the mystery of “remote” job listings that aren’t actually remote by Alison Green on June 20, 2022 Amid the boom in remote working spurred by pandemic closures two years ago, job seekers are encountering a frustrating phenomenon: jobs advertised as “remote” when they really aren’t. To the extreme and understandable frustration of job seekers, it’s become quite common for candidates to see a job posting for a role that claims to be […] Read the full article →
candidates keep turning down our job offers by Alison Green on June 13, 2022 A reader asks: My team has been expanding after a long period of being under-resourced and under-staffed, but the talent pool in our local area is not very deep. As a result, I usually have to conduct national searches for most positions. This means that I’ve had to work hard to identify serious applicants who […] Read the full article →
should you make job offers by phone or email? by Alison Green on June 8, 2022 A reader writes: I lead a team and just sent an email to a candidate making a job offer. After I sent the email (my typical practice), I was curious, and I googled “email job offers,” which led me to articles declaring the practice a bad idea and recommending phone calls instead. I was wondering […] Read the full article →
interview candidates have stopped giving me their availability when I ask for it by Alison Green on May 26, 2022 A reader writes: I work in the public sector as a manager of a library. I’ve been in this position for a little over a year, but have had other library management jobs for the past 5-ish years. Due to the lower wages (above state minimum, but by only like a dollar) and mostly part-time […] Read the full article →
what’s the best time to send rejection letters? by Alison Green on April 27, 2022 A reader writes: Is there a standard for when to send out rejection letters? I deal with a lot of hiring in my job and I usually know as soon as I review a resume or hold an interview whether or I’m going to reject someone, but I have always figured that people don’t want […] Read the full article →
job candidate was distracted by her baby throughout our interview by Alison Green on March 15, 2022 A reader writes: I’m a manager for a nonprofit and I was thinking about an interview situation that happened late last year. Last year we were looking to hire someone who can conduct telehealth meetings with families who just had a baby as a part of a federal program. I was calling applicants over the […] Read the full article →
why is this interview question stumping our candidates? by Alison Green on February 16, 2022 A reader writes: I’m wondering why a particular interview question that we ask our candidates is so fraught. Something we commonly ask candidates at the very end of our process is quite simple but is for some reason astonishingly difficult and unexpectedly challenging for a lot of candidates. It is just this: “Is there anything […] Read the full article →
the new hire who showed up is not the same person we interviewed by Alison Green on January 31, 2022 A reader writes: This is a situation currently unfolding at my husband’s office so I’m a very amused bystander and thought I’d get your opinion on this craziness. My husband works in IT and is on the leadership team at a midsized private company. He was part of a panel that recently interviewed a number […] Read the full article →
why aren’t the companies “desperate” for workers doing the one thing that would attract them? by Alison Green on January 24, 2022 If you believe reports from employers, they’re desperate to find good employees but can’t lure them at any price. Dig deeper, though, and it turns out that many companies are still operating on a model of underpaying and overworking at a time when workers have much better options. At Slate today, I wrote about employers that […] Read the full article →
how do I reject a difficult internal applicant? by Alison Green on December 13, 2021 A reader writes: I am building up a new team and struggling with how to handle an internal applicant. The job I’m hiring for is fairly customer-facing and requires mostly independent work. One internal applicant who’s currently on another team, Marion, is a train wreck. She is barely competent in the fundamentals of our work. […] Read the full article →