Ask a Manager Blog
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Covers articles on resume, cover letters, freelancing, interviewing , hiring, internships, networking, phone interview, salary, rejections, resigning, advice about your boss and coworkers, being the boss workplace practices and more. Alison Green is a creator of Ask a Manager was the chief of staff for a successful nonprofit, where she was responsible for hiring, firing, promoting, managing..
Ask a Manager Blog
13h ago
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
A reader writes:
I genuinely don’t understand how folks deal with the overwhelming guilt of taking time off work. I’ve had this problem since I started working right out of college, and it’s persisted through multiple job and industry changes and multiple PTO policies — from seven days to unlimited — in my over 15 years of work. During Covid, my workplace was understaffed and very strict with travel and PTO, and I felt too guilty to leave even when my grandparents were dying from Covid or when my best friend wanted me to be ..read more
Ask a Manager Blog
23h ago
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…
1. I don’t want to participate in my office’s steps challenge
My office is getting ready to start a months-long steps challenge, and there’s a big emphasis on participating because we’ve got a mix of in-person, hybrid, and remote employees and this is supposed to be something to help us all engage. They’re launching it in a week, and I am dreading it.
I don’t count my steps or focus on challenge-based exercise because I find that it’s not beneficial for me. I don’t care if ot ..read more
Ask a Manager Blog
1d ago
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
Last week we talked about business trip mishaps and here are 12 of my favorite stories you shared about business trips that went very badly awry.
1. The stomach bug
I got a stomach bug while attending a trade show. Realized I felt bad, so went outside the conference hall to get some fresh air. Then further realized I was about to puke — had no time to make it to the bathrooms, so vomited into a potted plant right outside the floor-to-ceiling windows in the main lobby of the hall.
2. The boobs
I had a conference last year in ..read more
Ask a Manager Blog
2d ago
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
A reader writes:
A couple years ago, I managed an employee who was arrested at work for stealing from a former employer, among other charges. She was put in jail for a considerable amount of time.
She is apparently now out, because I received her resume. I’m no longer at the previous company. I did not consider her, but I noticed that the start date she listed with the company where I managed her precedes the date the company even opened (I imagine to cover her employment when she was working for the company she stole from ..read more
Ask a Manager Blog
2d ago
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
A reader writes:
I work in a low-level supervisory role for a social service agency. Most of our employees work remotely and are issued desktop computers with a monitor and camera. The majority of these remote employees do not need to be on camera to complete daily tasks; however, when meetings or training sessions occur, “cameras on” is expected.
Recently, I set up a Teams meeting with an employee of seven months’ tenure (“Wynn”) to train them one-on-one for an additional task. As background, Wynn has exhibited some lack o ..read more
Ask a Manager Blog
2d ago
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…
1. Interviewing with blue or pink hair
In the last few years, I have started coloring my hair bright colors (blue, pink, green, etc.). I have always felt self-conscious about my hair, and the colors now make me feel much better about it. Also, I just love bright colors and I enjoy presenting myself to the world this way. I get a lot of compliments on my hair, including from people at work. Given that I work in quite a formal environment in a corporate accounting firm, I have ..read more
Ask a Manager Blog
4d ago
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
This comment section is open for any non-work-related discussion you’d like to have with other readers, by popular demand.
Here are the rules for the weekend posts.
Book recommendation of the week: Victim, by Andrew Boryga. A man from a disadvantaged background finds success by embellishing his life story. Things don’t go entirely accordingly to plan. It’s riveting.
mystery guests
* I make a commission if you use that Amazon link.
You may also like:
all of my 2022 and 2023 book recommendations
all of my 2020 and 2021 ..read more
Ask a Manager Blog
5d ago
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
It’s the Friday open thread!
The comment section on this post is open for discussion with other readers on any work-related questions that you want to talk about (that includes school). If you want an answer from me, emailing me is still your best bet*, but this is a chance to take your questions to other readers.
* If you submitted a question to me recently, please do not repost it here, as it may be in my queue to answer.
You may also like:
my employee sent me a "letter of intent" to look for another job
employer say ..read more
Ask a Manager Blog
5d ago
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go…
1. My coworker interrupts me with questions she could answer herself
My coworker and I used to work in the same extremely toxic workplace. We leaned on each other, commiserated, and when I told her I was done, she pointed me in the direction of a job she knew would be better. I moved to the new job and after six months, she took a job here as well.
The onboarding process here isn’t the best. We were each assigned a mentor, but largely we need to figure out how to do our work ..read more
Ask a Manager Blog
5d ago
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
A reader writes:
For the last nine months, I’ve been doing a (paid) internship at a foundation that is aimed at recent graduates looking to enter the nonprofit world. It’s been a great experience, both in the kind of work I am doing and the people I am working with. I’ve also consistently gotten great feedback, to the point where my boss has said multiple times that she’d like me to return to work for them once I have the necessary degree.
However, while looking at our internal phone registry, I recently discovered that my ..read more