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how to interview your potential new boss
Ask a Manager
DECEMBER 11, 2015
A reader writes: Our department was asked by our director to have an informal-type “interview” with two of the finalists in line to fill our manager position (the current manager is retiring). We are a small department of eight people, and we are tasked with “being unemotional” and to have “facts” as to why we prefer one over the other. Yet, we were told to not assume that this will make a difference in who is hired. You can read my answer to this question over at Inc. interviewing
how to reject an internal job candidate
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FEBRUARY 19, 2016
really like one of the candidates and I was ready to hire her. The other candidate is also much more personable and it is a job that involves a great deal of interaction with people; the internal candidate seems brusque until you get to know her. My preferred candidate also has relevant work experience that is not required, but is an asset to the job…we provide services to a particular group of people, and she was previously in that group, so she has a very good idea of how to deliver those services in the best way. hiring
how to build a culture of mentorship on your team
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JANUARY 7, 2016
There are huge advantages to establishing a learning culture on your team: When your team members all share a commitment to continuous improvement, you’re not only going to get better and better at what you do (individually and as a group), but you’ll also build a pipeline of people able to grow into higher level of responsibility. One way to do that is to build a team of mentors. At Intuit QuickBase’s Fast Track blog today, I talk about how to build that kind of dynamic. You can read it here. good management
are patterned stockings unprofessional, how to list freelance work on a resume, and more
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MARCH 9, 2016
It’s five answers to five questions. Today when I walked in the lunch room to get some hot water for tea, I heard a guy say “ohhhh, sexy stockings” as I walked through the door he was facing. I’ve never seen him before, but we’re a corporate office and regularly have field employees visiting, so I think that’s who he was. They whispered some comments I couldn’t make out, and then the office manager who was sitting at the table laughingly said, “You need to watch what you say and how loudly you say it.” Here we go…. 1.
Move Beyond Learning to Applying: A Modern Management Development Program
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1 kineo.com [email protected] 312-846-6656 Hard to believe that it’s been almost 20 years since the term “eLearning” entered the corpo- rate learning lexicon. in their organizations’ abilities to meet their skills. So how can we do better? content does not equate to results. Sure, good content needs to be part of the. But if we want to have the level of.
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how to take a vacation when your work never stops
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DECEMBER 4, 2015
A reader writes: The holidays are here, and I’m meant to be taking a week off for vacation. The trip is booked, it’s been approved months ago by my boss, and I’ve scheduled my requested time with an eye to our work cycle and done my best to get everything done and covered before I’m gone. She says I can either not go, or be available during my leave at all times for work, or I can pay out of my own pocket for a freelancer to come in to backfill me. How does a responsible employee in a management position get away for a break?
how to respond to a volatile rejected job applicant
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JUNE 20, 2016
In some of the voicemails she was shouting, and in some she was crying. I do not want to interview or speak to this person again, but I want to let her know that we will not be considering her application. How can I politely let this applicant know we will not be interviewing her again? Well, let’s talk first about how to handle applicants who keep applying when you know they’re not the right match, and then we’ll get to this one in particular. However … when someone has reacted poorly to rejection in the past, that changes the equation a bit.
how to negotiate a 50% increase in salary
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NOVEMBER 23, 2015
A reader writes: When I last moved jobs, I went from being a big fish in a little business to an “experienced professional” non-managerial role in a corporate environment, and I read a lot of your salary negotiation advice to prepare for what I knew would be a way more formal interview process than I’d ever done before. gave them a target salary based on norms for my area, one I would have been willing to let them talk down on, as this would be my first job in this specialty. Thanks for all the great advice! Thanks, AAM! This is great. salary
how to manage a hard worker who’s making mistakes
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SEPTEMBER 11, 2015
She goes the extra mile, never complains, stays late and always volunteers to help…but lately I have noticed she is getting lax on things like returning important emails in a timely manner or getting things done that I asked her to do. know she is busy as we all are right now because we are understaffed and everyone is doing their best to fill the gaps. also know she has some prioritizing and time management issues; she loves to do creative projects, but she takes longer then I would like on them because she wants to make them perfect. good management
Learner motivation explained! Learn how to use an LMS to motivate your learners to upskill
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Learning professionals spend huge sums of money creating or acquiring skill aligned libraries of learning content, only to watch almost helplessly as learners refuse to engage with any training available that isn’t mandatory Training and development professionals often bemoan the lack of apparent initiative in their trainees.
