IT Employment

Hi Ross,

"The reason is that you have made yourself so valuable to the company that they are willing to bend for you when necessary." - I totally agree but, of course, you should first be employed to get there.

It's true that top-notch professionals tend to put the career before personal life, it's how they get to be good.

I just find it unfair to say: "You care about your life so we just can't hire you."

Do you expect an employer to hire someone less dedicated to the job just because it's "not fair" to turn you down if you demand lots of free time at your interview?

I think it is a balancing act between work and personal life. The alternative (at least to me) is for companies to make it clear in the interview what the expectation is. I know that one of the questions I generally ask is "So, can you tell me what a typical work week/day is like here?" This provides an opportunity to find out if I am expected to work 60+ hours per weak or 35 hours per week.

I think both Interviewers and Interviewees need to improve their skills to find win-win situations in the hiring process. Just my 2 cents opinion. :)

I can definitely agree with that: better communication would be nice. The problem is that everyone's trying to get the most for the least, and often they're willing to screw each other over to get it, so each side is understandably wary of giving up any information.

No.

And that's because even job seekers expect to be mistreated. Just look at this thread.

But, as I said before, should everybody pay enough attention to his personal life (even HR managers), something might change.

To respond to your question, at his very least somebody could stop thinking as the system dictates and start using his own brain.

Oh, you said "less dedicated". I happen to know somebody (not me! ) VERY dedicated and VERY efficient at work. Nonetheless, she takes good care of our kid.

It's great that she's doing such a great job of balancing the two worlds. I bet she didn't get the job by acting like privileged royalty the way IT Giraffe's example did.

I know that this may be a bit more work than you'd really like, but perhaps the best answer is, when in doubt, to make something available as both an HTML article and a PDF download for easy printing. Open up with the article, and include a link to the PDF download in the takeaway summary.

I have been sent to PDF **** enough times that I avoid downloads whenever possible. If your article is only available as a download I usually skip it because I have to waste time with the process. Do make it available as an html as well as a download and you will get more participants.