<p>chocoholic, something like that might actually work.</p>
<p>The office where I will be working is open from 8 to 6. But nobody is there that whole time. Some people work 8 to 5, others 8:30 to 5:30, others 9 to 6 (in each case with an hour for lunch). We get the choice of which schedule we want, and we have the option of varying the schedule on occasion when necessary. (In fact, although I chose 8 to 5, I’m coming in 9 to 6 the first day because that’s my manager’s schedule. I offered. It would be silly for me to just sit in the lobby for an hour until she gets there.)</p>
<p>To attend the graduation, which is a two-part event taking place on a Thursday evening and Friday morning, I would need two hours off on Thursday and four hours off on Friday. It might be possible for me to work an extra hour (the full 8 to 6) on six successive workdays to make up for that. I’m exempt, so there would be no problem with overtime pay.</p>
<p>I’ll have to see what life is like on the job for a while before I decide whether to suggest that possibility.</p>
<p>What I meant, but perhaps didn’t put well, is that there is something wrong with any manager who wouldn’t make a strong effort to help you out in a situation like this. If your manager said no way, that would probably be an ill omen for future problems. (Of course, he might have a really good specific reason to turn you down, like if there is a particular important meeting on the same day. If that’s the case, he should express regret pretty strongly as well.)</p>
<p>Marian, if I may, as an employer, if someone is going to be asking for time off, I’d rather know ASAP, not sometime later. I want to accomodate everyone and in this, time is my friend. The sooner I know things, the more I can accomodate individual requests and the more efficiently I can plan. </p>
<p>Plus, what you’re considering asking for is very, very normal, especially this time of the year.</p>
<p>I also agree that you don’t want to be in a business relationship with a manager who won’t make every reasonable effort to accomodate this.</p>
<p>latetoschool (and the other managers who replied here), I’m learning a lot from you that I never knew, and not just about things that affect my own life.</p>
<p>I think now that my college-freshman daughter, who had a job in a retail store last summer, might not have had to miss the end-of-summer going-away barbecue sponsored by the local alumni association of her university for all entering freshmen from the area. It would have been nice if she could have gone to the event in order to meet some of the other local kids in her college class, but she didn’t go because of work.</p>
<p>The barbecue took place during her last week on the job. She had needed to ask (well in advance) for a schedule modification for a day earlier in that same week because she had an eye doctor appointment that had been scheduled many months earlier. When the invitation to the barbecue arrived, she thought it would be asking too much to ask for a second schedule adjustment for the same week. So she just waited to see what hours she would be assigned to for that week, and when it turned out that her working hours conflicted with the barbecue, she turned down the invitation. </p>
<p>Perhaps she did not really need to make that sacrifice, but she wanted to leave the company on a positive note just in case she would need a recommendation from her supervisor later. I wonder now whether she could have made the request without risking a poor recommendation.</p>
<p>Just before accepting my current job last September, I wrote to the manager (now my current boss) with three negotiation points:</p>
<p>1) I’d been offered a higher salary elsewhere. I wanted this prospective employer to not match the salary, but to increase the offered salary. (They did.)
2) I needed them to increase the signing bonus so that I could afford to relocate. (I lived in Los Angeles and the job was in Houston… They did increase the bonus.)
