Career Coach Office Hours: July 19 2022 | JobSearchTV.com
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
I answered questions about #jobsearch #hiringstaff #management #leadership #workplace issues. Join me at 1 PM Eastern on Tuesdays and Fridays. You can also message me on Linkedin before the show and I will answer it, too. #careercoachofficehours #careercoaching #careercoach #jobsearchtips #jobsearchadvice #interviews #hiring #managingpeople #leadershipskills #linkedinlive #linkedinlivestreams
Employer Complaints About Younger Millennials and Gen-Z
I accepted an offer letter, I’m going to join them in 15 days. Meanwhile, two days ago I was I got a mid year increment in my current organization, which was pending for a few months. Shall I now ask, the new organization to revise my letter based upon the mid year increment I received in my current organization? What exactly should I say to them? And I think you should try. But before you do, you have to decide whether or not if they don’t do anything, you’re okay with it? Are you going to walk away from the offer if they don’t change the number? They don’t change what they offer you. Don’t tell them what you would do. But just ask them,I’ didn’t expect this. But my organization gave me a raise. And I’m now making pretty much the same amount that you’re offering. So I was wondering if you could revisit the offer and increase it.’ ‘What do you mean, increase it.’ I’m not really getting anything more now. I really want to join. If you do increase it, I’ll definitely join but I just want to say, I’d really appreciate if you revisited the offer and increased it.’ Going into this there is a very small risk that they might rescind their offer because they go crazy. That’s the only way I can put it– go crazy. They could go crazy, I should say. But I don’t think that’ll happen. I think what will happen instead is they’ll come back with some nominal increase to demonstrate that their good faith in you. They may ask you for a copy of the offer letter because they want to know that you’re not trying to con them. So, again, looking for something to demonstrate what the new offer is. And, again, you have to decide that if they don’t increase it, What are you going to do? And do that before you make the ask of them so that, you know what you want to do going into the meeting, and you’re not being reactive. Okay? Good luck.
You’re boss communicates with you as if you’re in a leadership position, but you feel like you have no authority? Do you need to ask him to clarify your role to you and your team? So I would simply say, meet with she or he privately and say, ‘You know, it’s interesting. I get the idea that you speak to me as though I’m in leadership for this group and, as you know, I have no title, no authority. But you talk to me in a certain way that you give me the idea that you see me as a leader. Am I misreading this or am I seeing it correctly? Now they’re gonna hesitate for a minute to think about it. And they may ask you ‘What gives you that idea?’ ‘Because you talking to me in a particular way in front of other people, and gives them the idea, me the idea, that you have expectations of me to lead. So I just want to make sure that I’m reading it correctly. If I’m not, I have no issue whatsoever, but I just want to make sure.’ So watch them backpedal, and then watch their behavior in the future. Let’s see if you made them nervous. But you have to clarify that because you could be misreading it. And thus, you don’t want to be in a situation where you’re acting inappropriately.
Any tips for organizing a job search, while working a busy full time job, looking at night and trying to juggle interview requests and calls during the day? This is the hard thing, Donna. No question about it. One of the things that people need to do is to realize they have to make time every day for this. So during the day, I encourage people, always return calls before lunch, or before you leave at the back end of the day. Just check voicemail for messages because you are walking around with the mobile, right. So call them. And if they’re sending you an email, to schedule, try not to do it on a phone that connects through your employer’s server. Instead, do it in a way that allows you to, to log in on your wireless rather than on their Wi Fi. Now, organizing it. You want to have something that tracks where you’ve sent a resume to. You want to have a calendar app on your phone that’s not linked to your desktop in some way. So that you’re not in a situation where they discover you’re looking for work because you’ve been logging on through their server and connecting with people. But you can use a spreadsheet. You can track things in anything that you’re comfortable with. That’s really the most important thing. Tracking something that you’re comfortable with. I normally will tell people, Google Doc is fine. You can log into your docs account without really raising much of an issue. It doesn’t reside on their server, it’s cloud based. Have things that reside in the cloud. It will serve you better. So in terms of nighttime stuff, minimally put in an hour, every night, Monday through Friday, or let’s say, a Sunday through Thursday, but always respond to things on Friday, before lunch and before you leave at the end of the day. I’m assuming you’re back in the office. If I’m wrong, please correct me. But anything that you’re comfortable with using to track all your data is good. Again, Google Docs may be the easiest one. Again, you can have Doc’s on your phone, your iPad. You have access to it on on the web. And you know if you can organize all your information there. And if there’s something else that you’re looking for, tell me what you’re doing or what you’re thinking of doing. I think Google Docs might be an easiest way to do it. Hope that helps you. Okay, we now go to the next one, which is,
What does it mean, when they interviewer (they are not your interviewer) the interviewer doesn’t respond? It bothers me when people refer to an interviewer as though they report to you. They don’t. I don’t care if it’s a third party recruiter; makes no difference. They work for a company; they are not your friends, although they may act friendly. They work for a firm that’s trying to see whether or not you’ll come to work for them. Now, when they don’t respond, that means a couple of different things. Number one is, of course, they may be ghosting you. They’ll never respond. They don’t want to tell you they that you’ve been rejected because they don’t want to be in the position of listening to you argue with them. So sometimes they just ghost for that reason. It may also mean that they don’t have any feedback. So you did the interview; we don’t know how long ago it’s been, and you wind up in a situation where ‘Hi! Got any news for me yet? ‘No, not yet.’ it’s a day later. ‘Hi, do you got any news for me yet?’ Imagine everyone who’s pending with them doing that. It makes them nuts. So what does it mean? They don’t have information is the most likely thing. Or it can also mean that they’re going to ghost you. And you’ll figure out by their non-response that they’re not interested. So those are the two likely interpretations.
