Member Questions

This is for anyone out there who is in HR or who is currently looking for a job. Recently, I've been supervising a lady who was sent to us from a local chapter of AARP. She is reentering the workforce after having been laid off from a long term job. Like myself, she's in her 50s and is a paralegal (she's a real estate paralegal). AARP has a program whereby they work with older people who have lost their jobs and are looking for a new one. More often than not, they're lower income and blue collar, and have little, if any, computer skills. Also, they generally were at their other job for a long time and know nothing of the job hunting process of today. This lady is very good; she's very good at doing anything she's told. Unfortunately, right now, all I've had her do are smaller (but necessary) administrative tasks because of the work we. She is also a smoker. Now, that in and of itself isn't necessarily the problem. What IS the problem is that you can smell her 6 feet away when she comes in. I know it's from being in the car and the stench clings to everything. The question I have is this - I'm trying to mentor her. How do I approach her regarding this and that going into a workplace or interview nowadays smelling like a smokestack ISN'T the best thing? I might add that, since I work for the state, all of our buildings are smoke-free. In fact, there are probably less than 5 smokers in all of our building. To me, one of the biggest turn-offs in an interview would be to smell the person you're setting 5 feet away from. Since smoking is more and more heavily frowned on and heavily discouraged, I was wondering how to approach her about this.”

Asked by JKLD on 31st October 2009  |  0 replies