It’s seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go…
1. Is a back-up job going to hurt my chances in the future?
I graduated in January and despite having experience have not been able to find a position in my field. I’ve been pushed by my family to take a retail job as a “back up,” especially since my family and I have started paying my loans back. I’ve recently taken a job at a big box retailer. I was hoping I could do freelance on the side, but I’ll be working in the store 30+ hours a week so I don’t know if that will be feasible. I know I’m not the only one in this economy who’s had to take a retail job to keep their head above water financially, but I’m afraid it’ll hurt my chances in the future and I’ll be stuck there. Do you have any advice?
Also, do I have to list this job on my professional resume? I obviously wouldn’t try to hide it from employees if they asked, but this job is in no way related to my field and it would be a waste of space on my resume.
Retail work isn’t likely to hurt your chances more than simply not having recent work experience in your field. So the question is really whether it will make you less likely to pursue other jobs, go on interviews, and take on freelance work that could bulk up your resume. If you can minimize those impacts, I wouldn’t have any worries about this at all; if that’s the case, you’re not adding any problems, just income. (And even if that’s not the case, financial realities might dictate that you need to take this work anyway.)
You don’t need to put it on your resume. It’s generally better to be able to show recent or current work, but (a) it’s not at all in your field and (b) as a recent grad it’s not unusual to not have been working in your field yet. That said, you’ll want to be prepared to talk about what you’ve been doing since January to stay current in your field — so make time for at least a bit of those sorts of activities too.
2. Can I decline this networking request for our alumni’s contact info?
I work as a graduate program admin in a state university. A few days ago one of our graduates — someone who graduated in the mid-80′s — emailed me and asked me if I could send him names and emails of people he went to graduate school with (in our program) so that he could network and make new connections. He wants to network because he has written a book and would like to “advertise it and sell his wares.” I do have some of their contact info, but it doesn’t seem right to share any contact information with him, and certainly not information for people who have not been here for almost 30 years and who did not ask to be “networked” with. Is this an appropriate request, in your opinion? What would you reply to a request like that? I’m sure he’s not trying to be jerky, and I certainly don’t want to be rude.
Yeah, I’d tell him that you can’t allow your alumni list to be used for advertising. However, it really depends on the policies of your program — most alumni offices have guidelines about how they will and won’t supply people’s contact information, and to who. So ideally you’d already have some rules in place to cover this. If you don’t, though, I don’t see any reason why you can’t decline, perhaps also explaining that these people haven’t given permission to have their information shared.
3. Should I have told my interviewer about another job I’d prefer?
What is your opinion on telling potential employers about other job offers or that I’m waiting to hear from offers during an interview? I ran into this problem on an interview that was my second choice, with an interviewer who wanted to hire me on the spot. But I told her that I had another opportunity in the works that I felt was a better fit, I just didn’t have the final word. It turned into an awkward situation and now I wonder if either one of them will hire me. Would you have done something different? How do you think I should handle this?
Yeah, that was a misstep. You basically told her that you’re not especially interested in the job and would only take it if something better doesn’t come along. That may well be true, but it’s close to impossible for her to feel good about hiring you when you’ve told her you don’t think it’s a great fit (which is how “the other job is a better fit” will often come across). Generally, it’s better to stall if you get an offer while you’re still waiting to hear about another (see here), rather than essentially say “I’m hoping for something else.”
4. Is it a red flag if a company doesn’t have any online presence?
I am in the process of searching for a new job. I found a posting on a job board run by my state. It seems like a really cool position doing graphic design with a small company that makes displays for trade shows and other events. It’s something that I would enjoy doing and would give me great experience, but I’m having a hard time finding information about the company. They have a website that is about half finished with very minimal info. They don’t have a Facebook page, Linkedin page, Twitter, nothing. I always like to do my research on any company I apply to just to be sure that it’s somewhere I really want to be and so I can things to my cover letter about work they do, etc. I’m pretty positive it’s a legit business, but I guess they’re just really bad at marketing themselves. Should I be wary of applying for a position with a company that I can’t find a lot of info on?
