mini answer Monday: 7 short questions, 7 short answers -- ASK A MANAGER |
mini answer Monday: 7 short questions, 7 short answers
by ASK A MANAGER on APRIL 2, 2012
It’s mini answer Monday! Today: you’re pregnant and making a lot of trips to the office bathroom, you want to appeal a job rejection, you sure as hell don’t want to help out a coworker, and more. Here we go…
1. Should I share resources with another department?
I work for a nonprofit, educational institution. Even though we should all be working for the common good, the lines in the sand have been drawn — because of tight budgets. You do what you do for your department because they are paying your salary. A coworker from another department asked if they could use an e-mail list that I have spent significant time developing. It’s not e-mails that couldn’t be shared because of confidentiality reasons, as they are not personal, but rather businesses and media lists. But I have worked on it for years and continue to fine-tune it. The coworker asked to use for a hurry up project that needs to go out immediately and is actually in the same capacity as I am in, but a different department. Someone from their department recently wanted me to work on something for them, but the director stated it was not permitted because in no shape or way are they paying any of my funds… What to do?
Wow, good luck explaining to donors and other constituents that the organization is so turf-driven that you don’t share resources, even when you’d lose nothing by doing so. Do you really want to work somewhere that approaches its mission this way
2. Pregnant and using the office bathroom a lot
I’m 9 weeks pregnant and everyone at my workplace knows it. Sometimes I go every hour to pee, other times it’s every two. I get the feeling I’m being talked about for “using the bathroom a lot.” I know for a fact my boss is asking those I work with how often I am going. Not like I’m doing it to waste time, I’ve been told not to drink as much too, that maybe it will help. I drink as much as necessary to stay healthy. I’m quite frustrated and don’t exactly know the correct way to handle it. I’m emotionally stressed because its an every day issue. I have to resist the urge to print out pregnancy symptoms and say I know you’ve never been pregnant so thought you might want this. Any help would be appreciated!
Go talk to your boss. But stay away from comments like “I know you’ve never been pregnant”; it’s irrelevant, and you actually don’t know that. Instead, say, “Hey, I’m experiencing some symptoms of pregnancy, and one is that I need to use the bathroom a lot. I wanted to mention this up front in case you notice it and wonder what’s up.” Period. End of story.
It’s always better to address things head-on than to let them fester. If anyone pressures you to drink less water or use the bathroom less, say that you’re following your doctor’s advice. If it continues, you may need to educate them about the law, but right now, it’s not at that point.
3. Appealing a job rejection
Just minutes ago, I received a note of rejection from “my dream job” employer, and in the same time I found and read your article “But I’m qualified for that job – why did you reject me?” My question to you, shall I send another email convincing them that my qualification/experience do match their job description?
No. Go back and re-read the article.
4. Listing an Etsy store on your resume
I operate a store on Etsy. It’s not necessarily related to the field I am interested in pursuing, but I think the skills it takes to run it are valuable. Should I list it on my resume and, if so, how?
Yes. List yourself as the owner, and describes what it entails and what you’ve achieved.
5. Listing volunteer work on a resume
I was told to avoid using the word “volunteer” on my resume, and to instead find a different way to list that relevant experience. The explanation was that some employers may not consider a volunteer position as challenging, demanding, or worthwhile as an actual paid position. To not list that sort of work as volunteer seems misleading, but I don’t want to hurt my chances just by using the wrong word.
You should absolutely list the work on your resume, and it’s up to you whether you indicate that it was pro bono or not. It’s no one’s business how much you got paid for your work, even if that amount was zero.
That said, it is true that with volunteer work, employers may wonder whether the organization you volunteered for was holding the bar lower or holding you less accountable since your work was free — because in fact that’s often the case. So make sure that you focus on your accomplishments there, rather than just listing duties.
6. Emailing employers who don’t get back to you after an interview
Can you update all of us as to how the “E-mail Your Interviewer” service is doing? I know you mentioned awhile back somebody said that it caused them to reconsider their practices and they do let candidates know now, but have you received any hate mail as a result of it? I’m sure having fun using it.
For people who don’t know, emailyourinterviewer.com lets you generate an anonymous (and polite; it’s pre-written) letter to employers who interviewed you and then never got back to you back again — no rejection, nothing — even after you followed up with them to ask for an update.
I’d say that somewhere between 5% of the letters sent through the site result in a rude/angry/self-righteous email back to me from the employer, denying any wrongdoing. A bit less than that, there’s an email saying “whoops, that shouldn’t have happened.” Mainly there’s silence (fittingly, I suppose), but I hope that it’s changed the way at least some employers think.
7. Getting help practicing interviewing skills
Among the comments in a recent post on resume-writing, I spotted your suggestion about practicing tricky interview questions and answers. You wrote: “The person has to be someone whose input on this will be on-target (i.e., your mom might see you as great no matter what, and a 20-something friend might not have the same perspective as a hiring manager), and they have to be someone who’s willing to tell you the truth, even if it’s awkward or uncomfortable. If it’s hard to find someone who meets both criteria in your circle (and it often is), then a professional might be a good answer.”
Would you have any suggestions how one find such a professional? Is there an organization for HR pros who assist individuals?
There’s no organization like that (at least that I know of), but what I was talking about in that article was someone like a career coach. One caveat, though, is that they’re really hit-or-miss, so choose carefully: Make sure you find someone who’s smart, in touch with how hiring managers think, and not a sugar-coater.
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