I offered someone "my" job

[cronewitch]

I told a coworker if she goes to college and gets a degree in accounting I will give her my job.

I will be 63 next month and she is a payroll clerk. Great young woman very good with paperwork and gets along with everyone. She is a perfect employee and drastically underpaid for how good she is. I make about twice as much. I told her if she takes the core classes for a AA in accounting I will help her with her homework and teach her what I can without showing her confidential information and schedule my retirement to let her transition in when she is ready in 2-4 years.

She has 2 babies at home but the baby daddy is a SAHP so she never has child care issues. They don't own cars but she lives between two community colleges and takes buses. She works 6:30 to 2:50 so has plenty of time if she goes after work and does homework before evening classes.

Do you think she should do this?

[wodehouse]

Since you asked, I think she ought to jump at the chance. Not too often a real fairy godmother comes along. I hope she's smart enough to grab the opportunity.

[Deleted]

Are you authorized to give her your job?

[whoisjohngalt]

You know, Crone, the more I get to "know" you, the more I like you. I wish I knew you in real life

Lena

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I hope this woman jumps at this offer.....

[cronewitch]

Are you authorized to give her your job?

Read more: notmsnmoney.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=finance&thread=4486&page=1#176866#ixzz1G2WkUqAx

Not really but she knows that. My boss is almost 70 so may be retired before it is time for me to retire. If I teach her everything I can and she is educated she is pretty sure to be offered the job. She is 35 and we prefer older employees so they would probably want her over a young person who doesn't know the company or software. She is smart and everyone likes her so even if she isn't given my job she will at least have more education and some on the job training. I could quit with no notice so she was the only choice.

[daylight]

Yes, totally. Although it usually is difficult to assess who is capable of what but I absolutely trust your judgment on people. I hope she agrees and sees this for what it is, a once in a lifetime chance.

[kdamron]

Certainly she should take the offer! Kudos to you for being mentor to her!

[debtheaven]

You know, Crone, the more I get to "know" you, the more I like you. I wish I knew you in real life

Me too. I LOVE Crone's offbeat posts and surprises.

This girl should definitely rise to your challenge. I truly hope she does!

This said, when your boss retires, will the company continue to exist? (Not that that changes anything, she should accept anyway. In a worst-case scenario she can use her degree and knowledge elsewhere if your company ceases to exist when the owner retires.)

[Artemis Windsong]

Usually superiors groom people quietly. They teach them everything then when the job is posted, no one can compete. It's great if you are on the receiving end.

She should jump at the chance. She could become the owner.

[cronewitch]

My boss isn't the owner he is VP of finance. He has been with the company 43 years so far but the company has been here since 1919.

I would be next in line for his job but don't want it. I told him it would be bad if we both got old at the same time and he says we can't since he is already old. The president and chairman of the board are about 68 too but we have a board of directors who could hire new people if they retire. The most important VP is a shareholder and his wife on the BOD and they are younger. All of us can be replaced except him, he knows everything.

The board of directors is the grand children of the people who started the company mostly the new ones might be a generation younger. We lost two of three of the founders children last year.

[crockpottin]

Wow, that is a great offer, I hope she takes you up on it. Has she expressed interest in college or is looking into college now?

[debtheaven]

I would be next in line for his job but don't want it.

Too bad you don't have a JD, if you did, you could definitely give Judge Judy a run for her money LOL.

[formerexpat]

Absolutely. She has a wonderful opportunity here and you have been kind enough to mentor her. Sometimes all people need is that good influence in their life to help them achieve a better one for themselves, and it appears you're willing and able to be that to her. to you, Crone!

[wvugurl26]

I hope she takes you up on the offer. It'd be a good skillset and degree for her to have anyway. Karma to you for offering to help her out and teach her skills to put her in a better place in life.

[luckyme]

Sounds like a great offer, but does she have enough ambition to devote that much time to chasing a degree while she is working full time with 2 babies at home.

Reminds me of a woman I worked with who was encouraging a co-worker to go back to school while working full time, who also had young children.

She was telling her how she did it, and I asked her when she spent time with her kids, she was totally dumbstruck. Had to take time and really think about it. Not everyone wants to live like that.

[Poppet]

If she doesn't take you up, I will! I am only 4 classes away.

[Waffle]

Mar 8, 2011 15:07:01 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

You know, Crone, the more I get to "know" you, the more I like you. I wish I knew you in real life

Lena

Ditto. Crone is one of my favorite posters.

Should she take the job? It seems to me that it depends upon whether she wants and is willing to take more responsibility.

[Deleted]

Mar 8, 2011 18:12:29 GMT -5 cronewitch said:

I would be next in line for his job but don't want it.

Maybe she is thinking the same thing.

[cronewitch]

She was a single mother as a youngster but got a GED and her boy is 18 now. She is with a baby daddy for the last 8 years and has two kids under 4. She has taken some classes to learn apartment management when she was an apartment manager. She said I wasn't the first to suggest she be an accountant and she loves doing the paperwork and filling out forms.

