It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. Here are four updates from past letter-writers.
1. Am I doing dog-friendly wrong?
Some of this got a little easier the longer I had been there. I bring him maybe once a week now, which is plenty. People seem to accept that I am just “uptight” about my dog and no longer push the boundaries. One thing that worked was giving him a little playtime where he could visit around for about 5-10 minutes a few times a day, which commenters suggested. People get their pets and cuddles and give him treats and then can get back to work. Usually I do this when I take him outside or heat up my lunch. I also successfully used the suggested scripts (“The gate is a must for me to feel comfortable bringing him.” and “He does so much better with the gate.”) I also started jokingly adding, “Don’t be fooled – he only ACTS like he doesn’t get any attention at home,” said winkingly and cheerfully to diffuse the tension if I do have to say no. Only once, with a particularly serial offender, did I have to say, “Please don’t let him out again without asking me first.” in a very measured, serious tone. It did work.
Over time, I noticed some of the other dogs would get into scrapes or have accidents because they weren’t monitored as closely and I think people realized that my dog was never involved in any of that because I keep him under my watchful eye! So some people naturally came to appreciate my approach. I am so glad I wrote because a few months ago a coworker started bringing an 8-week-old puppy every day and, as puppies do, he was constantly getting underfoot, nipping, and having negative interactions with other dogs, and it helped me to just be the established “stick-in-the-mud” so people knew not even to ask “Oh, can’t they play, wouldn’t it be cute, etc.” and let me introduce my dog to the puppy in my own time. My dog hasn’t had an issue, and it was rewarding to feel like it was because I set boundaries and stuck to them. I think folks also saw that what I was doing really was in my dog’s interest, as well, not just mine.
Thank you and the readers for the wonderful advice!
2. Employer had me take typing and spelling tests for a director-level position (#2 at the link)
I always really appreciate you and your readers; I was feeling like I was too close to the situation to really fairly evaluate whether the crazy tests they made me take were actually crazy. Your community was super thoughtful and gave me some possible context for the tests that I had not considered, and also confirmed my instincts. Sometimes it’s just nice to know that other people would have the same reaction you are having, you know?
As I mentioned in a comment on that post, I actually did go to the interview the next day. I went because I really wanted to ask, “So, what’s the logic behind vetting high-level candidates with these kinds of tests?” But I didn’t get a chance – the interview started 15 minutes late and wasn’t with a company employee, but with an outside consultant who was managing their marketing department (!). In the 45 minutes that I spent with this (admittedly very nice) person, I didn’t get a word in edgewise – she didn’t ask me a single question. When she realized we were out of time, she asked if I could stay longer and I said no.
Oddly, despite that, I was invited to the next round of interviews, and again, I went – I figured that it was worth seeing this process through to the end for several reasons: 1) I was truly very unhappy in my job at the time, so even just being invited to interviews helped boost my morale; 2) If this new place gave me an offer, I wanted to see what they thought I was worth; 3) It might lead to more amusing anecdotes. The next round was actually surprisingly normal, all things considered. There were a couple of interviewers that I connected well with, a couple that I didn’t, and I figured that if the offer came my way, I would evaluate it and go from there.
Luckily, the offer did not come. HR called me a few days later and told me that they’d decided to go with a candidate with more experience than I have – which I think was a really good idea for them. At the end of the day, I don’t think the company really knew what they were looking for. They seemed to want someone to come in and “fix marketing,” and I’m not the right candidate for that at this point in my career.
I continued to interview through December and January and in late January had a first interview with an amazing company for a role that would be a promotion. If I wasn’t a realist, I would call it my “dream job.” They told me that their process typically takes eight weeks, but I received an awesome offer at the beginning of February – just a week and a half after our first contact. I accepted and have been working here for nine months now, and I absolutely love it. It’s the happiest I have ever been professionally, and I hope to be able to stay here for many years to come.
3. I was fired and haven’t received my belongings back (#4 at the link)
I finally got everything back around March/April 2018, and have a new job I’m much happier with. I’m still in the same industry, but with supportive coworkers, a healthy environment I can grow in, mentors, supervisors who teach us (we’re a fairly young company, and the majority of my coworkers are all about the same age range as well) so they understand we may not have much experience in the workforce and explain what’s needed in various positions, and commuter benefits, which really helps, because the last position had none of these things.
I’ve also taken some of the advice from commenters and now I keep nothing that’s really important to me at my desk in the event I’m let go again. The only thing I keep at my desk now is a bottle of air freshener since the person in the cube next to me has hygiene issues and the smell from their cube drifts over to where I’m at.
4. I’m participating in a reverse job fair — where my job fair booth will advertise me (#5 at the link … and first update here)
Since then the reverse job fair has happened in my area two or three times a year to great success. I am still in touch with the organization that I attended the capstone course with (and have my adviser reading Ask a Manager) and actually got to be a MC/hostess/keynote speaker for them at one of their graduations!
I did a few contract positions since then and a few months ago the owner of a business I worked for in 2017 for 3 months called me out of the blue and offered me my former managers position. I had started a training manual while there and it was untouched in my absence. I am now the interim manager, finishing the manual, working with IT to get test pages in our system for new employees to train on and general restructuring work (the company was having issues with the former manager and morale). They are starting to look for my replacement as I was hired to do this a short period of time and then move into a marketing/sales position. I have asked the owner is long term plans as he is retiring within a year or two and he stated his plan was for me to run the company (I hope he was joking as this could be…overwhelming). No matter how long my tenure is there I am gaining a ton of experience and this will be my second time writing a training manual as I also did this at a previous contract position!
updates: everyone wants to play with my dog, the director-level typing tests, and more was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.
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