Monthly archive for February 2025

Question

I’m a federal employee. The mass firings have shaken all of us up. I’m trying to keep my head down and just do my job but it’s nerve-racking. “You have just days to decide to quit and take a buyout with guaranteed pay until September” followed by “Well, there may be no budget to pay you” or “Come back to work, we didn’t mean you.” It’s all a cluster-f*ck! My boss and his boss have convened several phone calls and Zooms and I can’t believe the mixed messages! Our union is on this but I’m wondering if you have any advice on how I could protect myself.

Nick’s Reply

Now that is a tall order! I don’t pretend to be an expert in federal jobs, but here goes.

This newsletter steers clear of politics. But then again, Ask The Headhunter frequently goes head-to-head with HR — and this is probably the biggest HR cluster-f*ck we’ve ever seen.

HR everywhere can and must learn from this.

Where’s the HR management?

The question is, what constitutes HR in this management catastrophe? Is it Elon Musk? Is it the President? Is it DOGE? The Office of Personnel Management?  Does each federal agency have its own HR? Who is authorized to make HR decisions about who gets fired, how it’s done, who is “government waste,” who decides what a severance package is, etc.?

Then we have what you refer to as mixed messages — or what I call the incompetency of people that are running the joint without (pardon me) HR skills, credentials or common sense.

Everyday there are multiple “HR policy” flip-flops coming out of D.C. — though there is no indication this has anything to do with policy, and everything to do with running roughshod over millions of employees without any objectively defined justification or reason. Elon Musk (I love his cars but wouldn’t want him anywhere near my company) may be brilliant in many ways, but managing employees isn’t his strong suit! Evidence of this is in his corn pone orders that read like the beta of a first-gen AI bot wrote them. They’re obviously written by a neophyte to government who is blissfully naïve about the law.

Where is the legal compliance?

Even if every single federal employee was an example of wasteful spending, the law still doesn’t support the ham-fisted actions Musk and his DOGE are taking. Even some of the worst HR departments in the commercial sector have proper procedures for laying off workers, and rarely does it happen so quickly and without due process.

You know how critical I am of HR, but this is a perfect example where someone with an ounce of HR acumen would be welcome — at least to do what most HR execs do, and that’s to worry about compliance with the law.

So we must look at the top-most federal executive in HR, the Acting Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Charles Ezell, who goes by “Chuck E.” on LinkedIn, a conceit that I’m guessing would get him ghosted more often than not if he were job hunting. And, ahem, 2,059 followers? Really?

As evidenced by his public profile, Chuck E. is all data architect and data jockey — with zero HR cred. There is no mention of HR in any of his skills lists. (He does have lots of keywords, but none in HR.) But why would the top federal HR dog cede key HR functions to Elon Musk? (Maybe because the DOGE pen is all data jockeys, too?)

I could be ranting about any inept, unqualified HR exec but I’m focused on this one because you asked. And, to quote my sainted mother-in-law, I’m impressed. But not favorably.

Prepare for legal action

So what can you do to protect yourself? While a federal job is different from a commercial one, there are still rules and many of the most important ones cross over. This is why the federal government is being sued six ways from Sunday by employees and unions, and it’s why you should gather legal evidence against your employer if you’re caught in this mess. (Please see The 6 Gotchas of Goodbye.)

In case you will need to file legal action, keep a diary of events including dates and times. Save all documentation including e-mails and social media posts.

Then there’s the advice of my good buddy, powerhouse employment attorney Mark Carey, whose clients are all employees, never employers. Coincidentally, Mark just published a podcast titled The Power of Recording Your Boss. Though it may be a bit repetitive, it offers some gold nuggets you can’t afford to miss.

Press RECORD

If you are in a one-party consent state, record phone calls and conversations related to your potential termination and/or to inconsistencies between your organization’s published “code of conduct” and its own behavior.

Such recordings are admissible in court and, according to Mark, can make an employee’s case: “When you record something like this… it’s a direct statement made by an employer as an admission of fact… it’s an admission against interest by an employer… it’s called smoking gun evidence and you can use it.”

