Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with employers

Reviews of employers?

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:27:51 -0800

What are best forums/websites where people post about their work experiences and about the pros and cons of various employers? I'm doing short term contract work in the Dallas area (financial and tax compliance stuff), going from job to job every three or four months, being placed by different recruiters. Working in some real dysfunctional places comes with the territory, but I do like to know what I’m walking into.

So I was looking around for forums and discussion groups where people essentially review their employers. I’ve come across several, but I figured somebody here has already found the good ones. And I do realize that most of these sites would attract disgruntled and negative types, but I can read between the lines.

Thanks for your help!

Can I leave out a qualification I'm not proud of?

malusmoriendumest — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:48:15 -0800

Would a potential employer feel that I had violated the honesty requirements of my CV or résumé by leaving a qualification out? I understand of course that when employers see a CV or résumé, they expect to see the unvarnished truth. Is it intellectually dishonest for me to omit a qualification that I feel detracts from the others? Or would an average employer not mind the omission since it isn't vital information?

Paying Payroll taxes on Employer Expenses?

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:00:41 -0800

I have a good friend who's getting screwed by his (soon to be former employer) re: expenses and payroll taxes. What's the best way to resolve this situation? This is all pre-accountant/pre-lawyer information gathering.

Long story short, my friend is an office manager for a consulting firm that does a lot of entertaining. He pays for catering out of pocket, and then is reimbursed for it at each pay period.

So far no problem, but where it gets dicey is these reimbursed expenses are being reported on his paycheck as income, which has totally fucked him at tax time. We plan on going to an accountant, possibly a lawyer, but before we do I want to know what I'm talking about.

What are the various things we need to be wary of here. The consulting firm has a lot of shady business practices, and I don't think they'd react well (either feet dragging or outright hostility) to an employee asking them to correct this. They have more time and money for lawyers than we do. My gut says he should be able to go with an itemized deduction of the business expenses, but the employer collects all receipts. He has copies, but I know the IRS is big on originals.

Any advice no ways to smartly deal with this cluster fuck? Oh, and a preemptive "are you helping" to the "you should be happy to have a job in this economy" people. Just because times are tough is no reason we should let employers slap us around.

That's not what it says on my birth certificate

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:15:49 -0800

I do a lot of writing under an assumed name. Recently, people who know me through my writing have started offering me paid work, which involves filling out tax forms and giving my social security number. The name I've chosen for myself is one that someone would logically have (it's not a handle like Wonkette or an obviously fake name like Lydia Lunch). What's the best way to address this issue with my potential employers so they don't think I'm schizophrenic or up to no good? I chose my nom de plume to distance my writing from my day job and because I'm not especially fond of my birth name. Out of respect for my parents, I haven't legally changed it. I'm not running from the law or hiding any major crimes, and a Google search under my birth name turns up very little. Apart from a rather unfortunate first name, I have nothing to hide, but I don't want to cause undue concern with potential employers. What should I do?

Is getting fired a huge liability in finding a new job?

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:21:53 -0800

"Were you ever fired" is now a common question on job applications. Of course I've been fired -- who hasn't? But the fact that they put this question in the same little box where they ask "have you ever been convicted of a felony" is vexing. It makes me think this is a weeder question and that if I answer truthfully my application will go in the trash.

What's more, today's job apps ask for a "detailed explanation" of why you were fired. On the felony question, they say answering will not necessarily disqualify you from employment, but they don't mention this for the "fired" question.

It's hard enough to find a job without being damned for getting fired, laid off, or otherwise let go. It never used to be like this. In fact, I was under the impression that if a potential employer called your previous employer, your previous employer was not allowed to say why you no longer work there or do anything other than verify you worked there.

I've been checking the "No" box. I don't think it's any of their business or relevant to the jobs I'm applying for. I was let go because the company and I were a bad fit. I worked very hard, tried to cope with the personality differences, and was let go with severance pay and without hard feelings.

However, I don't expect a potential employer to believe that. It's so cutthroat out there and companies seem to be looking for reasons NOT to hire people.

So, for anyone in HR or related fields: Is this indeed a weeder question? What happens when a person gives an explanation of why they were fired? Do employers have any way of checking up on a person to see if they're lying about getting fired?

The company that fired me was sold and my two ex-bosses no longer work there, so if a potential employer bothers calling them, they won't be able to talk to them.

However, I claimed state unemployment benefits and the reason was "involuntary termination." Are records of this confidential? If not, do employers bother to pull them, and can they see the reason you left your job?

I don't put down that I was collecting unemployment on my job apps, but is this something they routinely check now?

