It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. What does “polished” mean in job postings?

I’m office temping and looking for a full-time job. I was at first focusing on nonprofits, but after some great experiences temping in the corporate world, I’m expanding my search. Every now and then I see in a listing that they’re look for a “polished” assistant.

The first time I saw this, it was for work with a luxury brand, and I immediately imagined a conventionally attractive woman with sleek hair and freshly manicured nails. I suspected that luxury brand work was not for me — I dress tidily and professionally, but don’t want to work someplace where the tweezedness of my brows might come under scrutiny.

Now I’ve been temping someplace a month, and one of their temp-to-term postings also used that word. I know this company isn’t like that — they’re corporate, but clearly not judging admins on pore size or whatever. So: what does “polish” mean? How is it different from “professional?”

Sometimes “polished” does mean what you’re envisioning — a particularly high level of attention to grooming and overall physical presentation.

But more often it just means a high level of professionalism. It means, for example, that you’re going to handle even difficult callers smoothly, that you’re not going stand in a VP’s office fumbling through papers for five minutes rather saying “let me find that for you and I’ll bring it right back,” that you’re going to greet visitors warmly even when you’re feeling harried, that you’re not going to complain about work while you’re at the front desk, that you can competently juggle multiple things without getting flustered … overall, that you’re going to be highly competent, make the job look easy and be a calming presence in the office rather than a stressful or chaotic one, and not need coaching on professionalism.

2. My boss was fired my second week on the job

After a year of being unemployed, I had an interview with a manufacturing company for a role in my field. The first interview went well, very standard, although there were a lot of behavioral questions and none about my actual technical skills as an accountant. In the second interview, I met directly with the controller, who wanted me to know that the financials were a mess and that it would be challenging but rewarding. A mess was an understatement. Two weeks in now, and the controller was walked out of the building. HR has reassured me that my job is safe and that my technical skills were part of the consideration in hiring me, as they were discussing removing the controller at that time.

I’m concerned because I definitely do not have the skills to sort out this mess. The role I was hired in to is a brand new one, so I technically have no duties. They will be hiring a new controller but they are starting the process now so it will likely be a few weeks.

Do I start looking for a new job? Should I put this one on my resume when applying? I’m not sure what looks worse … a year of unemployment or applying for a new job within three weeks of the start date of the latest one.

I think it’s way too premature to assume this job won’t work out. It’s possible, sure, but it’s also possible that this was just crappy timing and you’ll have a bumpy first couple of months and then it’ll be fine. And it could even be a good opportunity for you to get experience that you wouldn’t otherwise get. I would just be very up-front with whoever you’re reporting to in the interim about your skills and what you can and can’t do, and ask how you can be most helpful during this period.

That said, there’s no harm in applying for more jobs if you want to, so that if this one does turn out badly you’re ahead of the game. (If you do that, don’t put this one on your resume; there’s no point in including a job you haven’t at for very long.)

3. My boss helped my girlfriend’s mom ambush her at our house

My girlfriend and I work together, and her mom is friends with our supervisor. We’ve recently learned that our boss discusses the current state of our relationship with her mom. We try to be as professional as possible at work, which our boss interprets as a lack of affection and caring. Now both my boss and my girlfriend’s mom think I don’t care about her and she shouldn’t be with me. At home, we’re loving and affectionate, something neither of them see.

After not reaching my girlfriend for a week because her phone was shut off, her mom talked to our boss, who told her about a night that I would be at work but my girl would be home. Not even 10 minutes after I leave for work, her mother and brother show up, uninvited, at our house and just walk in on my girlfriend in her underwear. Her mom is convinced I’m abusive, so I can assume she walked in as a way of getting an uncensored version of our living environment.

Did our boss break the law by sharing our schedule with her mom, essentially planning this little ambush? If some random person had asked for our schedule, would it be legal for her to give it out? I see no difference. The house is a rental in my name so I see it as trespassing and I see my boss planning this with her as conspiracy to commit trespassing. Do I have any legal recourse or am I wrong in thinking laws were broken?

It wasn’t illegal for your boss to share your schedule with someone outside the company — poor judgment, definitely, but not illegal. (And of course, that pales in comparison to her poor judgment in pretty much every other detail of the story.)

I can’t speak to trespassing law, although I suspect that it wasn’t trespassing unless your girlfriend ordered them to leave and they refused.

Either way, though, there’s a big problem with your boss and your girlfriend’s mom. I don’t know how solid your other options might be, but I’d be looking at changing jobs to get away from all this drama.

4. Is this a vacation day or a sick day?

My office has separate vacation leave and paid sick leave, not combined PTO. Would you suggest counting the following scenario as a vacation day or a sick day? An employee was out of town on a personal trip over a weekend, and the return flight Sunday evening was cancelled due to airline delays related to weather. Since the employee was booked on an evening flight, they were rescheduled to the following morning and therefore missed work on Monday.

This is in reference to a salaried employee who works only four days per week and already has 10 days of vacation time (essentially 2.5 weeks of vacation per year) that is allowed to be used in single day increments if desired.

Most offices would handle that as a vacation day. But if you’re particularly flexible about how people use sick days and don’t really care if someone charges a day off to sick or vacation, there’s no inherent problem with doing it that way.

5. Company put hiring process on hold — should I tell them I’ll have to look at other jobs instead?

I went on a fantastic interview. I was told at the interview that I had a “really great shot” and was an awesome fit. I was asked about my schedule for a final interview on July 19 and responded the same day but never heard back. It’s now the end of August and I’ve not been offered the position and that final interview has not been scheduled — but I have received emails stating they are so sorry the process is taking so long, they’re still very interested in me, but the hiring process has been delayed at this time.

I am extremely disappointed with my current company and salary, which makes this potential opportunity even more desirable than when I first interviewed and wasn’t really looking to leave (they contacted me via LinkedIn). How should I respond to this email sent yesterday telling me things are on hold? Should I let them know I am eager to leave and was waiting on them but will now have to explore other companies and positions? I really liked the company, location, potential to grow and the salary they offered so letting this one go would be difficult.

Oh my goodness, no, do not tell them that. They are assuming that you’re exploring other options, so it would be odd to state that — it would sound like you were relying too much on this job panning out and that you were trying to make that their problem to deal with.

Even people who are told they’re a great fit end up getting rejected, and hiring processes get put on hold or stopped altogether. You definitely don’t want to rely on this job, and you even more definitely don’t want to tell them you’ve been doing that since that will look naive. Moreover, they have reasons for having things on hold, and those won’t change just because they hear that you’re disappointed. (In fact, you want them to take whatever time they need to figure everything out before they offer you a job; otherwise you risk major changes to the job or team after you’ve already accepted it.)

So just thank them for updating you and tell them that you’ll be interested in talking whenever they’re ready to move forward. Then, the best thing you can do is assume that it’s not going to happen (not because it won’t, but because it’s better for you if you’re not waiting around for it), put it out of your head, and proceed the way you would have if they’d rejected you — meaning, presumably, that you start applying for other jobs.