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It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Coworker’s retirement email took credit for our full product line I received an email from a coworker who is retiring next month. The worker, let’s call him Carl, announced his upcoming retirement and then bragged for a long paragraph about his integral design accomplishments for … Read more
It’s Mortification Week at Ask a Manager and all week long we’ll be revisiting ways we’ve mortified ourselves at work. Here are 15 more mortifying stories to enjoy. 1. The zipper Last year I had to give a very important presentation in front of very important customers, part of a week-long roadshow. I had packed … Read more
summer internship season is upon us by Alison Green on July 29, 2024 With summer internship season in full swing, your workplace may be experiencing an influx of young people who don’t quite know how work works yet. This is often delightful! Interns can bring new ideas, fresh energy, and an ability to explain what … Read more
Welcome to Mortification Week, where we’ll be talking all week about how we’ve mortified ourselves at work. To start us off, here are 15 stories people have shared here (or submitted via email) about work moments they now cringe over. 1. The unexpected video call During the pandemic, when we were all just learning how … Read more
After you interview for a job, the hiring manager messages you and says that they went with another person or in another direction. However, a few days later you see the job is reposted. What is going on? When an employer does this, it’s a rejection of you. I’m going to be brutally honest. For … Read more
LinkedIn launched a new feature a handful of years ago that lets you quickly and easily endorse people in your network for one or more skill sets they’ve chosen to list for themselves. Anyone who is actively looking for work right now should be striving to get endorsed often. Here’s why… Recruiters Will Be Looking … Read more
Are you suffering from job burnout? Job burnout is a very specific type of stress that differs from the stress that we experience as part of a “normal” life experience. The folks at the Mayo Clinic define job burnout as a “state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment … Read more
It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. I’m biased toward midwestern candidates At the east coast company I work at, I’m frequently on hiring committees for competitive positions that typically include a wide range of candidates from all over the U.S. I recently noticed a concerning pattern in the candidates that I … Read more
A reader writes: I just left my job. I had worked at the same small company for six years. Over the years, I have seen admin staff leave with little notice and staff who gave notice but did not actually work through it. My boss, Amanda, told me that she actually did not want them … Read more
Congratulations, it’s 2025 and you are now the COO of a major pharma (or life sciences) company. Right away you get to work improving your company’s value chain including all those activities and processes involved in creating whatever product or service is being offered. These challenges require at least a tertiary mastery of a myriad … Read more