a weekend of short answers: short answer Sunday -- ASK A MANAGER |
a weekend of short answers: short answer Sunday
by ASK A MANAGER on OCTOBER 23, 2011
I think this is a first — a short answer Saturday and a short answer Sunday in the same weekend. Today, we’ve got a job offer that looks better in retrospect, a confusing rejection notice, and more. Here we go…
1. Boss is asking me constantly if I have plans to leave
I graduated from school in May (the degree doesn’t pertain to my job) and my boss has been asking me monthly if I plan on leaving soon. I’ve told her that I had no immediate plans to leave but am keeping my options open as I would like to start my new career soon. At first it was just checking in with my plans but now she’s asking me weekly and I feel like she’s trying to push me out. What can I do to make my office situation more comfortable? When does it become harassing and not “checking in with each other”?
Why not just ask her what’s going on? Say something like this: “You’ve been asking me this a lot, practically weekly. So that you don’t need to keep asking me, can we talk about what’s behind this question? I can’t tell if you’re hinting that I should be thinking about moving on, or if you’re worried that I might be. What’s going on?”
2. I turned down an offer, but now I want it
A few months ago, I interviewed for a position that I really wanted, but I refused for two reasons: 1. The salary was not what I expected and I knew they were not open to negotiations. 2. I was negotiating with another company (from a completely different field) that offered me a higher salary.
Unfortunately I have not been accepted to the other company. I know that the first company is still looking for someone, and I realize that I finally want to join their team. When I refused their position, I let them understand that I had found another position. I want to get back to them to apply for the position, but the salary issue will be the same. How should I contact them? What should I tell them? Do you think I can negotiate salary? I do not want them to think I am unstable, changing every month my mind.
If you contact them now, you should probably do it only if you’d accept the job without trying to negotiate on salary. You’re already in a weak position, because you told them that you’d taken another offer. Since it’ll be obvious now that that was a lie or that something went wrong there, you have a weak hand. You’re basically going back to them with your tail between your legs now — which you can do, but if you then turn around and try to push for more money, it’s going to look pretty silly.
3. I regret giving permission for a prospective employer to contact my current boss
I work at a university and have been in the same job for 6 years. I recently interviewed for two jobs at the same university but in different departments. When I applied for the job, the application asked if it’s ok to contact my current employer. I answered yes because I thought it would look good. Do I need to tell my boss I interviewed in case she gets a phone call from my prospective employer? I don’t want her to be blindsided, but I have not received a job offer and don’t want to tell my boss too much too soon.
Ack! Never say that it’s okay to contact your current employer, unless your boss knows you’re job-seeking and is okay with that. Normally, I’d say to contact the other jobs and tell them that you’ve realized that you’re not ready to tell your current manager that you’re looking, and ask them not to contact her. (You can say that you’d permit it at the offer stage, but not before.) However, in this case, you’re applying for jobs with your same employer, so it might be moot — usually reference-checking in that context is informal: just a call to their colleague who’s your current boss, and they’re not going to wait for your permission. So it’s a judgment call.
4. Will this error sink my chances?
I have a very sheepish question to ask. I’m in the middle of job hunting and have been applying to a couple of marketing positions. As a way of showing my diversification, I have mentioned in the closing paragraph of a couple cover letters that I have my own personal blog. I was submitting a post today and noticed a grammtical error in my last entry. I know I need to be extra careful since I want to be seen as credible, but it was something I had just simply missed. Do you think this will sink my chances with the companies I had directed toward my blog? As a side note, my cover letter and resume for the positions were error free.
No. This is miniscule. Just correct the error on your blog and be done with it.
5. Job history when past employers are out of business
How far back do you go on resumes? What do you do if all the jobs you had are no longer in business? What do you put on the online applications when there’s no address or phone number anymore? Two companies I worked for are out of business and one was bought out and moved to a different state several years ago. What would you suggest I put on online applications which want addresses, phone numbers, and emails?
I mean, you can’t make information up, so you just need to write the truth — “out of business,” “bought out,” etc. This stuff happens.
6. Jobs that require references with the application
I’m a recent grad applying for entry-level jobs. I find that a lot of the job openings in my field require that along with submitting a cover letter and resume, I also need to submit the contact info for two or more references. I haven’t been applying to jobs with the requirement to submit references at the outset because I don’t want to bother my references every single time I apply for one of these jobs. If I apply for all of the positions that I see with that requirement, it would mean letting my references know that I’ve applied for at least 7 of these positions per week. I prefer to wait until the potential employer asks for my references’ contact info because they are interested in my application, and then I only have to contact my references when I have a higher likelihood of getting hired. Should I be applying to jobs that ask for my references information at the outset, even if it means contacting my references several times a week? I don’t want to be a bother to my references. What do you think?
First of all, it’s BS that companies are requiring this at the outset, for exactly the reasons you mention. But since they are and you probably can’t even submit an application without it, submit the info and include a note that says, “Please notify me before references are contacted so that I can alert them.” (And no, don’t alert your references every time you apply for a job, since that will obviously annoy the crap out of them. Instead, wait until you’re at the reference-checking stage, which is typically post-interview.)
7. Was this rejection notice legit?
I received a phone call from an employer personnel person who said I would be contacted by her boss to set up an interview. Ten minutes before the phone call, I received a rejection email from this boss. The email referenced this boss’s email address. I am perplexed. Did the boss actually send the email or was it a computer generated email where the computer software automatically rejects within a period of time from filing the online application for not fitting the filter criteria. Should I contact the person who called me or just move on? Help me make sense of this confusion.
It could be legit (in that the first employee assumed the boss would want to interview you, but the boss decided he/she didn’t), or it could be a mistake — it’s worth contacting them and asking.
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