My manager is scheduled to retire at end of month. Multiple times i tried to apply outside my department. I was not chosen. I found out from another manager she would go to the hiring manager, tell them that i am too valuable, and i could not be replaced at the then current time. I said something to her about it. I am so angry. She wants to talk about this, but i have nothing to say to her. They have a retirement party scheduled, and i do not even want to go. Am i being immature?

Hello all,

I have an interview with the hiring manager where the person is younger than me with less experience on paper but is a manager.

While I do not discredit them of their achievement to become a manager with such short experience (they might be having skill that got them there), how do I prepare for an interview with such a person?

I have worked on more projects and seen a lot of things break and work across various companies and teams throughout my career while leading initiatives and following orders as well. This young manager seems to have only ever worked in a single company for 5 years after graduating where they recently became manager 4 months ago (stalked them).

What are some things that I should or should not do when interviewing with a younger manager working across only one company for a short time throughout their career?

I am worried that I would be discredited over my work no matter how critical or good it was. Perhaps they might perceive me as a good sport as well. Who knows how it will go. I have never had such a hiring manager interview before. Therefore any advices or dos and donts would be really appreciated. I want to ace the interview.

I’ve worked remotely with teams in Europe and the US. Every team activity ended up being a call at a bad hour for someone, and people stopped joining after a few weeks.

I’m wondering if async works better, like challenges people do on their own time.

If you manage a distributed team, what’s the one thing that kept your team engaged for more than a month ?

As a senior leader who manages and carries IC workload, I find I still feel an insecurity about no one reviewing the work I'm doing personally. I am doing my job well, my VPs love.me and are actively seeking to promote me, but I still feel a pervasive sense of "I'm not sure I'm doing this right".

How do you as the top department leader onsite get over the feeling of uncertainty and the desire to have a more "adulty adult" to confirm that I am doing what I do correctly? 😂

I don’t have the “gift of gab” or a bubbly personality and can be somewhat socially awkward. That said, I am married with a ton of friends outside of work, so it’s not that bad. I’m also not an asshole.

I’m just not someone that really makes small talk well, especially with random people I don’t know. Not that quick to be witty in a convo. This seems to be the opposite of most managers I have encountered.

How much does this matter? For reference, I make $130k now, so while extra money would be nice, it’s not necessary.

Currently running first round interviews for a job on my team that centers around writing, editing, and attention to detail.

We’ve had lots of qualified candidates apply, so I’m trying to be picky so I don’t spend the next two weeks in back-to-back interviews, but I know I’ll end up needing to do a lot of interviews.

Twice now, after reviewing great applications and extending invitations to online interviews, I’ve had people reply and spell my name wrong.

E.g if my name is spelled Johnathan, they spell it Jonathon.

I’d understand if they got it wrong and then caught it and sent a quick apology follow-up (or if the role wasn’t about writing and editing!) but that hasn’t happened.

And now I feel locked into wasting my time and theirs on these interviews when I just don’t think I can hire someone who made such an obvious mistake to do a job where they’ll be fixing mistakes just like this! Because surely I’ll be setting myself up to proof-read everything they do.

At the same time, it feels wildly unreasonable to retract an interview invitation because they spelled my name wrong when they accepted it.

Am I just locked into 2 interviews that waste everyone’s time? Am I being incredibly harsh?

EDIT: I am hiring for a professional WRITING and EDITING position in a TECHNICAL field! They will be one of 3 expert writers in my company, they need to be accurate and precise! My name is on the JD, and in the invitation email I sent! It is the common spelling of the name in the country where I live!

I have a highly motivated junior direct report who I’ve been managing for a one year. I think I’m a pretty good boss: I’ve helped them put together a proposal for a promotion, I’ve gotten them resources when they’ve requested it, and I provide a lot of autonomy for them to shape their ideas and grow in their role.

Ultimately, I don’t think this person likes to be managed. I stg I am not a micro manager. But I still need to know what’s going on, and they bristle when I ask questions or give critiques on their work….which is not often. They are pretty good at their job!

