Ask a Manager

It’s your Friday good news!

1.  “I’ve worked for a small company for the last 8 years. The work has grown and the company goals have changed, and after some upheaval and layoffs last summer I realized that I was actually no longer enjoying myself at a company I’d been so deeply committed to that it hadn’t occurred to me to stop and consider whether I liked it. Turned out, I didn’t. I was being taken for granted because of my institutional knowledge, but had been kept from having any company growth — instead, they’d hired people with fresh perspectives and given them clear titles and responsibilities, leaving me to fill gaps and plug leaks without a title or position to reflect the value I was giving them. This in turn meant I had no real standing to push for issues to be addressed.

I read and re-read your cover letter info and wrote one that I’m really, really proud of. I applied to a wide range of positions in my field, and interviewed with a focus on clear ownership and direction for the role, opportunity for mentorship and growth, and strong company leadership. Some places I applied to open roles, some opportunities came from cold outreach on my part where there weren’t openings listed, and some from quietly leveraging my network. I was offered three positions, and reached the final stage for 2 others. I signed an offer last night for more money and more opportunity. I am incredibly excited.

Ultimately, reading your blog daily helped me normalize that people do leave jobs, and that if I was seeing a pattern in how new hires were treated, it was a pattern I should apply to my own situation and ultimately, act accordingly, and also, that I should always, always negotiate (I asked for another $10K in salary, and got it!). Thank you for the work you do.”

2.  “Since the start of my career 20 years ago, I have always worked in research centers or small companies, where job security was spotty at best. Normally, I stayed between 2-3 years in one position before I had to switch jobs again (mostly because the money on the project run out or the small company was in serious trouble).  I also have kids and I am a woman in a field, where mainly technical aspects dominate. Every time and in every interview, I had to answer questions like, ‘Who will take care of the kids when they are sick?’ (my husband also exists, thank you very much!) or ‘Why did you switch jobs so often?’ (if there are positions for this kind of research
available which doesn’t necessary include selling your life and every spare time that there is, I would have taken it!). So, I was kind of disillusioned and decided last year to try something
completely new. A friend of mine told me that there was a position available in his team. He warned me that the boss was a real treat (the angry, yelling type),but since I was used to a lot of interesting characters as bosses, I thought: What could possibly go wrong?

Well, apparently wrong question. The boss was okish (he was a treat, but I have seen worse), but the work was somewhere between boring and nonexistent. The pay was very generous and if I hadn’t been an avid Ask a Manager reader, I would have stayed there and risked my mental health from boreout in the process. But I decided to look for greener pastures and found a job posting where they were looking for somebody to support researchers in starting their own business. I send my application, which was carefully crafted according to the Ask a Manager’s ste suggestions, and lo and behold, I got an interview! The interview itself was like a dream (the first one where my ‘job hopping’ was considered an asset) and the pay matched what I got before – in a job not industry related! It has its downside as well, but my direct managers are helpful and surprisingly sane. I am happier here than ever before and would have never thought that my spotty CV can actual be an asset!”

3.  “I discovered AAM in 2015 when I was completing a leadership qualification and was researching management techniques for an assignment. I’d been working in university administration for 15 years and wanted to move into a management role, and the qualification helped me to get there. I became a daily reader of the blog and it has helped me so much in dealing with the challenges of being a new manager, interview and application techniques, and shaping my own management style and philosophy.

By 2019, I’d ended up in a position that on paper was perfect for me, but in reality was stultifying, and I was miserable. During the pandemic I started to think about how to improve my situation. I’d always wanted to continue my education, and my institution had a generous career break policy, so in September 2021 I started a Master’s in Computer Science, with the intention of eventually moving into university IT project management. However, during the course I fell in love with coding, so I decided not to return to my previous role, and started applying for software development roles.

I was mainly applying for IT roles within higher education, but I came across a posting for a job in a governmental organisation that deals with data (my undergraduate degree was in maths and statistics), using my favourite programming language. I applied, using all the tips I’ve learnt over the years from reading your blog to play up my transferrable skills, and was shortlisted. The interview went really well (I asked the magic question!) and I was offered the position. It was my first ever software development interview, and I was so shocked when they sent through the offer that I couldn’t really speak for a couple of hours, and had to stop studying for the rest of the day because I couldn’t focus on anything.

I started in the role two days after submitting my final Master’s project, and have now been there for 4 and a half months. It’s been an absolute blast so far. I’ve learnt so much, the organisation and my manager are really supportive and inclusive, the team I work with are great, and it’s 100% remote. I’m earning £5k more as an individual contributor than when I was managing a team of 7 administrators. As much as I like managing, it can be super stressful, and at the moment I’m just enjoying being responsible for my own work. Maybe someday I’ll want to return to a management role, but I’m taking a couple of years to settle into this new career path and learn as much as I can about the technical side of software development.

Thank you so much for everything you do to encourage us to advocate for ourselves at work. AAM gave me the confidence to try something new, helped me to reflect on what I wanted to achieve at work, and the ability to present myself as a valuable addition to a team despite a “lack” of the technical skills expected. To anyone reading this who recognizes themselves, take heart, and know that you can change your life and it’s so worth the effort.”

4.  “After spending my mid 20s in Foreign Country, I returned to Home Country for grad school and then ended up with a job at Foreign Country’s consulate. It took me a long time to realize how much damage that job did with micromanaging and a toxic work environment, but at some point during my time there I discovered Ask a Manager. I sent out resumes and cover letters for a year and a half, and then finally got lucky by simply emailing my resume to an Indeed post that was looking for foreign language skills of Foreign Country.

That was my first step toward becoming a happier worker. I was able to confidently state my salary range which earned me a 30% raise, and I did a reasonably good job of fitting into a non-profit work environment. I got another 13% raise the next year, and our members in Foreign Country appreciated the ability to communicate more easily with the head office. They were a great place to work during the pandemic – we were fully remote, and there was a lot of support with work hour flexibility.

I started to realize it wasn’t what I wanted to do long term, so I applied to a language program in Foreign Country, got my study there funded, moved back about a year ago, and then found a permanent job here toward the end of my program. All of my application materials to the language program, resume refinement, and interview prep benefited from years of reading Ask a Manager. My new job isn’t perfect (the salaries in Foreign Country are much lower than Home Country, and I’m still learning the ropes), but I’m much happier, and I also am confident enough in myself to know that if things don’t work out, it’s not the end of the world.”

5.  “I taught in high schools for 25 years. I was eligible for an unreduced pension (not the max but no penalty for retiring early) this past January. I live in Canada so earned a decent wage, but the other factors that plague education were in full force. I didn’t want to become that teacher who hates their job, so I decided to retire without having any idea how I would pay my mortgage, which would be beyond my pension’s earning.

Shortly after I retired, a vice principal asked me to come in for an interview because she knew I was interested in supply teaching. The next day, she and the other vice principal from my former school interviewed me and I was placed on my district’s supply list the following day.
Now I am doing a different job, in different schools, with different responsibilities every day. And I can work everyday and am compensated well or choose to take a day off at any time. The things I hated about my job are no longer my responsibility, and I believe that I am doing a good job in helping students succeed (the need for supply teacher is so dire that I can choose jobs that I am qualified to teach). There are restrictions on how many days I can work and still collect my pension, but they have been relaxed because of need. In short (ha ha), I made a decision that was objectively a poor one, and I am really happy that I made it.”