Ask a Manager

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Rejecting a candidate because they can’t interview by video I’m at a midsized government agency on the west coast hiring for a middle manager-level position. We posted nationally, got good responses, and have asked four candidates to interview over Zoom. We have three interviews set […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Scheduling a Zoom call to reject a job candidate My friend has been applying for jobs and made it to the final round for one position. She didn’t hear back from them on the timeline they had mentioned on the last interview, so she assumed […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Coworker doesn’t pay attention during meetings A team member never pays attention during our team meetings. She sits and types on her laptop, and if the meeting is via Zoom, it is obvious that she is doing work while we are all discussing various issues. […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Lunch meetings when I can’t eat I’m about to enter an industry that encourages people to communicate with each other, especially through the grand event of “let’s have lunch.” My biggest secret is that I have a rare lifelong eating disorder that makes it very […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. New employee is AWOL I’m writing this question on behalf of my husband, Wakeen, who is a managing attorney at a small firm that is entirely remote, with lawyers spread out across the region. He recently hired a mid-level attorney, Fergus, who is based in […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. How much of a red flag is it if a job candidate was fired twice previously? I am hiring for a position that is fairly entry-level office work. A candidate, who is fairly young, lists two positions in the past decade from which they were […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Coworkers keep interrupting my closed-door meetings I am wondering how to address what seems to be an organization-wide lack of office etiquette. I was recently in a meeting with my boss, the CFO, in my office. We were discussing a serious matter and the door […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Can I pretend not to know who my old boss is? I come asking for permission to be insanely petty to my old boss. I want your blessing. Last year, we had a new director on my team for about seven months. She started when […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. I can’t get work done because of constant interruptions I work in a very detail-oriented, fast-paced role (IT change management). Interruptions cause me to lose focus and I have made some big mistakes due to them. My workload has tripled during Covid. People have left […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Can I ignore a toxic employee during her last few days? I have managed someone, let’s call her Rachel, for over a year and a half. The majority of the experience has been negative — she’s rude, feeds on drama, and produces low quality work. […]