part of the next hiring wave, and they are just waiting until they find someone to replace you. <S> Nobody wants to hear "you're fired, but we want you to stay until we can find your replacement", because your morale will be low, your sense of ownership of your tasks will be low, and your productivity will be low; in extreme cases you may even actively sabotage others because you have "nothing to lose". <S> Promising that you might have a chance to continue staying makes you think that you can impress your way out of the situation <S> so you will work harder (or at least as hard) as you did before and be a compliant employee while waiting to be fired. <S> The "trial week" means that they have already interviewed someone and are about to send them out documents; it takes about a week of turnover time between when the documents are sent and when they are signed and received, so they don't want to be short-staffed for that week, <S> that's why they've extended your stay by a week rather than terminating you on the spot. <S> Realistically speaking, a week is not enough to change the impact of a month's worth of habitry; they don't expect that <S> and neither should you. <S> Remember: <S> HR is not your friend. <S> They are not there to be your advocate, or liaison, or anything else. <S> HR will do whatever is best for the company, and if lying to you is best for the company, then they will lie to you.
| Basically, they have no intention of keeping you, but they are keeping you on staff for as long as they can until they can find someone to replace you; once that's done, you're out the door. As for why they lied, they did it so that your morale would be higher. I suggest you focus on the aspects they want to see improvements and try to work on them, so next week (and the days to come) your performance will be up to their expectations.
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Should I tell my previous employer for the possible background checking for my current job application? I am a PhD student and I am approaching the end of my class. I have received a job offer from a company, and they want me to provide the history of my previous employment. I did an internship at a startup four years ago for two months, and I have a good reputation there. I have listed this company in my CV for my previous experience. My current company might contact the startup. Would it be appropriate for me to send a message to the founders of the startup that they might be contacted by my future employer, even if I have not contacted the startup for four years? Or would it be better to just fill the background check form and do nothing? <Q> Should I send a message to the founders of the startup that there might be contacted by my future employer, even if I have not contacted the startup for four years? <S> If you are providing references (names of individuals) at this startup, then you should contact them to give them a heads up. <S> But if you are just providing company names, then there is no need to contact the employer from four years in the past. <A> If you are only providing a point of contact then most of the time the background check is just verifying dates of employment, and possibly job title. <S> They may also try and get information about the reason why you left. <S> Many companies will only provide the basic facts. <S> Most of the time this information is provided by HR, but it could even an outside organization. <S> The background check staff doesn't expect to talk to people who ever meet you. <S> Now if the new employer is looking for you to provide references, then it is advisable for you to contact those individuals so they can be prepared for a longer discussion. <A> No. <S> Just carry on with your applications and let the relevant HR departments take care of the rest.
| You generally don't have to contact previous employers to warn them that a reference is being saught.
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How do I deal with a coworker who offloads his work and personal tasks onto other coworkers? I have a coworker that has no problems with offloading his work or even private things on other coworkers. He does not do this with me, since I have rebuffed him once, but he does this with a colleague of mine on my scrum team. This colleagues performance suffers, of course, if he has to e.g. help the coworker book flights or (the problematic coworker is a graphic designer, the other colleague is a developer) help him prepare to send some designs to the printer. To me it seems as if the colleague in development does this as friendship service. But he does it in his work time, where he should be doing development work... I am not sure what to do. I could go to management, but this might escalate things more than I want, and reflect bad on me. I tried speaking about the problem with the problematic coworker but he does not see any problem. I tried to approach the development colleague but he does not seem a problem. It does clearly affect his performance though. The two seem to identify as friends, if that is of any relevance. The main problem is the additional load on the colleague in my scrum team, which does affect the whole teams performance. We are only three people in the scrum team, so if one can only do 70 percent we are 10 percent short! I do not care as much about the designers performance. We have a pretty flat hierarchy in our company, we are only around 7 people. <Q> Ask your co-workers whether this behaviour is bothering them. <S> If yes, then share the tactic that worked for you. <S> If no, let them do their own thing. <S> That's about as far as you need to take things. <S> If your co-workers experience performance issues due to this help vampire, then it's their issue to discuss with management. <A> Unless you are affected directly, this is a management issue, and it is the responsibility of the affected person or persons to bring it to management. <S> If you take it to management, you'll be labeled the office rat and can expect to be driven off by your coworkers working to the book, tracking your every misstep, and making life miserable for you. <S> Ask yourself if this is a hill you want to die on. <S> Right now it seems that the only one with the problem is you. <S> You do not want the be seen as "that guy". <S> Remember, the work is only part of the job, the rest is how you get along with others. <S> If you bring this up with management, they ask questions, and the work is getting done and nobody has any issues, <S> YOU will be seen as the issue. <A> Since this is a Scrum team and the performance of the team is everyone's concern, bring it up with your teammate that you feel these 'favors' may be affecting your teams performance. <S> It does seem, at least from your post, that these are trivial matters though, so decide if it worth rocking the boat since the overall synergy of the Scrum team is also important and too much petty bickering on what people are working on can sometimes be more detrimental that just letting this go.
| Keep your own nose clean, do your job, and try to get along with your coworkers.
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Inform about lateness due to hospital visit without giving details? I am in ER this morning and am very much late for work due to it (will likely be missing close to half a day of work). I already notified the team on Slack that I will be late, and wrote literally nothing else. How do I later handle this and phrase it so as to simultaneously communicate that it was a serious and legitimate reason for missing work, at the same time without giving any specific personal health-related information? My boss is not an issue, but rather my curious colleagues. <Q> Just tell them that you were attending something important. <S> If they dig - tell them it's personal. <S> If they ask what personal means: it means it's not their business. <A> Chances are no one on your team will get to curious. <S> But if they do just tell them you had something to take care of this morning. <S> Probing further is after using this type of deflection is considered rude. <S> If someone persists anyway <S> just respond <S> I am sorry it was just something personal, that I prefer not to share at the office. <S> I hope you understand. <S> Nothing more needs said. <A> But it is usually considered good for team cohesion to be at least open about your absence, so tell them you were gone due to a medical emergency and leave it at that if you're anxious to tell them more (I wouldn't know why you'd not want your coworkers to know what's plaguing you though, unless maybe it were an STD or drugs related issues. <S> Having <S> colleagues know you've medical issues serious enough to require an ER visit <S> can help them detect repeats and know what to do when and if they happen for example ).
| Only your boss has to know (if him) why you're not there.
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Resume Summary For Senior Unix Administrator This question pertains to presenting oneself when starting a job search, not targeting a particular job. I have many years (25+) administering traditional UNIX systems (HP-UX, AIX, Solaris) as well as Linux and Open/Free BSD. While UNIX admins know the differences in what these are, sadly most recruiters and even some employers don't. I consider the title "Senior UNIX Administrator" should be all encompassing because I understand what that means but that seems to fail many job filters. This I feel because of the types of responses I've gotten after modifying it on various job sites like LinkedIn and the conversations I've had with recruiters afterward. Should I go with a slashy-like "Senior Unix/Linux/BSD Administrator"? Along the same lines, how do you convey additional roles within the summary to which you are suited, like storage area networking or database administration while keeping it short? I made the mistake of Senior Systems admin and went off track into being called about MS/Win related work and some other crazy stuff. I went with UNIX and was called primarily about non-Linux work. Adding "/ Linux" changed that but it still seems to miss on some jobs. I wonder if I should not do it a better way, in particular when I also qualify for other jobs that I would consider, like those mentioned or in Python/Perl Development which I've also done extensively over the years. As far as the actual job sought, I've been sticking with UNIX administration because as a rule, it can and often does include the other roles mentioned but only if the recruiter/employer knows what they're looking for and how to find it. <Q> This question pertains to presenting oneself when starting a job search, not targeting a particular job. <S> Although you haven't clarified yet, a job search should be focused on a particular job or options . <S> You will hardly ever land a job on, say, Construction if you are presenting yourself as an IT Admin. <S> Most likely given your extensive career as UNIX Admin <S> you are seeking for a job where you can apply that experience. <S> If this is true, you should be focusing your resume on those type of jobs, and tailor it accordingly. <S> Under that light, I see no problem in using "Senior UNIX Administrator", because the people on the industry know what that involves and will know if they need to hire one . <S> I also don't see much problem with "Senior Unix/Linux/BSD Administrator", although it sounds longer and more verbose. <S> Along the same lines, how do you convey additional roles within the summary to which you are suited, like storage area networking or database administration while keeping it short? <A> There's usually an HR person, and often an AI bot, filtering your resume before the reasonable person who'd understand 'Unix' would get to see it at all. <S> No matter how pithy your resume, it can include bullet points such as 'storage area networking'. <S> And I like to add a 'Tech:' couple of lines to each job to specify which OS, tools, languages and versions I was using, aimed squarely at the person who'd understand them. <S> That goes a long way towards fixing the elimination-through-ignorance synonym keyword problem. <S> I'd totally go with the more descriptive/awkward title though, because people don't read much. <A> It is no industry secret that the sheer number of Unix and Linux clones can be confusing, even to employers as you mentioned. <S> This seems to be your first concern. <S> I would say that yes, using slashes in your job description is perfectly acceptable. <S> Countless résumés after all list things like "C/C++" or "R/RStudio" under "Programming Experience" to encompass the different flavors of those languages. <S> Another option for your title would be "Senior Administrator for Unix- and Linux-Based Operating Systems". <S> While somewhat verbose, this title places Senior Administrator front-and-center, indicating not only the level of experience but the leadership, with qualifiers positioned afterwards. <S> For your question on how to introduce other job experience, there are a few different options. <S> This varies somewhat depending on the mode of communication (résumé or online profile) but the general idea is the same. <S> " This has the implication that Unix and Linux (and BSD if you choose to include this) are your main strengths, with additional skills following. <S> Then there is unlikely to be confusion from employers as to whether you are seeking a Unix/Linux/BSD position or something very different, like databasing. <S> Out of curiosity, I compared "Unix," "Linux," and "BSD" in Google Trends. <S> Results suggest Linux far outranks Unix in usage. <S> The implications of this may or may not generalize to job recruiters. <S> But results seem to suggest Linux is being talked about, at least in Google searches, at a higher volume than Unix. <S> It may be a good idea to prioritize advertising yourself as a Linux expert if you can corroborate these findings on job search boards. <S> This assumes that you are comfortable working in either Unix, Linux, or BSD. <S> I would not neglect featuring BSD, HP-UX, AIX, and Solaris prominently on your profiles and résumé, perhaps in list format, as automated crawlers may scan for these keywords, and employers will look for them.
| You could write a brief description under the jobs you list (which surely mention all the *NIX flavors you know), indicating additional tasks and responsibilities you also were in charge of besides solely administering the systems. You could advertise yourself as "Senior Administrator specializing in Unix- and Linux-based systems, with additional expertise in storage area networking and database administration.
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Left previous job due to altercation with manager, how to avoid him taking revenge during background check? I have a job on my resume. I left it due to problems with one of my managers. I had no problems with anybody else there (including the other managers), and I am sure if any of these other managers were contacted for a background check and review of my performance, they would not be out to make me look bad. However, I can't say the same for this one manager that I had an altercation with. So how do I avoid my next company getting in contact with this one guy? In particular, I am wondering how a company performs a background check. Do they Just call up HR and talk to them to verify info? Is HR even allowed to give away such info? Call up HR, and then HR gets them in contact with some appropriate manager under who I worked? Ask me personally for a contact person at the company? If it is 3), then that's great, I can just provide them the contact number of some of other managers. If it is 2), then I guess it is out of my hands? <Q> However, I can't say the same for this one manager that I had an altercation with. <S> So how do I avoid my next company getting in contact with this one guy? <S> Short answer, <S> you can't , at least directly. <S> If able, try to provide as references the managers you didn't have an altercation with, or other colleagues. <S> Otherwise, background checks are really up to the discretion of each company; some may just call the HR dept. <S> , others may ask for your previous bosses. <S> This, we can see, is one of the downfalls of "burning bridges" with past bosses or coworkers, as you never know when they can decide to retaliate in purpose, or just "work karma" giving them their swing at the bat. <A> It depends on what country you're in. <S> I can tell you that in the US, it's extremely unlikely any future company will talk to your former boss. <S> Across the board, companies generally only verify dates of employment, titles, etc. <S> : resume information. <S> They don't provide positive or negative references. <S> Some companies don't even take such calls; they refer the caller to an automated toll-free line for the verification. <S> All this is as it should be; your performance at one company doesn't guarantee anything about your performance at another, since most circumstances will be different. <A> You can do two things. <S> First is to talk to one of the other managers if you can give their contact info on your resume and then use them. <S> The second is you don't give contact information on your resume. <S> HR do background check after first interview. <S> Mostly because it take less time to talk to you than run that check. <S> So they will knew if your candidature is worth the hassle. <S> And during that first interview they will ask about why you didn't include contact info for that one job (there are 100 reason you may not have them). <S> Also some companies ask "If it's ok to contact this person". <S> Mostly because they are full aware that not all people are pockets full of sunshine.
| The only way to be 100% sure they won't contact this person is to not include such job in your resume, nor in your references.
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Job reposted with fewer requirements before interview? I applied for a job that had a 5 year or more experience requirement and some other required and ideal experience requirements. Since I had the main requirements and most of the ideal, I applied and got contacted almost immediately to setup a phone interview time in the coming week. A couple days later I got an email that the original posting was cancelled and reposted. They said the interview was still on, but that I would need to reapply to the new posting to continue in the process. When I did reapply, I noticed that the experience requirement had dropped from 5 to 3 years. My general question is how should I interpret that? Was there too few who applied, or is this a price shopping situation, or something else? <Q> My general question is how should I interpret that? <S> You could always ask them in the interview, if you really want to know. <S> In general, though, I don't think it really matters why they did it. <S> Conduct the interview as you otherwise would have. <S> Ask for a salary that you think is fair. <S> At the end of the day, they'll either hire you or they won't, but as long as you stick to your own values (whatever they may be) then you'll end up where you want to be. <S> (That is to say, you'll either get the job and the price that you want, or you'll dodge a bullet from a company that wasn't prepared to pay you what you're worth anyway.) <A> That being said, if the position you applied for never changed regardless of the experience requirement, just take the interview as you would before the change. <S> Never sell yourself short though, as you already have an idea of what a fair wage for you is. <S> If they end up giving you a lowball offer, you can always walk out and find another place that actually recognizes what you're worth. <A> Just interpret it as a paperwork screwup. <S> They probably either wound up with too few candidates or couldn't meet the salary requirements that some of the higher end were looking for, and priced themselves out of the market. <S> Go in, have a commanding interview, and get the job. <A> As others have said, it could have been a price-shopping or applicant quantity situation. <S> However, the reg flag for me is that perhaps the work involved in this position is being positioned to someone who is more entry-level (junior). <S> If you have 5 years experience, you might want to do some more complicated tasks than would be given to someone who has half your experience. <S> If this is a concern for you (it would be for me), I would recommend asking about it <S> so you set the proper expectations. <A> What it most likely means (all we can do is guess) is that they're not terribly excited about the applicant's credentials for those who have applied (including yours unfortunately) and are opening up the job posting to a broader pool of candidates. <S> However, you still have as fair a shot as anybody in the interview believe it or not. <S> And... if they didn't want you, they'd cancel the interview.
| I'd interpret this as a price shopping situation, they could be thinking that they could find a lower priced candidate by lessening their requirements.
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Why it is not good to make fun of yourself at work? I enjoy jokes and laughing, and sometimes I make fun of myself with self-deprecating humour. I've begun to think that this might have a negative impact on my personal brand - that is, how I am perceived by others. I'm beginning to think that some people avoid me after hearing me joke about myself - I do not know why, however. Is it a good idea to make fun of yourself, and if not, what are the boundaries for such humour? <Q> It's not about the joke, it's about communication. <S> It's about reading the room, reading the other person, and knowing enough about your relationship to know a joke would be appreciated - because you have that kind of relationship. <S> A well-received joke will do the opposite. <S> We were once raising money for a colleague's going away gift. <S> I jokingly suggested to the CEO we should buy him a PornHub gift card. <S> Take a guess how stupid I felt for the rest of the week. <S> Read your audience. <S> If in doubt, keep it shut. <A> In my jobs, when I worked as a computer-tech, I could rag on the machines/systems that I handled, but no one else's. <S> (I could complain about how I needed to restart the WinNT servers, but not mock the VAX machine for still being around, or the *nix servers for being whatever.) <S> As a writing teacher (college, mostly women colleagues, mix of adjunct and fulltime), it (seemed to me) rude to respond to "how's the semester going" with "Great!" -- instead one tended to state how overworked one was, or behind on grading, etc. <S> We could self-deprecate how little of our own writing we were doing, but not the quality of it. <S> Some of my friends would treat all self-deprecating humor as a call for help (and try to seriously assist you, especially if they have a psychology or social work background) or fishing for compliments (especially if they know you mostly in an artistic/crafty context). <S> It sounds like you may need to assess both the culture of the specific workplace, and the norms of your industry . <S> Be careful you're only denigrating things we all sorta wish we had more of (money, time), but not the quality of your work or work ethic. <A> As you said your perception is your brand. <S> In professional environments where there is a level of competition I absolutely agree with you that making jokes at your own expense will weaken your brand at best and make you look like an idiot who knows he's an idiot at worst. <S> The exception is certain professions where there may be a certain amount of joking around as part of the culture and coping mechanism for dealing with the stress of the job (ie emergency services). <S> Regardless of what you saw in the Patch Adams movie, no one is going to respect an professional wearing clown boots.
| A poorly received joke is a good way to hurt your standing in their eyes. Agreed that company culture is a HUGE element -- my husband works with more blue-collar types, so everyone razzes everyone else and themselves.
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My seating arrangement is not convenient. What to do? The place where I sit in my office results inconvenient for me because: Everyone can see my computer screen and very often they will stop by and stare at my screen what distracts me. Sometimes they will even comment on what they see on my screen and that distracts me. Sometimes they judge what I am doing spontaneously so breaks my concentration. Many people walking around in the area. And that distracts me. Many people discussing very close to my desk. Obviously the noise distracts me. It seems like too obvious thing to do just tell your manager/supervisor the problem and find out a place to sit more convenient. However, that solution is really not possible because: I do not see any other spot in the whole office where that could happen. So it is not like I see many places where I could sit if just asked for. It is just one room open space and we are sat down in islands with our teams, so also cannot split and go somewhere else. But even if could, I do not see anywhere were could go. All the colleges are sitting in spots with same amount of noise or distraction, i.e. more or less everyone same circumstances as me. However none else is annoyed by that. So although possible to ask my manager/supervisor, it's somewhat weird that I request by special needs to have a special desk in a privileged spot with specific conditions. So at the beginning this was ok, but it is burning me more and more every day. <Q> Ask to switch seats with someone else to a less high traffic location. <S> If your office allows it, wear headphones. <S> Typically, for people in the US, headphones are an easy way to signal <S> "I'm in the zone, don't bother me." <S> You never get what you don't ask for. <S> It's worth just having a discussion about what is possible instead of just suffering. <A> I don't think you are entitled to have more "private" screen that anyone else. <S> Unless you are a manager working with sensitive data - there is no good reason to hide what is happening on your screen . <S> If you bring the subject up - you may lose the trust of your teammates ; be perceived as someone who is idling on the job or doing something inapropriate. <S> This will bring even more unwelcome attention to you and your screen. <S> Instead - embrace what fellow collegues say , they often just want to help even if it's not that obvious. <S> On the other hand - if you find their remarks rude or purposely distracting - address the remarks, ask them to stop. <A> I am in a "busy" area a least a few times a week and even though I have "nothing to hide," it can be distracting sometimes. <S> Have you tried something like "Workstation Popcorn", where you sit in different spots throughout the day for certain time periods, which are reserved for certain tasks? <A> Bring it up with your manager. <S> If (s)he says (s)he cannot do anything about, you haven't lost anything. <S> But perhaps there is way to improve the situation you had not thought about. <S> Or perhaps nothing can be done now, but you may be offered a different spot if someone gets reassigned or leaves. <S> Or it's taken in consideration when the team moves (in my company, teams move every couple of moves; by now, people know my preferences, and they assign me a place as much in a corner as possible). <S> There's another reason to bring this up. <S> But do tell your manager. <S> Remember, in a healthy company, your manager is there to help you do your work as best as possible. <S> But (s)he can only do something about things that bother you if (s)he knows about them.
| If more people complain about the current layout, eventually, this will work it up the chain, and something may be done about. Ask for a privacy screen so that other people can't see exactly what's on your screen. I would talk to your manager that where you are sitting is not conductive to your productivity i.e. people walking by and talking to you about what's on your computer screen. I often try places like: communal areas (like balconies and break rooms / common areas) in the office nearby cafes, etc.
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Let go after revealing LGBT status, should I include this job on my resume? I started working as an administrative assistant in Wisconsin through a staffing agency in March, and one morning in June (about 3 months in), I got a call from my agency coordinator and was told that the client had asked to terminate my employment. This was the day after I outed myself as gay in a casual conversation with my boss. Should I include this job on my resume? Other useful details: Immediately before this job I had worked in a hotel for about 2 months Before the hotel job, my last job was 2 years in a student position that ended in August 2017 I'm looking to apply for general clerical positions and school paraprofessional positions I'm wondering if I should include this position on my resume. On one hand, it's probably the best example of clerical experience that I have, and without it my recent employment history looks somewhat sparse. On the other, I'm not sure how 3 months at a job would look on the resume and I'm somewhat worried about what my ex-boss would say if called for a reference. Other than consistently arriving a few minutes late (which was never treated as an issue), I never had any performance-related issues. My ex-boss, however, seems pretty vindictive and I'm worried that she might make something up. <Q> First, let me address the discrimination part. <S> It's a good deal harder to prove discrimination that one might think. <S> A friend of mine has MS. <S> He was not fired for MS, he was fired for attendance. <S> I have autism, I was not discriminated against for having autism, I wasn't a "good fit". <S> I have many more examples. <S> Most companies know how to play the game now, so unless you have someone on record as having said "I'm getting rid of Boopbop because I hate gay people", you're not going to win this. <S> If you are concerned about a reference, have a friend do a verification of employment call, and see what they say. <S> Again, unless the company is immeasurably foolish, they'll say "Boopbob worked here for three months" and little else. <S> As to whether you should include it, it depends on whether you trust a good reference to come from them or not. <S> 3 months is sort of borderline. <S> Going forward, and going back to discrimination, here is what I've learned over the years. <S> Work as if they are looking for an excuse to fire you, act as if they are looking for a reason to promote you <S> That is the best way you can protect yourself. <S> Be better than everybody else. <S> Arrive early, leave late, work hard. <S> That way, if one employer discriminates, you'll have such good habits and work history that the next one will appreciate you. <S> It's a sad fact, but discrimination exists. <S> The ones who do it know how to hide it, so you have to pretend it doesn't exist if you want to do well. <S> That's what I try to do, at least. <S> The good news is that they are in the minority. <A> I'm very sorry to hear you suffered from such discrimination. <S> Inferring from your question that your actual employer (the name on your paycheck) is the staffing agency, there's nothing unusual or alarming about someone taking short term temp assignments while looking for a full time job. <S> And the agency would be foolish to divulge details about their clients and do more than confirm <S> you are on their roll. <S> Did you actually terminate your relationship with the agency and inform them <S> you will not accept new assignments? <S> Did they terminate their relationship with you and tell you they will not contact you with new assignments? <S> You can just put something like Temporary Staffing, Agency XYZ, March 2018-Present: <S> Relevant tasks performed and skills demonstrated during temporary assignments: A,B,C <S> No need to say anything at all about their specific clients or the duration of any given assignment. <A> You should include the administrative assistant work experience on your resume. <S> Given that you are working with a staffing agency, short-term contracts/positions are fairly common. <S> Your contract could be terminated even if you performed well in your role, but the company no longer has a need for that role or the responsibilities were absorbed. <S> I do not recommend including your LGBT status or similar personal information (religion, martial status, ethnicity, disability, etc) <S> that may subject you to discrimination on your resume. <S> You should absolutely be proud of who you are, but I do not recommend adding additional information that does not add to your candidacy. <S> This additional information may decrease your chances of landing a position. <S> Discrimination can be very difficult to prove <S> so it's important to protect yourself. <S> I recommend vetting companies for their culture prior to joining such as searching their website for company supported affinity groups and using HRC's Best Places to Work 2018 as a litmus test. <S> But because you're employed to a staffing company, you might not be subject to the same protections as a full-time employee, you could however still file a complaint against that manager.
| If you can stand on the strength of your resume, then you can leave it off. You should list them anyway, rather than their client you were assigned to, since the client's may likely say we've never heard of that person if someone did actually do a check. While there might not be state protections for LGBT status in your state, there may be company-level guidelines that prevent discrimination against LGBT employees.
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How to make sure I receive credits for a task that I developed and removed from Last year I was assigned with someone X (who I report to him) to a task (develop an application from scratch). This task needed lot of development and tests and many changes happens on the go. Person X changed to another department, and I continued developing this task. Later on the executive asked my manager to take this task from me (because it is critical) and he continue developing and test it. I am not involved anymore in this task. I asked my manager why this happened, and he replied that it's because it is critical and he found some bugs in it, but the full complicated process is working. He said the executive just doesn't trust your work. I explained that since I spent a year developing and fixing things in it and the full process is working, I was waiting for a compliment even a raise from this for the hard work. He made me feel like I failed with this task . In any case, I forgot about the task, and I focused on improving my skills. Later on, some modifications on this task were needed and my manager asked me and my coworker to work on it. My coworker started working on it, however next week he is going on a vacation and asked me to continue on it especially because I am familiar with it. The problem is that I am not interested in working on this task anymore. If I am not taking credit for it, he didn't want me to be involved and they don't trust my work, the why do I have to continue working it? So how can I tell my manager that I am not interested in this task so that he doesn't take it a negative way? <Q> I don't believe there is a way to decline this task without it going badly for you. <S> The better way of looking at this is that it is an opportunity. <S> For whatever reason they didn't trust you a year ago. <S> Now the manager is not only bringing you back onto the project but he is doing so while he is going on vacation. <S> This implies a pretty high level of trust. <S> At the very least it means that (s)he thinks you've improved enough to handle it, which is a good thing. <S> The best way to handle it is to accept the task and do a fantastic job while your manager is away. <S> To try and decline now would be very bad. <A> Who asked you to continue work on this task, was it your coworker who is going on vacation or your manager? <S> If it is your coworker, I would bring it up with your manager that he has requested you to work on a project you've already been removed from. <S> Your manager will be able to provide clear direction as to what your tasks and responsibilities are, if any, in your coworkers absence. <S> You would be unwise to say "I don't want to work on this because my ego is bruised from the feedback I got last time <S> and I don't like this project anymore. <S> " It won't look good for you to decline work. <S> Maybe they want to give you another chance, or maybe your successor isn't doing as good of a job. <S> Or maybe they just want you to temp for a few weeks until your coworker returns. <S> Whatever their needs, you should do it with a smile while you are employed. <A> Simply put, you realistically cannot and should not refuse the task as it will effect your already tarnished reputation. <S> I use the word tarnished base on your own words: He said the executive just doesn't trust your work. <S> Based on that feedback alone, I would start looking for another place to work . <S> If they don't trust your work, that doesn't say much as it relates to your growth opportunities at your current place of employment. <S> Short answer : <A> I wouldn't say you're not interested in doing the task but tell them (emphasizing if necessary) that you were taken off the task and since then, have been assigned other tasks and do not have the time to do it. <S> You could also point out that since your co-worker has been working on it for over a month, by the time you've familiarized yourself with the changes, his vacation will be over and it's not worth it. <S> If management insists then you may have to bite the bullet and do it <S> but otherwise, get on with the work you've been assigned. <A> It sounds like the fundamental problem here is the lack of recognition or praise for the original work you did. <S> It bruised your ego, and as a result it has affected your motivation. <S> Sometimes a manager can make a poorly worded comment in the middle of a fluid discussion, but these words will affect the employee for a long time! <S> That is bad for you, and for the company. <S> Although it happened last year, if it is still an issue for you now, then I think you may want to address it directly. <S> You could request a private meeting with one of the managers, and explain to them how you feel. <S> What exactly do you want from them now? <S> I might ask some questions along these lines: <S> I recall I was taken off the project because my work was not good enough. <S> That made me feel undervalued, because I had worked very hard on the project. <S> Was that the real reason, or am I remembering incorrectly? <S> If so, could you please explain what I was doing wrong, so that I can improve in future? <S> Do you trust me more this year? <S> Have I improved since then? <S> Are there specific areas I should focus on now? <S> If you find this kind of one-on-one conversation does not usually go how you would like, then you could write an email instead, so the manager will have time to consider it more fully before replying. <S> It might be that the management had quite valid business reasons to take the project away from you last year, which should not be taken too personally. <S> It is possible that your work was good, but that an extra level of quality was required to finish the project off. <S> (This can sometimes be the case regarding subtle concerns like the security of a system, or accessibility, or branding...) <S> Or it might simply be that they thought resources would be more efficient if they were arranged differently at that time. <S> Either way, I think it's reasonable to ask what the specific reasons were, so that you are not left wondering, and may learn something to improve for the future.
| Do what your asked, and find another place to work where you're skills will be appreciated.
