I got this request from a reporter. I’m feeling nice, so I’m posting it. If you want to participate in her article, contact her directly. If you want to gripe anonymously, do so in the comments. I’m a reporter at the Los Angeles Times working on a story
Every time I write an article about reference checking I get a comment like this one: “This article is a waste. Nobody gives bad references – they are too afraid of being sued.” While it’s true that some people won’t give out references, many, many will.Allison & Taylor, a company
Dear Evil HR Lady, My mom is 50 years old and is on the verge of losing her second startup in 15 years. Both cases are due to her partners (different people) embezzling money and leaving the company in more debt than can be handled. She seems
Dear Evil HR Lady, I worked for what I thought was a pretty good guy. He actually hired me. I had the job I always wanted in the industry that I loved. I managed a staff of 5 very talented individuals. Then one day, the tables turned. He
I got an email from Jim Breese offering me and my readers a free copy of his ebook. I like free, so I thought I’d share it. Here’s the info: I know that you are in the business of making people more effective in their work, and I
A few months ago I wrote this piece, Forced to resign: What are your options? in which I pointed out that no one can force you to resign. Because if you don’t resign, what are they going to do? Fire you? For some reason this concept is exceedingly difficult
Dear Evil HR Lady, We have a part-time pastor at our church who is required to work 30 hours a week. He has signed a contract that states he only works 30 hour weeks. He is an “exempt” employee. He doesn’t tell the personnel people in our church
From James Robbins: Suzanne asked me to read through all of the entries for the Nine Minutes on Monday give-away contest. There were so many great quotes, and pieces of advice that it was really hard to pick one. The winning entry was from Christine. Here is what
If tens of thousands of people applied for one job, what are the odds that not a one would be qualified for the position? That’s not a theoretical question. Peter Cappelli, a management professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, recently noted such a case
Dear Evil HR Lady, I’m responsible for a regional project (Project A) for one of our clients. There is another coordinator in charge of another project (Project B) for the same client. We both started out having basically the same amount of work and scope of responsibilities but