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how to explain to interviewers why I quit my job without another one lined up
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JULY 30, 2015
A reader writes: I recently resigned from my position at my previous employer due to its toxic environment and unsupportive senior management. I was constantly being thrown under the bus. Now that I’m doing interviews, potential employers are asking me why left, and I don’t want to necessarily badmouth my previous employer. How can I answer the question without saying bad things about my previous employer, but give an answer they’ll accept? Forced to leave? ” Should I be honest? Were you fired? They don’t know. interviewing
how to prevent alignment problems on your team
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DECEMBER 1, 2015
But while sometimes it does make sense to set aside goals for new priorities, often when that happens it’s because team members and their managers are simply out of alignment with each other. At Intuit QuickBase’s Fast Track blog today, I talk about how to tell whether your team is out of alignment, and what to do about it if there are. how to prevent alignment problems on your team was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager. You can read it here. good management
4 of the toughest work personalities — and how to deal with them
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JANUARY 12, 2016
Unless you work all on your own in a cave somewhere, you’ve probably had your share of difficult coworkers over the years – from the guy who thinks he knows everything to the person who sees work as an interruption to her day-long socializing. But there are ways to deal with difficult coworkers reasonably effectively, or at least to minimize the amount of aggravation they cause you. At Intuit QuickBase’s Fast Track blog today, I talk are four of the most common difficult personalities you might encounter at work, and how to neutralize them.
I was fired from my internship for writing a proposal for a more flexible dress code
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JUNE 28, 2016
A reader writes: I was able to get a summer internship at a company that does work in the industry I want to work in after I graduate. Even though the division I was hired to work in doesn’t deal with clients or customers, there still was a very strict dress code. felt the dress code was overly strict but I wasn’t going to say anything, until I noticed one of the workers always wore flat shoes that were made from a fabric other than leather, or running shoes, even though both of these things were contrary to the dress code. We were shocked.
Leaving performance reviews behind: Where to start [Guide]
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Development a Reality eGuide 3Introduction Does your organization want to adopt. more dynamic approach to managing. not prepared to follow through because. the basic skills required to develop. expectations, there’s little to work against. and enthused to invest their best efforts. If you seek to implement a more dynamic. that leads to action and.
how to correct someone’s repeated mispronunciation of the same word
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AUGUST 27, 2015
So when that happens, is there a way for you to speak up and let them know? I say yes! Or at least, I say yes if you think the person would want to know. (I’d certainly want to know, and I’d bet you’d want to know.) The trick is figuring out how to do it in a way that isn’t humiliating for the person, especially if it’s a word they use all the time. Here’s how I think you can do it fairly non-awkwardly: 1. ”) Also, your tone matters here; it needs to be non-mocking, slightly curious and slightly matter-of-fact.
how to say “that’s not my job”
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AUGUST 18, 2015
A reader writes: I am more senior in my role here at my company, and a lot of colleagues like to reach out to me for help. They find it easier to ask me for help than to figure things out on their own. At times, I’m being ask to do things outside of what I’m responsible for. While I always want to be a team player and help, it’s getting to be too much and my work/personal life are suffering, and I don’t want folks to constantly lean on me and take advantage of my helpful nature. work habits
how to avoid post-vacation stress once you’re back from vacation
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AUGUST 11, 2015
How can you attack the chaos without undoing all the benefits of your vacation? At Intuit QuickBase’s Fast Track blog today, I talk about how you can come back from vacation without wanting to run right back out of the door. how to avoid post-vacation stress once you’re back from vacation was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager. Your vacation was relaxing, but now you’re back at work and staring at a mountain of emails and work that piled up while you were away. You can read it here. work habits
how to research the company you’re interviewing with
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MARCH 4, 2015
On a recent post , one commenter wrote: When I first started job searching, I tried to research the companies a lot. No hiring manager I ever talked to quizzed me about my company knowledge. They wanted to talk about the specifics of the job. And honestly, when you think about how many people are interviewing for one position and how many jobs each of those people are interviewing for, that’s a lot of wasted hour memorizing facts about companies they are probably not going to work at. That was a waste of time. – what they’re most known for.
The Performance Management Storm: Four Macro-Trends Driving the Change
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1Why Your Company Will Need to. an annual review process) to newer. Then, in Part. 2, we will dig into just how to make. measurement to development and empowerment. detrimental to their employees. So we know what we don’t like, but what do we want to come next? forward, many seek to replace the. turbulent seas, is it better to constantly.
massive discount on the Ask a Manager “how to get a job” bible
Ask a Manager
OCTOBER 26, 2015
my e-book, How to Get a Job: Secrets of a Hiring Manager. If you’ve ever wished that you could look into the brain of a hiring manager to find out what you need to do to get hired, this is for you. Written how to talk about sensitive issues when you interview — firings, bad bosses, and more. ways you can turn rejection to your advantage.