My manager quit his position eight months ago. I got promoted to his level manager. Two weeks ago, he paid us a visit to see how things were going. He said, ‘I’m a phone call away if you need help,’ and looks like he wants to come back. This is the guy who was my boss eight months ago. Should I hire him or is it a bad idea? Bad idea. Bad idea. Because people in the organization are going to get used to going to him like they used to. Through no fault of his or hers, they may get into the habit of talking behind your back, being critical of you and feeling like there’s a place where they can be critical without repercussions. So the long and the short of it is, bad idea. I don’t think it serves you to do that unless there is some knowledge or skill that they have that is unique to them that makes them worthwhile in hiring. Otherwise, I would stay clear of bringing them back. It doesn’t serve you.
I see many errors in the project I’m not responsible for. How do I politely give comments or suggestions to their team leaders? So when I’m reading this is, you’re noticing someone else’s work has mistakes? And how do you make suggestions? The simplest way is to speak with them directly and to say something to the effect of ‘I’ve been noticing in so and so’s work. , they’ve been a couple of mistakes. Have you picked up on that or was that just me?’ ‘Really what have you noticed?’ And you tell them about what you’ve noticed. And you know, just suggest that they take a look at the work in a little bit more detail. Because it can become embarrassing for them if it’s discovered later on that there’s some problems with the work. So, just very politely point this out and work from there.
How do you deal with an employee who sabotages other people’s work? Are you sure that they’re the one responsible? Yes. Okay. How do you know they’re responsible? You listen. Then you go, ‘thank you. I’ll take care of this.’ And then you circle back and meet with the individual. If they’re working remote, you have the ability to say, ‘I want to speak with you. Let’s go on to zoom. Do you have five minutes? Can you break away for five minutes.’ Yeah, good. And then you set up the Zoom, and you message them and say, ‘I haven’t looked at this directly. But someone has come to me and told me that you’re sabotaging other people’s hard work?’ ‘Who told you that?’ ‘You know, I’m not going to tell you. So let’s just move past that. Is it true?’ ‘No.’ ‘Well, I’m going to look into it now and see if it is true. If it is, I’m going to circle back to you.’ Now you can also look for proof that this person has been sabotaging other people’s work before you do this call. Whether you do it, telling them that you’re going to look into it, or doing the look in first before you make the call, you just very simply keep your cool. You speak in a soft tone, and thus say to them, ‘Look, I’m going to look into this. And if there’s a problem, I’m coming back to you. And we’re going to have a detailed conversation about this.’ ”But But But But’ ‘I just want to be clear, we’re gonna go into a lot more detail. So have you done it?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Thank you. So what was it about? Why did you want to sabotage someone else’s work?’ And you engage in the conversation with them. And in doing so, the goal is to get them to talk. Without them talking, you’re talking to yourself, really. And that gets tiring and frustrating pretty quickly. So either you talk to them directly first. Or you set up a call. Tell them you haven’t looked at this, but is it true? Yeah, . and work from there.