We hired her without telling her what they job really was, told her admin assistant. Really the payroll clerk was going to be fired and we needed someone cross trained to replace her. She learned what I knew, found some notes, boss helped her some and the old payroll clerk avoided teaching her much. Then the payroll clerk went to rehab for 5 weeks and she and I reinvented the job, I told her it is your office make it your own and she did. We put things on spreadsheets that had been on post it notes and she rearranged all the data in all the files. Her office is clean and the work is great she has gone back and fixed all the messes. She does whatever I ask of her without an attitude. I am not her boss but the boss lets me be a little bossy and has told the others that when I ask them to do something they should do their very best to do it.

She seemed to really consider going to school. The baby daddy had an accident 4 years ago and can't use one arm but he is about done with all the surgery. He is taking care of the kids so her taking time to go to school at least she doesn't have to deal with daycare. Her 18 year old is in his last few weeks of high school so not a burden. Baby daddy and baby girls get SSDI so she has enough income to go to school but maybe grants or loans. If she hurries maybe she can get educated before he is ready to be retrained to a new career.

[haapai]

If I had to poke holes in your karma, I'd point out that this offer also smells like a scheme for never having to rely on the other, unreliable payroll clerk. Is she still around?

There's definitely some risk involved in teaching someone else your job. However, it might just be a risk that you can afford to take and having a reliable back-up sure could improve the last few years of working, especially if your boss retires before you do.

(Getting into the specifics of how exactly having a backup will make your life more enjoyable or less stressful means reciting a litany of unpleasant and probable events. I can't get myself to do it.)

[cronewitch]

The old payroll clerk was fired. I can't teach the new one my entire job since I pay confidential payroll and do financial statements. She can't see our payroll taxes or thing because it is confidential. I have already been teaching her spreadsheets. She has nearly full time work just doing the payroll she does and reports she has but still I could help with home work if she takes classes and show her what isn't confidential. I wouldn't expect her to do any of my work. I don't care if I am fired, I have enough to retire and could get unemployment 2 years. Six more months and I could get COBRA to last until 65 so not afraid of her taking my job.

[skubikky]

Crone
I always enjoy your posts. I love your idea. As you said, you really can't say whether she'd get the job or not but it would certainly make the most sense for the organization when the time comes.
She's very fortunate to have your help and willingness. It sounds like she’s been a good student as well. I guess that makes it that much easier to teach her. Obviously she values what you have to offer.

You're the real deal neal....

[cronewitch]

She does always want to learn anything I show her. Like spreadsheets I asked if she was good with spreadsheets when she started and she said yes. Turned out there is much more to learn so I taught her to run reports in the software and put them in a spreadsheet and play with the data. She inherited some spreadsheets and they would have formula errors so she would call me. I at first would just fix them but then showed her a couple of times and showed her things like how to get in formula mode to see all the formulas. Then I would fix her sheets in front of her and not save the changes so she would go to her office and fix them herself. She never has problems for me any more. She likes spreadsheets and I am the spreadsheet queen as soon as I think she doesn't know something I will teach her and she will be happy to know more.

I love teaching people if they want to learn. I worked in CPA firms for decade and took on many novice people like fresh college grads and taught them what they don't teach in school. I could take a receptionist and teach them bookkeeping, payroll, payroll taxes, bank recs whatever they were willing to learn. I don't force it if they want to not learn they can sit doing nothing while answering the phones.

[whoisjohngalt]

Crone,
the ONLY thing I would say is that make sure she doesn't just "learns from you", but knows how to figure out problems on her own. It can be a blessing and a curse to have someone like you by her side, bc you obviously know a lot and can teach her a lot, but from my (may be limited) experience, people do much better when they are not spoon-fed the info.

Lena

[haapai]

If she goes to school, I wouldn't expect her to be asking for much help with her homework. She might ask questions inspired by her coursework, but the actual homework would be a breeze.

[ihearyou2]

I am big into teaching as well, it may be the most enjoyable part of the job. I have never been able to groom someone for my position typically due to educational requirements of the position. I would think that this would be the preferred method of succession since she knows the company and its ways. I would look at the company defraying some of the cost of education if she commits.

[cronewitch]

She just came to talk to me. I was going to drop it unless she said something. She has called one school and gotten a catalog and deciding which classes to take. Her boyfriend isn't 100% behind her but she thinks he will come around. I reminded her the job idea might never happen but she wants to go to school anyhow while she is young enough to want to.

[haapai]

Is there any way that you can steer her toward submitting a fafsa without insulting her? If she's grotesquely underpaid to the point of not having a vehicle, has a family size of three to five, and the boyfriend's income is either non-existent or coming from a source that is not included as income for fafsa purposes, she may be overlooking an option or two.

[cronewitch]

I suggested that since she is single with children and over 25 she might get grants. We talked about how much easier it is for older students than kid who have parents who don't help. I think she will apply for what aid she might get. I write her paycheck so know what she is paid it is around $16 an hour. But with two babies and a 18 year old high school senior she might get some help.

I don't know why she doesn't have a car but she was managing apartment so didn't need to drive to work. He was in an accident so maybe he had a car before but now can't use one arm so maybe can't drive.