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How to deal with a person who constantly explains things you already know well? One of my colleagues enjoys explaining things a lot, and he does it very well. This comes up handy when I am missing something on a subject: I come to him, and he teaches me everything I have to know about the thing. However, this also has a negative side. Sometimes, he starts explaining something that I already know, and continues with the explanation no matter what. Telling him something like: “Yeah, thanks, I already know all that; can we please go back to the original question?” has either no effect, or he barely responds: “Of course, I remember the original question, just let me explain [the subject] first.” Here's how a recent conversation sounded like: Me: do you think it would be better to use this approach rather than the one we considered originally? I'm not sure if the new one is clear enough; it doesn't look particularly readable... Colleague: the benefit of the new approach is that it cleverly uses the polymorphic behavior of the classes. You know what polymorphism is, right? Me: of course I do, it's when... Colleague: it's when multiple types share the same interface, which makes it possible to use those types in the same way, as soon as the use only needs the members which are declared within the interface. One of the interesting aspects of it is parametric polymorphism. This is what translates into... Me: into templates in C++ and generics in Java. I know. Speaking about the old and the new approaches... Colleague: exactly, templates and generics. They allow you to use... Me: I know what generics are... Colleague: ... an object independently of its type, as soon as it extends a specific interface [...] Those discussions sometimes take a long time, and are not very useful: I would rather prefer focusing on things I don't know, or don't know well. However, all my attempts to refocus the person failed. I want to avoid to be rude to this person at all costs for both personal reasons and because he has valuable knowledge to share (personally, I find myself already quite rude to interrupt him, although he doesn't seem to notice or may be used to it). Therefore, what is a polite way to focus his attention to the matters which are important to me, away from subjects I already know well? Note: there is already a question here with a title looking a lot like mine. However, the specifics of the context of the other question and the reaction of the poster which was rather different than mine means that the answers don't apply much to my situation. <Q> Me: do you think it would be better to use this approach rather than the one we considered originally? <S> I'm not sure if the new one is clear enough; it doesn't look particularly readable... <S> Colleague: <S> the benefit of the new approach is that it cleverly uses the polymorphic behavior of the classes. <S> You know what polymorphism is, right? <S> Me: <S> of course I do <S> , it's when... <S> Colleague <S> : it's w... <S> (emhpasis mine) <S> This coworker asked you something that a yes/ <S> no answer should suffice; there was no need for you to try to explain yourself to this Colleague <S> , you could have just answered " <S> Yes" or "Yes I do" . <S> By you engaging on trying to explain seems to encourage this person to continue with their very enthusiastic explanation. <S> Using a plain yes could minimize the chances he wants to go into details. <S> I also see that this conversation depicted strongly derailed from the main query, which was yours asking if another approach could be considered to favor readability. <S> Instead of answering to his question to if you know what is polymorphism <S> I suggest you put the conversation back on track. <S> The fact that polymorphism was cleverly applied is not much related to readability, which was what you asked. <S> When this happens, and this coworker responds with another question, put the conversation back on track: in this scenario it could have been by replying <S> "Yes, it's clever use, but still I consider we can improve the readability by doing ..." . <S> If you are not feeling chatty that moment, or you are in a hurry try not to engage on unrelated questions to your desired focus, so the topic does not derail into a 101 discussion about some specific detail. <A> I'm not sure if your example question is indicative of the questions you ask your coworker but <S> one way to handle this would be to limit the scope of your questions to those with simple answers. <A> My team lead explains very thoroughly like this. <S> Like you mentioned, it can be helpful when you don't fully understand a concept, but <S> unnecessarily long when I do. <S> I believe that if your colleague is willing to help you, it's likely he's not doing this in a malicious way. <S> It's hard to tell what you do and do not know. <S> When he ask "Do you know X?" <S> and you feel like you understand X <S> , just say "Yes I understand X." and move on. <S> I recommend being very direct with your questions and to drive the discussion as best you can. <S> When I approach my team lead about a design question, I lay out the pro and cons of each options to where it's obvious <S> I understand (or don't understand) key concepts. <S> Then I have him give me his opinion about what's the best choice. <S> At the end of the day, it's just a discussion and we're both human. <S> You may rabbit hole a bit, go over things more than once <S> and that's okay.
| An approach you could try is to not ellaborate on your answers.
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Overpayment of Unused Sick Days after leaving company As my role ended with my company, I had unused sick hours (earned sick time). During my last days, I asked for payment of my unused sick hours, which my company provided me with. Recently they emailed me saying that they actually do not provide payment for unused sick hours, and claim that they did not know my role was coming to an end. Now they are asking me to call them within a week to "discuss the method or repayment." There was no indication of what would happen if I didn't call them. Given that these were for sick hours that I earned, do I have to pay them back?Unfortunately I couldn't find anything on MA state laws discussing both of these happening. They all talk about unused sick hours, or repayment of overpayment after a role ends.Any help would be very much appreciated! <Q> Policy varies by company, but "sick time" is generally a "contingency" time off. <S> Your vacation time would be something normally paid out. <S> Again, this is company policy, and of course, laws vary by location. <S> You could always stand your ground and make them come after you in court, but you'll be burning that reference. <A> There was no indication of what would happen if I didn't call them. <S> Given that these were for sick hours that I earned, do I have to pay them back? <S> Unfortunately I couldn't find anything on MA state laws discussing both of these happening. <S> They all talk about unused sick hours, or repayment of overpayment after a role ends. <S> Any help would be very much appreciated! <S> In general, you are required to return all overpayments. <S> Based on what you have written, you will be asked to pay this money back. <S> If you don't you could be sued. <S> It seems as if whoever you asked for the unused sick pay got confused and made a mistake. <S> You should call them and find out what they are proposing. <S> Then if you still decide that you should be allowed to keep the overpayment, you should contact the local Department of Labor and/or the state Attorney General's office. <S> You may need to engage an attorney. <S> Decide if the amount of money involved is worth that. <A> Generally, if you were paid money in error, then you need to pay it back. <S> You don't need to pay it back just because they say so, you can request that they explain very carefully what they paid you and why that would be the wrong amount. <S> There is an exception if having to pay back would be unfair to you. <S> For example, if you got £5,000 salary for the last two years and they claim the salary should have been just £4,000. <S> It is quite likely that relied on the salary and assumed it was correct, if you had known about the lower salary you would have found employment elsewhere where someone offers £5,000, and you wouldn't have spent as much money as you did. <S> So in your case, I'd say they need to tell you exactly what was wrong with the payment (not just "you have to pay it back"), and it may depend on how much later they told you of that mistake. <S> If it was a few days later, or if it was two years later, that will make a difference. <S> And whether you could reasonably have believed the money was correct, that makes a difference. <S> Depending on how you left, you may have received a compensation package, with the sick days paid out being part of the compensation package. <S> In that case, it would be very hard for the company to get the money back. <A> Is this PTO or sick time? <S> If PTO: <S> Then this is treated the same as vacation time. <S> Ignoring the fact that you called it sick time. <S> Company would be wrong to request you pay it back as MA is one state out of 24 that require employers to pay out unused vacation or PTO time. <S> If not PTO: <S> Speaking from experience, every company I have worked at will deliver unused vacation time as a payout and sick time is not paid out upon leaving. <S> The ethical thing to do is to return the money in good faith and not setup a repayment plan at all. <S> The only repayment plan is to deliver it in whole. <S> The only legal recourse the Company has at this point is to sue you in small claims court which they most likely would win. <S> You should contact them immediately and coordinate a time/place to return the funds in the form of a money order and then get a receipt for payment so that there is traceability that the matter is resolved.
| Unless you can point to a document that states that all unused sick time is paid out upon leaving the company, then you don’t really have a case.
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How long should a respondent in an investigation have before they are investigated? How long, is too long, for a respondent to have, whilst responding to an accusation of workplace bullying? For context:The accused has my official complaint for 2+ months and has yet to be investigated (due to holidays, witness interviews etc).. is this normal? 10 weeks to come up with a response? <Q> How long, is too long, for a respondent to have, whilst responding to an accusation of workplace bullying? <S> Given the few details you have written, there's no way for anyone to say X is too long, but Y isn't. <S> This depends on local laws, and the practices of the recipient of your accusations. <S> In others, there is no such requirement. <S> For some investigating groups, they act immediately. <S> For others, they can take months or just bury your accusations forever. <A> I can't say what would be too long. <S> However, I would expect that the person in question would be told very early that they were accused of bullying, and whether that accusation is true or not, any future bullying would be a very, very bad idea for their career. <A> is this normal? <S> 10 weeks to come up with a response? <S> No, not if the company is taking the complaint seriously. <S> Then they would deal with it in a very short time frame.
| In some locales, there is a specific period of time during which you must get some sort of response. Ask whoever you sent your accusation to how long you should expect to wait for a formal response.
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Will a negative remark in my relieving letter affect my career prospects? During his tenure with us he was undergoing training in functionality safety and has not added any value to the organization. He was relived from his services immediately after his resignation. Sincerely, I resigned from a small company after 3 months of joining due to some issues.I was relieved immediately after my resignation. They have added the above remark in my relieving letter. Will this remark affect my future career prospects? <Q> For dealing with hr, it may affect any future applications. <S> I would consider if it would be worthy mentioning the experience on your CV. <S> At the end of the day, your former employers are the ones that come in a bad light with that letter. <S> Also, after a couple of years in your new job, it will be mostly irrelevant for a new position that you had a 3 month gig that did not go well. <S> It happens to the best in the industry. <A> Yes, every remark has a certain impact, whether positive or negative. <S> You should expect questions about this remark in interviews and have some good explanation ready at hand. <S> You should also learn about the meaning of relieving letters in your country. <S> In some countries they have little meaning while in others there is a secret language involved. <S> In Germany, for example, He always tried to deliver good results. <S> is a very bad remark. <S> It means, you tried but were not able to actually produce good results. <S> If this kind of secret language is typical in your country, this remark is even worse than it reads. <S> Continueing in your carrer, you should avoid including this relieving letter in any application at all cost. <S> Only give it to an employer if he asks for all previous relieving letters. <S> I'd say you are lucky they didn't choose a harsher phrase. <S> Not adding value to a company in the first 3 month might be something you can explain. <A> Yes. <S> Assuming that you are required to show relieving letter at any point - it will affect your future. <S> Don't get too discouraged, try to fix yourself in whatever was the reason of such remark, and find new job where you can shine.
| You may have to settle on a lower salary, or less senior role in next job. However, if you are dealing with an experienced professional that knows an employee only starts adding value around 1 year, he may see through it that it was written in spite and your former bosses were unprofessional doing it.
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How do I deal with finding out that my underperforming teammate makes more than I? So I have this teammate who is much older than I which is probably the reason why he earns more than I. He has tons of experience on other aspects of software engineering but when it comes to iOS development (which is our job), it is clear that he is underperforming. Now I just had a significant salary raise but still significantly lower than what he makes. I can't directly bring this up to my supervisor because of the NDA regarding salaries, but it's clearly causing my demotivation and hurting my overall job satisfaction. I'd really like to stay, it's a great company to advance my skill,s but salary-wise, I also needed to feel that I'm compensated fairly. I guess what I'm asking is, how do I really manage the stress that I feel about this setup? <Q> How do I deal with finding out that my underperforming teammate makesmore than me? <S> But it's clearly causing my demotivation and overall job satisfaction. <S> But I'd really like to stay <S> , it's a great company to advance my skillsbut salary-wise, I also needed to feel that I'm compensated fairly. <S> Iguess what I'm asking is, how do I really manage the stress that Ifeel about this setup? <S> Would you immediately feel a lot better about your life if this coworker got a pay cut, yet your salary stayed the same? <S> At some point in your career, you simply need to learn that basing your motivation on what someone else makes is a mistake. <S> Being "demotivated" and feeling "stress" because you learned that someone else makes more than you is a poor way to go through the day. <S> There is always someone better than you. <S> Always someone making more than you. <S> Always someone getting more promotions than you. <S> If you focus on that, you'll always be "demotivated" and "under stress". <S> Stop worrying about others. <S> You and your attitude are the only things within your control. <S> Focus on you. <S> Be the best you that you can be. <S> Do that <S> and you'll be happier. <S> And your career will benefit as well. <A> You shouldn't bring up coworker's salaries in discussion of your own salary (even if there weren't an NDA). <S> The performance and pay of your coworkers (at least on an individual level) is generally none of your business - that's between them, their manager and the company, and <S> this knowledge generally only creates negative feelings . <S> There may be things going on behind the scenes affecting the salary they're getting, so you shouldn't assume it's as simple as "they're achieving X, the company thinks that's worth Y". <S> It could be that: <S> In a new role, the company is assuming they'll get up to speed quickly to justify the salary. <S> Whether you're a new grad or whether you have 30 years of experience, there's always a period of getting up to speed in the beginning when your performance doesn't justify your salary (but more experience may make this period shorter). <S> The company realises they're paying too much, and this employee may not get a raise any time soon, or the company may even be looking into getting rid of them. <S> The company doesn't realise the employee is underperforming, but, again, <S> it's not your job to address that . <S> This employee has some very useful knowledge or maybe even secrets that means the company really wants to hang on to this employee. <S> You don't have the full picture of what they're achieving, or you're biased. <S> They may be going through some personal stuff which is affecting their performance and the company is deciding to cut them some slack. <S> If you feel that you deserve a higher salary, based on your performance, what you can get elsewhere and what the company pays others (on average, not on a per-employee basis), you should probably have a discussion about that with your manager, focused around your performance. <S> See: <S> How should I properly approach my boss if I'm feeling underpaid? <A> Let's say it like this: <S> Who are you to judge how much the increased experience of this guy should be worth to the company - <S> a fixed salary is not so much about the current performance but about the expectation to handle situations professionally Maybe he was brought into your project since there was nobody else available. <S> maybe he even did not like this <S> So, should the company give incentives that employees change the jobs internally as needed or should the company give incentive to stay in their field of expertise until the field is irrelevant?
| You'll need to learn how to focus on the positives of your career, your job, your compensation and stop comparing yourself to others.
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How to prepare for a leaving colleague without letting the company know about it we are a small company with about 100 employees. Our department consists of three people. Our bus factor is as close to 1 as it can get. I know for certain, that a colleague will be leaving in october, but won't tell the company until midst of september. How to prepare for the imminent impact? I've taken the following steps: Prepare an job advertisment which can't go public until he informs the company Try to participate in his daily work/projekts which is not really possible, because management is expecting to deliver current projects Asking him to document everything, which does also not work, because he wants to finish his running projects for a good testimonial Telling the management/company is not an option for me. <Q> All you have at the moment is hearsay. <S> The rest is not your problem, it's the role of management to ensure that everything continues to run, and they will have the notice period to do it in. <S> You may be consulted then. <S> There is no need to act prior to the leaving becoming official. <A> This is not your problem. <S> Your colleague did you no favors when (s)he told you this. <S> Point #1 is this is a management problem. <S> The company should already have plans in place if 1/3 of a small team should leave for any reason. <S> What would the company do if someone won the lottery? <S> Was hit by a bus? <S> Just quit? <S> The answer should be the same for all of these. <S> Point #2. <S> You colleague is being very unprofessional here. <S> They should not have told you. <S> They are putting the problem on you - which is not your job. <S> They should tell the company now so the company can start the replacement process and have some time for knowledge transfer and cross-training. <S> I know that the normal notice is two weeks. <S> However, by them telling you they made their leaving your problem. <S> You're going to have to clean up the mess left behind. <A> Realistically, nothing should be too different. <S> The things that reduce a bus factor from 1.001 to 2 are the things you should do regardless of whether or not the employee is quitting or not.' <S> Asking him to document everything, which does also not work, because he wants to finish his running projects for a good testimonial <S> If your management doesn't value or prioritize this, then ultimately it's going to basically suck for everyone involved. <S> You will feel this the most. <S> Basically, this needs to be considered important regardless of whether someone is leaving or not. <S> IF your colleague leaves then things will be in place. <S> But ultimately that benefit is mostly present regardless of whether someone leaves or not. <S> There's not much else <S> you can do short of breaking your colleagues trust. <S> And for all you know something will change and that decision (which is still a ways out) will not come to be. <A> 1)I hope you didn't prepare that job advertisement on the company IT infrastructure. <S> Even if you set it to private / unpublished it might be found. <S> Are you even authorized to hire? <S> 2)Usually there is a notice period for which your colleague will remain employed after he handed in his/her resignation. <S> That is the time to prepare officially. <S> 3)Rightfully you're concerned that your workload will rise but short of management hiring new personnel, your team will have to compensate and (if/ <S> when appropriate) push back on unrealistic expectations.
| If you really want to take it seriously then analyse how it will affect the tasks you are responsible for and do what you can to mitigate.
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Leaving the company, won't be paid for summertime forced overtime So the situation is,I'm leaving my company in three weeks as I was very underpaid for my experience and I found a fairly good opportunity. Even though I want to do it gracefuly, the situation is degrading very fast as days pass by. First, I've been communicated that I won't be paid for the summertime forced overtime, that is stated in the company internal governance rules will be compensated " by default " with free time to a given ratio benefitial to the employee. The number of hours that I am loosing here is quite big ( three digit number), obviously the expectative of loosing them all raises hard feelings on me. In the meantime, the company is in the counter-offer phase. Even though I won't consider it, how they expect me to do so with above situation? Are they nuts? Got to say that the project I am currently in is critical for the company, and I'm probably the most experienced member in terms of the technology and customer's business knowledge. I'm currently on vacation and I am expected to return for two weeks before leaving definitely, just to perform the best knowledge transfer that I can. Now, is it un-professional to say that "I won't be coming back as I am forced to compensate the summer overtime hours"? In that scenario I will be compensating hours with nobody's approval, and I will be putting my current project in a rather risky situation. Obviously the brige will be burnt here. On the other hand, If I come back I will be working for free, and I will be asked 150% performance as usual. Doesn't look like a healthy way to end this phase anyway. EDIT: I forgot to note a very important fact. Free time has to be approved by my manager, so if I decide to compensate myself those hours it will probably be done without anybody's approval, opening the gate for future problems and a very tense situation. **UPDATE: I've just being told by the manager,that it's up to me: To transfer my knowledge and leave gracefuly. Won't be paid. To take that overtime and burning the bridge forever. This is in southern Europe. <Q> First, I've been communicated that I won't be paid for the summertime forced overtime <S> So answer that communication that you will have to take the two weeks off in lieu of the overtime unless they have another solution. <S> That leaves the ball in their court and you can go forwards from their reply. <A> Adding to the existing answers: some negotiation advice, assuming you want to get paid for your overtime and still do your two weeks of knowledge tranfser <S> Don't threaten directly or be aggressive from the start. <S> Approach it directly with your manager (first) but give them a chance to agree and save face at the same time <S> Start easy: <S> "Hey boss, I'm confused. <S> My contract says that I should be compensated free time for over time worked but apparently that's not happening for the 120 hours I did on summer. <S> Can you explain to me why the contract isn't followed here? <S> Turn it up, if you need to: "Sorry, according to the contract, I'm owned 120 hours of free time. <S> If that doesn't get paid out, I'm afraid I have to take it out of the notice period. <S> If you disagree, please explain why my interpretation of the contract is wrong". <S> If that doesn't work. <S> "Sorry, I think we have to agree to disagree here. <S> I will get this looked over by my lawyer to make sure this is a correct interpretation". <A> I assume that southern European country is in EU and I assume that this "company internal governance rules" is in fact agreement between you and your company you singed when joining. <S> Just inform your immediate supervisor that due to company policy and said agreement you cannot work for the remaining two weeks. <S> Because you cannot work if you agreed to compensate overtime with free time. <S> Any other resolution (as be paid for the time) would require offer from HR with rate per hour compensation for your overtime. <S> Also please check if your country Labours law don't require set window to take free time (in some countries you have one month after the month overtime happened). <A> In light of your update I'd say the "bridges are burned" already (by the management by the way). <S> Seek legal counsel immediately to get the most out of an already bad situation. <S> Usually you would be compensated for overtime, especially if it is mandatory. <S> Depending on your country that might well be embedded in law. <S> Hopefully that default company rule is also in your contract or you at least have it somewhere in writing. <S> Why are you now NOT being paid for the last two weeks for KT either?That sounds incorrect and inacceptable. <S> Or did you mean you're not being paid for the summer overtime work? <S> EDIT: <S> If they really need you for the KT time, you might have something to bargain with to ensure overtime compensation, though it sounds less probable considering they let you "decide" to "burn the bridges"... <S> quite sneaky that one too. <S> Also, be honest, would you even care to ever work for this company again? <S> Though they also might bad mouth you, which probably is a bigger problem than not working for them again. <A> Definitely don't take unilateral action without at least discussing it with your manager first. <S> Taking the remaining two weeks of your employment off "in lieu" of the unpaid overtime seems like the obvious solution, but you've already made it clear that this isn't going to be well received by your employer. <S> Your contract states that you are due free time to compensate for the overtime. <S> Assuming your country has decent labour laws, then your employer cannot simply ignore this contractual obligation. <S> The question is, how you can reach agreement with them in a way that suits both parties. <S> You have options I see as: <S> You work the remaining two weeks to complete handover (KT) to your employer's satisfaction, and they agree to pay you for the overtime in lieu of you reclaiming this back. <S> You get them to agree to you not working the two weeks as compensation for the overtime. <S> Option 1 is risky for you: I would want something in writing regarding the payment for overtime before I agreed to this action. <S> Option 2 is bad for them, because if you are integral to the team and have important knowledge, they won't want you to leave without a handover. <S> I think you need to use your leverage of forcing option 2, to get them to put in writing option 1. <A> I would discuss this matter with my direct manager - the company should decide which option is better for them: pay you for the overtime, or return your hours as free time, without proper KT. <S> As you said - this is default, but your situation isn't default. <S> I think that only reasonable solution is to pay you, and allow to do the KT, but that is really up to them. <S> 100 <S> + hours means it is more than half of the month, I wouldn't just walk away from that.
| If they put it in writing and don't pay, you should be able to force payment via threat of legal action.
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Taking videocall interviews at job location after my work hours. Is it ethical? I am interviewing and most, if not all, video call interviews are set for business hours. It is not possible for me to take a whole day off for them, and it is difficult to commute home on time to make the video conferences at the requested times. Given this situation, which is the best way to handle it? I have been interviewing in my job location, using empty conference rooms and whatever locations are available. Most interviews have taken place after my job hours. Some have been during my job hours, so I put into the extra time after the interview to compensate it. Since it is not possible to use skype through the company's proxy, I am using my own internet (mobile phone set as WiFi hotspot). I am worried about the ethical considerations of this situation? <Q> If your company allows staff the use of their facilities for taking personal calls and such, as long as you're doing this in your own time and not the company time then all you have to say is that it is a personal call. <S> On the other hand, those times you have admitted that have been during working hours would definitely not be ethical and <S> I would consider asking to re-arrange these to a more suitable time. <S> If your boss does find out, you just need to be honest. <S> If you're using your own time and not abusing your employers time then you aren't doing anything wrong. <A> Given this situation, which is the best way to handle it? <S> while you are home whenever possible. <S> Most interviewers will understand and work with you to find a more convenient time if you press them. <S> You may decide to come in to work late or leave early in order to interview during "work hours". <S> That's how most folks handle it. <S> When they must be done during work hours, do the interviews during your lunch break. <S> Do them offsite whenever possible. <S> Only use company property when you absolutely can't do it anywhere else. <S> This should almost never happen. <S> That way, you are always doing them on your own personal time and not company time. <S> How should I react if my boss finds out? <S> How should I answer if I am caught red-handed? <S> The only way you can handle it is to be honest. <S> Expect that you will be treated differently once they know you are planning to leave. <A> Using company assets for personal use without permission is unethical regardless of how you rationalise it. <S> If you're worried about being caught, then you already know this. <A> It is perfectly ethical to look for another job. <S> So what is the cost of this for your company? <S> The cost seems to be the cost of you sitting in the office. <S> Since they have to pay the rent, the heating, the cost of your desk and chair anyway, that cost is negligible. <S> If anyone tells you it's unethical or unprofessional to look for a new job, don't listen to them. <S> If anyone tells you you should tell your boss about interviews, most definitely don't listen to them.
| It is also perfectly ethical to not inform your boss about it, because there are plenty of bosses who can't get that someone might want a job elsewhere and that they have the right to do so, and these bosses might make your life very difficult if you find out. Schedule interviews for before or after working hours You were caught interviewing, so just admit it and be prepared to deal with the fallout. Seek out a quiet place like a library conference room, a park, or even your car if you can. So I don't see any ethical problem here.
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What's an effective way to handle it with a boss who seems to feel you owe him something? I have a boss who reminds me from time to time that he hired me and it sounds that I owe something to him. It was one time when he told me that I should I understand whom I'm pleasing in this company after I reported to the CEO that my management is going to delay a huge project and I didn't have any options. What's an effective way to deal with this attitude? I don't want to keep hearing these reminders. <Q> Your manager may feel like you threw him under the bus. <S> There are times when escalating a concern to more senior management is appropriate, but if you feel compelled to do so, be prepared for fallout like this. <S> You went outside the chain of command and complained about management decisions to the CEO. <S> This type of behavior will not endear you to your boss. <S> If your primary goal is a more harmonious relationship with your supervisor, try to avoid complaining to the CEO, and instead make use of the chain of command. <A> If you're in a position where you can easily find a new job you could always answer by saying something like: <S> "Yes you hired me <S> and I chose to work with you." <S> This is a bold answer, but maybe your boss needs a reminder that employment is a contract agreed on both sides? <A> A contract is always a two-ways agreement: You choose to work with them, as much as he chooses to hire you. <S> He wins money, thanks to you, as much as you win money, thanks to him. <S> It's a win-win situation, otherwise, you wouldn't sign it. <A> I would start by not going over his head again, EVER. <S> You just burned a bridge badly and are asking where to find more lighter fluid. <S> How you should handle <S> it is to apologize to your boss for going over his head, tell him it won't happen again, and then try to rebuild the trust you lost by going over his head. <S> Hopefully, you told him before you went to the CEO and didn't catch him unawares, or it will be even harder to rebuild the trust he had in you.
| Of course, if your complaints are well founded and the boss hasn't been listening, escalating your concerns is the only professional response.
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Dealing with a scrum master who undermines the development team I'm hoping for some help in dealing with a scrum master who is directly going against the wishes of the development team. The scrum master in question has an approach which puts completion of sprint stories above essentially everything else. Generally, a developer (person A) might hit a bit of a road block and request assistance from a member (person B) of another, more experienced team. It should be noted that the latter team is a remote team working in a timezone 5 hours behind, so delays are expected, and sometimes issues can take a day or two to be resolved regardless. What has started to happen is that even if the developer states that they're in control of the situation, the scrum master will email B, or sometimes email B's manager, stating that A is blocked and needs immediate assistance. The development team brought this up at the last sprint retrospective, and the scrum master reluctantly agreed to stop unless assistance was directly requested by a developer. The developers' concerns were that the scrum master was driving a wedge between the two teams and that his emails would lead to animosity between the teams, as it could be interpreted that the developer sanctioned the email. Although agreeing to stop, the scrum master has continued to send these emails. How could this be dealt with in a professional way, with the goal of making this stop for good? <Q> One of the goals of a Scrum Master is to remove impediments that exist between teams. <S> Your Scrum Master probably sees this "blocker" as an impediment, and then does their best to remove it by claiming a need for "immediate assistance". <S> Understanding that the Scrum Master is doing this as a perceived part of their role is key in solving the issue. <S> So, don't make it part of their role. <S> Instead, schedule your friendly chats in the calendaring system. <S> Then there's nothing blocked, just items planned. <S> If you remove the impediment, there's nothing to act upon. <S> If the problem is solved before your Scrum Master attempts to solve it, then you can manage the cross-team relationships AND fall back upon your Scrum Master when self-management isn't an option. <A> Raise it again at a scrum meeting. <S> Point out his failures and that he is poisoning the team atmosphere. <S> Hit him - hard. <S> A scrum master should not do that. <S> SPrint story completion is not the goal in itself. <S> If stories are delayed, analysis is important. <S> His beahvrios is likely to lead to a lot of bad behavior, down into reporting false completes. <A> Chances are, the Scrum Master thinks they are helping. <S> I'm curious what happens next in your situations. <S> What does Person B respond with? <S> What does Person B's manager respond with. <S> Why does the Scrum Master feel that they need to take this action? <S> Is there an SLA on person B's response or do they provide an checkin time that they expect to have more information for you? <S> From my experience, Scrum Masters act this way in one of three circumstances: <S> They think that them following up will get a faster turn-around than you following up. <S> They think that the team member will let it go and it will be forgotten <S> They are under personal pressure to deliver the work (perceived or real) and they may not think it'll make a difference, but they are taking action for the sake of relieving the impulse to do something. <S> Finding out if it is one of these three could inform your next steps. <S> If it's the third, that might be a problem elsewhere - the Scrum Master is not personally responsible for the delivery of work like a PM is. <S> If it's the first or third, you can try to set up a safe-to-fail experiment to find out if they are right (or show them that their actions aren't contributing). <A> You already told the scrum master that his behaviour is inappropriate in your opinion, they even agreed and said they would stop it, and still it is going on. <S> Obviously tell your scrum master again, very strongly this time, and if you find out it happens again, email B an B’s manager that the request was not urgent, that your scrum master sent this on his own, and <S> that B’s response to your request was perfectly fine.
| Be sure to tell the scrum master that progress is being made, and that the cross-team resources you require are available, scheduled at (whatever time) and that's sufficiently early enough to meet the deadlines.
