Career advice? Here’s all you need to know

We ask people about their jobs and they tell us all we need to know. Here’s part two of our collection of 2019’s most interesting quotes:

“People associate certain names with people from their past. Let’s say you recently fired a bad employee named Dominick. Chances are rare that the next person interviewing for the job will share the same name but if they do, good luck.” — Gabriel Sarges, an HR specialist and career coach in Toronto, on names being a factor in getting hired

“It’s kind of creepy when I’m in bed and get a text from [a co-worker] asking about an Equifax change or an email from our boss. It’s always really innocuous stuff but it’s just unimportant. It’s nothing that can’t wait until the next day or, if I’m being honest, the next month.” — Michelle Lindsay, a credit counselor in Hoboken, New Jersey, on getting work-related texts from co-workers

“I think most employees think there’s a certain level of hypocrisy to volunteer days. I think that given a choice, most people would rather work and have the company give money. I’ve heard people complain when volunteer-day photos show up on the company website. They feel like they’re PR props.” — Daniel Madison, an executive trainer in New York, on corporate volunteer excursions

“It’s a people-centric job so you have to like people. Sounds simple but it’s really important. I hated being in a cubicle all day, but some people love that isolation. Nurses aren’t isolated. They’re in the middle of it all the time. If you can’t handle that type of proximity to others, nursing’s probably not the job for you.” — Michelle Orlando, a registered nurse in Arlington, Virginia, on an important trait most nurses share

“It reminded me of my dad and his garage at home. It’s like a museum to his life but like my mom says, it’s a museum of garbage. He’ll keep a pair of shoes that he’s never worn but feel like he made some progress when we ask him to clean because he threw out the shoebox.” — Jennifer Curran, a 24-year-old marketing assistant in Oakland, California, comparing the remaining clutter after her officemandated cleaning day with her father’s garage

“They really emphasize the hippest, latest fun thing in their space, like a mini climbing wall. The funny part is that they show you all this cool stuff, then tell you that employees can work from home three days a week, so what’s the point?” — Andrew Wentworth, a New York-based marketing specialist on the irony of trendy, activity-friendly workspaces

“I was working from home the first time I tried it, and I got into bed and slept for an hour. I felt great afterward, but I felt like a bum sleeping in my bed, like I was cheating while my co-workers were sitting at their desks, so after that, I just sat on the couch and napped.” — Jackie Burke, a medical records technician from Oak Park, Illinois, on the mid-workday nap

“People spend years building a career, proving their best to people, and then they seem to have this idea that throwing it all away in a dramatic scene is a good thing, quitting their job in some office blowup, saying all the things they’ve kept to themselves for years like they’re in a movie. Let me tell you, it’s not a good thing. It’s a bad thing. A very, very bad thing.” — Brad Alan, a career coach in Providence, Rhode Island, on the explosive work exit

“I feel it, you know, like a person who starts walking toward the desk next to me. I feel it when he’s across the room and I pick up on it and it throws me off my game. No, it’s not like ‘I see dead people.’ I can just tell when they’re closing in on me. And when you’re in an open space, there’s always someone closing in on you.” — Matt Hernandez, a graphic designer in Philadelphia, on how he’s developed a headphone-created sixth sense after working in a shared workspace

“...I hate walking in office parks. They don’t have a lot of sidewalks. People were so committed to their cars in the 1970s that no one even thought about creating a path from one building to the next. In the winter, there’s nowhere to walk.” — Julia Farris, Cleveland, on her preference for talking lunch walks in an urban setting

“The recruiter literally asked a question that I had been asking myself ever since I was laid off. She said, ‘how did you go from Employee of the Year to losing your job?’ I mumbled through an explanation, something about the parameters changing and how I was still focusing on old markets when they decided to embrace new markets. Whatever I said, it was a disaster. Needless to say, I didn’t get a callback for a second interview.” — Tobias Howard, on having to answer for his prominently listed company awards on his resume, despite admitting to being laid off

“I usually run on the treadmill inside the health club in my building during lunch. I’m at the point in my life where I need to take a break from work to just clear my head. I don’t even listen to music anymore. I just run. I feel like I can go back to my desk without all that noise and that helps me have a much more productive afternoon.” — Jason Spelling, Chicago, on what he does — or doesn’t — do during his lunchtime workout to be productive