Is it ok to email the manager of a department about a job opening in his department? I got his name by doing some research, but I don’t know him at all.
I am getting a job offer imminently. How I can negotiate salary when I’ve already given them a minimum? (I know, I know I’m not supposed to do that, but the job ad asked for it with my initial application!) I did some research, and I think the minimum salary I gave them was too low. I suggested 10% more than I was making at my old job, and seemed amazing until I found out more about the position. The title sounds lower level than my old job, but at this company, which is global and much larger than my old company, the position has a lot of responsibility, need for insight, and 10-hour days are not uncommon there. All that makes me think I should have gone higher. What can I do now? Is it too late?
I graduated in 2003 with a B.A in international affairs. Since then I I married a painter (against my parents will since I was suppose to marry a doctor, lawyer or accountant). I have also had a baby and worked on my parents winery.
Now, it’s five years after college graduation. What should I do? My family has been amazing helping us out financially but they are putting pressure on me that I need to go to grad school and study something that will guarantee a good income. At this point I neither have any idea what I like nor what will bring in money. I have no real skills I am not trained in anything. I speak 3 languages and I lived on 3 different continents. How do you find what you like and can bring in a high income?
I am 24 years old. I have been reading your blog for a while, and its actually making me feel a bit depressed. I went to college a year out of high school, and during my 2nd year found out my girlfriend was pregnant. Under the assumption that it would make me more money, I transfered in to the school’s business program. I am now almost graduated, with a bachelors in business management, and have no idea what I can do with it. I feel like I have no marketable skills, and would have better spent my time working at McDonald’s for 4 years, at least then I’d have some real good experience.
I completely disconnected from the world after my son was born. I have not made a single new friend since high school, and for the most part only hang out with my family, rarely even seeing my old friends. I have missed out on this whole blogging evolution, and just feel lost. What type of employer am I supposed to apply at? Is a bachelors of business administration worth anything to anyone? I have a lot of knowledge, but no one seems to care.
Where does someone like me go? My whole life the idea that college was what you did you get a good job was drilled into my head, but I can’t see it delivering now. I know I am smarter than many of the people I went to school with, and have abilities somewhere, but just feel so lost. I have always wanted to run a restaurant, but that takes a lot of money. I have so many ideas, but no capital. I have been applying as an assistant manager at various restaurants, hoping to build a skill set, but is that not completely lame? Most people with equivalent jobs probably got them just by working their for a few years, and earned money to get to that position rather than spend.
I don’t know, it seems like the world left me behind. Every other 24 year old seems to be so far ahead of me, and I don’t see them having a kid in the future as a way for me to catch up.
I enjoy reading your blogs. My job is very boring and is ending soon so I spend most of my time at work reading old post from your blog and trying to figure out my next step in life. I do have one question tho. As I have been applying to jobs, I have noticed one thing. Many HR representatives won’t give out the pay for the jobs that they are calling for me to interview for. Now, I don’t want to waste my time asking off from work and the companies time that I am applying for if the pay is not within my standards. So my questions is do I still go to the interview without knowing the salary upfront?
I just got off of a call with a very type A recruiter who asked me whether I pay for health insurance myself and if I had children who were covered under it. I’m not confrontational, therefore I didn’t tell him outright that it was an inappropriate question.
What would you recommend I do? I want to apply for the job, but if his aggressiveness and inappropriateness is any indication of the type of people I would be interviewing with then I’m not interested.
I’m in the last interview stages with a company and I’m not sure how I should best answer the below question:
“Can you offer some idea of base + bonus or other comp for the past 2-3 years, and also confirm your expectations for a new role?”
Why does what I made 2-3 years ago matter if this is for a new, higher-level role? Can I respectfully decline to answer that? Also, why do they always ask about bonuses? In my career we may get a bonus at the end of the year depending on the health of the business but it’s not significant — just a few hundred.
“After many years of being in the work world (I’m 39), I decided to make a career change a few years ago and go back to school, full time, for a year. I’m single (no hubby, no kids), so it was no problem for me to move literally across the country to a much smaller city to attend university. I moved from Toronto, the largest city in Canada, to Victoria, BC, a city on Vancouver Island (approximately 90 nautical minutes northwest of Seattle).
“I loved island life so much I ended up staying in Victoria for almost two years. I only moved back to Toronto because the job market in Victoria is small – and is even smaller during a recession. I’ve been back in Toronto for about 9 months and found my current job only 2 months after arriving, but I, surprisingly, miss Victoria and would love to move back. The only deal-breaker is I will never move there without having a job first, my finances won’t let me do that again.
“Are companies now willing to use Skype, MSN Messenger, etc. to interview people who aren’t local?”
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penelope@penelopetrunk.com