Two of my subordinates want to quit at the same time. How can I tell them they can’t do this and they have to wait until I hire and train at least one replacement? You are joking, right? Like why are they supposed to do this? ‘I’m gonna damage their references.’ Really? Really, you’re gonna do that? You’re gonna hurt their career because they found a better job than the one your firm and you are offering. There’s nothing that you can do. After work and interviewing people so that in this way, you’re not going to be caught short. Get on the phone with HR, and just simply say, ‘So and so is leaving. And so and so is leaving, I need to get people on board fast. Who can you get onto my calendar and how soon? I want to see people with such and such background? Who can younget onto my calendar and how soon?’ You can’t make them stay. They can’t leave, like they’re prisoners. Are they allowed to go home and see their kids? Or, you know, it’s so odd. But no, you can’t make them stay. You can ask them to defer their start. But what’s in it for them to do that? You’re not paying them as much as what they’re gonna get from the new firm. Why should they do that? So that’s the approach I would take. Your nuts if you think they’re going to turn around and stay because you’ve asked them to.
What are some reasons why companies ask repeat questions during interviews? The simplest reason is because they want to see if you give the same answer, why wouldn’t I give the same answer? Well, sometimes people puzzle through problems and come up with one answer. And then they come up with a different one with a different, slightly different question. So I’ll just simply say, they’re looking for consistency from you. They’re looking to see if you give us the same or a similar answer when answering this question.
9 Ways People Sabotage Themselves on Interviews
Why did the interviewer look down at her phone during my answer to a question? Well, you may have noticed earlier on a call was coming in. And I turned off the ringer because I forgot to do it before going going live. So they may have forgotten to turn off their ringer. And thus, they looked at their phone to see if there might be someone urgent, in which case they deal with it or they could push it aside. Thus, they’re looking at their phone to answer a potential question that they have or to see how you answer a question. But that’s the primary reason– they got distracted and were worrying.
If you are on a do not hire list, will you be called for interviews? Usually, the answer is no. You won’t be called by someone from that firm for an interview, because you’re on a do not hire list. You did something in the past that is sufficiently offensive, that they don’t want to talk with you. So the long and the short of it is, will you be called for interviews? Probably not? Probably not. There is always a possibility, but the reality is you probably won’t be interviewed any further for positions at this company.
I had a final interview. Is the hiring manager the one who makes the job offer or the recruiter? Usually it’s the recruiter because the hiring managers can go off and do something else. The recruiters make less money and thus you go to the person who’s competent with the least cost associated with it. So in terms of who would probably make the offer, it would probably be the corporate recruiter. That’s just the way it is.
Is it good to be the last person interviewed? Yes. And it’s good to be the first person interviewed. And it can also be good if you’re the one in the middle of the process being interviewed. So where you stand is not particularly important. So, understand that from their standpoint, they want to hire someone who’s competent. From your standpoint, you want a guarantee. You want to be an immortal lock that you’re qualified. And there is no guarantee here. So what you want to be doing is getting on their calendar as soon as you can, because the first person in the door can set the benchmark for everyone else. If you don’t present as well as them, well, being the first one in had its benefits, right? But there’s this myth that if you’re the last person in, you’re in a better position than if you’re the first person. There’s no guarantees here. So the long the short of it is you’re polite, you’re courteous, you show you’re quite capable, and you move on.
Are recruiters tracking who turns down job offers? Sometimes, sometimes they do that. Many times they don’t. They just handle the situation. And the result winds up being that, you know, yes, they may have a memory. It may also be put into their applicant tracking system. But they may have a record of having extended an offer to you and having it have turned down. They may actually keep the offer letter in LinkedIn, their database, in their CRM system, in their applicant tracking system in order to track their relationship with you. So are they tracking who turns down offers Sometimes? Sometimes? No, no simple answer.
How likely is a question about personal time management going to come up during a job interview? And the answer is not very often, very little. So don’t sweat it. And if it does come up, you don’t always have to be truthful, you can lie a little bit, right? So the long the short of it is, it tends not to be something that people ask about.
Why can’t jobseekers tell employers exactly what they want in a job and have employers create the job for them, even if it means taking several years to teach the employee skills that the job requires that the job seeker may not have yet? I’m sorry for laughing. But it reminds me of Dan Ackroyd on Saturday Night Live– Jane, you ignorant slut. Their job is not to create jobs because you’re interested in doing that particular type of work. They have work that needs to be done. And thus, they need someone who can do it. NO! Not take a couple of years to teach you and mentor you, coach you on how to be able to do this job. They want to hire someone that could do it NOW! So why don’t they do it? Money. It cost them money to do this and you’re not particularly productive. They want you to do something that you’re not capable of doing. So you’re not gonna get your way on this. This is a childish question. Yes, I’m being judgmental. But it’s a childish question.
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Job Search Advice for Students
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. His work involves career coaching, as well as executive job search coaching, job coaching, and interview coaching. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2400 episodes.
Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? People hire me to provide No BS career advice whether that is about a job search, hiring better, leadership, management or support with a workplace issue. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
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