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How to know the job I am seeking to is for my own company? I work with X and Z Software, divided in 10 specified detailed tasks. However, I found on the Internet a good job post with good salary with Y software that we are starting to use actually along those 10 similar tasks My question how do I know that this post is not posted by my company? What make me suspicious the terms(words) is used in those tasks and they are really specific tasked that I am actually working with them ALL. This software y is similar to x thats why I am seek to seek this new job <Q> One easy way I've done for this is just copy/pasting some of the job descriptions into Google. <S> You can specifically put them in " too in order to do a strict Google search. <S> You can also check your own careers page and look there. <S> This can do a few things: <S> If you see a posting similar to the job you think this one is describing you can compare <S> You can also see the format your company posts jobs in and identify how close this posting is to those <A> Usually, companies publish offers internally and on their webpage. <S> These are shared to allow existing employees to apply for a dream job within the company. <S> Also there are jobs listed in various referral programs (recommend a friend for this job). <S> Maybe your company has such career site, which you can search for the offer and compare if it matches what you found online. <A> In my experience there usually is some contact information to the recruiter in such an anonymous advert. <S> I would start by emailing/calling the recruiter and ask straight out if it is for your company as you were considering applying but for undisclosed reasons want to avoid that company. <S> Either they answer you or not. <S> Either way, no harm done as you do not have to disclose your identity.
| If you saw this on a different job board, take an existing posting from your company page and look for that job there to see if your company actually uses that board
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How to list work history on job application The job application I am looking at is asking me to list my last three employers. I worked for a school district last year and I worked at two schools. One of the schools was .3 and one was .5. I was under one contract for both of these schools that equaled .8. I really want to split these jobs up and list them as two separate jobs. Would it be ok to list them as two separate jobs/employers, or since I worked for one school district, would I have to list it as one job even though I worked at two different schools? Edit: Also, I work for both Uber and Lyft in my free time. I would like to list at least one of them- Uber or Lyft- as a previous employer. Would this be ok to do? I understand I’m an independent contractor/ self- employed with Uber and Lyft but just curious if this would be ok to do. Comment reply: it was one paycheck from the school district. <Q> since I worked for one school district, would I have to list it as one job even though I worked at two different schools? <S> I have a friend who is also a teacher. <S> It appears that they list their roles for different schools as two separate jobs, even though both positions were for the same school district. <S> It is important to note that there were different classes they taught (agriculture & business versus science) for the respective schools. <S> I work for both Uber and Lyft in my free time. <S> I would like to list at least one of them- Uber or Lyft- as a previous employer. <S> Would this be ok to do? <S> I don't imagine there would be anything wrong with listing these as well. <S> After all, they are apart of your work history. <S> I would always weigh the pros and cons of listing a role that is not in your industry (or recent) <S> For instance, I would not list the fact that I used to work for a pharmacy for future software roles I apply for since they are not related, unless the software job was related to pharmacy etc., thus giving me unique experience other candidates probably do not have. <S> Anything on your resume that doesn't add a large amount of value is just noise. <A> If they were different jobs then list them separately. <S> Different jobs means some of the following were different: <S> Roles and responsibilities Skills and experience needed Supervisors <S> Co-workers <S> This assumes that there are not strict rules which govern how you apply for jobs in your location. <A> Why not simply list the following? <S> (unless there are specific requirements for schools regarding this matter) - professional work experience (assuming,those job titles are your education / profession; if not state just "work experience") : start-date, end-date, school district, school A, job title start-date, end-date, school district, school B, job title - other work experience: start-date, end-date, uber, job title start-date, end-date, Lyft, job title <S> Instead of dates you could also just say x months instead and maybe the year.
| To make it clear that they were different jobs, on each one don’t just list the school district as your employer, include the school name.
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When to print off presentations for the audience? I will be giving a presentation shortly to some of the higher ups about what I did this summer as an intern. In some student presentations I've seen at University and at conferences, the presenter will print off the slides to distribute among the audience in case they would like to follow along. Additionally, this happens for some of my classes where the professors will print it off for students to take notes on. When is it acceptable and recommended to print off your slideshow in an industry setting? Obviously an everyday meeting is generally not a situation for this, but for situations like a 3-month progress presentation to those who don't know you seems like it would be helpful for them to have. I would like to know what are the industry conventions for this type of thing. <Q> My rule of thumb is to print the copies if you are verbally delivering much more than it is visible on slides . <S> Then notes are often helpful, and having nice slide structure printed out keeps audience focused on slide while looking down on the paper. <S> Also I would always try to send the presentation to participants, or make it available in internal network to download. <A> I don’t think there is a industry standard for this but rather more of a workplace culture. <S> From personal experience, I usually print copies when the presentation is under 10 slides and I feel like the audience needs a more engaged presentation. <S> Again, this is mostly up to your descretion. <S> Printing out 50 pages of slides would probably be painful for everyone <A> What I would like to know is when is it acceptable and recommended to print off your slideshow in an industry setting? <S> I would like to know what are the industry conventions for this type of thing. <S> As you have mentioned, when the audience would need to take notes, it's often helpful to have printouts. <S> If this is a "what I did this summer" presentation, and not something that would provide value to readers at a later date, then handouts wouldn't be necessary. <S> Still, having handouts wouldn't likely hurt - unless you were using a huge amount of paper. <S> If you do, include your contact information on the cover of the printout so that interested parties can get hold of you if needed. <A> Print your notes, not your slides. <S> The general guidelines for a well-made presentation include Big margins all around the presentation Big font sizes so even the people sitting in the back can read the text Don't read from your own slides. <S> Tell your audience the important parts and only visualize or illustrate the highlights for better understanding. <S> A good presentation will be meaningless without your notes. <S> ( TED agrees ) <S> Printing out slides takes up much more space than nessecary and should be avoided. <S> The better solution is to create a simple document where you describe your presentation. <S> You can even use that document for your own preparation and presentation as a note. <S> That way you can compress a 10 slides presentation into 2 pages printouts. <S> Print only on one side of the sheet so people can take notes on the back side. <S> In a professional setting, I always feel like the presenter didn't care much for the presentation if he printed out his slides...
| Also, when the audience would want to review and study your presentation later, it usually works well to have printouts. IMHO printing out the slides is the lazy approach and a waste of paper.
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Interviewing order; the effects of going first in recruiter's evaluation This question might be seen as slightly opinion based for those who are unfamiliar with the area but I'm mostly interested in what (if any) real evidence might exist . If given the opportunity to pick when you're being interviewed, is it a good idea to request to go in first? Will I become the benchmark all the others are judged against or will there be a certain novelty factor about the first interviewee which once worn off might have a negative psychological impact in the minds of the interviewers? Also, is it better to pick a time in the morning or afternoon to make the best impression? <Q> Also, is it better to pick a time in the morning or afternoon to make the best impression? <S> perspective it isn't even worth worrying about. <S> For instance, if you decide to go first, and the initial person you spoke with had a fight with their significant other, I would say your chances are less in terms of making a good impression because the person is most likely not in a good mood. <S> In other words, in my experience , a lot of this is out of your control. <S> What I would suggest, is you try to pick a time that is best for you . <S> Instead of worrying about what is the best time to interview with one or more people whom you never met, try to focus on when you are at your best . <S> As side note, you can never be penalized for dressing nice for an interview. <S> It shows that you care about making a solid first impression. <S> Also, read and then re-read your resume. <S> Typo's and grammatical errors on your resume can have a negative impact too. <A> If given the opportunity to pick when you're being interviewed, is it a good idea to request to go in first? <S> According to this article on Psychological Science seems that it is indeed better to go first . <S> The reason why is because of the "narrow bracketing" phenomena, which is basically some form of bias towards the first candidate(s) in comparison with later candidates. <S> From the abstract, emphasis mine: We conjectured that in such situations [when +1 candidates are evaluated in a day], individuals engage in narrow bracketing , assessing each subset in isolation and then—for any given subset—avoiding much deviation from the expected overall distribution of judgments. <S> For instance, an interviewer who has already highly recommended three applicants on a given day may be reluctant to do the same for a fourth applicant . <S> Data from more than 9,000 M.B.A. interviews supported this prediction. <A> If given the opportunity to pick when you're being interviewed, is it a good idea to request to go in first? <S> It's unlikely you would have your choice in that regard. <S> If you believe you are about the same as all other candidates, you should go last. <S> You'll make a final impression, that may be more lasting. <S> Also, is it better to pick a time in the morning or afternoon to make the best impression? <S> That depends mostly on you. <S> I'm a "morning person". <S> I have my energy at its highest in the morning, so for me I would make my best impression then. <S> But others are afternoon people and project their best later in the day.
| You'll make a great impression that others won't be able to compete with. Based on my experience, it is so subjective as to whether or not to go first or somewhere after from the person/people interviewing you If you believe you are far stronger than most candidates, you should go first.
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Self concious about tics, how to inquire without coming across insecure? I just started here a week ago and am not that much of a talker. My first week hasn't concisted of much work, but mainly studying up. I have a lot of tics (tourettes) and the combination of thinking a lot because of the studying makes it so I often tic without thinking about it. Now I have this really annoying vocal tic, where I shortly hum / cough. I'd like to inquire wether or not people are bothered about it, but am not sure if it is relevant (perhaps they would've spoken to me about it yet?) and I should ignore it, of if there is a way to inquire about them without coming across as insecure or thinking more about that then work. <Q> If you're concerned that your colleagues are bothered, you should simply ask them. <S> I'm sure everyone around you is aware that you have tics and cannot do much against them. <S> But openly telling someone "Your constant humming is grating on my nerves" or even talking behind your back about your tics is bordering on discrimination. <S> However, if you breach that taboo and start talking about it <S> , you give everyone the chance to talk civilized about their concerns, problems or acceptance. <S> This not only applies to situations where you are so concentrated that you don't notice your tics, but also to situations that make you nervous and increase the frequency of your tics. <S> You could tell the colleagues sitting in your office after lunch break <S> Hey, I think you all noticed that I have this humming tic. <S> All this learning makes me tic quite often, so I wanted to know if anyone is bothered by it? <S> I'm concerned I might break your concentration or grate on your nerves, so please tell me if it's affecting you negatively. <S> By openly speaking about your tics, you might increase your acceptance among your colleagues or teach them about autism and tics. <S> Depending on their answers you might talk to your manager to initiate some changes like moving some colleagues to another room or getting a room to yourself. <S> In any way, you initiating the talk will hopefully prevent frustration in affected co-workers because they feel like it's unappropriate to raise the issue. <A> Joining a company it is very likely that your manager was aware of this condition and had passed this information on to others before hand <S> so they are aware also. <S> Potentially if you have a tic and you end up making eye contact with someone just mime sorry and smile and see what their reaction is. <S> If they smile back the likelihood is that they are aware and learn to put up with it. <S> It is also very likely that it does bother people but if they understand and are aware of tourettes they will learn to live with it even if they are bothered as they know its not something you can particularly control. <S> If you approach them I'm sure they will be understanding and not assume you are insecure about it <S> but just querying your thought <S> but theres a large chance that people don't talk to you about it <S> just incase you do infact <S> feel insecure so if you openly discuss it to colleagues they'll likely be more understanding of you and your condition <A> Regardless to whether or not people are bothered about it. <S> The fact that is a tic is not something you can really control and people will need to learn to deal with it. <S> Ticks are unintentional, fast and repetitive so it’ll happen regardless and certain situations are likely to exacerbate it. <S> If it got to the point where it was affecting working for both yourself and your colleagues significantly, then ultimately your manager is going to be responsible for making reasonable adjustments to cater for it without discriminating you in any way. <S> That could be something as simple as giving you a bit time out to yourself to let it calm down.
| You don’t have to explain yourself to anyone but if it would make you feel more comfortable maybe you could speak with your manager about how to approach the situation and keep your colleagues informed.
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Competition with colleagues, is it professional ? We have a mailing list, where people can post interesting problems to work on. Less than 2 weeks ago my boss posted a very interesting problem. To accomplish it one needs to read a very mathematically dense research paper, digest the material and then implement the algorithms and test them. I have started working on it as soon as I received the email. My colleague replied to the mail the next day saying that he wants to work on it and my boss didn't say anything, so I didn't report to my boss even though I made significant progress for the last 2 weeks (There is no time limit, its an open problem). Yesterday, I have replied to the thread mentioning the advances I made and the problems I faced. My boss came to me and we had a long chat on how to take this further. My colleague although he didn't work on it for 2 weeks expressed unhappiness after my boss left, that I have worked on the problem in-spite of his mail. Was what I did professional ? <Q> I highly doubt your team has a standing rule that whoever replies they want to work on the problem first is the only one that can work on the problem. <S> I don't see anything unprofessional with what you did. <S> If you did do something unprofessional, your boss should have approached you about it. <S> I think your colleague is <S> just jealous/hurt that he wasn't a fast as you were at advancing on the problem. <A> Friendly competition isn’t a bad thing. <S> , you could have both arrived at the same answer with two different approaches, so you could share what you’ve done with one another and compare. <S> Maybe in the future you could do the same as your colleague and say that you also intend on solving the problem to avoid this. <A> The only way I can see this being unprofessional is if it had some sort of monetary reward or if it is written somewhere as a single person task. <S> However, given the delivery of the task, I cannot see how any of the above is true. <S> A mailing list generally means it is expected to have the widest impact and chances are multiple people would have interest in the subject. <S> How can a single person own the task? <S> There are a couple of facts that this person is simply jealous: <S> Your boss ignored the person who was in close proximity when he/she came over to talk to you about the solution <S> You posted the solution so others can see and comment. <S> The other person simply said he/she would like to work on it but gave no solution <S> I think those alone answers your question. <S> I don't see any reason why you'd need to claim something that is widely distributed when it was never indicated to do so. <S> If your boss said, "Who would like to..." <S> then there is no reason to assume it is to be claimed. <S> I believe these things generally loses interest over time. <S> At my work we had "code golf" which was fun at first <S> then it got to the point where only die hard fanatics got together. <S> So no one expects everyone to be jumping in excitement each time and it sounds like your co-worker is upset you got recognition.
| Posting interesting problems on an email list is basically an open bounty for whomever can come up with the best implementation. What you did was not unprofessional
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How to make the severity of a problem clear to my boss? I work at an "all-round" IT company that is focused on providing hardware and software infrastructure. I am the sole web developer, as such, I deal with everything on this front on my own. I do not, however, make business decisions, work is passed to me by the owner (who basically is a technical manager) or the office manager (for lack of a better title). Now, I'm working on a project which has been assigned to a co-worker who habitually avoided work (and has now left) for maybe half a year or longer. The problem is that this project involves migrating data from a very old content management system to a new one, and put a new (already purchased) design template on it. I've done that, kind of - but it's very frail and trying to use it is, frankly, terrible. Bugs are everywhere, things don't work as they should at all but look fixable from the surface. Usually when I go to the owner with issues like this, he tries to prioritize fixing something, anything, and presenting that to a client. No matter how broken everything is under the hood and how much work there still is to do. He is very persuasive and dismissive with this, and oftentimes, nothing is really resolved. In this case I'm not even sure there is a way at all to complete it and get anywhere. I want to make clear to the owner how big and far-reaching these problems are and that we need a major change in strategy to make this work. Desirable outcomes include but are not limited to 1) our company ditching the project entirely as it escapes our scope and capabilities 2) finding a new, different solution for our customer, ditching the purchased template Be noted, I work remotely. <Q> Show him the bugs, bad usability and ergonomics. <S> Give him the big picture of how bad the current software is. <S> If I were the customer and saw this amount of bugs, I wouldn't trust any other software the same company sells. <S> The user experience is worse than in Windows 95. <S> Do you really expect a customer to buy any more of our software after they experienced this ? <S> If word spreads around, it will discourage other people from buying our products as well. <S> Then give the best estimations you can on how much time you need to improve the quality of the current software to acceptable levels. <S> Juxtapose with estimations for a completely new solution. <S> In the end, your manager(s) make the decisions and it wouldn't be the first time a company decides to knowingly sell bad software. <A> If your organisation use risk registers, these should already be logged, if not it could be added to the risk register and assessed appropriately which will then at least provide exposure. <S> Any potential resolutions to the issues could be in response to the risk/issue which will enable you to quantify the issue, rate the severity and probability, assess the likelihood of it occurring and what the impact would be. <S> Usually Senior management would want to be well-informed in organisational risks, if Senior Management are made aware I'm sure the relevant stakeholders will understand the severity of it. <S> 2) finding a new, different solution for our customer, ditching the purchased template <S> Responding to risks will also involve a mitigation plan which will allow alternative solutions to be discussed and reviewed. <S> From my experience in the IT industry, buy-in for Risk Management has been low, but has been one of the most effective methods for getting the point across that things aren't working. <S> I’d read something that had discussed making risk management effective which could be applied to your problem; Integrate risk management into decision making Build a strong culture for Risk Managemnt Disclosing information on risks/potential risks Continous improvement <A> The key to issues like this is to work out a viable solution and present it to your boss. <S> Giving him an overview of problems however detailed will just keep status quo. <S> So saying 'this is $#@% and we can't keep doing it' is not what he wants to hear, he'll just keep milking the project as long as he can. <S> That's business for you. <S> But saying 'this is ^%$#@, what we need to do is... <S> outline steps and resolution strategy..... <S> and it will cost... <S> timeframe is....etc,. <S> Gives him something to invest in. <A> Produce a list with money values. <S> The list must include all the issues you already found and may have a solution: quote the solution for each issue in current money and with a grain of salt. <S> Put absurd values here just to get traction and you will lose credibility. <S> Add then your guesses (not wild ones please) and give a ballpark figure for the impact of these. <S> Then write all this to your boss and the manager. <S> If you get there your work is done: it is not your role to take business decision but you must provide factual data to the stakeholders. <S> You may want to give a refresh to your CV, should the picture or the outcome be really unpleasant.
| Don't show your manager, what parts of the software work, but show him the parts that don't work. Put yourself in the perspective of the customer and present the risks for the company: Include foreseeable issues and quote a possible solution for these also.
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Police reports and background checks I'm planning on giving notice today, in anticipation of starting with new firm in two weeks. As usual, the new company will do a background check on me. A month ago some woman in a daycare parking lot started shouting at me (she unexpectedly was parking rear-end-in, and she thought I was too close to her car). So I yelled back at her. Apparently she filed a police report because a cop in my town came to visit my house a week or two later. There was no arrest, no fingerprints, no restraining order filed, etc. I googled and a couple of legal sites which made it seem like this wouldn't come up on a typical background check, but I don't want to give notice and then find out I don't have a job. Will this police report show up in my background check and if so what's the likelihood the new firm would rescind their job offer? I am in the tech sector in the USA. <Q> Don't give notice before the background check is complete. <S> Now onto your question. <S> With the background check you should have been given a document that explained what was entailed in the check. <S> They should have given you the opportunity to alert them to known items that you would like to explain before they start the process. <S> Each company/job has different requirements regarding what they will look for, and what would cause a failure. <S> It is unlikely that a visit by an officer would end up in anything that a background check would find. <S> In criminal checks they generally are looking for tickets, convictions/pleas, and maybe being charged. <S> Other types of checks: financial, job history have other rules. <A> If you're starting in two weeks and that's your contracted notice period <S> then you have no choice but to hope for the best. <S> Realistically unless you actually got charged I don't see how a background check without personal knowledge would find out you had a yelling match in a carpark. <A> I'm planning on giving notice today, in anticipation of starting with new firm in two weeks. <S> As usual, the new company will do a background check on me. <S> Don't give your notice unless you have a firm, formal offer. <S> If they haven't yet performed a background check then you may wish to delay your start date. <S> You never know what will show up in this check <S> and you don't want to be without a job while you clear up any confusion. <S> Will this police report show up in my background check and if so what's the likelihood the new firm would rescind their job offer? <S> If the police just talked to you, then there is no record and thus nothing to show on a background check. <A> As far as I know a criminal background check only shows what you were found guilty of, or convicted of. <S> Basically what you had to go to court for and you had to plead your case. <S> If you had to answer to a court summon, went to court, pleaded that you are innocent of whatever crimes, then they booked it in the system that you were found innocent of X (whatever crime X is), then that would show on the background check. <S> I say wait for the background check to come back. <S> Also, what did the police say? <S> Was he simply there to get your side of the story? <S> Was the lady looking to file charges against you? <S> Sue you? <S> It sounds unusual that the police waited a few weeks to check on it. <S> I say you don't have to worry about anything <S> and they were simply following up on a complaint. <S> It is America and unfortunately, anyone can file any report or take you to court for any tiny thing. <S> That doesn't mean it's going to stick or that you did anything wrong. <A> Agree with all the other answers here, particularly about not handing in your notice without a firm offer. <S> You need to protect yourself first and foremost. <S> In your case I doubt that incident would show up, but it's worth noting that a background check which returns something will not necessarily bar you from a job. <S> I was involved in a recruitment process a while ago and a background check of our preferred candidate actually turned up a conviction for a violent crime and brief jail time; after a very candid conversation with the candidate we decided that actually, given the circumstances of the incident, we would hire them despite that. <S> That was a particularly relaxed organisation, but if you were the best candidate for a job and that simple altercation in a car park was the only thing to come back on your background check I wouldn't think twice.
| As long as there are conditions on getting the job, you can't safely put in notice with your old job unless you are willing to risk a period of unemployment.
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Is this a flat out rejection because I'm underqualified? I received this notice following a job interview for a data scientist position: At this time, based on the overall team feedback, we have decided to change direction somewhat in terms of aligned technical expertise and business needs. We will not be moving forward with you for this role but I would like to continue to stay connected with you and be an advocate in terms of identifying future roles that might be more perfectly suited to the many skill sets you possess. I would also like to share your information with my colleague, XXXXX, who supports our other analytics teams. Is this just a polite but canned rejection notice, or is the company really interested in keeping my resume on file? I'd like to think the latter, but don't want to get my hopes up. <Q> This is not a standard rejection letter. <S> I've seen a lot of standard rejection letters, and while they try to sound optimistic they never get into specifics. <S> The letter refers to "I would like..." which means that the person writing the letter wants to stay involved himself/herself. <S> Corporate rejections are almost always phrased as "we". <S> The writer would not mention a specific colleague if they were merely making empty statements about keeping you under consideration. <S> If you are interested I would reply personally to the person who wrote this, ask for more information, and express enthusiasm for hearing about any roles in the "other analytics teams". <A> I would say that yes it is saying you are under-qualified for the position you applied for. <S> However it seems like your contact is indicating that the skill-sets they were looking for may have changed between when they first posted the position and when they made a decision on your application. <S> This happens. <S> Keep in touch, and definitely follow up with the new contact if you are still wanting a position with that company. <S> It sounds like they have already identified you as someone they would like to work with in the future. <S> That is a handy foot in the door from my way of looking at things. <A> It doesn't mean that you're under or overqualified. <S> Your skills are not a good fit for what the team is looking for, but your skills might be a good fit for another team the company. <S> It's not uncommon for one team to refer a good candidate to another team. <S> This is a great sign that you are a good culture fit, but by no means a guarantee that the other team will interview you or give you an offer.
| The letter does not mean you are underqualified - it simply means the skills required for the role have changed, and your skills are not a good match.
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How to deal with a consultant's difficult employee We have a new relationship with a consulting firm that provides X service to our company. Unfortunately, this relationship has not gotten off to a great start; while the consulting firm is themselves generally well-respected and good at what they do, one of the technical resources they have assigned to our project has proven difficult to deal with. In particular: 1) This individual struggles with relaying things via e-mail in a professional manner- e.g. saying "Z feature is terrible and must be changed right away" rather than "Z feature requires improvement, and should be a priority if possible for (reasons)". This has proven especially abrasive as the resource is so new to our company/ecosystem that, for example, they do not yet understand why Z feature was originally built in that manner or even what control we have over its functionality. 2) This individual struggles to stay on-task; again, we have hired this firm to provide X service, but have received several e-mails from this resource (often aligning with the tone in 1) that pertain to areas far outside their original scope of engagement. Ultimately, we had a very specific reason for bringing this firm aboard, and the fact this resource is spending time/effort concentrating on what I would consider frivolous pursuits is concerning. As of this afternoon, we've firmly clarified 2) with this resource and their lead, reiterating our expectations and needs. However, I envision a response from the resource that aligns with what I describe in 1), and have yet to find a way to adequately address that aspect overall. <Q> If you don't like the way they are talking to you, tell them straight up that you are not a verbal punching bag for their ego, that you are paying them for their skills and not their attitude and that they need to be more diplomatic. <S> Also tell them that they might not like the way you have set up certain utilities and processes, but they were born out of specific needs and constraints. <A> If you're unhappy with the service a firm provides then you talk to the account manager about it. <S> They can chat with the firm and work out a resolution (or termination of services). <S> Any cheeky answer would be quietly met with looking for a new resource and looking at termination of service options. <S> You should be doing this anyway as preparation. <S> It's much better to go engage in discourse with your homework done, and clear alternatives if your wants are not met immediately. <S> It gives you a very clear advantage and strong position and puts the otherside off balance. <S> I've cut short meetings talking to arrogant techs who were horrified when they realised <S> I had already worked out an alternative solution just in case <S> , that didn't include their puffed up ego's. <S> I assume they would have faced some discipline afterwards when their company realised they'd lost a revenue stream. <S> But that wasn't my concern or aim. <A> That's very easy really. <S> Pinpoint who is in charge of the cooperation with this agency if you aren't that person. <S> Talk to them about the problems. <S> If you are in charge of this cooperation, don't talk to the "resource" themselves. <S> Also I would advise you to distinguish the tone from the content in 1). <S> If the "resource" is advising something wrong because of their lack of knowledge, that's a huge problem. <S> But the tone itself should be brought up only if it's really rude or unprofessional. <S> Every one of us has a capital to spend. <S> We can only bring up a definite number of problems, otherwise we will be seen as troublemakers. <S> Don't spend it on petty things. <A> Before I get into some options, may I suggest to develop a thicker skin? <S> Read emails isolating objective facts from subjective opinions, no matter how harsh they may sound via email. <S> You may still voice critique about unprofessional or insulting remarks to that employee and their superiors <S> but how far you go with this is dependent on your personal position. <S> Are you in a high position of authority within your own company with decision power ? <S> A) <S> If so, lay out any legitimate reason for why an implementation is rough or sub-par (if you feel that explaining yourself might better their understanding of your setup) and emphasize that you're aware of the issues and that they will be prioritized according to necessity. <S> If further communication is not to your expectations, request another liaison directly from upper management of the consultant company if you've personally dealt with them before and / or are allowed to contact them. <S> Should you remain unhappy with how they treat you as their client <S> (!) you may terminate their contract or threaten to do so. <S> B) <S> If you're not high enough in the hierarchy of your company and / or have no decision power you may still explain your reason to have the implementation as it is etc. <S> Be careful not to inadvertently reveal any trade secrets. <S> You may also voice your concerns about their tone in the email and your expectations regarding the cooperation between you two. <S> Include your superior(s) in this discussion and inform them about your concerns. <S> If communication remains behind what you consider workable, tell your superior(s) that you wish to escalate this problem up the chain within both companies to keep / instate an effective and productive workflow.
| Tell the technical person that some of their remarks had upset or somewhat set back / irritated your employees and you hope they'll chose a more diplomatic approach in their wording if you really feel they were off in tone. Instead talk to the person on the agency side in charge of the project.
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How to deal with unsafe working conditions at a college job that are the fault of student workers and not a supervisor? I have a job replacing light bulbs at my school that involves working with three other students. They have each been working the position significantly longer than I have (I am two weeks in) and have been training me thus far. The position involves a good amount of ladder work and the individual attitudes of each of my coworkers are such that they would rather work the with the ladder nearest at hand than the ladder fit for the task at hand. During the past week, this took the form of an individual standing on the top cap of a six foot ladder with fluorescent light bulbs in each hand. It seems like a generally excepted principle that working unsafely is not justified by a resultant increase in productivity, but my co-workers are not even trying to achieve this; they usually rush through their ladder work in order to loaf around on campus while on the clock at the end of the day. Needless to say, I do not feel comfortable in the position. I have mentioned some of the particularly unsafe ladder practices to my supervisor, who said that he would reintroduce ladder safety training to me and my coworkers next week. I do not see this changing the attitude shared by my coworkers, that it is better to work unsafely for one hour than safely for two. I feel I would succeed at the position if I was surrounded by coworkers that were more interested in working it properly, but at this point am unsure of how to proceed. Some more details: I am a student at a public university in the united states. I do not believe I have signed a formal contract, but here is a link to our school's student worker policies. <Q> I know that health and safety rules vary to some degree around the world, but as far as I can tell, you've taken the correct course: you've observed unsafe working conditions and reported it to your supervisor. <S> Your supervisor has now, correctly, scheduled some safety training in reaction to your report (obviously, it would have been preferable, and possibly mandatory in some jurisdictions, for the training to have taken place when individuals were hired - but sometimes the rules allow for a small lag if training is something that happens regularly, and hiring is erratic). <S> If your co-workers continue to flout the rules - report the unsafe behaviour. <S> It puts them and others at risk of serious harm or injury, and also puts your employer at risk of legal action. <S> Ideally, your employer should have a dedicated Health and Safety Officer. <S> An employer as large as a college or university should definitely have one - but talk to your supervisor again before going direct to the HSO. <A> Keep in mind, the more often you report, the more they'll probably resent you and might oust you, so be prepared to not have any friends there. <S> It is however vital for your own personal health and that of others that you keep working conditions as safe as you can. <S> Pay close attention to what was said at the training and follow those instructions to the letter, even if the others ridicule you for it. <S> Use such banter to point out what has been said during training or in safety literature, you might even sway their opinion on some of the more dangerous things they keep doing. <S> Don't hesitate to grab the correct ladder, even if it means that you'll be needing more time to finish your tasks. <S> When reporting further potential unsafe behavior of your colleagues make sure to mention that you're observing what was said during the training and that this may occasionally lead to you needing slightly longer than them for the reason of safety (if that is the case). <S> During performance evaluation this will be to your benefit, explaining discrepancies between your and their times. <S> Do plan ahead though and try to have the required ladder at hand before going to where you need to change lightbulbs. <S> If in doubt make a list of the heights of the different areas you'll be servicing and do your rounds with the correct ladder accordingly. <S> Then switch to another ladder and do a round for those places you can reach best with that one etc. <S> If possible and sensible keep ladders of certain sizes in utility rooms close to the areas that require them. <A> grant me the serenityto accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. <S> - Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) <S> It sounds like you've done all you can and should do about the issue. <S> I wouldn't put hope in entrenched college-aged males working a part time job taking it more seriously as a result of training. <S> CYA, don't do anything you feel <S> is unsafe to fit in, and try not to worry so much about it. <S> If they continue to be a ticking time bomb, you'll have to decide if you can live with them or if you should look for a new student worker position. <A> Does your organization have a specific health & safety officer? <S> If you have already reported the problem to to your supervisor and got nowhere, you could try escalating it to them.
| As has been said, don't engage in unsafe work habits and report further missteps of the others.
