March 2009

job candidates who need to stop talking

There’s always at least one candidate in any hiring round who might otherwise have been qualified but who kills their chances by being way too long-winded. This is especially common in phone interviews (perhaps because candidates who do this don’t make it to the in-person stage). I did a phone interview with a candidate last […]

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advice for a recent grad

A reader writes: As a recent grad who is looking for my first real job in a market that quite frankly sucks, I’ve become an avid follower of your blog. I have a bachelor’s in Business Administration from a private university. Not exactly ivy league, but respectable nonetheless. My professional experience is limited to just […]

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when your ex is a coworker — and a silly one

A reader writes: I work for a big technology company. We are the market leaders in what we do, and we are looking at doing more cool stuff everyday. And I work for HR in the global headquarters. I have a ‘frenemy’ here. We used to date – our company is ok with employees dating […]

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stop telling me you’re a great writer

It’s not a great idea — nor is it necessary — to brag about your writing skills in your cover letter or on your resume, via subjective assessments of yourself like the following that I’ve seen recently: “Outstanding writing skills” “Highly conceptual and great at expressing ideas in a fresh, new way” “Able to present […]

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disgruntled Facebook postings

I was just reading this post by Martin Burns about a Facebook status update that read as follows: “___ is jealous of people that love their jobs — wish I was one of them..or at the least had a manager that gives a crap!@@%%&&” Martin raised the question of whether this kind of post is […]

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how to tell your boss he’s breaking the law

A reader writes: I am the tech supervisor for a pharmacy. I am responsible for completing the monthly tech schedule. I also work only on weekends and Monday evenings. Today, I told my boss that I was going to try and find coverage because I wanted to spend my daughter’s first Easter with her. He […]

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being asked to “fix” a coworker

A reader writes: I work for a very large company, on a very small team of specialists that does a ton of work. About a week ago, my boss pulled me aside for a one on one. I have a really good relationship with my manager, I can say without hesitation that I really enjoy […]

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repulsed by office culture

A reader writes: I work in a corporate setting within the Technology department. My direct supervisor who is a Vice President chews tobacco during business hours. The fact that he chews tobacco doesn’t necessarily bother me. It’s the spitting in a cup during departmental meetings that does. The only saving grace from me not puking […]

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liberated

I’ve fallen so far behind on answering questions that there’s no way I would ever catch up. So I’ve discarded the 200+ emails sitting in my in-box that were sent before March. My in-box now has only March emails, and I might actually be able to answer most of them. It feels good. If you […]

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