One-party consent means it’s legal in your state to record a conversation between two or more people as long as just one party to the conversation (usually just you) is aware it’s being recorded. (This includes Zooms — use an off-camera recorder.) Check this list of one-party consent states; note that District of Columbia is on it. Mark Carey’s podcast provides more information about when you can and can’t record legally.

Use your phone

I’m not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. If your federal job (or any job) is at risk, and if you’re in the middle of being suddenly fired for no reasons related to performance, then this is indeed a cluster-f*ck. Prepare for possible litigation. You’re not powerless in the face of the most powerful people in the world. It may be that your own most powerful weapon to protect your job and career is your phone — just press RECORD.

Are you a federal employee? Did you get fired from a federal agency by DOGE without due process? Did your agency’s HR meet with you to discuss your job? No? What are you doing about it? Have you made any recordings to use in court?

NOTE: I’d like to hear from folks in the HR community, too. What do you say about all this?

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Question

Nick, in various networking sessions we are told that maintaining a positive attitude is the most important thing that we can do when trying to land a job. This is easier said than done for many of us. We can read positive thinking books and things like that. But what do you feel are the most important things that we can do to have a consistent positive attitude? I appreciate your help.

Nick’s Reply

I know it’s very hard to be positive when the media blast us with bad news about the employment market. And it’s discouraging when every time you apply for a job you get a rejection or, worse, you are ghosted. You’re right: Much of this is about attitude. But attitude alone won’t land a job, so I get tired of hearing that kind of advice as much as you do. The abysmal performance of online job boards and automated recruiting won’t change just because you try to feel better about it!

To land a job fix your behavior!

Behavior can be far more important than what a person is thinking. Some of the best research in psychology tells us that “thinking positive” won’t make us behave in more productive ways.

The research actually reveals that changing our behavior is more likely to improve our attitudes, than the other way around.

That is, even if you don’t feel like it (because you’re down and miserable), change your behavior anyway. Force yourself. Or your attitude isn’t likely to change. So, learn how to behave!

Positive thoughts don’t make job boards work better

I know that sounds harsh. But it’s true. Consider the classic job hunter, sitting before a computer screen all day, searching for jobs. You simply have no control because “submitting applications” behavior doesn’t work, and your misery grows.

You can follow the conventional advice to try and talk yourself into feeling “up” while submitting all those job applications, but feelings don’t control the job boards or make them work better!

So, what can you control? Start practicing behaviors that get you closer to the leading source of jobs — personal contacts. (One of my favorite reports about this is from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.) I know it’s hard to make this switch, mainly because of the “ease” of using the job boards.

Change behavior to feel positive – and to land a job!

How can you meet more people connected to the businesses you want to work for? Where do they hang out? What can you say to them? I’ve offered specific suggestions in these columns, so I won’t repeat myself. (For some helpful tips on what to say to “insiders” when you find them, please see this brief article: Interview Me: How to Say It.)

But sometimes, the best ideas come from yourself. Get a piece of paper. Forget about finding a job. Make a list of where you can go (online and in real life) to meet people connected to companies you want to work for. (I like doing this on paper because you can keep it in front of you no matter what else you’re doing.)

Then change your behavior: Go there and talk to them.

Relying on job boards is bad behavior. I think you will find that being with people who do the work you want to do is the best behavior you can engage in when you need to land a job. Talking with them about their work, their employer, about who in the business they like and respect — these are behaviors that will quickly trigger a positive attitude. And your attitude will get even better when your new buddies introduce you to other real, live humans who share your interests — and who can introduce you to your next job.

Does trolling the job boards and applying for hundreds of jobs give you a positive attitude? Is it good behavior? If the job boards get you depressed, how does that affect your job search? What do you think are the best behaviors and attitudes for a successful job search?

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NOTE: There was no newsletter or Q&A column last week due to the onslaught of multiple snow and ice storms in the northeast. Newsletter production was supplanted by 15 hours spent digging out!

