short answer Saturday: 7 short questions, 7 short ... - Ask a Manager

It?s short answer Saturday! Here we go?

1. Why do they ask for masters degrees if they really want PhDs?

I am a happily employed professional who went to graduate school for an degree in a field unrelated to my industry that I am personally passionate about. I graduated with my master?s degree several years ago and find that I really miss the university setting and engaging with others in this field. I would have gone on for my PhD, but I love my job and my schedule wouldn?t accommodate such a demanding program. The community college where I received my associate?s degree is hiring adjunct faculty in the field in which I received my master?s degree. The posting lists a master?s degree as a minimum requirement, but states that a PhD is preferred. I spoke with a faculty member with whom I have remained friends and he said that the department chair *only* hires people with PhDs, but encouraged me to apply since I was very well regarded while a student there (I even received the department?s Student of the Year award).

Why would a listing state that a master?s degree is required when only PhD candidates are actually considered? Wouldn?t it be more honest to just list the minimum requirement as a PhD? Being an optimist, I do plan on applying nonetheless. Do you have any suggestions on how I can attempt to compensate for my lack of educational pedigree?

Could be that they have an HR department that controls the wording of the job posting, and the HR people are insistent on listing the master?s degree, even though in practice the person doing the actual hiring won?t consider them? That would be my guess.

2. My office?s landlord is rude and sexist

The landlord of the the building where the nonprofit I work for is housed is incredibly chauvinistic, sexist and?rude. He uses a rather derogatory?mnemonic?device of a popular weight loss guru to remember my name and calls me it to my face, in front of?my co-workers and my boss. I am the only woman in the office. I call him out on it but it doesn?t seem to do any good. I have the support of?one coworker, but I?ve never talked about it to my boss. ?We are a minuscule non-profit (<5 employees) and my boss and the landlord get?along great, I guess you could call them buddies, but they don?t hang out outside of work, as far as I know. I currently completely ignore the?landlord when he comes into the office, unless he addresses me in some way. ?So, how long should I continue to call him out on his rudeness?before I talk to my boss, and what can he do? ?And if the landlord kicks us out because my boss stands up to him for me as well, is that legal?

I?m no expert in real estate law, but I?m pretty sure that kicking your employer out once the lease is up would be legal ? but it?s unlikely to happen and, more importantly, it?s not your problem. So please talk to your boss and tell her that the landlord is making you uncomfortable and you?d like it to stop.

By the way, if the landlord?s behavior crossed over into harassment in the legal sense ? and it doesn?t sound like it does, but I?m saying this in case there are additional details we don?t know here ? your employer would need to act on that. Employers are required to prevent harassment of their employees from clients, vendors, landlords, etc. ? not just from other employees. (Caveat: ?In your case though, it would depend on what state you?re in. At the federal level, this protection only applies to employers with 15 or more employees, but many states have enacted similar laws that apply to smaller employers too.)

3. I messed up when a recruiter asked about salary expectations

I totally screwed up on a phone call with a recruiter today. I made your #1 mistake and was not prepared when the salary question came up. As it was an ?exploratory call,? I naively assumed we were only going to talk about my background and potential opportunities like I?d been told, so when the recruiter point-blank asked what I make now, I answered with instinctive honesty, mentally cursing the moment the number left my mouth, because I am underpaid by about $10K. Worse, when he next asked what I hope to make in the new role (that he?d just described to me), I threw out a number that was embarrassingly low. He almost laughed and immediately said there would be ?no problem? with that.

I knew instantly I had erred, and, having read plenty of your advice, am aware of what I could/should have said instead. However, what?s done is done, and I am now wondering if there anything I can say in further conversations to repair the damage. What do you think? Is there any way to say, ?Actually, when I told you $60K, I meant $80K?? Or have I irrevocably marked myself as a cheap hire with zero savvy?

You can try, but it?s out there and it?s unlikely to be reversed. People very rarely make a $20,000 mistake in the amount of money they want, so he?s going to know that you?d actually be fine with the first number. I?m sorry.

4. My boss expects way too much from me

I recently took up a position as a part-time Events Assistant. While I vastly underestimated the level of work my position entails (though I don?t feel as though that was fairly communicated to me during the interview process), I?m having trouble meeting the excess demands of the job. My job responsibilities are listed at 2 pages long and while I?ve received plenty of praise for working really hard, because I have such a short amount of time to do dozens of tasks in, I?m making slight mistakes every once in a while and I?m worried that my employer is questioning my know-how and skills.

I?ve communicated to her several times now that, while I?m trying my very best, the work can be overwhelming for only one person in such a short amount of time. Even my coworkers acknowledge my position as a 3-person job, despite the fact that I?m only part-time. I don?t know how to communicate with her in a more clear way that I can?t get done what I need to get done without complaining or de-valuing my skills as a hard-working employee.

Tell her what you can get done in the amount of time you have, and tell her what that means will not be getting done (and one of those things might be mistake-proof work). Also, if you get the sense she doesn?t understand how long things take, explain how long you?re spending on a few specific things. One of three things will happen:
1. She?ll tell you she wants it all done anyway (especially likely if someone else has done the work in the same number of hours previously), in which case you can either accept that or start planning to leave.
2. She?ll tell you that there corners that can be cut or tasks that aren?t as important as others, in which case you should believe her.
3. She?ll find someone else to help with the work, in which case, yay.

But you do need to lay the problem out for her and get clarity on her stance, so that you know how to proceed. (Also, has the work been successfully done by a part-time person previously? If not, point this out. If so, find out how they handled it.)

5. Job applicants who use two different spellings of their names

What do you think of a job applicant who puts one name on the online application and a similar but different name on their resume? For example, if they put ?Jinyi? on their application and ?Jennie? on their resume and in their cover letter even take the time and introduce themselves as ?Jennie? not ?Jinyi.?

If it?s not because one is their given name from a country other than the U.S. and the other is the Americanized version that they often go by, then I would conclude that they are a 13-year-old girl, as that?s the only group I know that tends to spell their name differently on different days.

6. Explaining unemployment to an employer

I am one of the many recent grads who hasn?t been able to get a solid job since leaving school. If questioned about this by a prospective employer, how can you frame this without sounding A) incompetent and undesirable or B) like you?re making excuses for yourself?

This is normal. Employers are well aware of what the job market has been like. Say something like, ?Despite graduating into a difficult market, I?ve been doing XYZ since leaving school.? (XYZ = something productive that makes you a stronger candidate.)

7. How can you effectively interview internal candidates?

I am interviewing two internal candidates for a new job that is fairly similar to the work they do now. The biggest change will be that creating reports would be the primary focus and the reports would be going directly to the leadership without my review first, so there is more autonomy. How do you construct questions for an interview for candidates where you are already familiar with their work?

Lots of ?tell me about a time when?? questions followed by probing follow-ups, questions that probe any areas of concern that you have about the work you?ve seen from them or their ability to do the new job, questions about what they see that could be done more effectively, and ? most importantly ? a simulation of the work they?d be doing in the new job. In this case, have them create a report like what they?d be doing in the new position. This should give you quite a bit of insight into how they?d perform.

Source: http://www.askamanager.org/2012/08/short-answer-saturday-7-short-questions-7-short-answers.html

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