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What issues might there be in accepting a position in the cannabis industry? I might be offered a position as a software developer at a company that produces software for the cannabis industry. I don't have any legal, ethical, or moral issues with the job, company, or industry in general. The question I have is if I take the job and then leave at some point in the future, will my resume find it's way to the HR trash can due to the industry? If I saw a resume from somebody that worked in this industry, I don't think it would bias me against the applicant but I'm not sure if this is a common sentiment. <Q> The question I have is if I take the job and then leave at some point in the future <S> , will my resume find it's way to the HR trash <S> can due to the industry? <S> This is probably not a good reason to skip out on the opportunity though. <S> I say this because if a company would pass solely on such a factor, then they completely ruled you out for something that has virtually no impact on your ability to perform the job. <S> It is their loss if they want to filter on such criteria, and you might be better off avoiding a company that makes decisions like that. <A> In my opinion the answer can only be opinion based. <S> You could have the same doubt after accepting a position in a weapon company: someone could be scared by a new hire that may come to work with a weapon under the belt. <S> What about the gambling industry? <S> Someone may think that you work there because you like betting and then discard your application. <S> Ever worked on some XXX site? <S> Scared by biased opinion about that on your resume? <S> It depends on the country, obviously. <S> If it is a legit job that's not against your beliefs/opinions/interest/whatever you should submit your CV. <A> It might have at least a minor impact. <S> I'm a very liberal/progressive software engineer in a location where medical marijuana is legal and recreationals largely culturally accepted. <S> There is even a software development firm in town that caters to firms in that industry (might even be the same one you're considering). <S> I know people who use marijuana. <S> Even I would hesitate to consider an applicant who went to work in that field though and if someone like me is going to have even a mild concern, there will probably be many more who will outright condemn it. <S> There are a few concerns I'd have if a resume with weed experience came across my desk: <S> All else equal, why work there when other options were available to the candidate, considering that other people might look unfavourably upon it? <S> Were they desperate? <S> Are they unskilled? <S> Does this person get high? <S> What kind of work environment are they used to/expecting? <S> Were their co-workers high on the job <S> and how might that affect their work ethic? <S> Are they going to evanglise the medical benefits of weed around the office? <S> Do they take their career seriously or is this just a paycheck? <S> I prefer to work with people who spend time improving their skills, keeping up with new developments in our field, and striving to do excellent work. <S> If they're willing to work at a place that might tarnish their career, are they going to be spending time on the weekend keeping up with professional education or are they getting high?
| The short answer is that there is probably some non-zero percent chance that the association with the cannabis industry might hurt your prospects in a very small number of roles that you apply for.
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Can I quit a job after receiving a gift? My boss gave me a gift, but I am actively looking at a new job. If I get the new job, it would be much higher pay. Can I still leave even though I was given this gift? ($50 value) I would feel awful but I also need to look out for myself, in my opinion. <Q> Try to reverse the situation. <S> If you offer a gift to your company, can the company still fire you ? <S> Certainly, a gift often make you not want to part, but if there are some bigger issue, this will not prevent it at all. <S> If the company doesn't want but need to fire someone for economical reason, they will. <S> Likewise, it seems that you have a more important issue there <S> , you will (apparently) benefit much more of the new job than this gift of 50$. <S> And in no way the gift was accompanied by a legal contract <S> "If you take this gift, you are swearing you will never quit the company for the next 3 years, sign this before taking it", wasn't it ? <S> But that's your choice . <S> To summarize, analyze your situation rationally and objectively. <S> I think you should treat the 50$ gift nearly as would be a 50$ money bonus on your salary. <S> Of course I'm not telling that you should only take money into account to influence the decision of quitting or not your job. <S> Other factors can include, for instance : nice working environment, short commute, possibilities to learn new skill and personal development, flexible working hours... <A> You of course can. <S> I've seen people quit after going to a very expensive conference before. <S> All paid by the company. <S> The only thing you should take into consideration is if your field is very small. <S> Think of a small town where there are only 4 doctors offices. <S> It's highly likely every nurse will know each other right? <S> Even higher that all the doctors will. <S> Sometimes fields can be very small. <S> Other times you leave a job and never come in contact with the people again. <S> Do what's best for you and your family. <A> Keep it - <S> Return it - once you find a job return the voucher and explain your situation but avoid being talked into the job again <A> Can I still leave even though I was given this gift? <S> Yes you can. <S> Gifts don't bind you to servitude. <S> I suspect you are really trying to ask something more like <S> "is it ethical to leave shortly after receiving a gift?" <S> The answer is still Yes.
| However, if you feel really bad, and for some reason you know that your current employer will resent this, you can still give back the gift. Yeah take it as an incentive for doing well and leave with it then enjoy your money, you owe nothing and have no loyalties to any company that you’re looking to leave. Two options - Either way simple answer is, Yes.
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Would parent working in the cannabis industry affect children's federal security clearance? I might be offered a position as a software developer at a company that produces software for the cannabis industry. My son is an officer in the Navy and has security clearance. I'm wondering if me taking a job in this industry would have repercussions for him. I live in Washington state where recreational cannabis is legal, but it is still considered illegal at the federal level, so I'm not sure what that means as far as it concerns my son's clearance. <Q> I believe that if your son has a security clearance, then there should be a person responsible for handling that clearance, and that person should be able to answer such questions. <S> Or questions like "I want to go on holiday to China / South Korea / North Korea, will that affect my clearance". <S> That person might know that your son is either perfectly clean, or very close to not getting a clearance, so the same thing might be fine in one case and not fine in the other case. <S> (For example an uncle who is a suspected drug dealer may be fine on its own, dad working in the cannabis industry may be fine on its own, but both together might lead to loss of clearance - hypothetical example). <A> https://news.clearancejobs.com/2014/10/16/guilt-association-shady-family-members-affect-security-clearance/amp/ <S> How close are you? <S> Does he live in your home? <S> Does he provide financial support? <S> All of these things will be contributing factors in the decision. <S> If he already has a clearance it will be much less of an issue. <S> Another thing to consider, working for a software developer may be far enough removed from the actual cannabis industry that it won't be a problem. <A> I'm going to say it largely depends. <S> If you look at past historical cases, http://ogc.osd.mil/doha/industrial/2018.html you can see that sometimes the parent or family member's association affects the clearance. <S> Especially if the parent is potentially associated with bad countries or bad actors. <S> Generally speaking though, what your family does won't affect your clearance unless it raises a doubt. <S> One of those will be how much he interacts with you. <S> It's impossible to give you a sure answer, though. <S> However, common sense, if cannabis is legal in your area, and you're operating legally, then you are not committing a crime. <S> However, at the federal level, cannabis is considered illegal, even medical cannabis.
| Most things that might affect a security clearance are not either Ok or lead to loss of clearance, there might be things that speak against your sons clearance but are fine if there are not too many. Probably not, but there is a slim chance it could.
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Should I reapply after getting to the final interview and being rejected less than 3 months ago? And not receiving feedback when I asked? I applied for a job last January, and ended up being interviewed for it in May (after a long silence after turning in a work test, assuming I was rejected due to the advert going back up and asking for feedback I was offered an interview!). The rejection letter encouraged me to apply to future roles, however when I asked for feedback a couple of weeks later, I received no response. This makes me think that what they said in the rejection was just a generic response... I've now seen the same job ad appear online yet again. The role still seems amazing. But I guess if they didn't give me feedback before they can't have been that interested? I don't know if I can say I've gained any new skills in such a short time either. And again, without feedback, I'm not sure what I need to do better this time around. Should I reapply? Or maybe wait until I've gained more experience? <Q> There’s no harm in reapplying, at worst you could lose a few hours of your time for interviewing. <S> I’ve had many occasions whereby the company have been unable to provide specific feedback due to the number of applicants etc. <S> Maybe you were unprepared for the interview, nervous or just not the right time. <S> If you get offered a second interview, you have had a few months to reflect yourself on what you could improve, I always come away from interviews thinking <S> I should have said x, y or z. <S> I say go for it <S> , as second time round you kind of have an idea what you’re going into. <A> Should I reapply? <S> Or maybe wait until I've gained more experience? <S> If you really want to work for this company, then reapply. <S> A lot can change in three months. <S> Companies can change their requirements based on what applicants the market provide. <S> You could have grown in your current role, worked on some side projects, volunteered, and many more things. <S> This could translate to a changed perspective from your interviewers. <A> If it's a large company? <S> Then definitely reapply. <S> It's hard to describe the levels of crazy red-tape, inefficiencies, bureaucracy, and levels of communication that occur at a medium to large corporation. <S> At bare minimum, it's entirely possible that this job listing isn't even for the same position, even if it's identical in its listing text. <S> (For example, our HR department uses the same listing boilerplate for the Content Management group as they do for the External Internet Team - even though there's not a large overlap of skills.) <S> If it's a small company? <S> Up to you, but I'd recommend against it. <S> You applied for the job, and they decided for various reasons not to hire you. <S> Unless there's some reason you'd expect for those reasons to not be relevant anymore, you'd probably be wasting time.
| More experience could help, but it is not like you can gain that experience right now.
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How to walk back responsibilities I've taken on at work? Over the past few months I've taken on a lot of roles that I never asked for nor signed up for. I was hired as a developer. My boss took on a project in which I didn't have a say in the timeline. Due to severe over estimation of how quickly 1 person could build the project he needed to bring on 3 other developers. Now, to say that these developers were green would be an understatement. None of them had experience writing code at production level. In order to keep this system from blowing up I was often spending much of my time reading their code to make sure it wouldn't do just that, going over reviews, or sitting with them for and hour or 2 a day helping them figure something out. In many cases an entire day would go by and at about 3pm I'd get a message that they couldn't figure out a bug and needed me to do something for them or they'd have to take another day to figure it out. My boss has been very busy with another client so he's been asking me to meet with and email back and forth with the client for my project on a daily basis. He has also wanted me to look into database management, a field of which I've never even claimed to have a large amount of knowledge in. Up to this point I've been working 12-16 hour days for the past 2 months and I don't see this ending until September. Even when it does I don't think that it was okay that he put all this on me to begin with, but I acknowledge that I probably shouldn't have let him. I've decided that I'm not going to work 12-16 hours/day anymore while only being paid for 8. He's asking me to do the jobs of several people, hasn't offered me any raise or compensation, and has been very insistent that I still produce just as much code as I did prior. I'm going home at 5pm and what doesn't get done will need to wait until tomorrow. When/If he gets upset that work starts stalling how do I politely and professionally let him know that he's asking for way to much from 1 person? <Q> You are clearly frustrated. <S> The solution is to talk with your boss, explain the situation, and be clear about what you want done. <S> I've decided that I'm not going to work 12-16 hours/day anymore while only being paid for 8. <S> He's asking me to do the jobs of several people, hasn't offered me any raise or compensation, and has been very insistent that I still produce just as much code as I did prior. <S> So before you talk with him, you need to decide what outcome you want. <S> Do you want to be paid more? <S> Do you want to go back to working only 8 hours? <S> Do you want to produce less code and focus on the newly-assigned tasks instead? <S> I'm going home at 5pm and what doesn't get done will need to wait until tomorrow. <S> You could state that bluntly. <S> But you would be better served to talk that over with your manager first. <S> When/If he gets upset that work starts stalling <S> how do I politely and professionally let him know that he's asking for way to much from 1 person? <S> If you just refuse to do the work and basically say "I'm going home at 5pm. <S> It's not my problem. <S> " he will likely get upset. <S> It sounds like you already know that. <S> But if you decide that only working 8 hours per day is what you want, then you should first talk it over with your manager. <S> Explain that you think there is too much work for one person to do in an 8 hour day, and ask for help prioritizing and perhaps reassigning some of that work so that you can resume a typical work day. <S> Try to make it come across as a problem that you both can solve by working together, rather than just conveying "I have taken on more responsibilities over the past few months. <S> But I want to drop them all now." <S> In the end, your manager may or may not get angry. <S> And you may or may not get what you want. <S> Sometimes alternative solutions can be worked out - but only if you talk about them. <S> Sometimes the solution is to leave and find a workplace that doesn't put too much work on your plate. <A> This is all falling to pieces. <S> The problems are not resolvable as they are. <S> The boss miscalculated your skills in making the timeframe. <S> You couldn't handle the work <S> so now you have 3 useless devs. <S> Your boss thinks hiring 3 sub par devs is more cost effective than one decent one. <S> You have taken responsibility for these devs instead of letting them sink for reasons unknown. <S> The boss is doing nothing except making pleasant noises. <S> You and other devs are taking a whole day to fix one bug in software you wrote. <S> This is a frequent occurrence implying the software is full of bugs. <S> The list goes on. <S> This one is bad for your peace of mind, self confidence, future career and wallet. <A> The phrase you're looking for is "core job responsibilities". <S> Whether you're saying that you're 'not going to be able to work beyond your core job responsibilities anymore', or perhaps warning him that his demands are 'jeopardising your core job responsibilities', that phrase almost on its own covers what you're trying to say. <S> Using it should also remind him that you have a day job in addition to all the extras he's piling on. <S> This could be the beginning of a negotiation about what those responsibilities are and/or compensation, or it could just be a shield which protects your personal life. <S> Alternatively you could start saying that you can't stay late "because you have plans this evening", but that's not a long-term solution.
| You need to look at moving on to a job you can actually handle.
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I know (all) the members of the interview panel. Does that matter? In case I am invited to a job interview, and in the invitation letter, recruitment tells me the names of the interview panel members. Suppose that I already know some or all of the members, through prior work engagements (including informal social events). Do I behave any differently for it, either in preparation or during the interview? It seems a bit odd to enter such a formal situation with a greeting “Hi, Jane! Hi, Bob!". But it also seems weird to pretend that we're strangers or to be overly formal with someone I've been on first name basis with for months or years. <Q> It will be up to them to decide if this information is worth being passed on. <S> Some companies may request someone else conduct the interview if there is a risk of bias or the interviewers not being impartial. <S> "He's friends with EVERYONE on the panel and didn't mention this to anyone?" <S> It might come across as suspicious but your recruitment contact ought to be the one to determine this, however unlikely. <S> In times where I have met the interviewers before, things being kept formal but friendly like in any other interview works just fine. <S> A relatively informal introduction starts things off; <S> "It's good to see you again, thanks for taking the time to see me." <S> After this point, you should trust to yourself and the interviewers to be professional and treat you like any other candidate. <S> There will be no sin in citing common past experiences (such as for the "can you think of an example" questions), but nevertheless answer them as if to strangers, making no assumptions of what they recall. <A> This is heavily influenced by the culture of both the country and industry. <S> As someone working in a small country with a small industry where everyone knows everyone, your greeting doesn't seem all that odd, even for an interview. <S> When I change jobs, I most likely will have worked together with many/all of the (technical) interviewers. <S> I'm not going to be joking around with them the way I typically would when on breaks, but I'm not going to be more formal towards them than I would be on the job. <S> This seems to be appreciated a lot. <S> Regarding letting them know, when in doubt, there's no reason not to bring recruitment into the loop. <S> Just send them a concise mail that you already know most or all of the panel and double-check if they took this into account. <A> If your familiarity with these people is strictly, or mostly, professional, as in they are former colleagues or supervisors <S> , then I would say you need to do nothing. <S> It would be up to them to declare themselves in a conflict of interest position, if they felt they couldn't review you fairly. <S> This would be little different than if you were interviewing to re-join a company you'd worked for earlier, which is common enough. <S> If your relationship with any of them is mostly personal (former spouse, sports team-mate, family) <S> then you should alert the recruiters of this. <A> Act Professionally <S> Pretend <S> it's a normal interview, they will too. <S> It's their jobs to get to know you as an employee and build a professional relationship. <S> Whether they know you or not, they have to treat you like every other candidate who may apply. <S> It's just like any other interview. <S> Prepare, behave and act like it's a normal interview, which it should be. <S> If you act like they're your friends, then you're going to have a disadvantage against other candidates, as you give the impression that you are not going to have, or pursue, a professional relationship with your potential future colleagues. <S> Potentially afterwards, you have more follow up power as you will have more points of contact (if not specified otherwise). <A> you know them. <S> I would check the application and ensure there's nothing in the terms and conditions about knowing anyone from the organisation and as Kozaky has mentioned you may want to play it safe and let the recruiters know in advance. <S> I've filled in an application form in the past where it has asked me state if I know or if i'm related to anyone in the organisation.
| As some of the others have mentioned, just act like you would in any other interview and don't make a big deal of the fact If the recruitment agent is the one that arranged the interview, you could play it safe by informing them that you already know your interviewers from previous workplaces.
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Is a client identifying my device (which caused high network traffic) possibly in violation of privacy regulations? I live in Belgium and I'm working for a government institution as a contractor. About two months ago I've had to reinstall my (own - but professionally used) laptop that is connected to the corporate "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) wifi throughout the day. I reinstalled my computer at home, on my own time. But, apparently, it seems that my laptop's Dropbox has been syncing over the company network (which doesn't seem to be blocked by it) while I was at work and has consumed about a 100 gigs of network-traffic-data in a few weeks time. Today, I've received a very stern talking-to from the network department saying that this is unacceptable (which I do not deny) and that appropriate action will be taken against me. I've notified the network administrator that this is the first time this has happened and that I will take care not to let it happen any more in the future. However, I seem to remember that directly identifying a person and monitoring his network activity without good cause (and management approval) is a breach of privacy regulations. Is this the case? So my question is: Considering the new EU privacy regulations (GDPR and such), to what lengths can an employer go in terms of checking the traffic on the company wifi-BYOD-network? Note that I'm not looking to harass the organisation, because I was at fault (even though I did not know it at the time) I just want to find out if their course of action is according to procedure. This is the first time they have notified me and I've never had any of these issues before. Notes: I have full authorization to connect to the network even with apersonal device - this is a "bring your own device network", apartfrom downloading a lot for which the IT policy states no hard limit,I've not breached any official IT regulations. We are talking about network usage data (there are nopersonal files of mine stored on a company resource - I only usetheir network), I'm very well aware how back-up and sync systemswork, I just happened to forget that Dropbox was on and syncing on myown laptop (which I use as part of my job professionally, so itholds meetings notes, my designs, models and such) while connected tothe company BYOD-wifi-network. This is a government organisation, in a government owned building but the provide a corporate wifi. Their internet access is top tier in Belgium and bandwidth is generally not a problem. Things might be different in the UK, but in Belgium internal IT policies certainly do not overrule privacy concerns. Privacy is taken very seriously. Here, it is very common for an independent contractor to use their own equipment in addition to the equipment provided by the client. In this case, my laptop is my own professional equipment that I mostly use to take notes and create models. I do most of my "real" work on my client's infrastructure. <Q> Nothing here is in breach of the GDPR. <S> They don't have data on you, they have data on a device. <S> They are merely acting within their remit to secure the network and identify and mitigate any security risks by identifying the device eating the bandwidth, and notifying its owner (you). <S> The bottom line is, you connected your personal device to a private network. <S> You may have had permission to do this, however it's usual that any devices connected must comply with the networks' security policy, and this will always trump any so-called privacy concerns. <S> Syncing data to an external DropBox could be considered a security risk in itself (regardless of whether it's blocked, it's a network the admins have no control over), so your network admins are right to be concerned and completely within their rights to have had a discussion with you. <A> However, I seem to remember that directly identifying a person and monitoring his network activity without good cause (and management approval) is a breach of privacy regulations. <S> Is this the case? <S> You answered your own question. <S> Your laptop is taking up a large amount of bandwidth so that is probable cause for investigation and identifying the source of. <S> How would your company know you accidentally left it on? <S> All they see is someone uploading gigs of data and they want to know who. <S> In terms of corporate compromise, seeing gigs of data move is a sign of a potential data breach. <S> So they were correct to investigate and identify. <A> One thing, in general Belgium has always been one of the more strict countries with respect to privacy, GDPR changed very little to none about that. <S> There are multiple privacy-related issues that are not covered by GDPR (which focus on data protection) but are covered by Belgian laws. <S> There are two very important principles that apply here from both belgian law and CAO's (collective employment agreements): <S> The employer cannot do this without express consent. <S> Typically this consent is part of your contract or work policy (arbeidsreglement). <S> If such consent was never given this practice is almost always considered illegal. <S> Given 1, there is also something called the 'proportionality' principle. <S> If the main concern was the data usage and they only monitored your device's usage <S> , that's likely okay. <S> However if they got a lot further and they monitored the exact content and services they used <S> that's very likely not acceptable. <S> If their main worry was however security that may be more acceptable but that argument may be a hard sell since you're talking about a BYOD network. <S> These are old rules (pre-GDPR) that have been tested in court multiple times. <S> GDPR actually only makes these rules stronger, e.g. it is assumed the 'consent' part cannot be simply be 'your internet usage will be monitored' but must be more precise. <S> Also if monitoring is applied (and allowed) GDPR adds stricter rules on retention of that data and so on. <S> However, it is to be determined how all that will hold up in court. <S> Some sources for all this (dutch): <S> https://www.securex.eu/lex-go.nsf/PrintReferences?OpenAgent&Cat2=49~~1&Lang=NL <S> https://www.jobat.be/nl/artikels/internetcontrole-wat-een-werkgever-niet-mag/ <S> https://www.vacature.com/nl-be/carriere/groeien/kan-de-werkgever-e-mail-en-internetgebruik-controleren <A> Ignoring GDPR which I don't think will help you; You stated: the company has said they have a wifi which is for personal device use; but then failed to apply a data limit or a "fair use" policy. <S> This means that the IT team don't have any route to complain - as long as no data you downloaded is illegal - for example videos that you don't have the rights to. <S> You turned up and downloaded a large amount of data; in the background. <S> Ie you have not spent paid time doing this. <S> This means your manager can't complain, because you didn't spend any man hours doing this. <S> From these, I don't see any reason why anyone can take any action at all against you; and I would strongly resist any "action" against you. <S> If they complain at all, I would say that the way forward is to change the policy which they can THEN enforce, as you've not broken any law, and policies not written can't be enforced. <S> Depending on what "appropriate action" they take, I'd be prepared to fight it, because there is no reason this should go on your record. <A> Also Belgian here with some GDPR insight. <S> The only thing here that could be perceived in this situation, barring that they have not checked which data you've sent to your dropbox is your IP address. <S> Even then the European Commission classifies the following under personal digital data (more info EU Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC). <S> Metadata Email addresses Social media details and data attributed to them IP addresses (edge case) <S> Whilst logging IP addresses is not allowed anymore (under the assumption that location could be derived from it), inside your own company network you are absent from this. <S> From the protocol the network administrator has followed, he simply followed the bandwidth usage and traced it back to you. <S> Which is completely legal . <S> So whilst yes, IP addresses could be perceived as personal data <S> it is still an edge case in many uses. <S> And this one seems completely fair.
| I don't see any issues here - the network admins have discovered a risk (high bandwidth usage), identified who it belongs to (easy if the computer name gives it away), or alternatively have identified the AP consuming the traffic, traced it back to an IP address, and realised it was you.
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Can I use my English name when applying for a job? I am Chinese and I am applying for graduate jobs in the UK. Is it ok to use my English name when applying for jobs? <Q> Usually, yes. <S> There's no reason why not. <S> I assume that your official documentation has your formal name, and this shouldn't be a problem. <S> We have a couple of Chinese guys in our team and they've done the same thing. <S> It's not an unknown situation. <S> (It might help to parenthesize your English name after your formal name on your application to follow the English-language convention for nicknames: Charles (Chuck <S> ) Smith or Li (David) Wong .) <A> Yes, you are free to use any name you feel represents you. <S> In the application process, the only times you need to use your legal name* are for background checks, right to work checks and other similar official procedures <S> (*the name on your passport or other identifying documents) . <S> You are absolutely free to use your preferred name on an application or CV - without a disclaimer. <S> Importantly, in the UK - your legal name is whatever name you are currently using. <S> From Total Jobs : The law in the UK regarding changing your name is actually really simple: your “legal name” is the one that you are using. <S> Full stop. <S> You don’t need to do anything or pay anything. <S> Supported by UK government : You don’t have to follow a legal process to start using a new name. <S> But you might need a ‘deed poll’ to apply for or to change official documents like your passport or driving licence. <S> As such, you will not get into any trouble for using a name that you weren't given at birth. <S> Also, in the UK, it is not uncommon for people from non-UK backgrounds to have multiple names (one they use with family, and one they use with friends and workers). <S> It's worth making clear that while other answers have noted that including both names is an option - if you are concerned that you may be discriminated against for having a non-English name; you are under no obligation to do so. <A> If your English name is not your legal name then it's likely that you’ll have to use your Chinese name but <S> just state the name you’d like to be referred as when applying. <S> I am also Chinese and use my Chinese name on applications but am also referred to and known as my English name. <A> You need to clearly specify your English name and Chinese name to your employer. <S> In fact, Chinese nationals working internationally usually have 3 names: English name, pin yin, and your name in hanzi script. <S> They must be consistent and clearly defined <S> so there is no confusion in documentation. <S> In China, you use hanzi characters for any legal paperwork because English or pinyin language docs have no legal power in mainland China. <S> Foreigners have no idea how to read pinyin properly so having an English name is pretty much necessary for you to work outside of China. <S> And pinyin is often required for official government documentation outside of China. <S> Just be specific, consistent, and confident in the use of all three names, it is easy to get used to.
| When applying for a job in the UK you have to use your legal name when an employer asks you for your full name - however, there tends to be a “preferred name” box in which you can use your English name.
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Asking a question the interviewer doesn't know I found this related question on WPSE, but my question is slightly different. Not too long ago I had two telephone interviews with two different companies and on both occasions the interviewer asked if I had any questions. Both times I asked them to elaborate on the technology I would be using (both job postings were vague) and they were unable to answer. I didn't end up getting either job, but it made me wonder, can it reflect poorly on me to ask a question the interviewer is unable to answer? My intention was never to ask a question I knew they didn't know. I can only assume the answers I give to the questions they ask are being documented for review later, including all questions I ask the interviewer. Is it possible that they removed me from consideration because they didn't want to document that I asked a question they couldn't answer because it would reflect poorly on them? <Q> Both times I asked them to elaborate on the technology <S> I would be using (both job postings were vague) and they were unable to answer. <S> I didn't end up getting either job, but it made me wonder, can it reflect poorly on me to ask a question the interviewer is unable to answer? <S> You want to try and tailor your questions to the role of the interviewer. <S> For example, if these interviewers were HR reps, they may not necessarily know or understand the technology base. <S> That's not unexpected, since it's not generally part of their role. <S> It's unlikely that it would be problematic though, unless they thought you didn't understand their role or that you were trying to "show off" or criticize them. <S> That's not something I'd worry about. <S> Is it possible that they removed me from consideration because they didn't want to document that I asked a question they couldn't answer because it would reflect poorly on them? <S> It is possible but extremely unlikely. <A> As Joe Strazzere mentions in his answer, the first recruiter you get to talk to is usually not the technical guy. <S> Especially if the first round is a phone interview, I would expect some HR worker to do that first screening. <S> So indeed you might not get all answers then, even the trivial ones. <S> And I fully agree with him on the answer. <S> I would like to add though that the important thing is that you get an answer to these question at some point in the process. <S> The fact that the job description is so vague is already a bit worrying to me, not being able to get such a basic answer in the whole process would be more than worrying. <S> As far as I'm concerned that would be a big no-go as I've been there, and that's the best way to get a job for which you're not a good fit, and vice-versa. <A> I think not knowing the answer to a question related to one's field of work is always more or less unpleasent for said person. <S> Yes, it might happen, that some interviewers could hold this against you when considering who is a good match for their company. <S> You basicly have two options in this case - keep asking in depth questions, or stop asking in depth questions. <S> Stopping to ask in depth questions which are completely reasonable to make an informed decision about your possible future workplace would not be a good choice. <S> Also, how is the company able to select a fitting employee without knowing what he will be working on more or less concretely? <S> It is, for instance, very hard to imagine a vacancy for a software developer without any information on what programming languages, tools and experiences are required and in turn, what technologies the company is working with. <S> In this case it is likely that you would have a second interview and someone from your pontential department would be present. <S> If this is not the case, the only option left would be to ask the HR person to find out about the used technologies and mail those information to you within the next days. <S> Explain to him in a professional way, that those information are very relevant for your decision.
| The only case, where you could refrain from asking those questions, would be, if the interview process would consist of multiple steps. It probably won't reflect poorly on you, although I suppose it's possible.
