Do I stick with a toxic workplace or move on?
When I joined my current company nine months ago, I was promised that a promotion to sales executive would soon follow.Unfortunately, the boss who hired me has since left the company and the whole business is in upheaval. I have more or less abandoned my hopes of promotion but I am also frustrated by the lack of dialogue with management, who are telling staff one thing but doing another.I am tempted to extricate myself from a bad situation but I am also conscious of how unfavourable it might look on my CV. Is it worth sticking around for a bit longer or should I go?
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Is bringing some clients with me to my new job a good idea?
I have worked for over 10 years in wealth management for a medium-sized firm. An investor has offered me the opportunity to strike out on my own but it’ll require mining some of my existing contacts to get the business up and running. I know that some of my current clients would gladly follow me but I just wonder if it’s a bad idea to antagonise a former employer in this way. Could the blowback be fatal?
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What to do when those old social media posts come back to haunt you
I have been on Facebook since its very early days, when I was a student, and back then, I was a bit carefree about what I would post and share on it. As my career has progressed, I have become a lot more careful about posting things and I have adjusted security settings, as I am aware that posts from the pasts can later come back to bite. I have also “scrubbed” my public posts but it is not always possible to catch everything. What advice do you give to someone if an employer or a job interviewer brings an old social media post up?
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How do I talk about those bad job experiences when asked about them in a job interview?
I spent six years in my first job out of university working at a financial services company before moving on to not one, but two other companies in the same sector which had extremely toxic atmospheres. I spent less than six months at both and now I’m going to interviews again, but I can tell the interviewers are not impressed with these two jumps. I know I’m supposed to put a positive spin on the experiences to turn them to my advantage, but I feel I’m just not coming up with the right words. What can I do to show interviewers that I’m not someone who can’t take a bit of hardship? Or should I massage the facts a bit?
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Is it OK to ask to see my potential workspace at a job interview?
Comfort has a large effect on my productivity and therefore my career. Having spent 15 years in various offices, I know what I do and don’t like in my workspace. Sitting at a desk straight on, for example, is better than sitting at an L-shaped desk, which causes me shoulder pain. A well air-conditioned office keeps my mind awake; an even slightly warm one will make me sleepy and sweaty.So my question is: will I look strange and hamper my chances if, after a job interview, I insist on viewing my potential future workspace? What if I’m then offered a job and I say my response is conditional on them reconfiguring my desk – will this be an instant turn off? I know this sounds trivial but in the past I’ve left two jobs because of environmental factors that couldn’t be changed.
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Should I follow my heart or take over from my boss?
I’m in the later stages of interviewing for a job that is in an entirely new industry for me and in which I have little experience, but a lot of interest. I’m pretty confident that I will get it; however, I have also just been offered my boss’s job at my current company, as he will leave his role next month. This puts me in something of a predicament. I’ve been working myself up for a big change for quite a while now. However, I’d be getting a much bigger salary if I took the promotion, as well as have a more senior position. I don’t necessarily need the money, but it would be nice, especially considering house prices in Hong Kong! Do you have experience of other people in this situation? What did they do?
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How do I take my events career to the next level?
I’m an events manager working in the marketing department of a local university and am responsible for organising a multitude of regular small- to medium-scale university events. I’ve been doing this for over five years now and really want to take my career to the next level by getting involved with managing some of Hong Kong’s flagship spectacular events – things like Art Basel or the upcoming Formula E. My concern is that I don’t have experience organising anything on that level and that hirers will be looking for people who can demonstrate dealing with the complexity of such events. How do I make my dream come true?
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Settling for second best won’t jump-start your job hunt in Hong Kong
I’m an architectural designer who has been unemployed for several months now and I’m beginning to feel frustrated. I have had several interviews, and a few second interviews, but have not got any further. In the past I’ve never had trouble getting jobs, but I’ve usually been employed at the time. I recently heard that unemployed jobseekers are less likely to be successful in getting jobs than those who are employed, so I’m wondering if I should just apply for positions that I’m less interested in and then look for something more suitable when I’ve returned to the workforce. Is this is a good strategy?
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