This edition is in memory of Bob Stomber, my friend and a founder of the Career Forum job-search group at the Somerset Hills YMCA in New Jersey. Bob was a generous man; generous with his time and knowledge, in his judgments of others, and with his good advice. He put a lot into the Forum purely as a volunteer who never expected anything in return except perhaps friendship. Bob touched a lot of lives and made a real difference to them. I did many presentations to the group at his request and I always enjoyed working with him. Bob was pure class in every way.

Question

You have one the best websites devoted to the job search and career development. I have spent over 25 years in Human Resources working for Fortune 100 companies. One of the many “dirty little secrets” in larger corporations is the pervasiveness of age discrimination. Most people in corporations know it exists but won’t acknowledge it publicly. Do you have any useful ideas for how the older candidate can solve for this?

Nick’s Reply

Thanks for your kind words and for your HR insider’s confirmation of something we all know. In many companies, discrimination against older job candidates is an unwritten policy.

Age discrimination: 3 options

As I’ve suggested before, a person has choices. You can take them to court and sue if you can afford it. But most can’t.

You can walk away and forget about it, which is what most job seekers seem to do. But that doesn’t solve anything.

My recommendation is a sort of Zen approach. Don’t fight the mountain. Go around it.

While some employers are just so biased against older workers that it’s not worth even acknowledging them, some are passively discriminatory. That is, they do it because it’s become habit — but their attitude can be altered. How? By forcing them to focus on how you will help make them more successful and more profitable. That’s a tall order. I’ll give you an example.

Age discrimination: A grey matter

When a Fortune 50 company downsized, they hired me to coach some employees on how to find new jobs. One of these people was 58 years old. He was tired of the age discrimination he faced. He tried dyeing his hair darker. He left dates off his resume and omitted his oldest jobs to hide his age. But he kept getting rejected. John was getting ready to go to divinity school to become a priest.

Here’s what I taught him to do. First, no more games with hair and resumes. No resumes at all. I helped him identify managers in companies he wanted to work for, and showed him how to contact them to discuss the problems and challenges they were facing — but not to inquire about jobs. This yielded some meetings to discuss jobs. (It’s amazing how managers hate to be asked about jobs, but when they get to know you a bit, they want to interview you. That’s why I call this a Zen approach!)

Seeing green

At the meetings, John didn’t wait to be asked about his skills or abilities. I showed him how to map out three challenges the manager was facing, and how to outline three things he could do to help. He presented this as a “mini business plan” for doing the job. He took the initiative to show the manager how his skills and abilities mapped directly to the requirements of the job. The interview turned into a working meeting any boss and employee might have.

The next time I saw him, John was beaming. He had a good job offer.

“I did what you said. Before the interviewer had a chance to process my grey hair, I had him in a discussion about how we could make his operation more efficient and get the job done with less overhead cost. Suddenly he was interested in the ‘green,’ rather than the ‘grey’ on my head!”

(For more about this approach, check a brief audio presentation from a workshop I did for Cornell University business students: “Don’t Get Hired, Get Acquired.”)

Show the manager the money

There’s no magic to this. It requires picking target companies carefully and doing a lot of preparation. You must be ready to discuss the manager’s problems and to suggest ways to deal with them. Age discrimination is indeed pervasive, but most managers are concerned first about their business success. Whether you’re an employee or a job applicant, it’s up to you to focus the manager on how you’ll do the work and how you can help. Show the manager the money.

Does this sound like a method of distracting the manager from any latent bias against a candidate’s age? It is exactly that. But it’s legit because you’ve guided the manager toward mutual success.

Unless the manager is a true age bigot, you’ll win them over with your plan for doing the job. Great hires are hard to come by. Prove you’re one of them, and age — like any other factor unrelated to performance — becomes less of an issue. Or, you can go back to choice number one and sue.

Have you encountered age discrimination yet? It’s so pervasive that if you haven’t, you will. What can you do about it? We discussed 3 options. There are certainly more. How do we help employers get past “the grey” for their own good?

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