I'm an educated professional, but I'm applying for any job I can do. This means that in addition to hitting every ad I can find in my field, I'm filling out apps at coffee shops, bookstores, and telemarketing companies. The professional-level jobs usually just ask for resumes, but the service jobs have apps and it seems nine out of ten of these ask the question about getting fired.

Seems you just can't get a break these days!

Avoiding Online Employer Scams

mannequito — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 02:55:29 -0800

What are some reliable ways to check the authenticity of companies that advertise for jobs on craigslist and other such websites?

Overpayment by ex-employer

hnnrs — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:15:56 -0800

My ex-employer is claiming I was overpaid, and is asking for the money back - what should I do? For about four years I worked with a local authority in the UK. 10 months ago I was offered a new job with a private company, so I handed in my notice and left.

Yesterday I received a phone call from my bank, saying that I had been overpaid by over £1200, and that they needed to recover that money. I had no idea that this had happened, and as far as I could tell from my remaining paycheques everything was in order. I mean, I didn't sit down and tot up my hours or anything, but it seemed to roughly add up to how much I'd worked.

I'm pretty poor at the moment - I took a paycut to take my new job because it's something I knew I'd enjoy. The bank offered to set up a standing order to pay the amount off over 12 months, but I can't afford it.

It just all seems a tad unfair because it was obviously someone else's mistake. I've emailed the local authority to try and get a breakdown of how exactly I was overpaid by so much, but haven't had a response yet. Does anyone know where do I stand legally? Or does anyone have any advice?

I'm finding the whole thing pretty upsetting at the moment tbh.

Thanks for reading

How do I set up a Remote Working Hub?

SarahM — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:58:30 -0800

I have been asked to set up a “Remote Working Hub” to allow employees to work away from the office. Where can I go for more information? Does it work? I’m setting up a Wireless Remote Working Hub to encourage working parents to go back to work & help an area decrease the number of unemployed. Do you know anyone who has tried this? Who should contact? Have you tried this concept & does it work? Thank you in advance

Recruiters at job prospect want to contact current employers

hazelshade — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 11:11:06 -0800

[JobFilter] I've been through two interviews, they've contacted my references, and now the "last step" in the application process is for them to contact my current employers -- who don't know I want to leave. How normal is this? What should I do? They say that after they contact my employers, they'll offer me the job at X amount of money.

But because no contract has been signed they're of course completely free to NOT offer me the job should my current employers say something they don't like -- leaving me stuck in the same crappy job, now just with some more pissed-off bosses. And by making my current situation double-plus ungood the Potential Job Offerers basically guarantee that I have zero room to negotiate the salary they're offering.

This just strikes me as all sorts of sketchy. What would you do in my situation?

Will this go on my permanent record?

destro — Tue, 01 May 2007 15:44:57 -0800

Is there a website for employers to discuss potential and past employees? I'd like to find out what previous employers have said about me.

how not to accept the wrong job

bleary — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 09:30:18 -0800

how do I know when not to accept a job? What can I do to find out if a job is right for me? Where can I did up information about the work environment? What questions can I ask during an interview to uncover clues about the company or group I would be working with?

I've left jobs I've been unhappy with only to discover that the next place sucked even more. Had I known that one reason a job I accepted was open was that the boss had driven away the previous programmers and fired one for "insubordination", then I wouldn't have accepted the job.

That job was so horrible that I quit before having a new one lined up, but I worked for a year there with the hope that things would get better. I've worked for a year now at a new place, and there are certainly problems here. We've had a lot of turnover lately, and more and more people are hating working here, so I don't think it's just me.

I know every job will have it's problems, and I'm having trouble deciding when bad is bad. I don't want to look for a new job only to find that the new place is just as crazy as this place. I'd just as soon stay here then. I only want to get a new job if the work environment will be significantly different. How do I discover this?

I am a software developer.

Best job websites for an employer seeking employees?

o2b — Tue, 04 May 2004 12:23:05 -0800

Job sites (Monster, HotJobs, et al): As an employer, which have been successful for you? My company is looking to hire a junior-level HTML coder, and we've tried the usual suspects, always with very poor results -- ie, we get lots of applicants, but they *rarely* come up to snuff (and our standards aren't that high). Are there tech-specific job boards I should be looking at? Which sites have you had succes with?

We've tried CraigsList, with slightly better results, but not much better.

I am signing an NDA what to look out for

maurice — Fri, 23 Jan 2004 11:07:08 -0800

My employer is going to be asking me to sign a new NDA in the near future. The original NDA that I signed nine years ago has a lot of holes. Anything in particular I should look out for in the new NDA? Should I be concerned about it at all? (Yeah, I know YANAL.)