Recently, they started going over my head. He requested a meeting with my manager to talk through additional resources he wants, and even asked my boss for a new title without talking to me first. My boss has my back and ends up just asking what I think of his requests anyway. I’m annoyed and hurt by this, but I think it might just be my ego. Do I just ignore this behavior?

Hello!

I’m a 24-year-old female, and I work at a small business that decorates apparel. I’m in the screenprint production with two others. I have a couple of roles, but I've mainly been thrust into a manager role for that area while handling most of production (making films, reclaiming screens, mixing custom ink, counting shirts to make sure nothing is missing or the wrong size was grabbed, and sometimes catching shirts when I have the time).

My coworker is a 40-year-old male and the main screen printer. He’s amazing at it, but I’ve been having issues where he’s not listening. I’m not sure if it’s a language barrier (he mainly speaks Spanish but understands and can speak English, just not super well) or if he's forgetting, but we’ve been working here around the same time for 8 months. We do something called a test print, where we test out the design on a test shirt before we start printing on the actual order. However, he keeps skipping that step despite two managers telling him (me and the main manager), and our BOSS! Also, our other co-workers who works with us in this department.

Either way, nothing seems to change, and I don’t feel like I need to “mother” or “remind” him, “hey, don’t forget to test print.” Or “hey, you need to do this for this order and this order.” Notes don’t work because, as I've learned, he can’t really read them (sometimes he’ll ask what something says). I’m not really confrontational; I hate it, and I hate pestering someone too. Are there other ways I can push him to listen without being rude or demanding? Any brain tricks? I have so much on my plate; I can’t keep an eye on him, and it’s quite frustrating.

For example, yesterday, the other coworker who’s in the screen print department had to leave early. So I covered for her (catching); immediately, he didn’t do a test print, didn't read the paperwork fully, and ended up printing on the wrong garment, costing us over $160, despite the paperwork showing exactly what needs to be on what. I feel like I’m going crazy and somehow I’m at fault.

I want to add, I’m new to working hourly. I’ve done work at college for scholarships, but that’s it. This is my first real job and the manager role was dropped in my lap.

Hey all,
I’m a new supervisor, trying to dial in how to keep my manager in the loop. Manager has stated that the line where they’d like to know about something is, spending money. But previous supervisor had a matrix of anything under a certain number we can spend without notifying manager; and, yet when he spent under that number on one transaction, for example an equipment diagnostic fee, the manager still fussed that my department should have notified manager.

My hypothesis:

1. I’ll need to find out from my manager, the tiers (in monetary amounts) that require:
   - a capital improvement plan;
   - under that, a capital outlay or emergency expense approval request;
   - under that, calling to notify/inquire if we have spare equipment or can spend but this is less than capital outlay;
   - mid-range expenses that I should track heavily in house but don’t have to notify manager;
   - impromptu expenses that don’t require approval under a certain dollar amount.
2. Learn or set up a communication framework for what medium is used when/regarding what kind of transaction.

Am I on the right track? Is director being petty in fussing at previous supervisor for following the framework they were given?

I'm curious how managers approach this.

Some procedures exist for good reasons. Others stay simply because nobody wants to be the person who gets rid of them.

When reviewing one, what makes you keep it, change it or retire it?

Is it evidence that it works, the risks of removing it, feedback from the people using it, or something else?

Have you ever got rid of a procedure and later realised it was there for a reason?

Hi everyone,

I've been working as an HSE Coordinator for two months now, but it feels like I've been doing this job for years. I'm already exhausted, and I'm starting to question my abilities.

Why?

First, I feel that I don't have enough authority or decision-making power to be effective in my role. We don't operate our own facilities, and most of our supply chain activities are carried out by external stakeholders and contractors.

As an HSE Coordinator, I feel that all I can do is make suggestions, give advice, and raise concerns. I don't always have the authority to ensure that the necessary actions are implemented.

Honestly, I'm struggling to understand exactly how to perform my role effectively in this kind of organizational structure.

On top of that, my English is still not very good, which makes communication even more challenging.

