Q. My manager has given me excellent reviews and has been trying for a couple of years to promote me. But he says that the department head won’t approve it. In the meantime, far less qualified people are being recommended for promotions by their managers to this same department head–and they get them. Why not me?
A. Are you sure your manager really is trying to promote you? I smell something rotten here, and it’s that some very shortsighted managers don’t want to “lose” outstanding performers. You might want to think about other options.
Q. When filling out job applications, I’m always asked where I went to college and what degree I received when. While supposedly they ask for verification reasons, they obviously also intend to screen for age. I’m 59 years old, look 50 and do a slow burn when I have to put down the year I got my bachelor’s degree. I did get an MBA in 1973, which makes me look a bit younger. But how can I avoid answering age-related questions without telegraphing the fact that age is an issue?
A. Age is not the issue. Discrimination is. Don’t help them in their illegal requests. Leave the offensive questions blank. They can check them out after the job offer is made.
Q. A museum is going to open that is devoted to a subject I am passionate about and have been involved in for more than 15 years. I would like to work for it in an administrative capacity. While my business credentials are solid, I don’t have any experience working for a cultural institution. How can I approach the museum for employment?
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A. With a great deal of confidence. You don’t need museum experience: Your knowledge of the subject, your enthusiasm about it, and your business background are exactly what a non-profit institution needs.
Q. I recently quit a job I had held for only six months. I agreed to stay for an additional three weeks until they could fill the position. Now they want me to stay at least two weeks more. I quit because I have never been so unhappy anywhere in my life. Yet I’m a responsible professional and don’t want to leave them in the lurch. Still, I feel trapped. How can I get out of there?
A. You’ve done your professional duty by staying three extra weeks. That’s plenty. Just say it’s time to leave. And go.
Q One of my colleagues brings her 3-month-old child to meetings, office parties and retirement dinners. Another colleague brings his little boy to staff meetings, and the child sometimes is disruptive. What do you think of this?
A. As someone who often brought three very young children to assignments, meetings, office parties and retirement dinners, I’m all for it. Of course, children sometimes are disruptive–mine, of course, were the exceptions–but it’s still better for the adult to be able to be present than to miss these events. Maybe you could make it your personal responsibility to make sure the children are entertained by providing crayons and coloring books.
Q. I worked for a company for less than a year and brought in a lot of new accounts. But I lost my job and now I can’t get another one in my geographical area because of the non-compete clause I had to sign. I feel I have a right to earn a living. Do you?
A. Yes, I do. I dislike non-compete clauses except for the parts that protect the company’s client lists. You need to talk to an employment lawyer in your state to make sure this clause actually can be enforced.
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Carol Kleiman’s columns also appear in Sunday and Tuesday’s Business sections. Hear her on WBBM-AM (780) at 6:21 p.m. and 10:22 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays and 11:20 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Send e-mail to [email protected].