interview questions meant to identify North Koreans, I promised an employee a promotion before I should have, and more

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

1. Interview questions meant to identify covert North Korean workers

As you may already know, with the rise of remote work, some sectors in the U.S. have had an issue with North Korean workers applying for work while pretending to be a U.S. citizen, with an American liaison hosting their work laptop in the U.S. and providing aid with documents and such. Since this has been discovered, some interviewers have of course tried to find ways to weed out these fraudulent applicants, and I was wondering what you think of the matter.

I heard today of an interviewer who would ask candidates to repeat a phrase like “Kim Jong Un is a fucking asshole” to prove they aren’t from the DPRK. It seems effective, but I feel like this could be sketchy on the legal front. My kneejerk reaction was that this could be seen as discriminatory based on political beliefs, but I realize that even if it were covered by states with those protections, it would be difficult to pursue. I also think the inability of any current DPRK citizen to legally work in the U.S. would negate claims of discrimination based on national origin. I do think it could be an issue if this wasn’t requested of all candidates interviewed, and wonder if it could seem stereotypical to the level of racial discrimination. Do you think this is as messy of a solution as it seems? Do you know of or have any ideas for what other solutions interviewers could implement here?

It’s an absurd solution. First, it assumes a North Korean citizen would be incapable of repeating those words insincerely and in the pursuit of what they saw as a greater good, which is likely a flawed assumption. Second, it makes them look incredibly weird to everyone else (both because of the request itself and because if this is what they consider a strong security practice, that’s a problem).

I don’t know what the right security solution is — that’s way outside my expertise — but there are entire fields specializing in it, so step one would be to consult with someone whose job it is to know!

2. I promised an employee a promotion before I should have

I manage a 25-person department in a large, bureaucratic organization. The department is organized into three groups, and I was an outside hire a couple of years ago. Generally speaking, my staff is great — we punch above our weight in a lot of our work.

Last summer, the organization started going through a process improvement push. As part of that, my boss (who is in the C-suite) told me that he would support me in doing a small reorg in my department to create a fourth group on my team focusing on more strategic projects. I am excited by this idea, because if anything is holding my team back, it is the difficulty of focusing on longer-term projects when we have so many immediate deadlines. This reorg would allow me to promote Paula, who is developing into a rock star. We’ve already informally moved Paula into a position that focuses on process improvement, but being able to give her a small team and turn her loose to focus on strategic work could be huge for us. Also, I worry that without these changes I will eventually lose her to someone else, either an internal team with a promotion opportunity or another company.

I know you’re going to tell me this next part was a mistake, but I told Paula about the reorg/promotion idea shortly after my boss and I agreed to put it into motion. And then, I ran into a bureaucratic nightmare of trying to get HR approval to make the changes required. I need to reclassify a position to promote Paula and create a team for her, and I keep getting told “not right now.” The broader organization is going through budget tightening and it’s hard to get approval for spending more on salaries (which the promotion would require). We have support to make these changes from the C-suite, but everything is going really slowly.

It’s been eight months since I floated this idea with Paula, and I’m still working on actually getting approval to do it! My boss is supportive. His boss is supportive. It’s just going really, really slowly. I’ve been up-front with Paula on what’s going on but I worry that she is going to lose confidence. What should I do, since I can’t go back in time and stop myself from discussing this with her?

Does your C-suite boss have any pull to expedite this? Ideally the next step is a conversation with him to express your concerns about losing Paula and ask him what a realistic timeline is so that both you and she can plan. Emphasize that you want a realistic timeline, not an optimistic one, and also ask if there’s anything you should prepare for that might derail that.

Right now, the most important thing you can give Paula is very, very realistic info about what’s going on and what the timeline will likely look like, so that she doesn’t feel like she’s being strung along or being fed overly optimistic projections. “I’m so sorry about this but it’s going to be at least eight months because of X” is more confidence-enhancing in her shoes than hearing “it’s really slow going but we’re working on it” every so often — because the former is specific and you won’t sound as much like you’re stringing her along. You can also ask if there are things that she wants during the waiting period that you can offer — maybe that’s a title change or authority to do X or help removing obstacle Y. Or maybe there’s nothing, but you should talk with her and find out.

Ultimately, you might lose Paula if this drags out, but that’s just the reality of how these things go.