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How do I choose the correct Japanese honorific usage for emails? Just recently, in my company we acquired several devices from one of the biggest companies in Japan. We are currently re-implementing part of our systems with such new devices. During the implementation process, I had some technical doubts regarding the use of some APIs that communicate with the devices, and weren't able to solve by myself. I relayed them to my boss (CEO) in written form, from which he rephrased and sent as an email to our contact with this company (as he was the one handling the contact). Now, I have some other doubts, but consulting with my boss again he decided to introduce me to the contact in an email , so I could then discuss these doubts with the contact by myself without having to go with my boss every time. However, I am uncertain of what would be the correct and professional honorific/title to use when addressing this contact , as I have few to none experience writing to people in a Japanese context. Some details to consider: I can see from previous emails on the thread that both my boss and this contact address each other as "-san" . However, they sometimes drop the honorific and just call each other by their names. This contact is most likely around the age of my boss, which would mean that I am younger than him. Also, I have never spoken to, wrote to, nor met this person before. The email exchange is in English, and checking the thread I can't see any any professional title (like "Dr.") or similar. Also, my boss introduced me by my name and last name (without title). At first I thought about using "Mr.", but don't know how this may be perceived in a Japanese context, nor if mirroring my boss' "-san" would be professional or out of place here. <Q> One thing I can say is that Japanese people treat clients with the utmost respect. <S> You are far more likely to be addressed as DarkCygnus様 ( sama ), no matter what your age or hierarchical position is, if you're a client, than as DarkCygnus- san . <S> This is seen for example, in the general term for guest, client or customer: お客様 ( okyakusama ), and the associated phrase お客様は神様です ( lit. <S> "the customer is God" - not King). <S> In communication with the travel agency that my company uses, for example, I have always been addressed as surname 様 (for reference, I am a very junior employee in a large company - there are probably 6-7 levels between me and my CEO). <S> That the Japanese person addressed the CEO of a client company using - san (!!) <S> In written communication, and later on had no problems dropping the honorific altogether, tells me that this is a person comfortable with not using Japanese mannerisms in English - and probably only used the - san because your CEO did. <S> When communicating with vendors for technical support, I have had the good luck of getting Japanese people who're good at English. <S> These people have never used Japanese honorifics when emailing me in English, and, indeed, have followed the general custom of using the form suggested by the signature. <S> I usually use "Muru" as my signature and they in turn used their first names (which occasionally confuses me, since I use their surnames everywhere else). <S> But given that the contact seems comfortable without it, I'd suggest that you pick whatever level you're comfortable with, and not use Japanese honorifics in English. <S> Use Mr. if you feel like it - you don't have to use - san . <S> For reference, whenever vendors initiated communication with my team, emails in Japanese always began with: company-name person-surname 様 <S> (Likewise when my team initiates communication with the vendor) <S> The same person when emailing me in English would write: <S> Hi <S> first-name <S> The first time, and "Hi Muru" in subsequent emails. <A> Use -san. <S> Japanese are very particular about showing respect. <S> Just make sure you are using his last name -san, do not use his first name. <S> -san is equivalent to Mr. however using -san would be more respectful in my opinion. <S> If he views you as his junior, he may respond with your last name -kun, which I highly doubt he will out of respect <S> but just in case, do not refer back to him as -kun, only -san. <A> It depends on the (perceived) hierarchical relation between the two of you. <S> Based on both my personal experience in Japan, mostly in academia but also personal, and also what you can be found in online references <S> If the other person is well above you (like a department director or CEO to an engineer), you can use Surname-sama or, in cases where the person is a (potential) authority in a field, Surname-sensei. <S> Sama (様【さま】) is a more respectful version for people of a higher rank than oneself or divine, toward one's guests or customers (such as a sports venue announcer addressing members of the audience), and sometimes toward people one greatly admires Sensei (先生【せんせい】) (literally meaning "former-born") is used to refer to or address teachers, doctors, politicians, lawyers, and other authority figures. <S> It is used to show respect to someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in an art form or some other skill, such as accomplished novelists, musicians, artists and martial artists. <S> If you are on the same level, use Surname-san San (さん) (sometimes pronounced han (はん) in Kansai dialect) is the most commonplace honorific and is a title of respect typically used between equals of any age. <S> If you are above the other person or in good familiarity (like two classmates), use Surname-kun Kun (君【くん】) is generally used by people of senior status addressing or referring to those of junior status, by anyone addressing or it can be used when referring to men in general, male children or male teenagers, or among male friends. <S> It can be used by males or females when addressing a male to whom they are emotionally attached, or who they have known for a long time. <S> Not using/dropping honorifics at all is usually done with really intimate relationship, and in professional context might cause the rise of an eyebrow, but if it was done by the Japanese counterpart first you can also follow.
| Although the closest analog in English are the honorifics "Mr.", "Miss", "Ms.", or "Mrs.", -san is almost universally added to a person's name; "-san" can be used in formal and informal contexts and for both genders. As the client, it's always safe for you to use - san .
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How do I complain about having sub-standard laptop compared to more junior employees? United States, ~1000+ employees. I've been at my company for 5 years now. About 4 years ago we were given laptops but they were really low-end refurbished models. They're not much good except for VPN'ing to work, which was the whole idea, and that is totally fine. Now the company is giving new top-of-the-line gaming quality laptops to newer employees and not upgrading the folks who have the older laptops. I feel this is very disrespectful to the employees with more longevity who have been loyal to the company. It just seems very distasteful and may harm employee retention. So how do I complain about this in a professional way, without coming off as a petulant child? Edit: I really don't care about the laptop, it's more what the laptop represents. I do see it as a status symbol I suppose. I mean, what's the point of being a senior employee with experience and loyalty to the company if you're not treated with respect and perks? I work hard, go above and beyond to make sure the company succeeds even though we don't get stocks or anything. It's just distasteful and makes it more likely not less that I can be poached away. <Q> Your laptop needs to be good enough to do your assigned work with it. <S> What laptops other people have should be none of your concern. <S> If your machine does the job, than you should be good. <S> If not, state clearly why it is insufficient <S> , what requirements you have that it doesn't meet and what you would need to happen to make it work. <S> Argue around productivity, efficiency and return on investment. <A> Just ask your manager/team lead. <S> At my place of work, laptops only get swapped out if they're beyond warranty <S> and there's a problem with it. <S> I did this a few years ago in order to get rid of the old hand-down laptop I got when I joined. <S> Q. <S> My laptop is getting old and slow, how can I get one of those new ones? <S> A. <S> Oh, that's fine. <S> Just put in a hardware request <S> and I'll approve it. <S> This is how it worked for me. <S> Now that my current laptop is beyond the warranty date, I could go and ask for a newer one, but have to weigh up the pain of transferring all my software and setting it up again. <A> I'm going to throw my two cents in as asking has never gotten me a new machine. <S> What helped me was having my boss stand at my desk when the machine began locking up. <S> My scenario was just coincidental, but it's pretty easy to set up such a scenario and actually show why you need a new machine... <S> but I want you to think about: do you really need it? <S> Are you going to make more by getting it, or is your employer going to expect more out of you? <S> .. <S> Something to think about. <A> Your office probably works similar to mine. <S> They have a list of when each laptop is eligible for upgrade (usually based on warranty or some vendor agreement). <S> Even if the laptop is eligible for an upgrade it won't be replaced until it is required. <S> Either because it is completely obsolete or stops working. <S> Just because you have an old laptop doesn't mean it can't perform to level required to do your job. <S> Every time the company buys a laptop, it costs them money. <S> Why would they spend money where they don't have to? <A> So how do I complain about this in a professional way, without coming off as a petulant child? <S> Edit: I really don't care about the laptop, it's more what the laptop represents. <S> There is no way to do that and appear professional. <S> If you care about what the laptop represents, then that's not a professional consideration. <S> If the laptop doesn't really make a difference (which I assume is why you don't care about it, per se), then you are complaining about something that does not actually impact your ability to do work, which makes it an unprofessional complaint. <S> Complaining that someone else has a better laptop than you have, when you don't actually care about it, and are more concerned because they are more junior than you..... <S> there is no way to make that seem professional. <S> But, hey, we're human, so ask , and pretend there are other considerations at play ("it's kind of slow and klunky"...... <S> "I'm worried that this dated machine might not be as secure as newer models....") <S> To be clear, I'm not judging you for this. <S> It's normal human and animal behavior to compare and feel some envy when things seem like they are not equitable. <S> New Scientist: <S> Envious monkeys can spot a fair deal
| Now, if you want to inquire, saying that your laptop is old and dated and wonder if or when you might get an update, there's nothing unprofessional about that. Don't argue about other people's machines. However, it is possible to ask and get the hardware request approved by your manager.
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How to reject non-work related tasks from my boss's fiance I'm asking this question for my friend as he is not familiar with forums/discussion panel sites and this takes place in Malaysia. He works as a graphic designer in a small event company (not more than 10 including boss himself) which will help clients to organize and manage the event. His job scope is to design several artworks related to the events such as logo, flyer, poster, banner, and more. However, due to the lack of manpower in the company, he will also has to be part of the event crew on the event day (either PA or other roles). It may sounds a bit off the job scope for me but it is fine in the perspective of as part of the team member of the company. I'm stating this out just to bring out that he has to attend the event as a crew by leaving his design-tasks aside. His boss is engaged before my friend was hired. Keep in mind that his fiancée does not have an official position in the company but visits the office daily. As the only graphic designer in the company, my friend needs to handle every design-related tasks for every events by his own which can be seen as very tiring. However the fiancée always assigns him to do other tasks such as design poster for her mother's events and other tasks which the assigned tasks is totally personal . I presume his boss does not care yet because his boss knows about this but so far no actions was taken. My friend is frustrated in this situation but he has no idea how and who to tell to stop accepting such tasks from his fiancée even though there may no tasks on his hand because his fiancée is not one of the company member and the events she accepting is not under company title . Is there anyway he can speak out this issue in friendly yet effective way? He still not yet bring up this to his boss because this involves his fiancée and my friend worries that it would sound personal against his boss's fiancée in this case. <Q> Your friend should take this up with his boss. <S> If the boss is okay with his fiancee adding work to the company, then she should be handing the assignments to the boss so that he can assign it the proper priority. <S> If the boss is not okay with it, the boss can put a stop to it. <S> Once it's known how the boss looks at the situation, your friend can ask the fiancee to just discuss the work with your boss and then you'll hear be assigned the work from him. <S> But ultimately it's up to the boss to decide which tasks are part of the business' work and which are not. <A> This is pretty normal in small companies in many countries. <S> Refusing the bosses fiance, mother, or anyone else close to him is a bad idea. <S> Your boss already knows his fiance is tasking you with work <S> and he's not stopping her, use common sense if you want to remain on good terms with the people paying you. <A> I would suggest to your friend to ensure the following situation is true, and if it's not, make it true: 1) <S> The boss is OK with the fiancee giving him tasks. <S> 2) <S> The boss is OK with the friend doing the fiancee's tasks during work hours. <S> 3) <S> The boss is OK with the fiancee's tasks potentially reducing the work-related productivity of the friend. <S> If all these things are fine, then I see no problem; just have your friend treat the fiancee's tasks as part of his work duties. <S> There could be some other issues here. <S> The main one being that the boss wants the friend to do the fiancee's tasks outside of work hours. <S> In that case, the friend should tell the fiancee that he wants her to pay him according to his work, and they should arrange a fee for the friend to be paid, or else he should not do the work. <S> If the boss doesn't like that, then there may be a legal case, that the boss is effectively asking the friend to perform unpaid overtime work for his fiancee unrelated to his position at the company as a condition of his employment. <S> If it comes to that, then your friend might want to consider their legal options.
| After all, he's being paid for his time, not for his work, and if his time is being spent on the fiancee's tasks and the boss knows about and is OK with that, then there's no problem.
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How can I get written proof? I work a part-time job (weekends only) in a takeaway for some extra cash (and free food). I have had years of experience (on and off) within this business and they asked me to come back. Upon arrival, I was told that they'd increase my pay but this was only discussed verbally. At the end of my first shift back I received my old pay which I am not happy working for. This is in the UK (not sure about other places) meaning that verbal contracts are just as legally binding as written ones. I mentioned it to the employer and she simply denied ever mentioning that. In a company in which people don't use emails, How do I get written proof (for future reference obviously this one is beyond saving as she can keep denying)? <Q> Just nail them down when they're feeling generous. <S> Great, can I have that in writing? <S> And then just jot something down on a piece of paper and ask them to sign it. <S> If they honestly believe that they're giving you the rise, they shouldn't be able to complain about it. <S> Since you're already in the position and you joined on the promise of increased wages, you can just tell them that you're leaving citing that you can get better money elsewhere. <S> If they want to keep you, they're going to have to invest in you. <A> This sounds like a casual and informal workplace. <S> Don't take this as someone trying to rip you off (which will make your demeanor more difficult to work with.) <S> Instead start it as if the manager actually doesn't recall saying that to you. <S> (It's possible if a touch unlikely.) <S> The reason I suggest this is because it will put you in the best frame of mind for a clean renegotiation. <S> As suggested by @Joe in the comments <S> Hey boss, I've been thinking about it <S> and I really need $x to continue working here. <S> Oh, <S> I know you don't remember our previous conversation <S> and that's understandable, <S> you are very busy. <S> I still need to be paid what I feel I'm worth. <S> You can also consider that as a semi-active past employee you aren't being treated great and look elsewhere for employment. <A> Given that the "proof" has to be written by the employer, it is up to them to hand it out - which then can be used against them. <S> Verbal contracts and arrangements may be binding, but the obvious issue is the lack of provable substance. <S> But in your case, the issue is that she either fooled you or changed her mind - otherwise she may have done as promised. <S> Consider that arrangement to be not just one sided. <S> The deal is this: "Give me a higher wage (for what we agreed my work is worth) so that I am less inclined to leave or to put in less effort." <S> Her betraying your trust means basically the same as a somewhat delayed "no." <S> However, you know you can't trust her word, especially if it is about something beneficial to you, given that she may be likely to say things to please you in the short term. <S> What to do in general <S> : Ask for physical proof after such arrangements. <S> What to do in specific: Do not trust her any more.
| Whether a jotted piece of paper is admissible as evidence is another matter, but it's a concrete action that the employer will find hard to dispute.
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Is it okay to ask for reimbursement for an interview even if I got an offer? I had a job interview last week with a very big company and I got an offer from them. I have mixed opinions on asking for reimbursement at this point, because I got the offer I wanted and I don't want to look like I am not satisfied with this and asking for more. If I ask for reimbursement at this point, would that leave a bad impression on them? I am talking about the travel and accommodation expenses for the interview ($150). Please note that they offered me a hotel room because I was coming from a long way. They sent me the reimbursement form when we set the interview date. So it was before I went there. <Q> Is it okay to ask for reimbursement even if I got an offer? <S> It's a normal part of their procedures. <S> Whether you got the job or not makes no difference. <A> Here's the question in reverse: This company promised to reimburse you for your expenses. <S> If you ask them to back up their promise and they hold it against you, then, simply put, they think it is OK to make empty promises to you, and they think it is OK to get upset when you call those empty promises. <S> Is that sort of company really the sort of company you want to work for? <S> When considering this, keep in mind that a salary is simply just a form of promise: "I promise that if you do this work for me then I will give you some money at a later date". <S> How would you feel if this empty promise that the company does not want to fulfill was your salary? <A> Yes, of course it's okay. <S> Why would it not be? <S> If anything, ignoring what you were told to do would give a bad impression. <S> You were given simple instructions. <S> Follow them. <A> They gave you a form, fill it out and send it back as they've asked you to. <S> What's the problem chief?
| Yes, that is why they gave you the form before the interview.
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What are the consequences of accepting an offer, performing the background and drug tests, and then rejecting the offer? I recently accepted an offer and performed the background and drug tests. I even agreed on a start date. But my current employer worked really hard to retain me and they could place me in a more appealing project (I'm a contractor). Thus, I need to reach out to the other company where I am supposed to start in a few days and "cancel" the entire process. My question is - would there be any consequences for this, of any kind? Could the other company, for example, require me to pay the fees of the background check or drug test? <Q> Unless you signed a contract stating you would pay fees to the company in the event of turning them down, then you shouldn't be charged anything. <A> would there be any consequences for this Until you sign a contract you're not under any obligations. <S> But this sort of thing is not good for your reputation at that company, so probably a waste of time applying there again in future. <A> The company will be rightfully annoyed with you. <S> You turned out to be a waste of time and money. <S> Don’t even think about applying there again in the next ten years. <S> They can easily send you a bill for the fees, that’s zero effort for them, and you either pay that bill or pay a lawyer. <S> In the end, you are not starting with them, so you can just wait and see what happens.
| Depends on what “I accepted an offer” means, and how angry the relevant people in the company are.
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My boss is leaving the company. Is it okay to ask him for a LinkedIn recommendation? I work for a fast-growing startup and I just found out that my direct manager (leading a team of ~25 people) will be leaving the company. I'm fairly confident that he's leaving because of the excellent opportunity he was offered, rather than internal conflicts or similar. We have a good relationship and I know he thinks highly of me. He is also aware that I have been trying to change a few things for myself within the company (salary, career direction). At the same time, I am not currently looking to leave the company, and my boss knew that as well. I've heard LinkedIn recommendations are typically given at the end of a business relationship (which would be now). Is it okay to ask him for a recommendation at this point? My gut feeling is that he would gladly give me a great recommendation. My main hesitations are: Timing - Do I wait till he's actually out the door, or ask now (a week before he leaves)? He seems pretty loyal to the company, but he clearly values career growth more (since he himself is leaving). Even though he is not going to be my boss soon, do I need to be concerned that a recommendation request will get interpreted (somewhat incorrectly) as "I'm looking for a new job"? I don't want it to give off the wrong impression about how soon I might leave (for him, or for any current coworkers who might see my profile). Like I mentioned, I'm pretty happy at my job. There are a few things I'd like to see changed, but currently I'm not actively looking for a new job (although, granted, that could always change relatively quickly). Will having his recommendation on my profile prove to be a bad move from the perspective of those currently at the company? <Q> Is it okay to ask him for a recommendation at this point? <S> Probably better now than later. <S> After starting a new job, people usually are busy focusing on getting up to speed etc., <S> and there is nothing like asking in person. <S> do I need to be concerned that a recommendation request will get interpreted (somewhat incorrectly) as "I'm looking for a new job"? <S> Asking for recommendations doesn't directly mean that a person is looking for a job. <S> It is a way to capture someone else's view of you doing great work. <S> (it stays on a user's profile and isn't for a single use) <A> I think it is an absolutely great idea. <S> I have done the same in the past when I was leaving and when I had others leaving. <S> If he is a decent human being he would most likely do the right thing and give you a great recommendation. <S> Might be a nice thought to offer to write a good recommendation for him as well. <A> Is it okay to ask him for a recommendation at this point? <S> Yes. <S> I've give out recommendations in similar situations many times.
| The only reservation would be if he was leaving on bad terms and held some sort of grudge which you feel is not the case. I think it is also well understood that a LinkedIn recommendation is for general purpose use.
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How to respond to colleague's sharing about me during daily scrum? I recently joined a new team. There is one co-worker who, whenever I ask him any question, brings it up in the next day's stand-up saying I asked a question on X topic. He seems quite detailed in his stand up update. Mentioning a 5 minute interaction seems pointless. I don't like him bringing up my name for no reason. Any suggestions on how to handle this situation? <Q> There is one co-worker, who whenever I ask him any question, brings it up in the next day's stand-up saying I asked him a question on X topic. <S> This, in and of itself, is not really a problem. <S> Mentioning a 5 minute interaction seems pointless. <S> I tend to agree. <S> Any suggestions on how to handle this situation? <S> It could be your co-worker is: telling the team he's not getting his work done because of interruptions signalling he knows more than you do or is more experienced honestly unclear as to the difference between relevant and irrelevant information <S> In any case, it sounds like it's more your co-worker's problem. <S> One way to approach this would be to make your interactions less frequent, and more significant. <S> Rather than ask every time you have a question, try to keep a running list of questions throughout the day. <S> As you compile your questions, you may find that you want to ask different questions altogether, or that your approach to a problem changes. <S> Then send an email, or schedule a short meeting to talk in person, and ask your questions as concisely as possible. <S> This way you can make the best use of your time and your co-worker's time. <S> Depending on how stuck you are you may have to do this more than once a day, but collecting your thoughts ahead of time will help you. <S> This way, during the next stand-up, your co-worker might say "we had a good 30 minute meeting to discuss X, Y, and Z," as opposed to running through a litany of offhand conversations. <A> There is another possibility : your colleague could think that the questions you're asking are valid and worth mentioning, and wants to give you due credit for them. <S> If that's what they think they're doing, the easiest way would be to talk to your colleague. <S> You could say : "Thanks for giving me credit for the question yesterday, but it's not necessary." <S> If that's not what your colleague is doing, approaching it this way - assuming good intentions - is still a good way to go. <A> Any suggestions on how to handle this situation? <S> Talk to him privately. <S> Tell him that if you wanted your questions repeated to the entire scrum audience you would do it yourself. <A> A daily stand-up should take the minimum time possible. <S> I’d mention if we discussed a complex matter for two hours, but talking about some five minute interaction that doesn’t affect the team or my work progress is nonsense and wasting everyone’s time. <S> Because it doesn’t. <S> If he says it does, you ask why - was you asking a question one of the three or four highlights of the day for him? <A> One more confrontational approach would be just to take over from them every time they bring you up, summarize the interaction in a way that suits you and thank them profusely for their helpfulness. <S> If they don't get the hint after a couple of those, then talk to them in private and try to brush this off in a low-key way. <S> Not wanting to be mentioned in the standup is as far as I'm concerned not a good enough reason.
| The next time it happens, you interrupt and ask if this matter belongs into a standup. If your colleague is trying to undermine you or complain about you, raising it this way will let them know they're not making you feel bad, and they may even feel guilty about their approach and change it. Tell him to stop doing that.
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I cancelled my third-round interview - can I get another chance? I recently had two very good interviews over the phone with a hiring manager. Both interviews were pretty technical and I suspected that round 3, the on-site interview, would be more of a formality/behavioral/team-fit type of interview, just to see whether we'll all get along together. However, I impulsively canceled this round 3 interview, on the day of the interview, telling the human resources lady (not the hiring manager who interviewed me over the phone) on email that I am planning to stay longer at my current job because things are in an exciting stage here. Now I regret it and wish to be reconsidered. What could I do to ask for reconsideration? Should I apologize too? I feel at this point there's nothing to lose from asking them and expressing interest again. For clarity: I don't have the email or phone number of the hiring manager that conducted the phone interviews; the human resources lady set up my appointments and confirmed the interview details with me. Note: yesterday was the scheduled on-site interview. Update : I wrote an email to the HR lady and apologized for the inconvenience that I may have caused them and I expressed interest again and asked whether they could reconsider me. I told her honestly that in the moment that I canceled my interview I had felt somewhat attached to my current place of work, but that I do have plans to leave soon. The lady emailed me back later in the day to give me the phone number of someone in charge of these decisions, and she said that he'll decide how to move forward. I couldn't reach him on Friday afternoon so I intend to try him on Monday morning. Thanks everyone for your answers and comments :) <Q> The problem with this is, you've shown a few flaws here. <S> Indecisive <S> Acting on impulse Spontaneous decision making (clearly wasn't thought about) <S> You've shown that you clearly change your mind easily with something so important. <S> You also had doubt about working for the new company or you are attached to your old one. <S> You've acted upon impulse before actually thinking about it. <S> Also there was no harm in just attending the interview and seeing what the outcome would be as you wouldn't have been starting literally as the interview ended. <S> It's likely you hadn't even spoken about the start date. <S> Although you may be suitable for the role, these things will play in the back of the hiring managers mind if you are given another chance. <S> That being said, the only thing you can really do is ask the same person who you cancelled through to reconsider you, simply call (or email) and say that you recently cancelled an interview and you regret that decision and that you would like to be given a second chance. <S> Whatever you do <S> /say it's always in the hands of the hiring manager on what they want to do. <A> You blew your best chance by being impulsive. <S> They may still be interested but nowhere near the same degree prior to the cancellation as you have effectively shot down their offer once already. <S> The most you can do is tell the hiring manager everything you've asked here and see how it goes from there. <A> Now I regret it and wish to be reconsidered. <S> What could I do to ask for reconsideration? <S> Should I apologize too? <S> I feel at this point <S> there's nothing to lose from asking them and expressing interest again. <S> You should call immediately. <S> Apologize and indicate why you backed out. <S> Then hope for the best. <A> As you noted in your comments you are only one day removed from your rash decision. <S> This means that you can call them back, and ask to be reconsidered. <S> They can say no. <S> They can say no if they believe your actions disqualified you for consideration. <S> They can say no if they have already filled your slot in phase 3 with another candidate. <S> If it has been a week or more then it is too late. <S> They have moved on. <S> Calling now probably won't help. <S> You could still try, but I would expect that even if they wanted to re-consider you they have moved other candidates to the next phase. <S> Applying, interviewing, getting an offer, then being enticed to stay with your current company is not an unusual set of actions seen by hiring managers. <S> Frequently those candidates end up applying again in a few months or years, when the promises made by the current company fail to materialize, or the situation continues to deteriorate. <S> In your case they will be concerned about your recent demonstration of whipsawing between decisions. <A> Other answers suggest that you call back and say you changed your mind. <S> That approach is risky because you come off as waffling. <S> As an alternative, you can stick to the plan you told them. <S> Stay at your job for 3-6 months. <S> Then apply to the company again. <S> This approach is not without drawbacks. <S> You might have to start the interview process from the beginning, although the company would probably still have a record of you passing the first two rounds, which might work in your favor. <S> Worse, the job might not be available anymore. <S> Or they might still think you are waffling and not want to give you another chance. <S> Also with this plan you will have to keep working at your current company for some time. <S> However, that probably isn't a problem if your current work truly is exciting. <S> You made a mistake <S> but it's water under the bridge. <S> You still have a chance with this company and there are plenty more companies you can work at.
| So rejecting them at some phase of the interviewing process doesn't ban you forever. Tell them that you thought it over and would like to be reconsidered. You are correct that you have nothing to lose.
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Should I say when I can start in my cover letter or wait until interview I am applying for jobs. For various reasons I am unable to start working until around 2 months from now.Should mention this in my cover letter as I apply for jobs, or leave that information for interviews? Idon't want to get my resume binned because I can't start right away if the hiring process is over a monthanyway, but I'm unsure if this is a legitemate concern. <Q> The reason being is if you come into the interview(s) and make great impressions, then a company would most likely consider you still even with a few months to go till you are available. <S> Yes this won't always be the case, some positions are immediately needing to be filled, but for a stellar candidate, companies will wait sometimes. <S> Also, probably wouldn't want to offer that up in the first interview (if it's a multiple interview set up). <S> Another also, 2 months really isn't that far into the future if this is a multiple interview set up, or a large company that requires approval from managers, execs, and HR. <S> There's a lot of red tape to cut through to bring on new people. <A> I would leave it off. <S> Probably best to inform them if/ <S> when they ask you when you can start or extend an offer that has a start date on it. <S> If it is a company with a two month hiring process, they may be a lot less concerned about that even if it is on your cover letter. <S> On the other hand, once they have interviewed you and think you are a good fit for the job, better than say, the other six candidates that they interviewed as well, suddenly they are more willing to wait an extra month to bring you on board because you are the best candidate for the job. <S> Another thing to ask yourself, what do you have to gain from including that information on your cover letter? <S> Unless it is because you are getting a certification/finishing a degree/highly relevant to the skills they need, I wouldn't include it at all. <S> Good luck with the job search! <A> Realistically speaking, if you are applying now, you will not start for 2 months anyway, so in your particular case it probably doesn't matter one way or the other, so I'd leave it off. <S> Worst case, they might give you a start date that's like a week before you'd like to start, and most companies won't argue with you over a week. <S> In the general case though, I would leave it off the cover letter. <S> It's <S> kind of like you're making a demand of the company already, and you don't want to make demands in your application. <S> To be honest, I wouldn't discuss anything that you want from the company before there is an offer on the table if you can avoid it, aside from things like company culture and things that you know the company already has (e.g. if you like to play pingpong and the company has given you an office tour and they showed you the pingpong table, then you can say "I want to work for a company that has a pingpong table").
| Having a start date on your cover letter may cause some hiring managers to overlook you as a whole because they don't want to wait an extra month after the hiring process. I would leave that off your cover letter.
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Is it appropriate/legal to work on personal laptop even after the employer given a work laptop without the knowledge of employer? So I have a personal laptop and coincidentally it's same model as the laptop provided by my employer, so is it appropriate/moral/legal to continue my work with my personal laptop without the knowledge of my employer. <Q> Depending on your industry it may also be illegal. <S> If they know about it may be okay. <S> Many people check work email on personal devices when they are not in the workplace. <S> Many more do other work on personal devices. <S> Whether this is okay may depend on the type of work you do on your own device. <S> Here are some issues to consider. <S> Company Policies and Legal Regulations - <S> The company may have policies in place which don’t allow this. <S> These policies may be to secure company systems and information or they may be required for regulatory compliance. <S> You don’t want to break these policies, even unknowingly. <S> Some legal restructions even apply to employees even if the company fail to enfource. <S> Transfer of Risk <S> - By using your own computer you take on responsibility for guarding the security of the information on you computer. <S> You also take responsibility for any breaches into the companies systems which use your computer as a pathway, for example a virus which infects your computer and then the company system. <S> Even if you have an agreement with the company such as a ‘ bring your own device ’ policy if you leak company information or your device was involved in a security issue it will may reflect poorly on you. <S> Separation of Work - Many employers and employees have agreements which define what work belongs to the company and what work belongs to the employee. <S> For example, if you are developing a new product on you own time and with your own equipment then your employment agreement and local laws may ensure that is product is not the property of the company. <S> If you do work for them on your personal laptop then it may be harder to argue which work belongs to them and which belongs to you. <S> In many cases these issues are far out weighed by the benifits of using a machine which you are very productive using. <S> That is for you and the company to decide. <A> For many companies, it would be a serious offense. <S> Imagine you catch a virus or someone hacks your machine - possible because you are not using the security tools the company machine uses, and the hacker edits something into the code you produce. <S> The damage to the company could be astronomical. <S> As I manager, I would insist that you immediately stop using non-company hardware (unless your policy is different of course), and if you continue to violate it, terminate you. <A> Depending on their IT infrastructure, it's unlikely to work seamlessly on your employer's network so either you wouldn't be able to use it <S> or they would notice a nonstandard computer connected to the network. <A> Ultimately this is a question only your employer can answer, but frankly speaking how would you work on your personal computer? <S> I’m pretty sure your employer has rules, how/if any company data (documents, source code etc.) can be transferred to any other non-company system. <S> The other thing is, if you use any commercial software for your work, you're probably not allowed to install it on your personal computer. <S> I don't really see the benefit for using your personal computer. <S> And I would even discourage you from asking your company. <S> Probably the response from your IT department would be "Why would you want to do that?" and might get them suspicious, if you're planning on stealing company data.
| It will depend on your employer's policies, but probably not. It is wrong to do it without their knowledge.