3) I would need to be fronted my annual two weeks’ vacation in January, three months after my start date. I realized that this was a lot of time off to be granted so soon after a hiring, but I had made previous arrangements and needed that time off.</p>
<p>My manager could not stop laughing at me when I admitted to him that my “previous arrangements” involved my impending wedding to my sweetheart of seven years in front of 200 guests who’d already made hotel and flight reservations, and our subsequent week-long honeymoon to Costa Rica. Through his suppressed laughter, he said, “Of COURSE you’re going to your wedding… We’ll work out the details later!” The company ended up throwing a wedding shower for my then-fiance and I, and despite my edict that there not be gifts because I hadn’t been there long enough to warrant anything so generous, my coworkers sneaked around and bought a whole ton of stuff off our registry anyways.</p>
<p>From this experience, I learned that managers are people, too, and that life happens and work accomodates it. If work doesn’t accomodate it, then you probably don’t want to work there. =)</p>
<p>Most new hires for an auditing department have no experience; it is definitely a field that requires a lot of on the job training. So no worries there. </p>
<p>I think two of the most important attributes considered by an audit partner at any public accounting firm is whether a potential employee comes across as trainable and presentable. Meaning…being articulate is important, but you must convey good listening skills as well. In the course of the interview, make sure you don’t appear to be ‘thinking of your next question’ while the partner is answering your previous question. Later when I conducted interviews, I always looked for the applicant to initiate followup discussion after a question and answer. </p>
<p>And within two weeks of being hired in my first auditor position, I was working in the Mayor’s suite of offices on a city government audit. Having a certain amount of ‘polish’ was a major hiring consideration at my firm. Auditors are in the field in front of clients…even the lowliest junior is expected to represent the firm well.</p>
<p>Oh…and I WAS asked some very inappropriate questions…but it was decades ago. I was a ‘married lady’ before finishing my accounting degree. At my first interview with a big firm, I was asked when my husband and I planned to start a family. I still remember hearing ringing in my ears, starting a decent armpit sweat and feeling a bit queasy…and to this day don’t remember how I answered that question. They must have liked the answer because they hired me. But the partners constantly harped that they expected all pregnancies to deliver in the summer lull between audit year ends.</p>
<p>Years later, as a manager, I became pregnant with my first child (ldgirl). When I notified my partner-in-charge, I remember the blood draining from his face and the sudden emergency partner meeting that ensued. And I was in the office literally completing audit report drafts at midnight on a Friday while managing labor pains.</p>
<p>I think much has changed since then. Or so I hope.</p>
<p>I had an interview this morning. It lasted about 45 minutes. There were 2 audit managers and 2 senior auditors to interview me. I feel it went well. I am not sure if I was very precise in getting to the point of their questions. That is my dream job. Everything about that job is ideal except for traveling a little within the state. They told me that working hours are flexible. I can set my own hours per se. Some people work 4 10 hours a week. I love the flexibility. They said that it will take 2 to 3 weeks to process everything. I am on pins and needles. I keep thinking of the interview questions and how I should have answered and etc. Now it is time for waiting! It is already hard on me!</p>
<p>grantedin - you hit on exactly what I loved about being an auditor. It can be very demanding, but auditing is a profession that is flexible and allows even new hires to feel in control of their own schedule. Traveling may not seem ideal at first, but I learned to love that change of pace. (Of course, living in a 1950s era motel for three weeks while doing a tiny school board audit in central Louisiana doesn’t seem very glamorous…but I was there with a team of auditors and we managed to make it memorable. )</p>
<p>Eventually, I came to regard long stretches in the office as a ‘bummer’…lol!</p>
<p>I will definitely keep my fingers crossed for you as well!</p>
<p>Idmom06, exactly I love the flexibility. I actually don’t mind the travel. I think it will be good to get out of the office and travel. The only part of the traveling is that I might have to stay over a night at times. My husband and I are very excited about the possibility of this job. Does it normally take 2 - 3 weeks to interview everyone and decided? My mind tends to run to the negative side… When is the slow months for internal auditors in general? Thank you for your concern and interest in my job interview.</p>
<p>Thank you, mominva! I am also supposed to take a written test on audit procedure. I am not sure what kind of test it is going to be. I was told that I will be given a scenario and I will have to answer how I would handle the situation. Does anyone have any idea what could be involved in that kind of a test?</p>
<p>aibarr, could you tell me about your experience in Costa Rica? My 17 year old son is planning on going to Costa Rica this summer. I would like to be able communicate with him on a daily basis through email, IM, web camera, and etc. Is there easy internet access as we have here?</p>
<p>It’s not <em>as</em> easy as it is in the states, but there are internet cafes pretty much everywhere. I went there on my honeymoon and still managed to be chastised by a coworker for replying to a work e-mail when I was supposed to be on vacation. =)</p>
<p>I read this thread yesterday and didn’t respond as I didn’t really have anything useful to add. </p>
<p>But today I had an interview and was offered the job on the spot! I must say, that is only the second time that has ever happened to me. I tend to think of it as the exception rather than the rule. </p>
<p>FWIW in the matter of helping your D move: if it were me, I’d try like heck to get somebody else to help her move (another relative, another friend, maybe one of her friend’s parents???) so I could be at S’s graduation. They would both be important things, but if I had to choose one, I’d definitely put more importance on actually being physically there for the graduation.</p>
)</p>