It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…
1. I think a company leader is faking his work history
A coworker and I discovered that a member of our company’s C-suite is very likely misrepresenting his work history. We both noticed that his executive bio, which is provided to press, doesn’t align with his LinkedIn profile. Previous versions of his bio are riddled with inconsistencies. He claims in the newer one to have held multiple executive positions in two industries (no mention of companies!) prior to jobs at the director level AND prior to finishing his degree in this field.
I did some fact-checking and discovered at least two flat-out lies. He claimed to have been an executive creative director at two companies where he was actually an art director, which is about 3-4 levels lower on the ladder. Also, he worked for small subsidiaries in both cases, not the parent company. We found various other references that likely support deception — his own social media profiles, for example — but those sources aren’t reliable enough to confirm that he’s lying, exaggerating, or omitting.
Ethically, this concerns us because investors deserve to know the truth. We are a private company without the level of SEC scrutiny that comes with being public. Investors rely on this information to make sound judgement about their money. Also, our suspicions about this person’s truthfulness go well beyond his work history. What’s the right thing to do here?
This is the kind of thing that can be outrage-inducing when you suspect it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re well positioned to do anything with it.
If you’re in a fairly senior position — or in a communications job where this could reasonably fall within your purview — you might be able to bring it to someone higher-up. You wouldn’t be saying “he’s definitely lying” because it doesn’t sound like you actually know that. You’d be framing it as “if this looked weird to me, it’s likely to look weird to outsiders too.”
But if you’re more junior, there really isn’t anything you can or should do here. It may implode, it may not, but it’s well above your pay grade or ability to do anything about.
That all said … while it sounds like there’s smoke here, I don’t know that there’s fire — at least not the sort of fire that leads to “investors deserve to know the truth.” It doesn’t sound like you’ve uncovered evidence of actual lies (the title inflation maybe, but it’s not uncommon for people to use different titles in different contexts so you’d need more info before that one is a slam-dunk), or at least not lies of the sort that are likely to be a clear and obvious scandal, or even ones likely to be terribly alarming to investors. Be concerned that a company leader might have inflated their accomplishments and lack integrity, sure. But it doesn’t sound like it’s at the level of “potential company scandal that must be reported immediately.”
2. What should I do about a coworker who seems burned out?
There is someone on my team who I’m seeing behaviors from that give the impression he’s burnt out: more frequently working from home (we’re in office two days a week but he works remotely every other week with a new excuse), tasks taking a while to do, not being super engaged in meetings or chat, etc. We’re roughly on equal footing in terms of responsibilities (we’re both individual contributors), and we share the same manager.
My normal approach of “just talk to him” feels like an overstep here. Although he’s on my team, his own work rarely intersects with mine, and his slow pace only affects me tangentially if at all. However, I’ve noticed this because I’ve gone through this myself at other companies, and it did not end well for me. I feel like I would have appreciated a nudge of “hey, this is obvious to others, figure it out or hide it better” but that’s only with the benefit of hindsight, not to mention the fact I could be reading far too much into it.
I do generally have a good relationship with my manager, but I’m worried about inviting the extra scrutiny on him. My manager is generally pretty easy going, but also isn’t very hands-on. I don’t know him well enough to know how he would to respond, but I’d guess, based on his past tendencies, he would most likely go into a fact-finding mode to see what my coworker’s output looks like (and not figure out if there’s a larger issue).
Should I try to reach out to the peer even if it’s awkward, should I talk to my manager at the risk of inviting the wrong kind of attention, or should I stay out of this entirely?
Stay out of it. If you’re worried it would be an overstep to talk to your coworker about it, it would definitely be an overstep to approach his boss about it. If it were affecting your work, that would be different, but it’s not. And as a general rule, unless a manager has given you specific reason to think otherwise, assume the most likely response would indeed be a fact-finding mode to see what the person’s output looks like — since they’re responsible for that output. We also don’t even know burnout is in play here; your coworker could be dealing with stuff in his personal life, or a health crisis, or just be sick of the job, or who knows what.
If you were close to him and wanted to ask if everything was okay or to approach it from the perspective of “hey, be aware this is getting noticeable and might cause issues for you,” that would be fine to do. But it doesn’t sound like you’re particularly close, so leaving it alone is the right call.
3. Am I obligated to share every piece of feedback with my employee?
I have a question for you about my obligation to share feedback with my direct report. The work my team and I do has a heavy internal stakeholder management component so I often receive feedback on my team’s work outside of formal channels.