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How to respectfully flirt with an intern? I'm a project leader in a small (a few dozens employees) Spanish IT company.In one of my projects there is a 22yo female intern (I'm a 29yo male) who I'd like to flirt with. I noticed my attraction to her recently and I realised yesterday that since then I unconsciously started provoking a lot more interactions with her (teasing, useful work discussions, etc). I have a playful nature with everybody so I honestly think nobody noticed.Also it looks like she enjoys this extra time I created so I guess she doesn't feel uncomfortable. Now I'll try to spend time with her outside of work and see how she responds to that. Also our company organized a week-end with all the employees in 2 weeks and none of the bosses will be there so it should be kinda fun, although I'd then be one of the employees with the highest position. I'm posting here because I don't know how to address this situation. I absolutely don't want to scare her off, to make her feel uncomfortable, trapped, threatened, or to make her think I'm trying to use my position to make her do something. And I don't want to see her uncomfortable if she turns me down nor do I want her not to turn me down just because of the remaining months until the end of her internship.Each time I think about an approach, the whole high position/intern, male/female, 29yo/22yo situation comes back at me and I feel like I'm facing a time bomb. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. PS: Not doing anything in the upcoming days/weeks is not an option. PPS: My only concern is this situation taking place in work, where harassment, reputations and rumors do happen. I don't really care about this job, I know I would find another one if something bad happens there, my concern is focused on her. <Q> I don't really care about this job, I know I would find another one if something bad happens there, my concern is focused on her. <S> You don't really care about this job, but the target of your affections might. <S> Consider the position you could be putting her in. <S> You should find another job now, hand in your notice and leave this one. <S> Then you can flirt all you wish with the intern where you used to work. <A> I don't know how to address this situation. <S> I absolutely don't want to scare her off, to make her feel uncomfortable, trapped, threatened, or to make her think I'm trying to use my position to make her do something. <S> As a project lead you do not flirt with an intern while he/she is an intern. <A> I think this is a very dangerous situation, and you are gravely underestimating it (google #metoo...). <S> Abusing your position with an employee (or intern) is considered inacceptable, and as you are her manager, flirting is very near to abusing; you are putting her under a lot of pressure. <S> Maybe she likes you too, and everything could be fine between you. <S> Then you are still in potential difficulties, as colleagues could complain about you prefering her over better qualified people, and giving her the most interesting work, etc. <S> Most manager level trainings instill that you must avoid even the impression this could be happening at all cost <S> - it does not matter that you maybe never 'preferred' her, just allowing people to think so is damaging the team, and your image and career. <S> Or, much worse, she is not interested. <S> What should she do? <S> Play along, and maybe even date with you, or have sex with you, in the hope to keep the job, or get a permanent position? <S> Or tell you no, and lose her job and all chances? <S> You cannot know that she really likes you as long as you are in a position of power in her life. <S> Seriously, the only clean way out is to either forget it completely , or - if you think you can't - talk tou your manager or HR, tell them that you have a romantic interest, and ask for her or you to be reassigned (if you are not willing to do that, you are not serious about her anyway, so forget her). <S> Once you are not her manager, you can see if she is still interested (happy couples sometimes come from that).
| If you two get along well so much that it would be more than an affair, then you should be able to keep that off until the internship is finished and you exchange phone numbers in a "if you would like to stay in touch" way. Many large companies would give you a formal warning just for what you are doing already, and might terminate you with a very black mark if you continue.
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Started a new job a week ago, I want to leave So I started a new IT job just over a week ago. The interview went great, I met the people I would be "working" with and reporting to. At the time, they had a contractor in that was doing all of their IT work, and from the way they spoke in the interview, it sounded like I would be working with the contractor for a short period of time sort of as a hand off. I am the ONLY IT support for the entire company. Well, first day on the job, I walk in, she introduces me to the office members, sits me down at my desk and says "Let me know if you have any questions" and proceeds to her desk. To this day, I still never received any kind of formal training, 90% of the questions that I ask are responded to with a smile and a "I don't know". Without going into too much detail, this job is a complete 180 from how they presented it in the interview. The company is completely unorganized, I don't have passwords to anything, I had to setup all of my own accounts, and I have no one to go to for questions since she will not bring the previous contractor in, since they will have to pay for it. Back on the main topic, I am currently searching for a new job, after one week. I already went through the process of seeing if my old position was still available, but my boss had already found a replacement that would be starting soon. So my question is, do I list this job on my resume, and how do I present it so it doesn't seem like I am just hopping around? My other jobs have been in place for about a year plus, as one was an internship and the other was a contract. <Q> The worst thing that can happen, whatever you do, is that you are without a job next week. <S> Leaving after a week is not "job hopping". <S> It's an acknowledgement that you made the wrong choice. <S> It's much better to leave after a week than dragging it out for a few months. <S> (The record in my personal experience was a guy who started a new job 9am on Monday, and called his old company at 9:10 am. <S> Got his job back, and they pretended he never left). <S> Since the worst that can happen is being without a job, you might take one more week to practice how forceful and successful you can be if there is something you want <S> and there are people in the way, and one week to prove to yourself how good you are. <S> Monday morning you go in with the goal that you will fix your problems. <S> That you will not get fobbed off with "I don't know". <S> You spend a day focussed on creating a list of all the things that need to get done, together with all the obstacles. <S> The company, you say, is disorganised. <S> That's not a negative, that's your opportunity to shine and turn things around. <S> Make sure the state of things when you arrived is documented, and then you change things. <S> Bit by bit. <S> It's not going to happen in a week. <S> It will take a year. <S> The things you dislike now are not "bad working environment". <S> They are your job . <A> Based on my experience what you describe is what you can expect in the majority of the companies when starting a new job. <S> Yes, there are some cases where the new hire is given introductory courses, list of useful intranet links, explanation on the company processes and what more to ease the onboarding, but those are still rather rare (in one of my job <S> I was even asked to use my personal laptop to do my work, which included accessing company secret documents). <S> The norm is what you describe, and since you are the only IT support for the entire company, I guess you are not working in a 20k+ employees company. <S> You might even turn this into an opportunity to stand out: note done where you struggled, see what could have been done to ease that particular aspect and do what you can, like setting up all the accounts before the person starts. <A> In a comment, you say that they dismissed the contractor without allowing any transition time, and the last two employees just wiped their laptops and walked off. <S> (One employee is likely to be just disaffected, but two is suggestive.) <S> These are not promising signs. <S> They suggest that the company might be in trouble, or that you will run into treatment that will make you want to wipe your laptop and just leave. <S> Keep looking for another job <S> , at least until you're sure the company is stable and that you're not going to run into any deal-breakers. <S> In the mean time, do the best you can with what you've got. <S> If you haven't already searched for any documentation the contractor may have left behind, do so. <S> Use your initiative. <S> I've always listed my jobs on resumes with month and year start and end dates, partly because I can never remember anything more specific, and I've never been asked about it. <S> You could leave a one- or two-week job off and nobody would notice. <A> First of all, the Problems with your new Company you describe, are a common Thing in small non-IT companies with under 300 employees (my personal experience). <S> Usually, you have one or two IT-guys employed there who are responsible for anything about IT and communication tech. <S> If you do not like the pros and cons that come with such a work mode, you should leave. <S> Alternatively, you can stay and use the Problems of your new Company to your Advantage by changing the organization in a positive way and, if done correctly, get into higher positions with better pay.
| You are in your job for just 1 week, I would wait some more before deciding to leave: settle down in the new environment, get to know your colleagues, and only afterwards sit down and reflect if what you do is the job that you want to do.
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Leveraging a New Part-Time Job to Transition into Full Time? I have recently been trying to transition into doing full-time work at a company as a junior developer but have had some issues I am seeking advice about. I have applied for about 100 jobs so far and have had a few interviews. I was offered one front-end developer position. They wanted me to go full time, but they are only offering an extremely low rate. Like the absolute bottom end of the lowest possible rates ($15.00/hr, no benefits, and I have a stay at home wife and 15 month old). I told them I would do part-time so they could see how much value I provide, and will be happy to transition to full-time if they agree to pay me a higher rate. I usually am able to charge $32.50/hr as a freelancer so even though the pay cut is massive, I think the experience working on a team will be worth it in terms of leveraging into a better pay rate/new full-time position since I literally have no experience working for a larger business in a team environment). They agreed and I start today. Is it okay for me to continue to seek opportunities elsewhere while I am doing part-time work for them? My thought process is, I should seek a better paying position somewhere else, and if I get it, go back to the company I am working part-time for and tell them, “I have been contacted by another company who is willing to pay me x, if you are willing to match that, I am happy to turn them down and go full time here.” Also While looking for other opportunities, should I put this position on my resume even though I literally just started? Will this look weird/odd to employers to see I just started but am looking for a new job already? Is this appropriate? How would you handle this situation/what advice if any do you have for someone looking to make this transition? Thanks! <Q> Mostly, you are free to do as you please with your time outside of work. <S> The exception to this would be if you signed something stating that you won't 'freelance' or 'moonlight', or if you signed an NDA/Non-compete that prevents you from working in the same industry for a period of time during and after employment. <S> Similarly, put the position on your resume, it IS a part of your employment history after all. <S> There is no harm in showing where you work, though you should be prepared to answer questions as to why you're looking for work so soon after starting (even if it's for additional part time work). <S> Finally, and as a tangent to what you had posted in the first paragraph of your question: Compensation is an aggregate of what you receive. <S> Salary (or hourly rate) is only one piece of your compensation. <S> Any form of 401(k)/403(b)/pension, any paid vacation, perks, benefits, access to stock options, healthcare insurance etc. <S> All add to the cost of employing you. <S> While part-time usually don't receive much in the way of benefits, you should still look an consider what the value of those benefits are to you. <S> For example, one year I made ~$56,000 as an industrial programmer, that same year my healthcare premiums added up to nearly $40,000, bringing my compensation total over $100,000 (when you factor in 401(k) and vacation). <S> This correlates with the effective rate I would have gotten as an independent contractor in the same field, even though I made effectively 50% of a typical IC's rate. <S> The difference being the independent needs to source their own insurance, retirement, and vacation pay. <A> Right now, you have to drum up business somehow, and that's unpaid. <S> When you're employed, drumming up business is somebody else's problem, and you don't have those unpaid hours. <S> Depending on the company and your relationship to them, you might get paid time off, health insurance, 401(k) matching, training on company time with company money, and other things. <S> You'll probably get better benefits full-time than part-time. <S> I don't know what you're getting, or what you'd get working full time, so you have to figure what the benefits (if any) are worth to you. <S> The general rule of thumb is that you charge considerably more for freelance or contract work than you would get paid as a full-time employee. <S> The usual rule of thumb is twice as much, but I never did find a contract position that would pay me twice as much per hour as a corresponding full-time job. <S> So $15/hour isn't completely out of line compared to your freelance rate, if the benefits are good. <S> It would be a pay cut in any case, but the experience and the addition to the resume are also worth something. <S> It may be way below market rate for your area. <S> If you find a job that pays a lot better, and decide to take it, take it. <S> Do not try to use it as negotiating leverage, and never accept a counter-offer from your current employer. <S> Market rate is something you can bring up when discussing salary, and that's as far as you should go. <A> Is it okay for me to continue to seek opportunities elsewhere while I am doing part-time work for them? <S> Totally fine to do this. <S> You shouldn't settle, and you can probably do much better, especially if you are part-time. <S> Also While looking for other opportunities, should I put this position on my resume even though I literally just started? <S> Totally fine as well. <S> I would say that you are simply evaluating all of your options and seeing if there are better opportunities. <S> Showing that you got a job may signal to a potential employer that at the very least another company thought you were worth a shot. <S> What else can you do? <S> Besides gaining experience while on the job, take this time to work on some side projects to beef up your resume, practice interviewing, and do everything else you can to make you a more competitive applicant. <S> You'd be surprised at the difference a month or two of this can make, even if it is a half an hour a night.
| You need to consider what benefits you get from employment. However, don't say that you had to accept the job or anything to weaken your position with companies you may interview with.
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I clarified with my manager in a one-on-one what my title was and it still hasn't been changed in the system, is it appropriate for me to call it out? I have been the same title at my company for a few years now (at least 3 years). Our company has moved to a leveling system for software engineers and my title was evaluated to be at level 2. While I have received raises, I've never received formal promotions. Many people have told me that I shouldn't be obsessed with titles so I have taken that to heart for many years but because I am trying to move up in my career, I wanted a better glimpse into the process so I asked my manager. Because I was having a recent manager change, I felt it was appropriate to ask since I wanted to know that a lot of the work I was doing wasn't getting lost in the transition. He was surprised to hear I was a level 2 and in a follow-up one-on-one he said he got clarification that I am actually a level 3 and, in his eyes, I have what it takes to be a level 4 but would like to work with me to convince others the same. It's been a few weeks since that conversation and many formal promotions have happened. I assumed because I was "actually" a level 3, there wasn't an announcement so I left it at that. Recently I had to look in the system of my org chart for filling out some paper work, and I noticed the coworkers who did receive formal promotions had their titles updated in the system but mine was not. I'm not really sure what to think -- I feel if I come to another one-on-one asking about it, it'll seem I am obsessed with the title when that isn't my intention at all. Should I just leave the topic altogether and work hard with him as I've been doing so? What are best practices for negotiating titles and/or is that even something I should care about? I really appreciate any advice. <Q> Recently I had to look in the system of my org chart for filling out some paper work, and I noticed the coworkers who did receive formal promotions had their titles updated in the system <S> but mine was not. <S> In your next one-on-one simply say something like <S> "I noticed that it still says Level 2 in the org chart. <S> Who should I talk with to get that fixed?" <A> I guess the #1 important thing here for the short term is that your manager sees you as a Level 3 and that you are getting the appropriate paycheque/benefits according to that job title. <S> As long as that is happening, then, at least in the short term, it doesn't matter. <S> However, if you put "Software Engineer Level 3" on your resume for a future job application and your company gets called to confirm, and your job title was never updated, then they might contradict that title. <S> If I was you, I would gently nudge my manager, like "hey I just wanted to follow up on this, would you mind making this happen for me?" to try to get this sorted out. <S> It's not a huge deal unless you are imminently looking for another job, but a light nudge would never hurt. <A> Follow the advice already given here to have a quick chat about updating the title in the system. <S> However, what I believe is even more important <S> is that your title is also reflected in your contract. <S> Even a simple addendum or change / update would suffice. <S> Have a talk with HR about it as well (provided that your new manager still sees you as level 3). <S> This way, no matter what the system states or any one employee thinks, you'll have a written confirmation of your title. <S> It will go long ways should someone dispute your title claim (in the company and on future job hunts).
| If you have been told that you are "Level 3", and your title in the org chart still says "Level 2", then you should mention it.
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Quitting before or after the start of a project I have been at my current job for a little more than one year. I get paid about half of what my position should be, but I got this job right after I graduated, so I still appreciate them taking me because I really do need the experience. My employer is pretty nice and I get along with my coworkers really well too but my current salary is just way too low so I plan to quit soon. However, they have already assigned me to a new project. The training for the new prpject will take a couple of weeks, so they will be paying someone and myself for those time just for training. If I put in my request now I can still quit before they start my training on the new project, but I will have no income until I find another job. My question is should I quit before or after the start of a new project? My employer has some connections in my field so I don't want this to end badly and having bad reference in the future, but I'm also worried about quitting before getting a new job and how long it will take for me to have income again. I hope what I said makes sense, thanks in advance for anyone who give me advice. I'm not sure what to do right now.... EDIT:Thanks to everyone who answered, after I read the breakdowns I won't quit until I find another job. I didn't realize there's such a a stigma of people who are unemployed looking for work.In terms of salary, my current wage is $16. For most people entering their first job in my field their salary is usually around $20/hr, after 1 year it should be close to 30/hr or even above if they are lucky enough to land in a great company. I know for sure there is no chance for a rise that can cover the gap because the managers talked to us in the beginning of the year about how to get a 2% salary increase if we work hard enough. <Q> After. <S> You don't have a job; you're suggesting you quit so that you can start looking for a job, and that's just not how it's done. <S> It might take you months or even years to get a new job. <S> You don't want to be both out of work AND worrying about your employer <S> bad mouthing you <S> (and they might when ever you quit). <S> You're more desirable if you're already employed. <S> You might even be able to argue that with your new training, you're simply worth more. <S> You might also be greatly over-estimating (or even under-estimating) <S> what you're worth. <A> If I put in my request now I can still quit before they start my training on the new project, but I will have no income until I find another job. <S> My question is should I quit before or after the start of a new project? <S> Find a new job. <S> Get and accept a formal offer. <S> Set a start date. <S> Then, and only then, give your notice at your current company and work until the end of your notice period. <S> If all that happens to occur before you start training on a new project, then great. <S> Otherwise, don't worry about it. <S> Quitting before you have a job to go to risks being without any income for a protracted period of time. <S> And seeking a job paying what you are worth when you are currently making half that amount can take quite a long time. <S> Often, that financial pressure leads to accepting whatever job happens to be available, even if it isn't one you really want. <S> That's bad. <S> Companies understand that people cannot always time their departure to match up with company training schedules. <S> These things happen. <A> My recommendation: Never quit a job unless you already have another job lined up. <S> You never know how hard it might be to find another job. <S> The only exception to the above is if you plan to take an extended vacation before starting your next job hunt <S> and you just want the time off to decompress ( <S> and you have the money/other resources to do so comfortably). <A> in addition to what all the others said, I hear between the lines that you feel bad about getting trained on their nickel and then leaving the company. <S> Don't (feel bad). <S> They are letting you work for a low salary because they can, and they don't feel bad about it either. <S> Look for alternatives, and if you find them, ask them for a significant raise to reflect your increased experience and new skills (unless you don't like the old company anymore). <S> if they think you are not worth it, take the new job. <A> Job/Position worth is not simply defined by your salary. <S> Things like location, work perks (PTO, technology, etc.), job workload are all important things to consider when evaluating your job worth. <S> For example, I personally pay a quarter of what some of my friends pay in rent <S> and I get quite a bit of time off, unlimited sick time, and the job is low stress 90% of the year. <S> BUT I get paid about half as much as other software engineers in places like Silicon Valley. <S> In my opinion I make more than my colleagues because of everything that comes with my job along with my salary. <S> Take a step back and evaluate the job you're in and see if there are some perks to your job you might not have somewhere else. <S> However, until you get an official written offer from another company continue to work and grow as a software developer in your current position. <S> Important, high salary jobs for software developers tend to be jobs where you work way over 40 hours a week, keep that in mind.
| If there aren't simply enough perks to your job and you don't make enough in salary, start looking for a job now. If you had an offer, you could go back to your current employer and ask them to match it.
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How to push back on being assigned brainless tasks in a development team What is a neutral and professional way to push back against being assigned by senior team members to do brainless tasks in a development team? I don't dislike my team, but I am worried about not being taken seriously because I am often an afterthought in terms of task assignment. Being an afterthought does not take advantage of my skills and abilities (I've had success in solving hard problems for other projects for my team). I get the impression that I am purposely being sidelined because of office politics, being perceived as a threat, or sexism (from some members, not all), or all of the above. I don't want to mention this to my boss, because I don't want to come off as whiny, but if I have to do this, I am open to it. What's the best way to bring this up? How do I push back against this kind of work assignment while being professional and a team player? <Q> If there are reasons why you are not being assigned more challenging tasks then its best to find out so you can figure out how to overcome those reasons. <S> When you have this discussion stick to facts of the situation, and not how it makes you feel. <S> And most importantly do not speculate about any reasons you may think are behind this. <A> You may want to adjust your viewpoint on the matter instead of pushing back on getting assigned mundane tasks. <S> Someone has to do them. <S> You have had more interesting tasks and should have them in future. <S> If you must push back then there is no way to do what you want, which is basically get reassigned something more interesting at the teams expense <S> (since it will impact on all the planning and implementation strategies already formulated) while appearing professional, keen, and a team player. <S> Doing so is basically disagreeing with the senior team members, calling in to question their ethics, competence and judgement, and going over their heads to complain about them. <A> Make sure you're doing your dumb assignments well. <S> You need to show that you're willing to do whatever you're assigned and do it well, <S> and so you're ready to do more. <S> Talk to your manager. <S> Leave your feelings and guesses out of it. <S> That's completely unobjectionable. <S> (When I did it, my manager didn't so much as blink.) <S> Listen to what your manager says. <S> If your manager thinks you're not ready, ask how you can become ready. <S> If your manager waffles, that's a bad sign. <S> Wait for more tasks to be parceled out. <S> Volunteer for specific tasks that you think you can do a good job at. <S> Make it clear that you want more difficult jobs. <S> If the office is run well, this should work (assuming, of course, that you have the necessary talent). <S> It's possible that you're being excluded out of sexism (I've never seen that level of sexism, but I haven't worked everywhere) or politics, and in that case you may never get what you want where you work. <S> If you interview with other companies, and they ask why you're leaving, you didn't get the challenges you wanted to develop your skills and grow in your job. <S> (Use your own wordings, and try to sound less like a canned answer than I did.) <S> It's a perfectly acceptable reason, in addition to being true. <A> How do I push back against this kind of work assignment while being professional and a team player? <S> Do the busy work as quickly as possible and with the time you have left over, pick up something challenging from the backlog to work on. <S> If there's nothing in the backlog that hasn't been assigned to another team member, think about tasks that maybe haven't been planned yet but that will need to get done sometime in the future. <S> When it's time for your sprint review (or whatever kind of review process you have on your team), you can proudly state that you finished your assigned tasks and also got a significant amount of work done for an upcoming project. <S> This should work to show your seniors what you're capable of (if they don't already know) and, I would hope, convince them to allow you to continue working on that project. <S> I can't say for sure if this approach will work for you <S> but it has worked for me. <A> Your seniority in your profession and for how long you're with the company are two key factors that could hint to why you are given mundane tasks. <S> If you're a senior you're probably earning more than juniors. <S> A joking remark to your boss about task x becoming quite expensive with you on it might make them pause and rethink your assignment. <S> Or if that's too brash for you, simply state that you feel a bit under utilized. <S> If they still don't assign tasks there might be no other "higher" tasks left to go around and you might have to just bash through it. <S> Should this persist with the next project or <S> once you see there are open tasks you feel would fit you still not being assigned to you, there might be something else brooding. <S> Dust up that CV, look for other opportunities and inquire why you're being left out cold. <S> If you're junior / mid level than you're the perfect candidate for those tasks <S> and I'm sorry to say have to suck it up to a degree. <S> You still can have a chat with your manager, mentioning that you just finished this thing and would like to be challenged a bit more, just like the last time you worked on project X so that you can grow. <A> I would recommend to sit down with the manager and ask him directly about it. <S> For example, "I have the impression that I get all the silly work; it makes me feel underappreciated. <S> " <S> , not "They give me all the silly work because they think I'm too dumb" . <S> There is of course the possibility that you are not seen as good as you think you are, compared to the others. <S> If so, it's up to the manager to clearly tell you that, and then you have a chance to work to correct his impressions if you think they're wrong.
| Tell your manager that you want to be assigned more challenging tasks, that you're ready for them. Sounds like you need to have a talk with your manager. Make sure you describe your perception and feelings about the situation, not your guesses of the reasons for it, no matter how obvious they seem to you.
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Is it bad to answer "tell me about your interests" with something generic, for tech positions? I was recently contacted by a recruiter at a tech company. She wanted to find out what my interests were to see if there were any matching opportunities available for me at her company. I told her honestly that I was interested in solving challenging problems - big or small - and was not tied to any particular technology or topic like machine learning or AI. I wasn't trying increase my chances of matching up with an open position - I genuinely don't care about front-end or back-end, small scale or large scale, internal or public as long as the problem is challenging and I have free reign to think of solutions. I did not hear back from the recruiter and was a bit disappointed. Did my answer make it seem like: I wasn't passionate enough about any specific topic? Am I better off focusing on specific sets of technologies / interests? <Q> The thing is with recruiters is that they're not asking you questions on behalf of the employer - they're asking you for search terms to match you with an employer. <S> Not many recruiters will try to understand your general needs, they're not trying to date you, they're not going to remember you after they've placed you - they want to get you matched up as easily as possible and earn their commision. <S> If you're too hard to match, they'll drop you and move on to another easy win. <S> To get the best out of recruiters, you need to be fairly specific and help them to do their matching. <S> Basically, give them stuff they can type into a search box - you can talk in general terms but they're going to need enough detail to match you. <A> Yes, it is bad to say you would like any tech. <S> Actively a bad thing that hurts your chances of being hired. <S> I know you don't think it should be. <S> Who wouldn't want to hire someone who can work with any tech in the whole world? <S> But employers, and especially recruiters, want to hear "I am doing a lot of work in X right now <S> and I love getting a chance to apply it to A. <S> It works super well with B. <S> " They look on their desk where it says "Need an X developer with some B skills for an A project" and say "Bingo!" <S> You think you're saying "you can hire me for anything and it will work out because I am smart and these things are not that different. <S> " They hear " <S> yeah <S> whatever <S> , I don't necessarily know any of them <S> but no big deal right <S> I'm sure I can figure it out. <S> " And they move on to the person who is actively saying they can do X for A. <S> Once you're in the pipeline as a known X developer, you're in a great place to say "if you ever want to expand into Y and Z <S> as well I know them a little and am happy to learn more." <S> But put some sort of stake in the ground about what you're great at, to get things started. <A> Personally, I rarely ask that kind of question, as I am unsure whether it is relevant. <S> When others do, I am looking for some tech interest – but I prefer passion for something non-tech related over generic tech babble. <S> E.g. I would rather hear passion for sky-diving or miniature railways than “well … you know … I played about with a raspberry <S> Pi” (with no real details). <S> I don’t expect you to do work related stuff in the evenings, just because I do. <S> But showing me that you can really get your teeth into something like cake baking gives me hope that you can really get into my project, whereas generic waffle tells me nothing. <S> If you anticipate such questions then prepare a tech project which you can discuss in detail and appear passionate about. <S> You don’t have to implement it – it could still be in the planning phase – but do plan it in enough depth that simple questions won’t catch you out. <S> Perhaps something that would teach you a new technology? <A> In my experience, in the tech industry there tends to be two kinds of employer. <S> Type A just want someone who has all the relevant experience and is going to be able to slot in to their tech stack; as well as being a good cultural fit. <S> Type B values people with more curiosity - and are more likely to hire people who perhaps don't have the exact experience they're looking for, for example - so long as they've demonstrated a passion and ability to pick things up. <S> Regarding the 'what are you interests' type question, if the company is Type A - all they want to hear is 'I'm passionate about [all the technologies the company is trying to recruit for]. <S> For a Type B employer - the answer you give gives a indication about your passion and interests in tech, and your ability to talk about tech. <S> If you're responding with 'I don't know, just tell me what you want me to do' <S> that kind of tells them 'I just want to be told what to do, I'm not one to investigate technologies myself'. <S> Personally, if I was in a hiring position and someone had absolutely no opinion about what tech they like or are interested in, I'm not sure I'd want to work with them. <S> After all - what would water cooler conversation with them be like? <A> Just like us, recruiters trade on their reputation. <S> Someone is going to get annoyed. <S> Remember, if the recruiter places you in a job that turns out to be a bad fit, it will make the employer less likely to engage that recruiter again. <S> Therefore, a recruiter is not going to take a chance with someone who cannot or will not clearly state what they want. <S> From the recruiter's perspective, you are not only putting her fee in jeopardy for placing you, but also future earnings being lost due to diminished trust from the employer.
| The importance of a good fit cannot be understated and giving a vague answer to a recruiter is like giving vague requirements for a project.
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Hypersensitive Hearing and Whispering I suffer from Hypersensitive hearing to low decibel sounds. I can clearly hear a phone ring inside whilst outside etc. I don't care about the noise level itself and can easily block out normal to high decibel sounds like normal talk (and full on storms etc), but what actually agitates me and disallows me to concentrate on my task at hand is whispering. I understand that sometimes things need to be briefly whispered, but if a conversation is longer than a couple of sentences I easily get frustrated and distracted. My work allows me to wear headphones which I do on a regular basis and specifically moved to a less populated part of the office as I don't expect to disrupt everyone, but a lady choose to move next to me 6 months ago and frequently has extended whispered conversations daily. I have advised my manager about this and nothing has been said to the person. I am an upfront person and would like to just advise them of the same above and ask them if they could either move the conversations to another location should they not wish to be overheard or actually speak in a normal quiet voice instead of whispering. Do you think it is acceptable for me to approach the person directly seen as management haven't and what I ask is not an unacceptable request? <Q> I think asking them to move will inevitably seem rude. <S> However, you could still address the whispering issue. <S> I suggest being up front. <S> Explain to her that you have an hearing condition, and that you don't mind her speaking out loud. <S> However, whispering is very disturbing to you. <S> Then, ask her if it would be possible for her to stop whispering and use her regular tone of voice instead. <S> Be polite and charming (smile), go to the point, choose a good time to talk to her (when she arrives in the morning maybe?). <S> You may start the conversation with something like: <S> I've wanted to talk to you about something for a while... <S> If she agrees to stop whispering but then does it anyway in a conversation, just give her a friendly reminder of your hearing condition (after five minutes or when the person she was talking to leaves). <A> You're unlikely to find a resolution to this that truly makes you happy (everyone around you staying quiet). <S> People are talking in low voices to minimise disruption in the office. <S> While you could speak to this co-worker and mention as part of the conversation that you have a hearing condition, this same situation is going to happen again. <S> And you can't constantly tell people to move away from you every time they want to talk to co-workers or talk on the phone. <S> In asking people to move away from you, you're disrupting their working day in order to cater for you - and in moving away, they also have to take their paperwork/laptops and whatever else that supports the discussion. <S> People who don't really understand your condition may come to resent you for stifling their discussions. <S> You may need to seek out alternative ways of dealing with this. <S> This might be medical, this might be you working further apart or remotely. <S> There are plenty of misophona support websites about that can further advise you on this. <A> Let me make sure I get this correctly: If I talk to my colleague then you can hear it and it doesn't disturb you. <S> If I whisper to my colleague (with the intent that you can't hear it <S> and it doesn't disturb you), then you can still hear it, but it also disturbs you. <S> In both cases exactly the opposite of what I wanted to achieve. <S> I would suggest that you talk to the lady in question and explain it to hear <S> , that whispering doesn't give her privacy because of your good hearing, but that it does disturb you. <S> Any reasonable person would understand this and change how they speak. <S> And that lady cannot complain about you telling you, because she believed wrongly that the whispering gave her privacy, and it didn't. <S> If it was me, I would want to know. <S> (Not that I have much whispering to do in the office). <A> Talking to your manager probably won't yield any results. <S> He already gave you a workplace in a less populated part of the office. <S> Moving coworkers away from you because you are disrupted by their considerate whispering is outside the range of "normal" workplace arrangement. <S> It could seem to other colleagues like you get your every wish fulfilled and <S> people you don't like removed from your vicinity. <S> That your problem is not caused by personal tastes but by a medical condition is unfortunately invisible to your coworkers and therefor of no big consequence. <S> Just asking her to stop whispering is not going to work because she thinks she is acting considerate. <S> You need to give her an alternative and explain why the alternative is better than her current behavior. <S> You should also be prepared to avoid the situation. <S> If you can, temporarily move to a quiet place and continue working there. <S> Use noise cancelling headphones or plain old ear plugs.
| You should talk to your coworker and explain to her that her whispering is actually more disrupting than a conversation in low tones. The headphones block sound waves even without music playing, so wearing them to cancel out noise looks normal to other people.
