Look Before You Accept!
On in Blog, Career Assistance, Interview Assistance, Landing a Job.
The market is on a tear in the LA area and you are on your third or fourth interview in the past few weeks. The calls keep coming in and opportunities abound, but you have a good job and want to make the right decision. The last thing you want to do is take something just for more money, as enticing as it may at the time. Take a moment and ask yourself: in 3, 6, or 12 months down the road, is this really where I want to be? Many people will accept a position without doing the due diligence to research the company and the culture.
Most interviews start on the phone and then require a few hours onsite with a small team. This is all the up close and personal time you get to evaluate the environment. I was recently working with someone who requested a follow-up coffee meeting with the manager a few days after the interview and this was the first time I had had a request like this. At first, I thought he should know whether he wants the job after a four-hour interview, but then he asked me to look at it from his perspective. He had a full-time job a bit far from his home, but he wasn’t about to jump ship unless it was worth more than just a pay increase. We all spend countless hours with the people we work with and he wanted to learn more about the culture and workflow of the company to see if it would be a good fit beyond just a pay increase.
It’s hard to judge from a few interviews if this will be the place you see yourself staying forever, but you should ask questions and research to the best of your ability before accepting the offer if you’re hesitant. The last thing anyone wants is to leave a good job and co-workers and then be back on the market a few months later. It’s wise to check some of the online reviews people leave about their employer, but you must also take them with a grain of salt since they could be quite biased. If everyone is saying the same thing, though, it may be a red flag for the company and the culture there.
Interviewing can be both stressful and fun, but take a day or two and really think things out before picking a job from hopefully a few offers. I would not advise accepting a position solely based on the highest salary as there should be a number of factors that go into making your overall decision. Take some time and go on a few interviews and find that optimal position that will be best for you in the long run!
Mike Fenstermaker
Technical Recruiter
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