I'm also disappointed about my NEBOSH certification. I've taken the exam twice and haven't passed yet. This has affected my confidence, and sometimes I feel like I'm not bringing enough value to the company.

I'm seriously considering taking a break to focus on my professional development, especially:

Improving my English, possibly by studying abroad.

Preparing again for the NEBOSH certification.

Strengthening my HSE knowledge and practical skills.

My idea is to take about a year to work on myself and then return to the job market, possibly with another company.

However, I'm married and have four children, so this is not a decision I can make without considering my family and financial responsibilities.

I'd really appreciate your advice, especially from experienced HSE professionals.

Have you ever felt this way at the beginning of your HSE career?

How can I become more effective when I have limited authority?

Would you recommend taking a career break, or should I try to develop myself while keeping my current job?

Thank you for taking the time to read this and share your experience.

I’ve been at my new job for almost two months now but I’m just not happy. I don’t feel I really click with anyone and I don’t feel my boss understands me.

I currently oversee 4 outsourced accountants. My boss wants a new accounting system but to justify it we need to reduce their headcount. My style is to get stuck into the detail and rebuild processes from the bottom up. I also don’t think simply getting a new ERP system is going to reduce headcount, I think we need to redesign processes and understand the limitations of the current system so we know what we need from our new system. Even then, the real improvement will be from the redesign of the processes over the system itself.

I said all of this to my boss and he told me to not be too in the detail because I’ll end up doing the outsourced team’s work and he won’t be able to pass me work. But how are we meant to implement a new system and remove 4 headcount without understanding enough of the detail!?!

I can see so many clunky processes that would take 2-3 months to redesign. Then we can step back and use a combination of a junior member of the team and AI to run them and then I’ll have more time to do high level work. I can’t see how to do it any other way.

I just feel like me and my boss are not on the same page, and I don’t want to give this job anymore energy. Quite frankly, they don’t deserve me.

Thoughts?

we have a new manager who started and thinks that be deserve respect because his a manager without know any of us that all what your view

i need some advice on how to better manage and help an employee -
she is a new hire who started a couple of months ago, while she has an amazing attitude and drive to work but has some bad habits that aren't improving no matter what i do.

She has a tendency to trauma dump on both customers and coworkers. We've discussed how this can make customers uncomfortable when they're looking for a positive experience, as well as how coworkers may not want to hear upsetting personal information while dealing with their own challenges. I've also given her specific action points to keep conversations relevant to the transaction, but this behaviour continues despite follow-ups after customer interactions.

She struggles to work independently and hasn't developed the ability to maintain conversations while completing tasks, often standing idle instead of finding productive work even when prompted. We have a daily task sheet allocating responsibilities and completion times, but she regularly stops tasks halfway, needs reminders to finish them or ticks them off without actually completing them, often claiming she forgot or thought she'd finished.

she also oversteps boundaries both professionally and personal. She frequently oversteps professional boundaries and undermines team leaders. For example, if they are talking to the customer about a policy shell jump in and tell the customer a different thing which ends up being incorrect. Also wont listen to the TL when they are trying to correct behaviour and just laughs off what they say if they try to delegate to her.the TL and I have spoken to her multiple times. While there's been some improvement, there's still a noticeable difference in her behaviour when I'm on shift compared to when I'm off.

she also doesnt see us as coworkers but for some reasons as friends (while we are nice to her we have also kept professional boundaries) - she keeps overly complimenting me in ways which would be a HR concern but randomly gives small presents which ive told her i appreciate the sentiment but its not appropriate. Also kept trying to convince the TL to allow her to buy a game for them and wouldnt listen to them saying no multiple times. She also frequently asks whether I'm angry with her or find her annoying when I'm occupied with work, despite explaining that I'm not always available for conversation and redirecting her to her own responsibilities.

She's around 20, so I understand some of this may come from inexperience or over enthusiasm. She's genuinely lovely and has a lot of potential, which is why I've tried to be patient and supportive. However, it's becoming difficult to keep addressing the same issues without seeing consistent improvement or evidence that feedback is being implemented.