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If and how should I raise a warning flag as a non-management employee? TL;DR As an employee, should I report to my boss' boss (the CTO) that we are far from our objectives, and if yes, how? I work in the software industry. Recently our company decided that our API was too old and created a new team to develop the next software that will replace our current. I was excited about it and asked to join the team. However the architecture and the design laid out by our manager is overly complicated, remains unclear (even for him) and seems to me different from what the board asked for.I tried to discuss this with my manager, but he received it badly. He limited the discussion to my capabilities and didn't discuss the software design. Last week, we finished our sprint and we had to produce a demo. Our CTO expressed his displeasure because it was not what he expected (in terms of features and stability). But our manager convinced him that the goal was very complicated and would require more time.We worked another sprint hard (with extra-hours) and finally got the requested features. However the implementation has bugs, doesn't have tests, and remains extremely complicated. I'm a bit concerned because the foundation of our upcoming software is so buggy and badly designed. I'm committed to this company and consider it more than just a paycheck.Therefore should I report it to my CTO? If yes, what is the better way to raise this warning? EDIT (To answer a comment): We don't have officials meeting altogether with the CTO, it's just our manager with him; or our CTO come to our open space to see how things are going. <Q> I'm a bit concerned that, the foundation of the next software is already so buggy and badly designed. <S> Therefore should I report it to my CTO? <S> That may depend on how much you value your job. <S> Doing an end run around your boss and tattling to the CTO is not a good career move. <S> Certainly your boss won't be happy. <S> And it's likely your CTO won't be happy with you either. <S> If your CTO wants to know the state of the project, I suspect he is perfectly capable of finding out what he needs to know by himself. <S> If he asks you questions, you can answer them. <S> But everywhere I have worked, running to the CTO and skipping your boss because you are "a bit concerned" doesn't make sense to me. <A> Therefore should I report it to my CTO? <S> Basically, what you're proposing doing is telling your manager's boss that your manager is not doing his job well. <S> Assuming that you're right, you are in a difficult situation. <S> It is very hard to win, and even if you are correct and eventually convince people, it can still taint their opinion of working with you (although this depends a bit on them as well as how you go about it). <S> If yes, what is the better way to raise this warning? <S> I assume you meant if no, and I'm going to answer it that way. <S> I would assume that you have design and or status meetings for the project. <S> You mentioned that you are doing sprints, so you should be having retrospectives and planning meetings around each sprint. <S> (If you aren't having them, then you should suggest it.) <S> At any rate, whenever you're discussing how things are going or planning the next phase of work, ask questions about preventing high bug counts and developing the features that are required. <S> Since your manager already hasn't received your original feedback well, you need to express your concerns, but be diplomatic. <S> A lot of this will come down to phrasing. <S> For a simple example, you'll want to phrase things like: <S> Can we some time discussing test plans in order to make sure our code is up to par by the end of the sprint? <S> Instead of: <S> Do you have a plan for reducing the bug count so we don't get yelled at by the CTO? <A> I had a similar situation twice in my career when I had to report my manager to their managers-managers. <S> TL;DR - I ruined my relationship with my manager, but don't regret it, and I believe that it improved lives of team members <S> (they weren't pushed as hard, to uphold unrealistic criteria) and the project itself. <S> My "checklist" reads as follows: <S> Write up a proposal, with a problem statement, a solution or two, it doesn't have to be detailed but should show your perspective. <S> You are not aware of all the moving parts that your Exec is. <S> Make a short presentation, based on the proposal. <S> To be able to present a short version on the spot. <S> Show it to the manager first, invite them for a lunch or dinner, and have a chat. <S> If you manager ignores you - decide whether you care about your relationship with the said manager if you don't go and chat to execs.
| In most cases, if an employee circumvents their manager, it's viewed as a bad thing, for multiple reasons: it suggests that not only do you not have faith in your manager, you also don't have faith in the CTO to recognize a bad design or a project behind schedule. You should take opportunities to express concern and ask questions about these issues whenever appropriate.
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How late is too late to cancel an interview? I started the interview process with two companies, Company A and Company B at approximately the same time, have been through 2 rounds of phone screenings with both companies and had a final interview for Company A today and a final interview with Company B tomorrow. Company A was very excited after the interview today and got me a job offer the same day. I am 99% sure that I want to accept job offer from Company A so I want to cancel my interview with Company B so that I am not wasting their (probably higher paid) time. I am now under 24 hours before the final interview at Company B. What about that 1%, you ask? What if they come back with a better offer? While I will admit it is possible, I have already been asked about compensation by Company B and they have provided me with their pay scale. The culture, work and compensation all seem to be a better fit for me at Company A and I am willing to risk that 1% so I do not need to take additional time off at my current position, don't have to go through the stress of a multiple hour interview, etc... Is under 24 hours too late to cancel an interview (they may have even left for the day and so will not receive my cancellation until tomorrow morning)? If that time frame is too short, how short is too short? Update: At the urging of many user's here, I decided to go through with the interview even though it meant taking a little more time off from my current job. I liked the folks there but realized it wasn't a great fit for me, solidifying my choice for Company A (plus their offer was a bit lower) but I realized it would be an excellent fit for a coworker who is also looking for a new job so I sent him a link and told the hiring manager at Company B about him. They really appreciated it and now I have some brownie points with Company B for the future, a friend and coworker is closer to a potential job and Company B has a new, exciting candidate so it was a win-win-win. <Q> Is under 24 hours too late to cancel an interview (they may have even left for the day and so will not receive my cancellation until tomorrow morning)? <S> If that time frame is too short, how short is too short? <S> The alternative is wasting their time as well as yours. <S> As a hiring manager, I've had plenty of folks cancel out of interviews - some as short as a few minutes before the interview was to take place. <S> While that can be frustrating, I'm glad my time wasn't wasted. <A> Question, again: Is under 24 hours too late to cancel an interview <S> (they may have even left for the day and so will not receive my cancellation until tomorrow morning)? <S> If that time frame is too short, how short is too short? <S> The moment you realize you must cancel, then contact them. <S> No time is too short. <S> You have no idea when they are committed to being at the interview site. <S> An email they will check before the drive into the office, may allow them to adjust their schedule. <S> Or it might just open a block in their day because you were 1 of 3 interviews they had scheduled. <S> If your alternatives are waste their time, or not show up then yes contact them. <S> The standard advice (which I agree with) is that until everything is signed and accepted and there are no contingencies, then keep applying and interviewing. <S> There was even a question on this site about a delayed starting date that was not communicated until the last working day before the start date. <S> So it might make sense to keep interviewing even if you are sure you won't turn down company A. <A> Interviews are valuable learning opportunities for you personally, and a chance to practice a hard-to-acquire skill, despite the perceived "leading on" of Company B, there is no reason to forgo the interview as you have nothing to lose. <S> But, you should politely decline any employment offer <S> they may give as soon as possible. <S> You are still in "courtship", and while you are inclined one way or another, fundamentally you are undercutting your own opportunities. <S> I believe it is OK, and even normal to go for interview <S> you have no intention on accepting a job afterwards, <S> I have co-workers announce they are going on interviews just to go interview. <S> It is normal practice in many fields to interview regularly to keep the skill. <S> Who knows it may be a valuable connection for the future, but I do not believe worrying about anything beyond your opportunity is required of you. <S> As an example, in a contract project situation when evaluating multiple vendors with competing bids, a company would wait for every bid to be finalized even if they know early on that one vendor is the most likely candidate. <S> There is value in going through with the process for both parties. <S> Company B may get use you as a "model candidate" and work harder to recruit individuals like you in the future. <S> This has its caveats, is if an offer and contract with Company A has been signed, and they find out you are still interviewing <S> , there is a small possibility they will be upset and rescind your offer. <A> I'm going to answer your question, but also play Devil's Advocate, sorry if the second half seems off-topic... <S> If you truly believe there is no chance you will gain anything from this offer, cancel ASAP as the others have said. <S> You'll save yourself some time, as well as the people at company B. <S> However , you possibly have more to gain than you think. <S> The interview is a chance for you to learn more information about the company, as much as it is for them to learn about you. <S> You may discover things about them that help cement your decision to choose company A, or that make you question whether that is actually the right decision to make. <S> Finally, if company A are excited to have you, you have a lot of power. <S> If you were to get a better offer from company B, you could use that to negotiate remuneration more strongly than you otherwise can.
| It's never too late to cancel a interview that you are sure you don't want. It is not too soon to cancel, but I do not think it is necessary.
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Should I ask for commission after saving the company a lot of money? I recently found a replacement part for our product that is cheaper and better. I've negotiated a good deal to get this price from the distributor and I've also received a formal quote. It will save the company a lot of money. Procurement is not my job. I just seized a good opportunity. I am in the research and development department of the company, though I've spent a lot of time preparing this deal to make sure nothing is overlooked and that we are in fact coming out ahead. My company provides a commission to sales associates for selling products. For reference, the amount of money it will save in one year is equal to about 10 years of my salary. Would it be inappropriate to ask for a commission for the deal that I am making? How should I go about asking for it? <Q> Would it be inappropriate to ask for a commission for the deal that I am making? <S> If I understand correctly, you didn't sell anything. <S> Instead you did some work that ended up saving the company some money. <S> So "commission" is probably the wrong word to use here. <S> "Bonus" is more appropriate. <S> You can ask for anything, but I'd be surprised if the company would give you a bonus specifically for this deal, unless it already had some sort of bounty program in place. <S> Imagine if everyone decided it was more lucrative to spend their time trying to make deals rather than doing their own work. <S> It's reasonable to mention this deal as part of your annual performance review. <S> And it would be reasonable for the company to take that into consideration in your review. <S> My teams and I were involved in many, many projects that ended up either producing significant revenue for the company or saving them money on costs, or both. <S> But we weren't rewarded for piecemeal project work - we got a salary and annual bonuses. <A> Of course you can ask. <S> Might not be the wisest action for your career. <S> I've done things like this before. <S> For example, rewrote some extremely inefficient code that allowed my company (previous employer) to save several hundred thousand dollars a year in some licenses that were no longer needed. <S> I didn't ask for part of the savings as commission or a bonus <S> (though would have been very nice). <S> This was for a brokerage firm where the highest paid brokers made in the mid seven figure range. <S> I was just a lowly code monkey make a lot less. <S> Here's what I did - when it came time for my yearly self-evaluation <S> this was a bullet point - something along the lines of "implemented changes to XYZ by changing the vendor for the flibbit causing saving of $XXX per year". <S> This will then go into your review which should positively impact your bonus. <S> If it doesn't then you've got a great bullet point for your resume. <A> You can ask. <S> Pretty much the worst they can do is say "no" as this doesn't seem unreasonable - <S> I suspect you'd be more likely to get a one-off bonus than any sort of percentage commission, but I imagine that's not a disastrous outcome from your point of view. <A> Since you are salaried and this was above and beyond what is considered 'normal' for your position it would be more appropriate to ask for a raise/promotion based on the fact that you care about the company and went above and beyond. <S> Often companies will use a system to score employees performance and a high score is typically only achieved when going above and beyond what your current job title/grade calls for. <S> So if this is the case look up how that system works, what your job responsibilities are and then use that as leverage. <S> If you can only ask for this at review time, write up your success now and hang onto it. <S> You are fresh on the high of this success and now is the time to write that down. <A> I suggest you ask for a formal meeting and ask for a commission the same way you would ask for a salary raise/promotion. <S> Prepare the interview beforehand, remind them what you did for the compagny, tell them why you think you deserve this commission/bonus/salary raise, give them the exact number of how much you expect (or a "price range", but give them numbers they can work on), be prepare to negotiate ("Since you cannot give me a commission, what about a bonus of X?"). <S> As @Philip Kendall says: worst case scenario, they say "no". <S> But I think a substantial bonus would not be unreasonable. <A> IMHO, It is a solid argument for annual review material and raise request. <S> Not sure of your employer`s salary policy, but it may be the only time-frame to get a raise or any other long lasting perks. <S> Wouldn`t call it a commission thou <A> I wouldn't recommend asking for a bonus. <S> However, I would add this as a accomplishment on your resume, which should be helpful for your current job and other potential jobs, too.
| If you already have a bonus plan, you might be able to leverage something there. My company provides a commission to sales associates for selling products.
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Can I short a company stock when I intend to accept a job offer? Let's say I have a job offer from a public company where a significant part of my compensation is in stock. I like the company and the position but I'm concerned that their stock is overvalued. Now, I'm not a financial analyst, it just feels like there's a fairly good chance it's too highly priced to me. Can I short their stock before joining, as a hedge against my compensation declining? I do not have any inside information. It would be illegal once I join the company to short it, or at least against their terms of employment, but what about before accepting the offer? And further, is this a good idea? It seems kind of lame to pass on a job I like just because the stock is overpriced, but perhaps that is the smarter thing to do. <Q> What if you short the stock, the price rises, but you don't stay employed long enough to receive the anticipated shares? <S> You could incur huge losses. <S> If your goal is to insure your future stock awards against a falling market, you might instead purchase put options that would give you a guaranteed selling price for your future stock awards. <S> However, your new employer may have policies that prohibit you from trading in derivatives tied to the company stock. <S> You may also be subject to a restrictions preventing you from buying or selling the company stock at certain times. <A> IMHO, depending on your location, you can be subject to insider trading investigation even if you claim not to have any insider information. <S> Given you already have the offer in hand, based on what you plan to short and accept the offer, it becomes your only reason for shorting. <S> I am not a financial lawyer, so not sure if this reason holds up in case you be investigated. <S> As per communication with the employer, unless you accept the offer prior to registering the trade, IMHO you do not need to disclose it. <A> The first problem with your plan is that it is risky. <S> Shorting stock is risky. <S> If you short 1,000 shares at $10 and the share price goes up to $20, you owe $10,000. <S> And your stock broker will want that money now . <S> The second problem is that this will not make a good impression if your company ever finds out. <S> Your company will pay you to do good work and make the share price go up. <S> You are betting against it. <S> As your boss, I wouldn't be happy. <S> And I worked at one company where the employee handbook said employees were not allowed to trade in company shares in a way that could look suspicious. <S> (Obviously you are not allowed to trade in an illegal way, but they got into trouble through the actions of one VP who suddenly found himself an ex-VP, so they didn't want anything looking in the slightest way dodgy). <S> Short selling raises the suspicion that you are acting on insider information, or worse that you plan to do something that affects the share price negatively - even though none of this is true, for that company suspicion would have been enough. <S> All that said, whatever else a job offers <S> , the salary itself should be enough to satisfy you. <S> If you get stock as compensation, you should be able to sell it every month. <S> The company is publicly traded - how many shares are traded daily? <S> Enough so you can sell your shares every month? <A> Is it illegal <S> /Breaking terms of employment? <S> however it is borderline, you'll be playing a risky game if you do. <S> Ethical? <S> Probably not. <S> Take the job, perhaps you can even suggest such advice, but as you said you're not financial expert so potentially you'll be ignored. <S> However... take the job if it's something you'd like to do and start looking for a job when you feel something bad will happen. <A> As you said: I do not have any material inside information <S> Therefore, unless you leaving would have a direct result on the stock price, you should be okay from a legal perspective.
| Not unless anywhere in the contract says "Under employment you can not short stock"
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Is it considered non-commercial usage, to use tools solely for internal work? I work as developer in my company, and I am reducing the manual tasks of the team members by creating online applications for internal use; just my team is using them. I found some scripts on devexpress which are very useful for my current project. Like many tools, the scripts are free for non-commercial, but have a license cost for commercial usage. My application will be used just internally, only for the people in my team and the application will not be sold or used anywhere else. As such, I believe can generally be considered non-commercial usage. In general, is internal usage considered non-commercial ? <Q> You cannot use it: Internal usage is a commercial purpose. <S> Unfortunately, internal use which improves (or intends to improve) your teams ability to compete in the market - is a commercial purpose . <S> As such, you cannot use non-commercial licenses for internal work at any company that competes in a commercial market. <S> As an example, from the DevExpress site you are looking at. <S> In their License Agreement : "Commercial Purpose" is one intended for or that results in commercial advantage or monetary compensation. <S> ... <S> You may not use the Work or Derivative Works for Commercial Purposes or Competitive Purposes. <S> It is worth noting that every license will be different though, and it's worth examining the specifics of each agreement before using any software. <A> Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. <S> Generally speaking, if you are using it in ANY sort of commercial context (even if it's just for internal teams), you should get a commercial license. <S> It is still serving a commercial purpose in your company, even if you aren't making an end-product from it. <S> You might be able to find a free/open source alternative to this if you need. <A> Automating tasks is a work time reduction resulting in savings. <S> So it is a profit for a company. <S> Thus it is a commercial use. <S> Imagine that you can automate tasks to a level where you need one less person. <S> You fire that person and save their annual salary. <S> Do you see the profit now. <S> It can be the opposite way - <S> the team that spends 70% of their time on sales and 30% on backend tasks with the automation will have the backend labour reduced to 20% of their time. <S> Effectively they will be able to increase their sales by (1) almost 15% so your earnings will also increase by 15%. <S> Do you see this is a company profit? <S> (1) To increase from 70% to 80%, you need to increase original number by almost 15%. <S> Increasing by 10% would give you just 77%. <S> A nasty math trick ;-) <A> What's legal use depends entirely on the specific license . <S> So there's no way this question can be answered without looking at that. <S> If the license isn't something you've encountered before or understand the terms of well, really this isn't a call you should be making. <S> Your employer should have a licensing specialist and/or a lawyer for this exact purpose. <S> You should take the license to them, explain exactly <S> how you want to use the software, and get a decision from them. <S> This is why its really helpful when software comes with standard well-known licenses . <S> Any time I see something that isn't something common that I know well (CC0, GPL, BSD, Apache, etc.), honestly its easier to just find an alternative that is. <S> One resource that can help newbies is the GPL License Compatibility list . <S> In general, you are always free to use GPL software for anything you won't distribute outside your company <S> * . <S> If that's the use-case, then this list is really good for showing you what other licenses are compatible with that kind of use, and where they may or may not be problematic. <S> If the license isn't on this list, I'm not sure I'd trust it. <S> Certainly wouldn't without reading and fully understanding it first (and <S> really, that time's usually better spent finding an alternative online). <S> If the software isn't for internal use, but instead you intend to distribute it outside your company, then pros really need to get involved. <S> * - Not to imply its impossible to distribute software that uses the GPL. <S> Lots of companies do that. <S> However, your license must also be GPL compatible, which your entire sales strategy really needs to be built around. <S> That's not something most companies are going to be amenable to doing just because you found a nice free tool online.
| However, as a rule of thumb, any work you do for a company (even internal) will not be compatible with non-commercial licenses. As such, doing internal work that helps your company (or is intended to) in any way, is considered a "Commercial Purpose", due to the "commercial advantage" you gain (advantage to your company versus not using their software).
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Would you give up a good internship for a full time startup job offer? First time on the forum. First of all, I'm a new graduate. When I say good internship, I mean an internship in a reputable company. For instance, national public health corporation, government agencies, etc... It would definitely look good on my resume. Now I've got few startup who contacted me. Obviously, their name on my resume won't look as good as the corp in which I'm doing an internship right now. But, getting a full time position after the internship MAY be hard since my reputable corporate does not have a flexible hiring policy. There might be some part time jobs. Also startups jobs are not offering jobs I was first looking for (I mean by that if I'm a programmer, they say come program in Java though I like C++ better, or if I like finance they say come do some Accounting although I like Accounting audits...) So what would you do if startups contact you in this position ? I was thinking about keep my internship the longest I can until I get a really reasonable offer (hopefully from a well established corporate)... What would you do? I know it looks like a subjective question so I was wondering how to avoid starting a career from the wrong foot and later having a resume showing inconsistency... <Q> Based on my experience as a hiring manager, most of the time a paying job will look better on a resume. <S> It typically is better for you too in that you will be expected to produce , which is a good habit for you to get into <S> and you earn cash. <S> Unless you are interning for say Google, Apple, or Microsoft for example take a job that pays . <S> Experience that earns you a paycheck is more valuable in my view that other types of experience. <S> I would not however work for free at a start up versus taking an internship. <S> That just looks and sounds silly. <A> It sounds like you are doing an internship now <S> and you have a few startups contacting you if you want to interview for a job. <S> Until you have a job offer in your hands, an opportunity to interview is not a guarantee that you'll get the job. <S> I wouldn't quit your internship just to pursue interviewing with a startup. <S> If not, you basically have a limited term contract position and you're expected to be looking for a job on the side. <S> Startups are great for generalists looking to get into a lot of different areas. <S> For evaluating startups, I would look at how much capital money they have raised to date on www.crunchbase.com . <S> It's possible that the company is already revenue positive and needs less venture funding, but this is rarer among startups. <S> At small startups, there tends to be more mobility between teams and roles, so the position you're hired may not be what you end up during in the longer term. <A> Dark Matter: Are you paid well in your current internship? <S> snorlax: <S> Nope... <S> We can consider I'm not. <S> Follow the money. <S> You have "graduated" so having an "internship" <S> is actually a step down. <S> "A reputable company" almost by definition pays well so it can't be all that great.
| I would inquire at your current company if there is a internship-to-hire possibility at the end of your internship. You need to be more flexible in what you do, because the company may pivot and there might be attrition to where you need to pick up other people's jobs.
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Quit job because of bullying; don't know what to tell prospective employers Back in January 2018 I quit my job because of my department manager's constant bullying. He used to almost always make fun of my weight: He once told me that maybe if I had lost some weight, I would have had the stamina to complete a task on time. He was a nightmare to deal with. I couldn't do anything because the HR personnel responsible for our department knew about all these violations and decided not to do anything about them. He also had a good relationship with the upper management and I'm an entry level employee who's easily replaceable. I’m not a troublemaker and don’t know how to stand up for myself. From day one, I was afraid I might lose my job despite how horrible it was, but I decided to carry on and pretend nothing was affecting me. 1.5 years later, I couldn’t take it anymore: I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, and was crying uncontrollably multiple times a day. To give you an idea of how professionally corrupt that company is, the same HR personnel didn’t come to work on the day I was supposed to have my exit interview. I sent an email to reschedule but never got a response. Now I’m working online and looking for a full-time job. Whenever an employer sees that I quit my job in January and have been looking for one since, they immediately ask: Were you laid off? When I say no, following up with the usual “looking for a new challenge” response, they raise their eyebrows. I don’t know how I should respond to this. Should I tell the truth and say I left because of my manager’s bullying? My question is different from this one because I want to know how to address the issue of leaving work because of bullying, which is not mentioned in the other question. <Q> Tell the truth: you left because you were enduring harassment based on your physical appearance by those above your position in the company. <S> This comes down to your goals and whose opinion you want to be valued by. <S> Those who pretend to be more 'professional' and look down on acknowledgement of the human side of the workplace will disagree. <S> It sounds like you would prefer to associate with those who would accept your reason for leaving. <S> If the prospective employer actually denies you for that reasonalone, it is likely because they share or tolerate at least some ofthe negative culture of your previous employer. <S> Assuming you do notwant to risk a repeat experience in the long run and aren't in a hugehurry to be hired somewhere new, such a denial is in your bestinterest. <A> First of all, you have all my sympathy. <S> About the question now: I think that, as sad as this might be, you should absolutely not tell them you quit because you was bullied. <S> They will see you as weak and thus, not a good fit for their team (note: <S> I don't think being bullied means you are weak. <S> I think admitting that you have been bullied proves you are brave). <S> However, I think you can safely mention that it was a toxic work environment. <S> Add facts to prove that it was not you being "too sensitive". <S> For example, mention an high turnover and people (but not you) having burned out. <S> In a perfect word, you could tell the truth. <S> But in this case, I'm afraid they will think badly of you for "letting yourself be bullied" (people that didn't get bullied themself always think that it's easy to deal with a bully when it's absolutely not). <A> Turn it all around so nothing puts you in a negative light. <S> Bending the truth is acceptable, but don't lie. <S> You allready anticipate the questions of recruters and employers, so answer them before they are asked. <S> Were you laid off? <S> No, I quit because of the toxic working environment. <S> The behavior of certain managers caused a lot of people to try their luck elsewhere, including me. <S> I managed fine those last months with regular online work, but it made me realize that I don't want to do freelancing forever. <S> I feel like I could contribute more to your company as a full time employee. <S> What this tells the recruiter about you: <S> You where not laid off, so you are probably not incompetent By staying objective, you don't whine and blame anyone for bad things happening to you. <S> You don't put the blame for your own mistakes on anyone else either. <S> (Please note that quitting your job because of harrassment is no mistake in any sense or way. <S> What I mean is that you don't say things like "I quit because my manager was an a**hole") <S> You didn't let yourself go but actively sought out regular work. <S> You experimented with different models of employement and learned something about yourself. <S> Now you have a vision and a goal instead of drifting from one assignement to the next. <A> First off, I'm sorry you had to go through that. <S> I hope you have good luck in your job search, and keep in mind that there are indeed good employers out there. <S> You're not enslaved to your workplace, and I hope you can find a good place in the future. <S> The short answer is that you don't really have to give a reason. <S> A reasonable person will be able to accept that (and frankly, if they don't, that may be an indicator that it's a place you might not want to work in. <S> An interview is a two way street, you want to see if the place you're applying for is a good fit for you too). <S> It wouldn't be unreasonable for an interviewer to ask if you'd like to give more information, but if they push and insist on more detail after you say you'd rather not go into more detail other than 'personal reasons', well, now you know whether you want to work there. <S> ;) <S> Personally, what I've done in the past when asked this question was say that I left for personal reasons, followed by a smile and something along the lines of "It was my own decision. <S> I gave my notice and made sure that all outstanding projects were accounted for. <S> They didn't frog-march me out of there or bodily eject me". <S> That answer happens to fit well with my personality, gives it a bit of a humorous spin, and also subconsciously explains that it wasn't something that I did wrong which caused me to get fired. <S> However, that's something that happens to fit with my personality and may not work for everybody. <S> Ultimately, the only answer you really need is "I left for personal reasons".
| If the prospective employer is understanding and has a cultureproactive about not tolerating such negative behavior, then thatreason alone would be a non-factor in their hiringdecision. You should just be able to say that you "left for personal reasons" and that should be enough.
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Transition strategy from full time job to freelancing I have been working full time employed since my university in different IT roles for almost 5 years. After I had to do a lot with freelancer developers, I realized that IT freelancers, no matter if developer, project managers or consultants, are not only earning at least, minimum 150 % more per hour than myself (including sick days, vacations and so on, I did the math...) but have also more freedom and flexibility and far more variation in their work life. Thus, I considering becoming an IT freelancer. However, of course I understand, that it comes with a risk of not getting enough or any work from other companies and thus not getting any money at all. What is a more safe way for a transition from a full time employment to freelancing? Is it usual for example to switch the current full time employment to a part time employment to be available, lets say, every Wednesday for your customers in your freelance role? Or is that unrealistic since the limited availability will not be enough for most, if not every, potential customer? Or, is the only viable alternative to leave the current full time job and start freelancing full time? <Q> What is a more safe way for a transition from a full time employment to freelancing? <S> The safest way is to do freelance work on the side (nights, weekends) while continuing to hold down your full time position. <S> Do that until you have a sufficient client base and reputation to go to full time freelancing, then drop your current job. <S> This is how virtually every freelancer I know started. <A> One of the largest problems with going freelance, as you have noted, is the inconsistency of your workload. <S> Some weeks you may be beating contracts off with a stick, others you could be seeing if you have enough saved to scrape together rent/mortgage payments. <S> The best advice I ever got when considering going freelance was to make sure you know enough people. <S> 5 years is a decent amount of time if you've been in a position to meet multiple people from different parts of the industry, but I would still say it's likely too early to go freelance. <A> You say you did the math and that freelancers earn more than you. <S> Did you do the math correctly?I.e. <S> a freelancer doesn't have sick days or vacation days, if you don't work (either due to illness or vacation) <S> you don't get paid. <S> Also when you're a freelancer you're also entirely responsible for paying your own taxes, social securities, building up your own pension and buying business insurances. <S> Your employer has a lot of "hidden" costs that he pays for you. <S> When working as a freelancer usually you'll be working on your own either from home or in a rented office unit. <S> Have you thought about working on your own for extended periods of time without contact with others? <S> I moved to a different country a couple years ago and for the first year and a bit I worked as a freelancer for my then employer. <S> It was nice to be able to start in a new country with a solid financial foundation however I did find it an enormous hassle to have to handle the "employers" (financial) side of things. <S> And even though we did have daily contact through skype <S> it's still not the same as working in the same office as the people you are working for/with. <S> But if you really feel your ready and up to the challenge and have thought it through thoroughly the advice @Joe <S> Strazzere and @GOATNine give are a solid starting point. <S> Start doing it on the side and see where it rolls from there. <S> What I did miss in both other answers is the following:Do make sure to check your current employment contract if it's even possible and where necessary get approval from your current employer before going freelance. <S> Most contract will have a non-compete clause which might prevent, or at the very least limit you to/exclude you from (a) specific market(s), from (even) going freelance. <S> You also don't want to burn bridges with your current employer as they might be a big behind the scenes player with a large network who could make it very hard to get work, so make sure to include them in your planning stage so that they can also make suitable arrangements. <A> In order to ease the transition, there are alternatives to already present answers: <S> Consider finding a time-based contract, with an associated daily/hourly rate, rather than a fixed price for a well-defined task. <S> Consider finding a full-time contract with one customer. <S> Lots of companies in the IT domain hire freelancers or contractors on a 40h/week basis. <S> Use head hunters - yes they will add significant markup to your rate, but again it will help you to start. <S> Don't be too "greedy" for your first contract. <S> A daily rate just below the market standard would help. <S> 5 years experience is enough in IT area - I started freelancing after 3 years. <S> An easy transition will help you to: Deal with legal aspects (Create a Limited company, etc.) <S> Extend your network for upcoming contracts.
| Before you begin, make sure your current work contract permits this sort of side work. Exposure is much more important than ability (though ability is still important) because potential customers will prefer you if they know the quality and speed with which you work.
