Good Company or Bad Company: How Can You Tell?
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by: Guest |
When considering a job offer, how can you be sure that you’re joining a good company and not a bad company?
The worst career decision I made early in my career was leaving one job that wasn’t really going anywhere (it was a good company but the job was boring) to a bad company where the job ended up being worse than the one I’d left.
I should have trusted my gut and listened to what it was telling me.
I ended up leaving this company after 8 weeks and shortly thereafter, I became a recruiter. So in that regard, things ended up ok but I could have saved myself some grief if I’d paid more attention to what I saw during the interview process.
Here is some advice regarding how you can ensure you are joining a good company and not a bad company:
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1. Trust your gut. What is your gut feeling about the company? Don’t ignore glaring signs that something might be wrong that the company isn’t telling you about. Don’t look for bad signs that don’t really exist, simply keep both eyes open and don’t let your desire to change jobs overrule common sense. In the example I gave above, my first bad feeling was when I went to the first interview and found out that the company was located in a converted house which was not what I was expecting. They were supposed to be moving to a real office shortly but I overruled my gut reaction when I should have just walked away from the opportunity.
2. Listen to everyone you interview with especially anyone who isn’t the hiring manager. The hiring manager isn’t likely to spill the beans on anything negative about the company but other people you interview with just might. Sometimes during the interview process, you get to speak with people you’d be working with if you are hired and quite often they’ll shed light on things that you might not otherwise have known since they’re not the one doing the hiring and have no reason to hide anything.
3. If possible, try to find someone who used to work for the company and ask them for their honest opinion about the company. If you know someone who already works there, confidentially ask them about their experience with the company and the pros and cons of working there.
4. When you go for interviews, look around for anything out of the ordinary. Do people look like they’re happy? Does everyone appear to be rushing around stressed or do they look relaxed? How professional looking is the environment?
5. Pay attention to how the company answers your questions during the interview process. Do they answer all your questions or do they seem to avoid some of them? Does it look like they are trying to hide something? Remember to find out why the job you are interviewing for is actually open, too ie. Was the last person fired and if so, why? Is it a newly created job?
6. Remember to do as much research about the company as possible on your own well before your first interview. Look carefully over the company website, type in the company’s name into various search engines and see what results come up, look for press releases related to the company, check out their financial stability through the use of financial records, etc. The more you know beforehand, the better.
Carl Mueller is an Internet entrepreneur and professional recruiter who wants to help you find your dream career.
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