Help! I've Been Sick and Unemployed for 10 Years

Dear Evil HR Lady,

How do I address and what do I say to employers about being unemployed for the last 10 years due to medical issues and hospitalizations?

It's not something I want to talk about, but I can see where I would not consider or hire a person who would not want to tell me what they've been doing for the past 10 years.


Help! I've Been Sick and Unemployed for 10 Years

photo by Foxtongue, Flickr cc 2.0

Should I Ask For More Money?

Dear Evil HR Lady,

I accepted a low-ball offer and after I got off the phone I immediately called the HR person back to try to negotiate. I left a message telling them I had some further questions, but they haven't returned my phone call in 4 days.

I received the offer letter but haven't signed it yet. Do I have any recourse? Can I try to renegotiate or would that be in bad taste?

I have until Friday to go in a sign employment papers. What should I do?

Should I ask for more money?

Obama Fires McChystal: Should You Trash Your Boss?

You're in no danger of being followed by a reporter. So is it safe for you to trash you boss?

How Do I Convince My Boss I'm Ready To Manage Others?

Dear Evil HR Lady,

I am a computer programmer by trade, but I could be best considered a problem solver. For my day to day activities, I consistently get excellent reviews. People actively seek me out for projects (as opposed to other developers) because I get them done, and do it well.

However, what I see as my best ability is the hardest to quantify - I make everyone around me better. I'm not the best programmer, I'm not the best business analyst, I am not the best at writing, and definitely not the best speaker, yet they all come to me when they have problems or need to flesh out ideas. I make projects go smoother because I help everyone on the project. Similar projects have taken as much as ten times longer, but if you put them side by side, the only obvious difference would be that I am on one. Otherwise, it just seems that everyone performed much better on that project for no apparent reason. I have no magic wand, I just help people out in a hundred little ways to keep things moving. It might be something as small as meeting with that difficult executive or tuning a slow query.

I think these skills would make me an excellent manager, but I have no idea how to highlight them. I'm not very good at shameless self-promotion and any efforts to that end have been quite ham-fisted. Less obvious ways have not worked either. How can I get an opportunity to demonstrate what I can do when I am actually in charge?
How Do I Convince My Boss I'm Ready To Manage Others?

A Job With No Start Date

Dear Evil HR Lady,

I was recently hired at a medical school library as an assistant. But I had a question about how long they are allowed to make me wait to start the position. The HR Department set my hire date as a week ago. I am in their payroll system and HR said I could start working. But the librarians will NOT give me a start date. They keep saying another person is going to start with me, and they want to wait until that happens. How long are they allowed to make me wait? They've also told me to stop following-up with them to get a start date, that they will call me when they are ready. Is this normal?

No, this is not normal.

My Coworkers are Taking Advantage of the System

Dear Evil HR Lady,

My supervisor has about 1/3 of his large staff (50+) on Family Medical Leave (FMLA). They use it intermittently, which means that they are not out for weeks at a time, but, rather, take what time they need when they need it.

For the majority, when any of them call in, it is always on a Friday or a Monday and it happens over and over, but nothing is ever done about it. In particular, I have one coworker whose abuse of FMLA and complete arrogance towards any rules goes beyond comprehension. He arrives at work late, then stands around and chats with the people for 15, 20, or even 30 minutes or longer before he starts any work. Other times, he will make it look like he's working and continue to talk, talk, talk, but management rarely says anything to him. He frequently leaves the floor and has been caught watching television and eating when he should be working.

So, what do you do when your coworkers are taking advantage of the system?

Is that Job Posting a Lie?

Dear Evil HR Lady,

I recently applied for a Career Counselor/Coordinator position. I received a phone interview on a Friday as a preliminary to the in-person. During the conversation the interviewer admitted that it was more of a case manager position. That following Monday the position was retitled and re-posted as a Case Manager. This also happened previously when another agency posted an ad for an Office Manager, and during the interview I discovered that they really wanted an Payroll-HR/Office Manager. Both were non-profits, but is this the normal now? I thinking of withdrawing my candidacy for the former scenario because something just smells dishonest. Your thoughts?

So, Is That Job Posting a Lie?