On a side note, would it be rude to mention in a cover letter that I would be more than glad to help them with their website, if offered the position?
If they’re a small company, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. A lot of smaller companies don’t have much presence online; believe it or not, not every business requires it! (And even those that have websites often don’t have Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook pages — that part definitely isn’t weird.) If you’re worried about whether they’re legit, tell them during your interview that you had trouble finding much about them online and ask them to tell you a bit about their history and keep your eyes open for red flags — but the lack of online presence alone isn’t troubling.
I wouldn’t mention that you’d be glad to help with their website in your cover letter if it’s not a part of the job — this seems like a company that doesn’t much care about the Internet, and while it’s possible that they’d love the help, it’s at least as likely that they’d take that as a sign that you’d be focused on things they don’t see as priorities.
5. Are clients being insensitive after my coworker’s death?
I work in client services for a tech company. Our organization is structured so that each client has a dedicated account manager and dedicated project manager. Last week, the account manager who I worked with on two of my clients unexpectedly passed away. It’s a big loss both personally and professionally.
The reason I’m writing though is that I’m perplexed about how some of my clients are handling the situation. I know it’s business and business doesn’t just stop when someone dies. However, the way some of my clients are acting isn’t sitting well with me. One particular client is coming to town for the funeral and wants to have a business meeting discussing the transition plan right after the service. It hasn’t even been a week since my coworker’s death! And the day after my coworker passed, a different client wrote me an email asking for updates on a project and closed it with “P.S. Sorry about John.” And another client called to express condolences, but then was all “so about that TPS report.” I kind of expected they’d give me and my company a little space to deal with the loss of our coworker and friend. Am I being too sensitive or are these clients being insensitive?
A little of both, probably. The reality is that business does go on, at least outside your firm — and that’s what you’re seeing. These people need to continue to conduct their business, and they’re dependent on your firm for some of it. You can certainly push back on the guy who wants to have a transition meeting right after the funeral, but you’re going to need to have that meeting fairly soon — they do, after all, need to move forward with their work. The other stuff, though — well, that doesn’t seem terribly offensive to me. These people just aren’t as close to the situation as you are, and people don’t always realize that the death of a coworker can be quite different than the death of another type of business contact who you see less often. I’m sorry about your coworker, by the way.
6. If I spot a mistake on a time card, who do I talk to?
If I am in charge of time cards in payroll and I see a mistake that wasn’t there before, am I supposed to ignore it, take to the manager, or go to the employer for correction?
This is exactly the sort of question you’re supposed to ask your manager. This kind of thing varies widely by office. You need to find out how your manager wants you fielding this sort of thing — so ask.
7. Fired and charged for burglary
Our 19-year-old son was working in a grocery store. He, along with the night manager and other crew, were ringing each other up for $1.00 and eating a piece or two of day-old chicken and Jo Jo’s on their break. A security company came in to do questioning and began with my son. They made it a huge deal for three hours, forced a confession, and actually arrested him for felony burglary. The others kept their mouths shut, didn’t confess, and still have their jobs. The security company told our son he would be called by the store the next day and fired.
No one called, no one sent a letter. We finally contacted an attorney, who worked his way to the headquarter’s HR manager who stated that the security team was overzealous and they were dropping the charges for a fine. And the town prosecutor is dropping the charges. The whole thing is ridiculous and has cost us >$1,000.
Now our son is looking for a new job. Was he fired? What should he put on future applications? Should he send them a letter of resignation?
Yes, he was fired. The charges being dropped doesn’t change the fact that your son was fired; those are two different things, and so it wouldn’t make sense to send a resignation letter.
Ideally, he’d just leave this job off of future applications. There’s no reason to call attention to a situation that’s likely to hurt his chances.