Q: One of my supervisors, who was also one of my company's directors, recently left our firm to pursue freelance work. She hired me for my current position and certainly would make an excellent reference.
My question is: If I list her as a reference in her current position as freelancer, how will potential employers know that she was once a director of the company I work for? I can't list her as a director, because she no longer works for the company, but it seems odd to have a freelancer as a primary reference.
A: You're right. You can't refer to her as though she were currently a director of the company. Since your goal in providing reference information is to establish relevance for each reference, consider listing her in the following manner: "Jane Smith; Formerly: supervisor and director, XYZ Co.; Currently: Jane Smith Associates, address, phone number, e-mail address."
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This way you establish her position relative to you while also supplying contact information for her. You could even include a sentence saying, "Ms. Smith was responsible for hiring me and served as my supervisor for X years."
Q: I have an employee with strong body odor. We work in a professional office setting, and co-workers have complained about this person for years. How can I address the situation?
A: Body odor is an issue that needs to be dealt with, and the sooner the better. Not only is this important for office morale, but the situation also could be affecting your company's relationships with clients, prospects and suppliers.
People have repeatedly told me that they would prefer to be told about this sort of problem, and that the best person to tell them is a friend. If someone in the office is a good friend of your employee, you might talk with this friend about approaching him. You don't mention any friends, and if the problem has persisted for years, the "friend" solution isn't likely to happen. So the responsibility falls on your shoulders.
The key is to address the issue in a way that resolves the situation positively, with as little embarrassment as possible. Ask to meet privately with the employee, then broach the subject in a nonjudgmental fashion: "John, I want to talk to you about something that's difficult for me to bring up. But I also know that if the situation were reversed, I'd want someone I could trust to speak with me. I'm talking about a problem with body odor. Are you aware this is a problem?"
Once the subject is out in the open, you can discuss reasons for the problem and strategies to address them. Good luck.
Opinion by
Peter Post