Interviewer - why are you looking to make a change Employee - my previous workplace did not respect my boundaries and expected me to be able to attend 4pm meetings with only a days notice Interviewer - clears throat awkwardly, types ‘quickly, pretend something urgent came up’ to uppermost group teams chat, desperately searches mental database for question to ask individual with no apparent grasp on ‘work’ |
Nailed it |
The words you say are "the work-life balance was hard for me as a parent". Alternatively, "there were some leadership changes, a lot of people are leaving, and I'm not confident about the future of the organization." |
I don’t think the point being made was ‘what shall i say when looking for a new job?’ The point being made was the expectations around work life balance make op a poor choice for pretty much any hiring manager |
It is some kind of bizarro wishful thinking that people who are available to work 7:30-4 or 8-4:30 or whatever are just broadly unemployable. You can want that to be the case - I don't know why - but it's not. And even some jobs with expectations around evening and weekend hours still understand you take a break to get your kids and log on after. |
If the head of my organization started reviewing my direct reports’ work, I’d be really concerned. |
Sounds like the new director is sending a message about the workday. If she told everybody that the workday is 8-5 or 9-6, she’d get a lot of pushback. But, if she schedules meetings for those hours and employees comply, she’s getting what she wants without saying the quiet part out loud. |
Except she took the meeting from her car, so the message sent is, do whatever you want, just be available on the phone. |
Good test. Good weed out process too. |
Totally. Unclear, unannounced rule changes leave behind the people who can't get hired elsewhere. That's definitely who you want to keep. |
That sounds like an amazing message! I would take it - would love a manager like this |
Op - you can try to convince me and all the rest of us on this thread that you ought to be able to make up your own hours all you want but the truth is we all know it’s beyond rare to find a job that will hire you to work whenever tf you want. It doesn’t actually affect any of us at all that you are in abject denial of this fact - it only affects you. But I will say that categorically if you get a senior leader at any company who says be in a meeting at 4 - you’re going to be hard pressed to find an employer who thinks that’s unreasonable. Take our advice or leave it and gl to you! |
Why is your writing so difficult to read?!? |
LOL, OK. Last-minute 4-5 PM meetings are totally normal and if you can't make them, you won't be able to find a job. You've convinced me. Clearly all the parents I see picking their kids up at school are either unemployed or have a back-up nanny just in case. |
All the parents you see picking their kids up at school either: - do not work - are picking their kids up and then going back to do more work - are not parents but childcare providers I absolutely hate this expression but in this case it’s warranted: grow up op |