This entry’s link comes from Mashable’s Brent Daily, talking about a job he absolutely despised, and questions he will try to always ask in future interviews. I understand all too well, as about six months ago, I took a gig I severely disliked. Allow me to elaborate…
I had been the victim of a downsizing. I had run out of severance, unemployment in the state I live in is capped at a rather pathetic $210 per week, and I had been looking hard for over three months. I was scared, apprehensive, and nervous about losing my apartment, car, etc. Bills were already piling up, I was eschewing luxuries, and recategorizing things I had normally considered no big deal (cable TV, occasional pizza) as luxuries. Then, suddenly, interviews finally started rolling, and offers came shortly afterward. Whether it was fiscal year changeover, new project needs, or divine intervention, I don’t know and didn’t care. All I knew is that I was in demand.
I immediately began weighing them out. Salaries were nearly identical, so I pushed that mostly out of my mind. One was a bit more, but also in the Northwest section of the Phoenix metro area, meaning that from my Southeast valley home, I would easily be doing a 90 minute (probably more) commute during rush hour traffic. Another was a short, non-guaranteed contract that likely wouldn’t renew. Still another had almost zero chance for advancement for several years. I discarded them all, and finally settled on a small but growing company which was decently funded by government research. It was $10K less than my previous consulting gig, but I couldn’t afford to be too picky about the salary at that point. I accepted verbally, and later that day got a call I wasn’t expecting, from a contracting firm trying to fill a spot at a major financial house. The company was Fortune 50, and I had tried to get on there many times, but I also knew I had just committed to another company. I tried to reject, but the recruiter quickly put on a full-court press and basically said “you really, really, really want to listen to our pitch.”
So I did, which was a good one. The salary was only a bit more, but there were all kinds of perks, plus an annual bonus that was decent. So I was blinded by the flash, and quickly went to work for the conglomerate instead. After a few weeks, I was in major regret. It was not a good cultural fit, the assignment was something I knew less than nothing about, they wanted me to work toward business objectives and a position I had no interest in, and I spent most of my time in meetings and generally disliking my surroundings. I found myself going to the restroom and then sitting on the throne for a couple of minutes longer than it took to take care of my business, just because I didn’t want to go back to my desk right that moment. Every fiber of my being told me to book, but I stayed because 1) I wanted to say I had been there for one year at least, and 2) I knew my bonus would kick in after six months.
Eventually, my project’s funding was cut, and I was “benched” with pay while they attempted to find me a new position. I started distributing my resume almost immediately, and was fortunate to have almost no time between gigs when they laid me off a few weeks into my inactivity (interestingly enough, right before the very pay period I was due my bonus).
I write this because I understand the temptation to take any job you can find, and the need sometimes to put up with a rather crappy one because of reasons such as pay, scarcity of replacement opportunities, etc. The moral of the story is to do more than adequate research on any company you interview for. Sites like glassdoor.com have opened the game up a bit more for job hunters, and though you may be tempted to eagerly lunge for the company like a dog given a treat, you may just want to be patient while you take one more day to review the company. Sometimes, it can mean the difference between a few dollars more per paycheck versus abject misery at the office.
Geektastic 