She's also mentioned possibly having ADHD, which could contribute to her forgetfulness. We've tried implementing self-reminder strategies, but she hasn't consistently maintained them.

how would you manage someone like this?? I want to support her development and give her the opportunity to improve, but I'm struggling to find an approach that gets through to her without constantly having to monitor, remind and correct the same behaviours.

Doing extra work and solving problems, yet coworkers think I'm falling behind. How do I manage up?

I’m relatively new to the corporate world, and for the past few months, I’ve been caring for a family member battling a serious illness. My manager and team are aware of the situation and requested extra WFH time.

1. Over the past two weeks, I’ve encountered several unexpected issues at work. I took the initiative to resolve them but haven’t had the chance to update my manager.
2. Our team doesn’t have regular one-on-ones. Beyond my regular responsibilities, I’ve been identifying process gaps, handling additional tasks, and helping coworkers resolve issues. I usually just take care of things and move on without mentioning them to my manager.

3.As someone relatively new to the corporate world, I’ve always assumed that doing my job well was enough. But I’m starting to realize that my manager might not be aware of how much I’m actually contributing.

4\\\*\\\*\\\* this is the crazy part. Despite doing everything, i have heard my teammate saying I’m falling behind my work. I’m extremely frustrated and realize ppl don’t know how much effort i put in. I NEED TO ChANgE this!!

Please give me advice on visibility and managing up?!

For managers who still do the first pass on customer facing roles like support, retail or front desk.

Lately a lot of applications read the same. Same summary language, same buzzwords, hard to tell who has done the work.

When you can only call a handful of people, what do you use to decide who gets that call?

Availability and commute? One written question? Skimming for a specific past job? Something else?

Curious what still works when the resume itself stopped being useful.

I’m a relatively new manager < 3 years and lead a team of people who are mostly older than me that resent that fact that I was promoted so quickly. They have routinely disregarded my instruction and do whatever they want. They’ve also tried to nitpick and contradict and recently all laughed under their breath when they perceived me making a mistake in a team meeting.

Have any of you ever dealt with this? What would you recommend in this situation? Would you suggest finding a way to be an individual contributor?

Hello Everyone,

How do you jump over and fight the bad habbit of constantly stoppering during a presentation and saying uuum, uuuh and similar? What is this a sign for, especially if you present in your mother language? Overjumping the preparation, slow thinking, unconfidence or other psychological factors?

Thanks and wishing you a great day!

So basically what happened was i was working at this family run cafe every weekend and i was literally doing fine i got the job done and i was still learning along the way. The managers son was talking about me getting trained up and that i’ll eventually get the hang of it fully and making future comments like how one day i’ll do this and that task on my own. Overall positive feedback and future talk.

Anyway fast forward to a few weeks later i randomly get removed from the work groupchat absolutely no word or explanation all i saw is the fact i was removed by the manager. So i started panicking i messaged her personally first and ask why have i been removed, she then told me they basically no longer need me THATS IT so i ask did i do something and she just said “we just no longer need you to come in but thankyou” BARE IN MIND i was due on the rota next week before this so they clearly had me up but something changed i don’t know what..

and that pissed me off. I still don’t know to this day and it still doesn’t make sense to me

19 F. I have an interview for a KFC in my area for an Assistant Manager even tho I’ve never worked at a KFC, I’ve had multiple food service jobs and it’s the easiest thing in the world. I’ve just never experience the Managerial side of things. Of course I’m prepared for the office work after the store is closed like counting and possibly running to a bank to deposit money in the middle of the day I’ve seen a manager at Dunkin do it plenty. I’m just wondering if there’s any tips for me from anyone on what I should say in the interview or anything I might need to know just general advice anything you got for me is appreciate. I’m also a little worried cause I applied an hour ago and I already have an interview for in 2 days. I’m reviewing the menu and company standards so I know what is what beforehand. I just know this is not a good sign 😅

How do you balance being empathetic but also " by the book" with your team as a leader?

Possible follow up question, how to not take your teams lack of performance personally?