3. My boss didn’t include a major accomplishment in my review

I work for a nonprofit that underwent a major systems overhaul last year, replacing outdated internal tools with a new CRM. The transition was rocky and in the months following launch, many of us worked significant overtime to stabilize workflows and prevent service disruptions. During that period, I consistently worked 60-hour weeks identifying and documenting system issues critical to our department’s function. One project in particular required substantial independent effort and had a surprisingly helpful impact on improving operations.

Because of the organization’s financial strain from the rollout, staff received only modest cost-of-living increases this past review cycle, with no merit raises. I’m genuinely okay with that, as I value the mission and benefits, and I understand the constraints.

My concern is recognition, not compensation. In my 2025 performance review, my supervisor did not mention my largest post-launch contribution. I added context in my written response, but it wasn’t reflected in their evaluation. In a recent one-on-one, I asked whether the extra work done during the transition period could be considered in next year’s review cycle.

My supervisor seemed to interpret my question as a complaint about compensation and responded by explaining the organization’s budget deficit. I clarified that I appreciated the context but didn’t push back or mention that I wasn’t asking for more money.

Now I’m concerned about two things: first, that my contributions during a uniquely demanding period won’t be formally recognized, and second, that my supervisor may have misinterpreted my intent as dissatisfaction with pay.

Is it reasonable to expect that work done in a particularly intense period (like a major system rollout) would carry over into the next performance review cycle if it wasn’t fully captured in the previous one? Should I proactively clarify with my manager that my concern is about accurate recognition of my contributions and not compensation? If so, how direct should I be?

I want to advocate for my work without coming across as transactional or tone-deaf to the organization’s financial realities. At the same time, I don’t want a significant effort to effectively disappear from the record.

I can see why your manager interpreted it that way — usually when someone is concerned about considering a particular piece of work in a particular review cycle, it’s linked to money. In part that’s because in a lot of organizations, the content of a particular evaluation doesn’t matter that much year to year; rather, the content’s main impact is on (a) your pay and (b) your overall rating. If your overall rating was already very high and you’re not advocating for it to be increased, I can see why your manager assumed what you were advocating for was money. It sounds like you really just want the work itself it be recognized within the narrative of the review — which isn’t unreasonable, but that’s probably why she missed it.

You could go back to her and say something like, “I think I miscommunicated my interest in having the X work included in my review. I’m not asking for a different raise or even a different rating; rather, it was such a significant part of my work this year, and I believe had strong enough results, that ideally I’d like it be included in the written record of my work for this period.”

4. My job might want me to take on new work — how do I ask for more details?

I currently work in accounts receiving but the bulk of my experience is in accounts payable. At my current job, the accounts payable Major Dames might be retiring by the end of the year. I have been approached to take over their duties (along with some automation).

I asked how much time I had to think and was told Q3 at the earliest (because The Major Dames might push back their retirement). I’ve taken the time to think and I want to move forward with this. How do I approach the conversation in which I want to say, “Yes, I want this. What does it look like? Like title *ahem* pay … etc.” Should I ask what concerns they might have with me now so I can address them? The more I think, the better it seems but instead of getting wrapped up in the fantasy of better money and more pay, how do I instigate the conversation: tell me more?

Be straightforward! “I’ve given it some thought and I’m very interested. Can you tell me more about what that would look like logistically, as well as what it would mean for my title and pay?”

Be prepared for the possibility that they might not have been planning to change those things! If that turns out to the case, you could say, “Based on the increase in responsibility, I was hoping we could consider X or similar for a title, with a salary change to reflect the increased work.”

You don’t need to ask what concerns they might have with you; from what they’ve said so far, they might not have any. If they do start to seem less solid about moving forward with this, at that point you could ask whether they have specific concerns about your ability to take on the work, but based on what’s been said so far it doesn’t sound like you need to ask that right now.

5. I need business referrals but I also need friends

I am a professional fine artist. I’m building my business around custom commissions for clients. My paintings are at a price point where they’d be considered luxury goods by a lot of people and as a result, my business relies heavily on referrals. I am lucky and grateful to have a lot of friends who are very supportive, very impressed with what I do, and tell their friends about it. However, I don’t want to fall into the tupperware party trap of turning all my friends into business leads.

I’d love to hear from other readers in similar situations about strategies they use to grow their business without wrecking their social lives.

I’m happy to throw this out to readers, but as a general rule I think it’s fine to say once, “If you’re ever interested in a commission or know someone who is, I’d love to talk about it!” Saying it once is completely fine — you’re letting them know of your availability. After that, though, assume they’ll tell you if they’re interested in doing that; they may be friends who are very supportive but not likely to pay luxury-good prices for art, and that’s okay!

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