January 2009

applying for a job in another state

A reader writes: What is your take, as a hiring manager, on job applicants who apply to positions in your company from out of state (let’s say New York applicant for a California job)? Do they immediately go to the circular file or are they considered as seriously as other applications? What if the applicant […]

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bosses who yell

A reader writes: I’m hoping you can help a friend of mine who is stuck in a tough situation. After a long job search, my friend has found his dream job–it’s what he wants to do, in the field he wants to do it in, it pays the salary he wants to make, and he […]

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can boss deduct the cost of a mistake from my paycheck?

A reader writes: Last year, I overcharged a customer by approximately $1500. No one caught it and the customer paid the bill. In reviewing what the customer wanted to purchase for this year, they saw the mistake and requested a $1500 credit. My boss has decided that I must cover this loss for the company […]

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references when a company goes under

A reader writes: Since my last employer is going out of business (Circuit City), how would I list the information on my resume? I want to list it because it was valuable experience for the field I want to go into. And even if I list the information, how will employers verify my employment there? […]

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should managers organize “fun” at work?

A reader writes: Obviously with these difficult economic times, employees are feeling stressed, burned out, and anxious, among other things. Being fairly new to the HR industry, I think that more fun activities (such as cook-offs, cookie decorating for V-Day, and maybe even a corn-hole tournament in the summer) should be introduced to the staff […]

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how to fire someone

Firing poor performers is one of the hardest things managers do — and also one of the most important. Firing is about being committed to having great employees. You can do everything else right – setting clear goals and expectations, delegating effectively, giving feedback, striking the right balance between being hands-on without micromanaging, and so […]

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boss paying under the table

A reader writes: I work for a very small company that is having cash flow problems. For the past few months the boss has been paying the employees our net wages in cash, not giving us payslips, and not paying any tax to the government. He simply expects us not to report this income on […]

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declining after verbally accepting a job offer

A reader writes: I was job hunting two months ago and received two job offers. I took the offer with Company A and told Company B that I would take the offer from company A. Well, one month into my new job with Company A, I thought the job was not really what I wanted […]

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housekeeping items

Some random, miscellaneous stuff: 1. I’m interested in people’s experiences with 360 degree feedback systems, especially in organizations with smaller departments, where even the best efforts to preserve anonymity may be undone by the small staff size of the manager being evaluated. I’m intrigued by the idea of going in this direction but am concerned […]

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how to determine severance when firing an employee

A reader writes: I have just finished reading what you’ve written on how to fire an employee. Excellent advice. I do have one question. The employee who will soon be “let go” has certainly had many chances to improve, been given objectives and not met them, etc. However, because this person is still human, has […]

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