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How to handle my boss withholding information from me? TL;DR: Boss is a great guy but doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to tech. Asks me to implement stuff, micromanages me, and keeps me out of the loop about the advances in the company which directly/indirectly impact me. I feel that he's also a little threatened by me, and probably that's why he doesn't share more information with me in a timely manner. How to handle this situation? 3-4 months back, I joined the analytics team in a solar-product based company. This function was set up just a few months ago by my manager who has an MBA(great business acumen) but with very limited technical experience. I fully believe he's a good man, and social skills is his strong forte. I am a technical person and have some experience and know a little more than him(since I have worked for sometime in the analytics domain). There are some best practices and invaluable lessons that I have learned that I don't see him following or even knowing. He has even acknowledged that he's not great at tech; I respect the fact that he was true to me about it and that he did not try to bluff me. However, I feel that he doesn't trust me enough with the work that I certainly am better than him at and for which I was hired for. Currently he's responsible for setting up the databases and all the reporting requests come to him which he then forwards to me. He conducts every such meeting (be it communication with partners, vendors, other teams) keeping me out of loop. Even while discussing what new tables, fields, measures to capture, how to set up the tables, he wouldn't include me in them. He'll decide without consulting any one of us and delegate the work to a contractor who will simply do what he asks without questioning(in a half-ass way). As a result I have observed that database violates a lot of design principles e.g not being normalized to 3NF (3rd normal form). Basically he's not doing it the right way/doing blunders/making sub-optimal choices. Also, I do not have a concrete example to prove, but I have strongly felt he's a little threatened that I, being his sub-ordinate know more than him and sometimes my recommendation/suggestions rub him the wrong way even though I try to be as co-operative/helpful as possible. I have tried to make his tasks easy by teaching him a few things to save his time/effort. It's funny that he chooses to trust himself to make the decisions related to analytics but questions everything I do to the last detail in terms of efficiency of the processes and the automations/reports I have created/performed/have it reviewed by another analyst sitting in another office in another country. Most of the time he doesn't know what he's talking about. I appreciate his ideas(which I admit sometimes better than my own, and I make a point to tell him that and implement it the way he wants) but I do not like the fact that he would gets into the implementation of things. My main motivation to join this company was to learn something new. I am honestly not learning anything tech-wise but being kept out of the loop is not helping me to learn anything about the business as well. Even though, he's always pleasant in general but his actions rub me the wrong way. He keeps trying to show me subtly that 'I'm still a noob' even on things that I should be appreciated for. He doesn't trust me enough. I don't think he's aware of my strengths and weaknesses at best. At worst, he's trying to make it seem like I may not be as good at things that I claim, so that I stick to this job position which I over-qualified for. I do not care about who gets recognized for work. I simply want to learn new things, contribute to the business, earn money and expand my horizons all the while having a great relation with him. I want more challenging problems to work on, and to actively be involved in the brainstorming sessions in which the business decisions are made, rather than simply seeing him make blunders, and then work with the non-robust processes he sets up? How do I tell him that I am not being insubordinate and simply trying to make his project better by implementing it in a more robust manner? How do I show him that I respect his authority and admire his business acumen but that he should delegate the tech work to me and review for a final quality check/approve them before deploying them on the field? How do I make his power-trip go away? <Q> How to handle this situation? <S> I don't see any simple solutions here. <S> No magic bullets. <S> Sometimes you can gain trust by completing projects on time and without complaints about "best practices", by helping others without trying to guard your "trade secrets" work from others, etc. <S> But sometimes that doesn't even work. <A> I've had a boss who was threatened by me and unfortunately there isn't much that can be done. <S> In my case he was also not a very trusting guy <S> so my transparency in my dealings with him and dropping hints that I'm not after his job didn't work. <S> First opportunity he got <S> he used it and managed to get rid of me by setting me up for failure in a task (giving me wrong information etc), announcing it to everyone in an email that my test had failed and not allowing me any forum to explain my case. <S> Bottom line is some people just want drones working for them <S> so their little empire stays secure. <S> If you're not a drone <S> I suggest you move on. <A> TLDR: <S> Boss is a great guy but doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to tech. <S> Asks me to implement stuff, micromanages me, and keeps me out of the loop about the advances in the company which directly/indirectly impact me. <S> I feel that he's also a little threatened by me, and probably that's why he doesn't share more information with me in a timely manner. <S> How to handle this situation? <S> The same way that you handle any other interpersonal thing where you want someone to change their behavio(u)r. <S> Show him how he can gain, and that will motivate him. <S> The mechanics of it are up to you, but that's the accepted answer to hundreds of questions on this site (and it works outside of the workplace too :-)
| If you can't gain his trust such that he no longer feels the need to micromanage you, then it might be best to look for another job. You explain to him why it is in his best interest to do what you want him to do.
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Can I reapply for a "restructured" job opening? I went through three rounds of interviewing for a position, and was rejected almost 24 hours after the last interview. They said "based on our needs and organizational structures" that they would restructure the position. I assumed that meant they were hiring internally, but I've gotten word that they've actually put up an entirely new listing for the position. I've read the posting - it's slightly different in terms of its responsibilities & pay, but I'm still a great fit. (The previous position had a set end-date and pay, this one doesn't have either restriction.) It's only been a week between the rejection and the reposting - do I reapply? Do I contact the hiring manager about interest in the new position? <Q> DarkMatter: Does "third round" interview mean "the people who can say 'Yes'?" <S> I.e. Hiring Manager and/or Technical Competence people? <S> firbolg: yes, I met with several members of the department in the process & the people with whom I'd be working closely with the final interview (hiring manager, program manager) <S> Reapplying reads like a low percentage play. <S> The people who can say "yes" have already met you and they didn't say "yes" last time. <S> Having said that, do it anyway. <S> Low percentage plays sometimes work. <S> Try to contact the hiring manager (skipping the first and second round gate keepers if you can is a good thing from your point of view). <A> Is calling the people who interviewed you to gauge their reaction an option? <A> do I reapply? <S> Do I contact the hiring manager about interest in the new position? <S> Yes, you can reapply. <S> Just apply the same way you did last time. <S> It might make sense to include a reminder about your prior application and interviews in your cover letter.
| Reapplying is free and maybe their situation has changed. Either way just apply and mention it in your cover letter that you already interviewed, you really have nothing to lose.
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Is it reasonable to ask for a short break during technical phone screens/interviews? I write software. In my job I frequently run into times where I'm unsure how to best proceed. I've learned that, personally, I can often solve this by taking a quick break and walking around. This usually entails getting away from my monitor and taking a 5 minute walk outside. I know when I'm blocked this way, and I can spend hours staring at a screen or piece of paper without progress, but after these short breaks I will often sit down and be able to immediately write a good solution. I do this every hour or two. I've run into this problem in whiteboard coding or online technical phone screens (coding in a shared IDE or whatever). I "lock up" and can't really proceed, and I'm not producing a useful stream of thoughts. I know staring at the code I've written is futile and I won't be able to find the bug or optimize my solution or whatever without a short break. However I think it's unreasonable to ask the interviewer to be on hold for 5 minutes while I go take a walk. Is there a reasonable compromise to be had here? It can be very frustrating, especially if I struggled with a tricky problem and then find a great solution on my walk 5 minutes after hanging up. <Q> You could be walking aroung, but you could also google the solution to a difficult question you wouldn't know otherwise or even silently let someone else solve the problem for you. <S> Compare a job interview with a TV cooking show. <S> The cooks are always speaking to the audience, even when they're doing easy things clearly visible like chopping onions. <S> They have to constantly entertain their audience without major pauses. <S> Try to act like a TV cook in an interview. <S> If you need a break, fill it with different thoughts and meaningfull chatter. <S> Walk a turn around your desk, but don't take a 5 minutes walk in the park. <S> Also, telling an interviewer that you are nervous in an interview is acceptable for most people. <S> Tell them that you realize that your solution is not optimal and doesn't meet your own quality standard and why. <S> That way you might not have to deliver the perfect solution during the interview. <A> I can completely relate (and I have a feeling this question might be a little opinion based even from a recruiters perspective) <S> I don't think it is appropriate to ask for breaks. <S> Showing them you buckle under pressure Showing them you need special treatment as opposed to all the other candidates that were also stressed but didn't ask for a break. <S> tl;dr <S> No. <A> Note : the answer might change depending of the culture. <S> The human brain is wired so that he cannot focus on the same subject more than 45 minutes without a break (after that time, the brain is less effective and you end up introducing stupid bug in your program) <S> (source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/gabrielle-bernstein/michael-eisen-youth-wellness-network_b_1076416.html?guccounter=1 and https://dariusforoux.com/takebreaks/ ). <S> For the question itself, I guess it depend since how long the phone screen/interview is going on. <S> But if it has been two hours, I see no problem in asking for a break. <S> Just tell them something along the line of: <S> Hey people, I'm kind of stuck in this problem right now, if it's all right with you <S> I gonna take a break to clear my head. <S> I'll be back in 10. <S> I think a lot of people have the same process than you, so they will understand. <S> Also, if you see a meeting that is going no where, maybe suggest a 10~15 minutes recess for everyone. <S> They will probably be gratefull that you suggest it and the meeting should be more productive after that. <S> If you feel unconfortable telling them why you are taking this break, use the bathroom excuse, no one can expect you to control that. <S> If you do it too often, you will probably end up with the reputation of someone needing to pee a lot, but if it's all right with you...
| First of all, everyone need a break from time to time. Any break during an interview is risky, because the interviewer doesn't know what you are really doing. By asking for a break you are: Showing them you don't value their time
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How do I explain a 17 year gap in my resume? I had a stellar career in senior management in the construction industry. My career stopped at the C level. I started at the bottom and worked my way up. I have a degree in Business Management which I earned while working in the field as a union carpenter. My career stopped when I was executive vice president of a medium size ~$75 million dollar per year company. It was due to a freak, totally debilitating accident that took me 17 year to completely recover from. I want to create a resume that highlights my skills. How can I explain all this time away from my carreer? <Q> How do I explain a 17-year hole in my resume? <S> No need to get more elaborate than that. <S> As @snow mentions in the comment below, this isn't something you put in your resume. <S> It's just a way to explain it when asked. <A> I think you can explain it just like you did here, but in your resume, mention the gap, for instance: 2001-2018 Unable to work due to an accident <S> And, in your cover letter, you can add details and say that you have now totally recovered from this accident and it won't be a problem for your work. <S> I would not advise you to ignore it on your resume and wait for the interviewer to question the gap: <S> with this kind of gap in a resume without explanation, there is a high probability that you won't be called for an interview (I interview people for my company, not a small one, ~40k employees, and if we have a resume with a huge gap without explanation, we won't call the candidate). <A> Recovering from a 17 year battle against problems caused by an accident and having the determination to head back into the workforce isn't something to be ignored but a measure of character. <S> If you have a section about yourself - perhaps better suited to a CV or cover letter than a resume - then mention this battle and place that spin on it. <S> You're a hard working person and determined to get back into things <S> don't labour the point but don't ignore it either. <S> When recruiting a lot of snap decisions are made based on first impressions, mentioning it will make you stand out against a simple 17 year gap. <S> You can then explain in detail when, undoubtedly, you are asked about this period of your life. <A> Hm. <S> I don't fully understand your question. <S> This is because, after the C level, people don't really have any use for "a resume". <S> I mean, you're probably not going to monster.com and filling in the job application form <S> , right? <S> You're more likely to work directly with a recruiter/head hunter, for very particular roles. <S> I would imagine you would want to spend more time at industry events, and perhaps do some speaking exercises. <S> I'm saying I wouldn't bother with the old paper resume, because it's going to look terrible <S> - it was 2000 when you left the industry - and instead focus on the networking aspect. <S> The construction industry is about contacts, so presumably you have some friends or acquaintances in the industry still <S> - I would start by reaching out to them. <S> You might try reaching out to the family-run construction companies - they're notoriously terrible at the internal processes and weighed down by family bureaucracy, but at the same time less cut-throat, so they would probably appreciate an outsider's viewpoints. <S> But if you think you can sell yourself with a resume, you're very mistaken. <S> That's not how executives get found - that's for very junior staff.
| Sounds like your explanation is "My career stopped due to a freak, totally debilitating accident that took me 17 year to completely recover from." You might want to reach out to construction consulting firms (I have no idea who they are, but I'm sure they exist) - as they would want the experience you have.
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How to stimulate colleagues working together across multiple floors I recently accepted a new job at a company much smaller than the previous one I worked for (18 employees instead of 500)The smaller company and it's friendlier culture was part of what drew me in. In my previous company I noticed it's easy to get distanced from colleagues working at another floor or in a room that's not close. Also there's a natural tendency to form social groups based on location in the building that might collaborate less and have more conflict in between the groups. Right now every colleague at my current company works at the same floor, divided in a few big rooms.This will not fit in the long term, which is why we will occupy another floor and will split. Do you have any suggestions on how to keep working together closely in this situation? What would stimulate colleagues to see each other regularly and maintain a coherent group? As it's a small company and the employer is open for suggestions, I'm mainly looking for ways to improve the office environment to support a close group of coworkers. <Q> Two things worked for us: Developing an IM culture. <S> I don't mean one-to-one but, rather, persistent chat rooms (or Slack channels or whatever you use). <S> Everybody has the client open all the time, so if somebody talks it'll be noticed. <S> That conversation can be about getting some debugging help, deciding where to go for lunch, or planning an after-hours movie outing. <S> A persistent chat channel has been really important in building team connection despite geography -- even if the geographic problem is in the same building. <S> (We recently moved from scattered rooms to a space of our own, and we still use the shared chat room. <S> It's less invasive than walking up to the person, talking, and kicking everybody nearby out of the zone.) <S> A shared, casual space. <S> Usually this is your lunch room, but it can also be a cluster of comfy chairs near the front door, or that one meeting room that everybody agrees will be the last to be scheduled <S> so it's available for hanging out, or the corner with the pool table... <S> it's a physical analogue of the digital chat room, and just as important. <S> Most of us eat lunch together every day; if you can't do that then look for other ways to encourage casual, in-person interactions. <S> What we've found is that when we have these kinds of interactions, we're also better at working together on actual work. <S> It establishes a habit and an expectation of collaboration. <A> As @Robert Dundon mentioned, this is a good place to start. <S> Another good way is afterwork events. <S> This builds a bond, beit friendly or collegial and is a good way to keep in touch in a fun and friendly manner. <S> However the latter makes it harder to differentiate between what is acceptable as collegues or friends. <A> Say "Hi" This works for remote colleagues too. <S> Then, keep doing this every once-in-awhile. <A> My employer suggested changing workplaces every half year, to make sure people don't always work with the same colleagues. <S> My colleagues had some resistance against that idea, I can imagine that people prefer to have a fixed workplace. <S> That way, for now everybody can continue working at the same floor, while getting used to going to the other floor on a daily basis.
| My suggestion for now is to move all meeting rooms and the lunch room to the new floor and use the old meeting rooms as new workplaces. Do it enough to not be forgotten and/or lose communication, but not enough to annoy the person This could be done with company events or just going for drinks together once in a while. reach out to them via IM or in-person, invite them for coffee or a walk, etc.
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Dyslexia in the Workplace as an adult and lost opportunities because of it I work in the IT field and sometimes I make mistakes and mostly its due to my dyslexia. I spell names incorrectly, incorrectly categorize tickets in the system, accidentally click on buttons I should not have, or send e-mails to someone that should not get them. I also misrepresent numbers as letters and so on, etc. In the past I have lost opportunities, not received raises, and been punished for this. I have to go over things multiple times and read sentences over and over again which is exhausting for my brain. I have been ridiculed by other colleagues which makes me feel dumb or inadequate and I just recently thought "well, this isn't really my fault and that maybe I should have a note or something from a doctor or psychologist to protect me or give me some accommodation to help me with this disability." I live in Costa Mesa, California and work in Fountain Valley if you have any referrals. I also have PTSD from the military and I am bi-polar, which I have a note from the VA for. <Q> Realistically you are not suitable for the role, you can ask for accommodation of your problems and may even get some. <S> But at the end of the day you're not an asset to the company if you're constantly making mistakes like that. <S> Therefore your chances of future advancement/good recommendations etc,. are thin. <S> It's a bit worrying that you didn't think it right to mention all these serious problems at the job interview or documents. <S> There are jobs in IT which don't have much communication or typing in them, you might want to investigate those or even contemplate changing industries to one in which you can rise in a career easier. <A> As a fellow dyslexic, I feel your pain. <S> You CAN find strategies and methods for dealing with this, but you are going to need to work with your psychologists, and maybe even see specialists. <S> Even then, it will be a lot of work, and probably be emotionally taxing. <A> With the list of diagnosed issues you list I would certainly have a note. <S> The key is how is it affecting your work. <S> You already identified that it is and therefore need to take action to protect your reputation as a worker. <S> Being turned down as incapable is ok, although it sucks, but being turned down as not a good employee should never be the case (so long as it’s medical related and not legit). <S> If the employer knows then they might be able to help you strategize a coping mechanism or two in order to prevent teamwork frustration. <S> There are extra checking tools and you might also be able to get proofread a or something. <S> Just some thoughts, but you clearly need a little help to prevent workplace impact, so you should let your manager know in the professional way of a doc note and discuss symptoms and coping mechanisms to ensure work production stays satisfactory.
| You may also need to find a new workplace that's more accommodating, or has engineering procedures that minimize your weaknesses (Like using stylecop or good constants).
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What's a good excuse to ask for an Employment Contract? I work for a small company and I'm looking to quit. I never received a copy of my contract, because I neglected to make my own copy, and I was never provided one. Since it's a small company, there's no HR, no confidentiality, and asking for it will be a red flag that I'm thinking about leaving. Does anyone have a good excuse to request a copy of one's employment contract that would not arouse suspicion? P.S. This is not a duplicate of this question due to my not having an HR department nor any hope of confidentiality, "Just ask" or "You don't even have to provide an explanation." is not a valid answer, I need a good excuse . If it helps, I'm particularly interested in any non-compete clause it might contain. <Q> Blame your wife/girlfriend/parents. <S> "My wife is collecting important documents to put in a safe deposit box in case the house burns down. <S> I think that's serious overkill but whatever. <S> She insists my employment contract is part of that bundle and I have lost mine." <S> This also works well when negotiating on new cars and such. <S> "My wife won't go for that". <S> Of course she can't actually be in the room with you when you say this. <S> Edit: <S> The above is too detailed, something more like <S> " My wife wants to read my contract " would be better. <S> After that you can be vague, <S> "I'm not sure. <S> Something about not working without a contract" . <A> Does anyone have a good excuse to request a copy of one's employment contract that would not arouse suspicion? <S> Since it's almost certain that everyone's contract contains the same non-compete language, just ask a trusted co-worker about that clause. <S> They might even give you a copy of that page. <S> Next time around make sure to keep your copy of all important documents. <A> I know the question is market with USA tag and this is out of my scope. <S> However another shot I would consider as a safe and reasonable option is to mention you are going to take loan (especially for house). <S> Backing up your income is important part of getting the loan.
| If it helps, I'm particularly interested in any non-compete clause it might contain.
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Is it appropriate to request internal recruiter provide feedback on resume before submission? I am currently exploring the job market for a more senior role and have been working with a recruiter internal to the company I am targeting. I work in the Information Security profession. If after having edited and proofread my resume, would it be appropriate to ask the recruiter for feedback on it as to how it can be improved? Due to the depth of experience of having worked at the company, they may know something useful but privy to only insiders of that company. However I don't want to seem needy, incapable, or disrespectful of their time. <Q> I don't really work as a recruiter or in HR, but I have worked closely with the HR dept of my company. <S> I have listened to them about their feedbacks regarding potential candidates, whether good or bad, why they are accepted, or why they are rejected. <S> People in HR may have different opinions to my answer, but you never know which answer is actually the spot-on help or is exactly what will happen in your situation. <S> My answer to your question is, the same with what will happen if you ask a teacher if your exam answers are correct during the exam, so you can edit your answers accordingly. <S> Chances are the recruiter will question your professional experience, or whether you believe in yourself to be the candidate the company needs. <S> I suggest you search online about good resume examples to be more certain and confident about you own. <S> For instance, there are many good professionals on LinkedIn who have posted their resume, or their profiles are their resumes. <S> So, in short, I don't think it is the appropriate action you want to take in this situation. <A> I recently applied for a job and although this was an external recruiter he came back quickly asking me to fill gaps in between jobs and what I was doing during that time (providing me with some examples) and order all my experience in chronological order with proper start and end dates. <S> If there are particular things the company expects to see the recruiter will let you know because they want you to get the job. <A> have been working with a recruiter internal to the company <S> I am targeting <S> Then it may already be too late. <S> If not, there are various ways to get feedback on your CV: <S> ask co-workers - although you may find that slightly invasive or embarrassing, and it might indicate that you are considering moving <S> Submit it to an external recruiter <S> ; tell them that you are looking for a job, and would appreciate feedback on your CV ; they ought tot have seen enough to be able to help <S> Pay one of those companies who keep spamming me who offer to review & rewrite your CV <S> That advise goes for everyone. <S> In your case, if you are senior, then your CV is probably in good shape, since you landed jobs to get you this far, and you can Google for general advice. <S> So unless your layout is a total disaster, I would expect experience to speak for itself. <S> And, although your experience will be discussed at interview, your CV is only a means of landing the interview. <S> Once you have done that, its layout, writing style, format, etc are of no import. <S> To (finally) answer your actual question. <S> And afterwards, what’s their motivation for doing so? <S> You might get a quick email in response, so it can’t hurt. <S> You could try asking HR in the final interview, when they ask if you have any questions. <S> My advice is, for senior, don’t sweat the CV too much. <S> Good luck! <A> I have seen cases where employees already working in the company have had their resume used to make the required/desired parts of the job posting. <S> That way the company can make sure that the internal person they want to hire, can make it past the initial screening of the application/resume without a large number of other candidates able to pass the screen. <S> I have seen HR help employees, who are about to lose their job becasue of the end of a contract, improve their resume so they can successfully apply to internal or external positions. <S> Though they don't, as far as i know, help you tweak a resume for a specific position. <S> They tend to be generalist whose job is to help employees about to lose their coverage, they are not tasked with filling specific positions. <S> The only way I can see a recruiter within the hiring company helping somebody outside the company is if they were having trouble getting anybody to pass the initial screen. <S> They could be tasked by the manager that will be supervising the new employee to reopen the posting, with a small change to the requirements, and then have them contact somebody who with a few small changes can pass the new screen. <S> They really just need the outside person to reapply during the short window the new posting will be open. <S> But if they have many qualified candidates to interview they don't have a lot of incentive to help somebody else qualify. <S> If they have one opening, and want to interview 10 people, and have 20 to pick from; they don't need 21. <S> Now a recruiter outside the company has different incentives; they can get paid by getting candidates past the initial screen. <S> They can use your new resume multiple times. <A> Often times internal employees of a potential employer are not allowed to provide feedback on your Resume/CV, even if asked, as this could potentially open them to a lawsuit if you felt they were being discriminatory for any reason. <S> This is the unfortunate negative byproduct of Equal Opportunity Employment laws found in the US , but I assume this practice is followed in many other countries as well.
| I do not think that you can ask for feedback, from a company to which you are applying, before interview. If you have relevant experience your CV is most probably okay.
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Startup is going without clear direction I currently work at an international startup in Asia that has been around for more than 5 years, and I am currently going on 2 years working there. The problem is lately, many of the startup's plans are not being done, product development is halted, resource allocation is in disarray, many people are leaving. If anything, from my point of view, it feels like a place where a group of freelancers work to make ends' meet rather than striving to be a professional company. I talked to the directors about this issue. One of them said all is well, nothing to worry about, we are in good place, etc. Another said that he recognizes my concerns, and he laid down the plan that will be put to place to handle the issue (decreasing people turn-over, focusing on the products etc.). Both gave different answers, and unfortunately, the latter is currently overseas dealing with our international clients and he will be there for a while longer, therefore he does not have control at the office as much as the former. I know a startup is difficult at the beginning, but I want to ask everyone in this community for advise, specifically: Is the condition I explained above normal for startups in its age? How can it be better? Should I start sending resumes? Thank you in advance <Q> It isn't too uncommon if they can continue to receive funding with that level of effort. <S> There needs to be a sense of urgency and/or a general desire to bring the plans into completion by the members. <S> A large part of the issue may be that the director who is stationed in the office doesn't recognize there being a problem. <S> There is also the chance that the plans are in the process of changing, but they can't be revealed yet. <S> Many startups change their plans -- especially when they need to change investors often. <S> There is no real simple answere here. <S> A startup needs to rely on the input of all of its members, not just the directors, since you are the one who recognizes the issues, you need to address them. <S> If, as one of the directors says, they aren't actually problems, you need an explanation why they are not problems instead of <S> "all is well". <S> Once you have a list of the remaining issues, a plan needs to be made how to deal with each of them individually. <S> If you don't find support from the director in the office, then you should seek support elsewhere, such as the director who is overseas -- while interrupting his work dealing with clients is usually something to be avoided, it is an important enough topic that he should work out with the remaining director, even when he is overseas. <S> That is really up to you. <S> If you believe in the potential of the company, I would really suggest trying to take initiative in solving the problems. <S> If it is a decent work environment, it may also help solidify your position in the company, allowing you a higher position in it if it succeeds. <A> Sounds like your average startup. <S> It's the nature of such companies, so unless you are one of the "main guys" in that company, there's not much you can do about the direction. <S> In a chaotic environment, it will take time to show results, but stick to it and get your nearest colleagues to work in a similar manner. <S> No need to send resumes, unless the company starts to show financial trouble like paychecks being delayed or multiple clients leaving. <S> Startups can be fun once they get a bit of traction <S> and you get to learn multiple new technologies on the job (if you enjoy that). <A> Is the condition I explained above normal for startups in its age? <S> Plenty of startups never get organised properly <S> How can it be better? <S> Not your call to make <S> , it's not your company. <S> Should I start sending resumes? <S> Only if the company looks like it is going to fail completely or if you want a change. <S> I assume you are still being paid. <S> Many startups are funding mines for the directors, their focus is not in producing a product or service as much as it is in getting funding, the work is secondary. <S> So long as the funding continues the business is doing fine. <S> A flag for this is people in charge being unavailable all the time, another is if there isn't steady expansion. <S> Either of these can indicate lack of focus and commitment. <S> It's not something that should concern an employee too much as long as the pay goes through without issue.
| Unless you are wanting to move on to something else, I feel it is too early to give up on this company at this point. What you can do, if you choose so, is to do your work as organized and professionally as possible. If you feel like you are also just part of the "group of freelancers work to make ends' meet rather than striving to be a professional company", then you could certainly find more stability elsewhere.
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Most professional way to answer calls from colleagues I answer my phone at work with hello, but I have been told by a friend that is very unprofessional, I should answer with my just first name/last name, maybe adding @my workplace. It seems very stiff to me, what is the best way to answer the phone at work? P.S.Obviously there is no recommendation from the company, or I would not be asking this question.This is in the US, and I am asking not just for the current company but also in general, should I move to another company. I am not a representative of the company, and I mainly answer internal calls from colleagues. <Q> I used to work at a large company (household name) and none of us ever got calls from outsiders, just from within the company. <S> One person, who had previously worked in sales, always answered with all 9 syllables of the entire company name (including "Canada"), a pause, and then her name and "speaking. <S> " It was exhausting waiting for my time to speak. <S> While it may not matter at work, I have a habit of never saying "hello" because that cues telemarketing software to route the call to an agent. <S> Whereas if you just say your name or the company name, you will hear only silence for as long as you're prepared to wait. <S> This makes it worth your while to lose the habit of answering any phone with "hello." <S> In a work context where you've been given no guidance, I would say go as short as possible, so not "good morning, Long CompanyName Canada, Logistics Department, this is FirstName LastName <S> , how can I help you today?" <S> but not starting with Hello either. <S> Your name doesn't seem stiff to me, but if it does at your company, you can add something cheerful after it, or use just your first name, <S> probably "this is FirstName" or "FirstName speaking" will work. <A> what is the best way to answer the phone at work? <S> The best way is the way recommended by management. <S> It varies depending on the locale, the company culture, the nature of the business, the desires of management, and the nature of the caller (internal versus external, for example). <A> Follow your company policy, or the example set by someone who regularly answers the phone. <S> Failing that, be friendly. <S> State the place called, to affirm the person dialed the correct number. <S> State your name, so they know with whom they're speaking, should they need to call back. <S> If this is an external call, use the business name known to the world. <S> If it's an internal call, use the department name. <S> For example an external call might go: <S> Thank you for calling __________ (business name). <S> My name is _________ (your name). <S> How may I help you? <S> While an internal call might go: <S> ___________ (department name), ________ (your name) speaking. <S> Obviously external calls need more professionalism. <S> Internal calls need just the facts with a polite delivery. <A> 'Engineering, Kilisi speaking' or something similar. <S> 3 words lets them know that they have the right section and who they're speaking to.
| If you want to know the "best" way to answer the phone in your particular situation, ask your boss. We all answered by just saying our names. In the absence of any protocols just keep it short and informative.
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