I got into a fight with my husband’s coworker over their affair, stressed out over a volunteer group at work, and more
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OCTOBER 10, 2016
It’s five answers to five questions. After three days, the girl texted me saying she was sorry, but of course I replied angrily and told her was going to tell her husband, to which she replied that if I wanted to fight, she’s down and she’ll be waiting for me at the restaurant. After sometime, I went to the restaurant to eat and drink a little. Yes, your husband can be fired for that, and the restaurant manager might reasonably decide that she doesn’t want this kind of drama brought to work. There was no way I was going to agree to that number.
how to convince an interviewer I’m okay with admin work, even with a master’s degree
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DECEMBER 23, 2015
A reader writes: I’m wondering about how to reassure interviewers that I am able and willing to perform administrative tasks despite the fact that I have a master’s degree and have some higher-level work experience. graduated with my master’s last June and moved to a very progressive metro area with an extremely tight nonprofit job market. While admin work isn’t exactly my dream, I think I can do it capably and know that that may be my best option to get some more full-time experience under my belt. interviewing
how to manage your calendar so that you get more done
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JUNE 30, 2016
If you know the horrible sinking feeling of coming into work on Monday and discovering your calendar is packed full for the week, leaving you no time to work on some looming projects, or the equally terrible feeling of realizing on Friday that you have no real idea what you accomplished this week, your calendar might be both the problem and the solution. At QuickBase’s Fast Track blog today, I run through six tricks to managing your calendar in a way that should help you regain control of your life. You can read it here. work habits
The Performance Management Storm: Four Macro-Trends Driving the Change
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1Why Your Company Will Need to. an annual review process) to newer. Then, in Part. 2, we will dig into just how to make. measurement to development and empowerment. detrimental to their employees. So we know what we don’t like, but what do we want to come next? forward, many seek to replace the. turbulent seas, is it better to constantly.
how to coach an employee on soft skills
Ask a Manager
JANUARY 14, 2016
People succeed or fail in the workplace based not just on core job skills but on softer skills too – how well they get along with others, how well they communicate with peers or other departments, how they listen, emotional intelligence, and other interpersonal skills that are crucial to performing well. But all too often, managers who are perfectly comfortable coaching an employee on how to improve her writing or her programming skills shy away from tackling soft skill deficits. Don’t let that manager be you! You can read it here. good management
how to coach an irritated manager to stop yelling
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DECEMBER 10, 2014
We’ve also talked about how she needs to remain calm and use a professional and even tone. She knows all that (in fact, she’s the one who brought this up with me), and wants to respond more appropriately, but is struggling to find the right words to say in the moment when she’s so irritated and angry. Her interactions with this employee have really hurt her confidence in her skills as a supervisor, and while I want to help her get back on balance, the yelling has to stop. Can we talk about how to approach that differently?”
how to break up with a client
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DECEMBER 2, 2015
A reader writes: Several years ago, I left a full-time job in order to freelance, and my most recent employer has remained one of my clients. However, the work has become tedious and I don’t really enjoy it anymore. I’d prefer to focus on other, newer clients who are a better fit for my schedule and business goals (and I realize that I’m fortunate to have a large enough client base to be able to make that decision). But for some reason, I’m stuck for a way to word this notification gracefully. Any guidance you can give?
how to answer the interview question “how does this job fit with your career path?”
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DECEMBER 28, 2015
A reader writes: All through high school and college, I wanted to be a journalist. I got my degree and spent four years in newspapers. still use my writing, editing, and research skills, but I’m in corporate America now and happy enough to work standard hours with good, reliable coworkers and decent pay and benefits. Recently I’ve had a few initial interviews for jobs that sound interesting, and regardless of whether those jobs work out or not, I find myself hung up on how to answer the question of what I see in my career path. And then I got fired.
did I get too drunk at a work party, how to get out of a work obligation, and more
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NOVEMBER 3, 2016
It’s five answers to five questions. Not in a romantic way — I was talking to someone else, and he was trying to get my attention, so I sort of grabbed it to say “I acknowledge you and will get to you in a second.” My question is, how can I tell if I went too far? I’ve been back at work since the party, and no one has mentioned my behavior. also spent a fair amount of time talking to my boss at the party, and she hasn’t said anything. If you hear that you made a huge spectacle, then yes, you can apologize to people.
