Hi Priyanka,
With reference to your above post -
1. Is she given any performance certificate or award or any written letter to confirm her contribution?
A hike in salary can be said to be given to be at-par with the compensation given to employees at similar level.
2. Her work ex in current firm is 2.5 yrs and she recruited HR Manager last year.
After having a work-ex for around 1 to 1.5 yrs, I think what she could have done was recruit a junior to her so that she can delegate the tasks to the junior and she can climb the ladder up by involving herself in strategising the HR functions.
There is always a first time to things. I am sure she did so because she felt that she is not experienced enough, but let me tell you, the best learnings can be obtained from the school of experiences.
Please note that this is not to point out where she faulted but to mention the care she should be taking in future.
3. How is it that she is hiring someone on a designation higher to her but is compensated less than her?
Money is very important. Please note that when someone is at a higher designation but recieves a compensation lesser than the sub-ordinates, it really impacts.
Either the person would quit, or would play politics so that the sub-ordinate quits...
It was her responsibility to see to it that either the compensation was at par or the designation given was not above her.
4. Now let us take the view from management side.
Your friend had been working for 2.5 years and is drawing a salary of X pa
The new manager that she appointed is for about 1 yr and draws a salary of Y pa (X > Y)
Now if I can get a person at a higher designation and perhaps with better experience at a lower cost, I would want to retain him and get rid of the costly employee.
Good or bad, sweet or bitter, this is the fact in most SMBs.
5. You mentioned she is the only working member in the family.
In that case, don't you think it could have been better if she first looked for job, hunted one down and only after having one confirmed should have resigned?
She could have let the manager take advantage of her work for time being. Atleast the inflow of cash would not have stopped and she would not have the tension of looking for a new one in this job crunching time.
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Though honesty is the best policy, here if you are being honest, you are bad mouthing your ex-employer, which is a complete no-no.
Most companies these days go for Background Verification Checks before giving the employment letter. Usually they'd approach your last employer for that.
Are you confident that the ex-employer would give a good review for her on asking and would not create a problem?
Do you think bad-mouthing the practices (even if it is the fact) would help you gain the opportunity?
You mentioned that she was handling HR department individually. Ask her to try and focus on that aspect as much as possible.
Try to first build up a rapport. And before going to the interview, ask her to weigh the pros and cons of revealing or not revealing the situation to the prospect employers. Accordingly frame the answer.
Hope this answered your query.