By J.T. O'Donnell
Every office has one. The employee who is quick-witted and always seems to know when to throw in a snappy bit of sarcasm to make everyone chuckle about an obnoxious client or less-than-exciting new company policy. Their sharp sense of humor is often used in to lighten the mood and diffuse tense moments. And yet...
When does the sarcastic employee cross the line?
Do they realize the negative impact they can have while desperately trying to seek a laugh? More importantly, can their sarcasm eventually hurt their career?
True story...
Back in my early twenties, I worked for a start-up company that was full of fellow young professionals. We were all recent college grads looking to finally start to make some good money and had hitched our stars on the excitement of working for a cutting-edge company that gave us stock options and hopes of a big payout in the not-so-distant future.
In the beginning, our team was on fire. The company expanded quickly and the energy was intensely fun. But then, some things happened to tarnish the rosy of glow of start-up life. A round of layoffs, followed by a change in our commission structure had us all working more and making less. We were frustrated and angry. And looking back, our lack of workplace experience showed in that we didn't know how to react to what was happening. Many of us started commiserating after work over drinks, eyeball rolling became the norm throughout the day, and a somber, secretive-type communication style replaced our light-hearted banter of earlier days. Times were tough.
Then one day, a very sarcastic co-worker decided to take venting his frustrations to a whole new level. He started crafting top secret e-mail rants. He would wax on about various managers, poking fun at everything from their voice to their sense of fashion. Now that I think of it, his daily e-mails were almost like blog posts. Initially, people looked forward to getting them and you could hear a certain style of 'chuckle' that always told you who, across a sea of cubicles, was reading the latest one. His e-mails were like a guilty pleasure served up to ease the stress of working in a downtrodden corporate culture.
But then, as things got progressively worse on-the-job, so did the intensity of the employee's sarcasm. And, somewhere along the line, the e-mails went from funny to uncomfortable.
In an effort to retain the interest of his readership, the employee's sarcasm took an evil turn. He expanded upon who he wrote about, sometimes leaving people off the e-mail list just to make fun of them. No one was off limits to this employee. If someone looked at him the wrong way, the result could be a page-long demoralization. Furthermore, his obsession with producing these e-mails seemed to have a direct impact on his performance. Not only did he start failing at work, his work relationships started failing too. People became afraid of being associated with him, especially when they realized that getting caught reading one of these e-mails could get them in trouble. And then it happened, the ultimate betrayal...
The sarcastic employee was turned in by another employee who had found out he was being 'ragged on' in these e-mails repeatedly. The company IT guy researched and found out just how much work time had been spent on writing/distributing the e-mails and the employee was let go. Talk about tough to explain on job interviews:
Hiring Manager: "So, why did you leave your last job?"
Sarcastic Employee: "Well, I was trash talking everyone in the company in e-mails during work hours and got caught."
To make matters worse, it had been his first real job (i.e. professional setting), and now he had no reference. He couldn't get any of his former co-workers to agree to talk to potential employers for him either because we were all promptly instructed on the 'no reference giving' policy by the HR Manager right after his departure.
So, here's my question: Was he the only one to blame? Yes, he wrote the e-mails, but it was the initial reaction he got from all of us that fueled him to write more, which lead him down a path to destruction.
My takeaway from the experience was this: There's humor and there's sarcasm. We need the first in the workplace, but not necessarily the second. Being funny at work isn't a problem, as long as you're not sarcastic.
What are your thoughts? Do the sarcastic people in your company cross boundries at times? How do you respond to them? Is there room for sarcasm in the workplace? Does using sarcasm put your career at risk?
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Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
BigstockMake a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
- How did I learn about this job?
- How did I apply for the job?
- Did I earn an interview?
- What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
BigstockAre you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
Let's start with resumes!
Every resume should be tailored to the position in order for it to stand out to recruiters and hiring managers. It may seem like a lot of work, but it's actually less work than submitting the same resume over and over again and never hearing back.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
BigstockYour job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
- Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
- Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
- Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
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