A stakeholder recently approached me in passing and shared that her experience with my direct report had been less than stellar. It wasn’t anything shocking or problematic, but more focused on how scheduling and communication could be handled better to meet that stakeholder’s needs. The direct report in question has been with the company for about three months and, overall, I’ve been delighted with their work. Am I obligated to share this one-off feedback with my direct report? Can I hold onto it and share if a pattern emerges? My concern is demoralizing them by nitpicking, but I also worry I could be doing them a disservice by not sharing and allowing them to improve the stakeholder’s impression.
You are not obligated to pass along every piece of feedback you hear about a direct report. If you disagree with the feedback or just don’t judge it something worth prioritizing, it’s fine not to share it. You should bring some nuance to that, though: even if you disagree with the feedback, sometimes the person would still benefit by being aware of it. Think, for example, of someone who’s being criticized by higher-ups for X and you don’t care about X; it still could be to their advantage to be aware that it’s drawing unfavorable attention from people who have influence over their career. Other times, though, sharing it would do more harm than good and you should let it die with you (like in this example).
In your specific case, it depends on the details. Did the stakeholder encounter lengthy and repeated issues with scheduling? Or was it one minor thing that just wasn’t to their preference? For example, if your employee continually ignored messages and was rude when the stakeholder followed up, that’s something you should address. If they were just a little more difficult to schedule with than a VIP stakeholder would have liked, you might just need to let your employee know that they’re expected to accommodate the VIP’s schedule rather than the other way around (if that’s true); that wouldn’t be criticism, exactly, just info about how things work in your company. If it was more minor than either of those, it might make sense to just hold on to it and see if you see a pattern (and taking the feedback as a nudge to pay closer attention in that area than you might have otherwise). Also, if the stakeholder is someone your employee will need to work with a lot, there’s more of an argument for saying something than if they’ll never need to again.
It’s impossible to say for sure without knowing exactly what the feedback was … but there’s no “absolutely must pass on every piece of feedback received” principle to follow. You should bring your own judgment to it.
4. Is this the worst cover letter intro in human history?
I started recruitment for an administrative position and have read the exact same sentence word for word in not one, not two, not three, but four separate cover letters. This sentence is, I believe, among the most stupid and pointless sentences fathomable. It is:
“After reviewing your job description, it’s clear that you’re looking for a candidate that is extremely familiar with the responsibilities associated with the role, and can perform them confidently.”
You mean, after reading the job description, you believe I am looking for someone who can do the duties listed in the job description?! You don’t say!
I beg you, can you please please explain to job seekers why they need to remove this sentence from their cover letters immediately, and the importance of actually reading whatever boilerplate cover letter template (or AI generated material) they’re using to confirm it’s not including meaningless, stupid sentences like this? Because if I read this sentence one more time (very likely, at this rate), I will start pulling my hair out!
That is indeed a truly terrible sentence. And I googled it and it pops up in a ton of search results, word for word, so clearly it’s been recommended somewhere — by someone or something giving awful cover letter advice — and then people are blindly copying it. People would actually benefit from removing most throat-clearing, substance-free filler from the start of their cover letters anyway, but this one is particularly bad.
That said, I almost can’t bring myself to penalize the copiers for it — lots of people are intimidated by cover letters and don’t know where to find good guidance — but it’s sure as hell not doing the thing cover letters are supposed to do, which is to strengthen their candidacy.
5. Am I supposed to pay for my own hotel when traveling for training for a remote job?
I recently accepted an offer for a remote position a little less than a year after being laid off from my previous job at an educational technology start-up. This new company is stable, widely respected, and has great benefits. As I’m trying to move out of state closer to family, the remote aspect is particularly great for me.
They did ask in the interview if I could come to in-person training for up to three weeks, in their HQ which is four-ish hours from the city where I live. At the time I was under the impression whether they were asking if I logistically make it work (i.e., if there would be hindrances with childcare, health, other life responsibilities). But it’s been almost a month since getting the offer and no one has mentioned accommodation, which makes me nervous. It seems unreasonable to expect a new employee (particularly one who has been jobless for 10 months) to pay for a week’s worth of a hotel stay. I’m planning on reaching out to HR to clarify, emphasizing that it is not financially possible for me given my circumstances, and ask how they’d like us to sort this out. How to I approach this without sounding demanding or entitled?
Be matter-of-fact and approach it as if you assume that of course they’re paying (because they probably are). So: “You mentioned wanting me to come to City for training shortly after starting, so I wanted to check about arrangements for that. What specific dates are we looking at, and what’s the process for booking accommodations and handling those expenses?”
