Comments on: Ask us a question

By: Keri Gentry

Keri Gentry — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:20:26 +0000

The question is: How do I reconcile moving, time lapses for caring for my children and job changes over various fields on a resume?
The situation: I have had many job changes over the course of my working life. My husband’s job has us relocating from state to state or overseas every 2 1/2 years (on the average). In the course of the last 20 years since I graduated from college and have been moving there have been many jobs that have not been in line with my original teaching degree. For the better part of the last 11 years I have stayed home and raised my children. I did teach some and volunteer throughout the entire time. I have had a range of positions that have given me great skills in several fields that I know I can build upon.
How do I reconcile these events so that it does not place me in to the “round file” in the corner? Any help is appreciated…thanks.

By: Freshers Yaar! » Blog Archive » Talk to The Work Buzz! Contest: Ask us a question about interviews

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:28:00 +0000

[...] Ask us a question Hello, Work Buzz readers- You’ll notice that lately we’ve been… [...]

By: tbarber

tbarber — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:40:44 +0000

What questions should not ask at an interview?

By: ANNAnn

ANNAnn — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:19:55 +0000

I changed jobs early this year and now I want to go back to my previous job because what am doing now is not related to my carreer and I dont like it. Am missing my former job and I would like to go back. will my former boss mistreat me? is it advisable to go back? please help

By: Patricia

Patricia — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:36:44 +0000

This question is on behalf of a friend of mine, who is in an awful situation. After quickly building a successful career in management in the public sector and earning high regard in his field, my friend unfortunately ended up being accused of harassment and discrimination when he choose one of his employees for a promotion, over another. The rejected employee made the claims hoping that HR would overturn his decision. HR told him they would put him on administrative leave while they investigate the claims. At the same time, my friend was afraid that HR would discover that he had a close relationship with a third employee, thus possibly regarding him as violating their no-fraternization policy.

So, rather than go on administrative leave and subject himself and his department to an investigation and media speculation, he decided to resign. That was nearly 4 months ago and while he has had dozens of interviews in that time, he has not been able to land a new job. When asked why he quit, he’s been giving answers about being unhappy there, wanting to change the course of his life, and things like that. But at this point he is wondering if it would be looked at more favorably if he honestly explained the situation.

Do you think any future employers would immediately rule him out if he told them that he quit because he developed feelings for an employee, which was against policy? Or if he told them false allegations were being made about him out of retaliation, and because he wasn’t happy there he decided to skip the drama and resign?

Also, potential employers have been asking him to sign a release, that would allow his old HR department to answer ANY questions about him, which he would prefer not to do. But if he did, could HR legally talk about allegations for which he was never officially charged?

Thank you. Any advice would be much appreciated.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:39:04 +0000

I have a bit of an unusual situation and would appreciate some help. Throughout high school, my family moved back and forth across the country, and I attended 4 schools in 4 years. For obvious reasons, this limited my number of friends and accomplishments and, thus, my networking opportunities. Fortunately, my parents have managed to get me on with companies they’ve worked for, and for the last three years I’d been performing clerical work, which helped get me through 3 years of college. However, I am unable to complete the 4th because my family has been struggling lately. Through a series of badly timed events and incompetent employers, we all became unemployed. Because the job market made it tough for either of my parents to find quality jobs, we decided to move from Las Vegas to a small town in Oklahoma where we have relatives for support and living is cheaper. Unfortunately, most of my relatives are either retired or seeking jobs themselves, so they’re not able to povide the connections we would like, which leaves us on our own. With their experience, my parents are having no trouble finding interested parties, but I can’t say the same for me. My experience is not extensive enough to walk into to any office job, but it is concentrated enough to not be of much use in other fields like retail and customer service. No matter how many jobs I apply for, including several “no experience necessary” positions, I can’t get a job, much less an interview, and I can’t understand why. Several teachers and co-workers have stated that I am ideal student/employee: I show up to work on time, I do my job better than most, and I never cause problems. My father, who has worked in management for 20 years, likes my resume; I received an honors diploma; my college GPA is above 3.5; and I don’t have a criminal history. Making matters worse, my parents are upset because they feel my failure to find a job is my fault. Either I’m not being agressive enough or I’m being too picky (mind you I applied for several entry-level retail positions). So what do you make of this? Why am I unable to get a job, but people who appear to be stoned half the time and who struggle to do their job are successful?

By: Kathy

Kathy — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:09:25 +0000

Hey, Work buzz! Boring question, but necessary answer. I haven’t worked in the job force for very long. I am applying for a position that is requiring a salary history. I know what this is, but how do I present this. First job and salary or most recent and salary? Do I include the employer and job title? Thanks

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:10:47 +0000

I was let go from a position in 2006 for “performance” reasons. The only thing I was ever told was the 1 word–performance. I found out afterwards that my immediate supervisor was lying to her supervisor about providing the training that was necessary to do my job and that she was lying because she and her assistant were forging documents. Had I been doing the job I was hired for I would have discovered what they were doing. One of the employees has since been fired for her actions and the other was suspended, however, that particular branch is no longer open. How do I explain being let go for this reason? I realize now that I should have smelled something fishy and quit but I didn’t and am not sure how to answer the why were you let go/fired questions.

By: Lady B

Lady B — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:27:09 +0000

Although I have a full-time job, I decided to earn a few more dollars to add to my cofters by creating website. I’m learning how to blog for dollars and so far it’s been interesting!! I have always loved to write, so this is write up my alley.

By: Losing a job, losing an identity « Sales and Marketing Jobs

Losing a job, losing an identity « Sales and Marketing Jobs — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:43:30 +0000

[...] get a lot of questions from readers here at The Work Buzz (and if you want to ask us one, feel free to leave it in the comments here) and on Twitter. Looking at what everyone is saying, we realize that people are struggling to not [...]