How to talk about your last toxic job

Hi friends! As if she doesn’t have enough on her plate, I recently learned that Beyoncé has over 80,000 bees at her house and makes hundreds of jars of honey each year. Gives a whole new meaning to Queen B. 🐝

Friday feels: In preparation for the Renaissance World Tour in Chicago, let’s get the weekend popping with none other than the icon herself.

P.S. We’ve talked about mid-year reviews in the past, and now it’s your turn! Take a <2-minute work break and let us know how we’re doing, what you like about WD, and what you want to see more of. We promise this is a lot more fun than what you’re used to!

—Rod

How to Talk About Your Toxic Job In An Interview

 question 
I’m preparing to apply for a new job and am nervous about the interview process. Specifically, how to respond to "Why did you leave your last job?" when the reason was because of a toxic work environment.—A.

 answer 
You know what they say: Honesty is the best policy. That holds true about 99% of the time, except maybe when your coworker asks if you like her new bangs…

There’s a nice way to say “the work environment sucked” without lying, going into details, or dragging your previous company (as much as you may be tempted).

You could respond with something like this:

From there, you can both elaborate on the kind of environment you’re looking for in your next role and learn what kind of culture the company you're interviewing with has. Remember, you’re interviewing the company just as much as they’re interviewing you (put that on my gravestone someday).

How to Negotiate a Bigger Annual Raise

 question 
My company does annual raises, but mine was underwhelming. Is it inappropriate to negotiate an increase now since they just gave me one? Or do I show how much I know my worth and go for it?—B.

 answer 
Since your company just gave annual raises, they may be apprehensive about negotiating. But you’ll never know unless you try, so channel your inner Sharpay Evans and go for it.

But this is important: You don’t want to go into a conversation like this empty handed. So let’s talk about a few things you can bring to your boss’s desk for the best chance of getting more moolah.

1. Industry average: If your salary falls under the industry average for your position (“average” is in the eye of the beholder, but this can help you learn how to find out what the “average” is in your field), getting to average is a good place to start. Most companies want to at least pay the industry standard for retention and recruitment purposes. If they can’t…not a great look.

2. Your accomplishments: At the risk of sounding like a broken Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) record, keep a list of things you’ve accomplished in your position. Include projects you’ve taken on outside of your job description to show your role has expanded from what you were originally hired to do.

3. Perks other than money: If your company can’t bump up your salary, have a few things ready to negotiate with instead, like extra PTO or additional benefits.

Got a Q for me to A? Submit yours here.

Things to message your work besties

...while you get sucked into a Netflix series literally called Virgin River.

Put a finger down if you’ve ever fallen victim to a phishing email and HR had to step in and force you to retire your childhood password of eggsalad23. Couldn’t be me. See how your cybersecurity skills measure up—and how to improve them—with this WorkLab quiz.*

Me: Why can’t I get all my work done in a day? Also me: (watching TikToks of bottles falling down stairs)

This instantly transported me back to fighting with siblings and friends over our family’s Windows computer. P.S. Let’s not forget about RollerCoaster Tycoon…which I found out is still a thing we can play?!!!

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Thanks for reading! Hope you have the most fun weekend ever. See you back here on Monday!

IDK WHAT DO I KNOW?! LMAO!

—Rod