how to show leadership even when you’re not the boss
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OCTOBER 8, 2015
Even if you’re not leading a team, you probably have opportunities on the reg to show leadership anyway – and doing that is a good way to build your reputation, increase your value, get better projects, and set yourself up for promotion. At Intuit QuickBase’s Fast Track blog today, I talk about opportunities you probably have to demonstrate leadership even if you’re not actually leading people. how to show leadership even when you’re not the boss was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager. Oh, and money. You can read it here.
loose cannons, interviews from the toilet, and other stories of ridiculous job candidates
Ask a Manager
AUGUST 2, 2016
A couple of weeks ago, I asked readers to share the weirdest or worst behavior they’ve ever seen from job candidates. Candidate called us shortly after applying, apologizing up one side and down the other because he’d just realized that his teenage son had made an unauthorized edit to his resume. 2. During a group interview of a young, techie, candidate, the ED asked him “how would your current supervisor describe you – in a couple of words?”. told her to fix it, I guess she didn’t.”. Needless to say he didn’t make it to the in person interview. 6.
how to deal with an unresponsive coworker
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NOVEMBER 3, 2015
Ever worked with someone who rarely responded to requests for input or approval, even when you needed a response in order to move your own work forward? Do your requests seem to fall into a black hole? Working with unresponsive colleagues can be incredibly frustrating and can stymy your own productivity if you don’t find a way to work around them. At Intuit QuickBase’s Fast Track blog today, I talk about five ways to deal with unresponsive colleagues and get what you need. But all is not lost! You can read it here. advice about your coworkers
we’re not allowed to bring coffee to work, my coworker is faking his expertise, and more
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OCTOBER 30, 2016
It’s five answers to five questions. Mary is not well liked (some for good reason, a lot just because HR doesn’t like her) and is in a lower level position that reports to me. Mary has used hers in the workforce prior to working here. He took full credit for it and used it as a school project … except that we had an intern at the time who was paid to do the actual work while John just said “put our logo there, add links to these things.” When the intern left, he left instructions for John to make small updates so the page has been maintained.
how to talk to an intern about professional norms when you’re not her manager
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JUNE 30, 2016
We’re all adults, and if we get our work done no one is going to nitpick about sending a text or chatting for a minute.” ” We’ve also noted that we often stay late or come in early to finish projects. She definitely lacks some polish and is pretty blunt/brusque, probably partly from awkwardness, and she also seems to be taking us at our word and going out for coffee, texting, groaning very slightly when asked to do something boring, and interrupting to ask questions. Also, steer her away from petitions. internships
how to ask to resign instead of being fired
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JANUARY 14, 2015
A reader writes: My friend has been put on a PIP after about eight months at his job – his manager says that he “doesn’t have the skills” to perform the job to her standards. After three months on the PIP, it came up that his manager hasn’t seen the improvement she’s been looking for and so he’s likely to be fired any day (the manager hasn’t given him a date yet). My friend would like to resign so that he can avoid having to forever check the “Have you ever been fired from a job?” firing
former cofounder is trash-talking our organization, new boss quit right before my new job starts, and more
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JANUARY 13, 2016
It’s five answers to five questions. The cofounder and initial executive director of our small nonprofit was fired a few months after we launched for gross failure to carry out responsibilities and in no small part because of the way she treated the staff and other board members. As we were just starting out, we didn’t have the paperwork or foresight to have her sign an NDA. However, her behavior has caused some distress for our volunteers which we’d prefer to spare them, though it doesn’t quite reach the level of harassment. Here we go…. 1.
how to answer “how long have you been job searching?”
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JULY 16, 2015
A reader writes: I was called about a job I had applied to, and they asked me how long I had been job hunting. I’ve been job hunting for a few months, but panicked because I thought that might make it sound like there was something wrong with me and no one wanted to hire me, so I told them I started looking a few weeks ago. When asked how long you’ve been job hunting, what are they trying to figure out? ” how to answer “how long have you been job searching?” Does your answer matter? interviewing
company is planning a secret overnight trip, lying to clients about freelancers, and more
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OCTOBER 24, 2016
It’s four answers to four questions. They finally released a few details the week before it is set to happen, stating that we needed to bring athletic clothes and swimsuits, there would be a day of “team building activities” (not clear what they will be), followed by a big party, followed by “more fun extreme sports activities” the next day. Do you have any advice for how to approach this? Yes, talk to your boss. ” Your company has a fundamental misunderstanding of how to team-build. 2. Here we go…. 1.
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