The 6th Sense
Have you ever taken a job despite those nagging feelings that you should stay away? Our instincts are often vindicated a few months later, and we’re stuck wishing we’d paid more attention to the little voice in our head.
Haley says: “Don’t take that job. This guy is lying.”
To help you listen to that little voice, I’ve written five little scenarios one might encounter in a job interview. Most are exaggerations, but hopefully, you’ll be more sensitive to the real McCoy when encountered.
Ruled Out From a Mile Away
There’s a good chance you’ll be aware of a problem before you even meet the person responsible for hiring you. Though many of those signs are obvious (hint: if they contacted you initially through email spam, it’s not a good opportunity), some are more subtle:
- If they “hate having to reschedule like this” when they reschedule on you with less than 12 hours notice, yet they fail to ever actually apologize, you can spare them the trouble of rescheduling.
- If they seem confused as to who you are when you call them to follow up the day after they promised they would call you, they probably are confused.
- If the recruiter can’t explain the job position to you over the phone, they probably won’t ever give you a good picture of what you’re getting into–don’t bother. Or maybe do bother–that’s your call. Just bring a big red flag with you to the interview to remind them of these transgressions.
First Impressions
If a company is lucky enough to get you to the interview, you should be looking for professionalism and sincerity in the person hiring you. Beware of wide-eyed, smiling unctuousness. Look out for cloying, shallow conversationalists. Whether male or female, if the interviewer brings to mind a badly phony beauty pageant contestant, something about them is not striking you as sincere.
Ask, Ask Again
If you feel that you’re receiving a presentation rather than engaging in communication, you’re probably right. Overly rehearsed answers tell you nothing except that they’re trying to hide something. When you get one of those empty answers, don’t back down. Ask again.
Me: “What are the company’s strengths and weaknesses compared to its competition?”
Recruiter: “Great question, Chuck. We’re positioned as an up and coming player in a market that’s desperate for change. The competition is sluggish, and we are nimble. Now is a great time to hop on board.”
“That’s interesting. What are the company’s weaknesses?”
“We’re an up and comer, so not everyone’s heard about us.”
“The last time your company lost a client, why did they leave?”
“…”
Smoke and Mirrors
When they try to sell you on the job, they might be nebulous about certain benefits. Nebulous benefits mean no actual benefit, so again, press them on these points.
Recruiter: “I know it’s not quite the money you could get elsewhere, but as a young company, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to rise through the organization quickly. That’s going to be huge for a guy like you.”
Me: “What are some career paths available to employees who succeed at this level?”
“Great question, Chuck! I can tell by that question that you are brimming with ambition. Absolutely brimming! That kind of drive will help you advance quickly in the ranks. Trust me on this one, Chuck, you don’t need to worry about being promoted. Believe you me.”
“Thank you. So, what are the career paths?”
“I love that spunk! You’ll be able to do whatever you want!”
“What job titles might I be directly promoted to from this job?”
“‘Successful Young Guy’, that’s what I’d say!”
“…”
Dear ____, You’re Special!
If they don’t seem to be listening too intently to your answers, that might indicate that the job isn’t as important to the company as they want you to think it is.
Me: “…and that’s why I’m not really sure this is the right job for me.”
Recruiter: “That’s great, Chuck. Well, I think this is definitely the right job for you, and I think you feel the same way! I’ll be right back with your offer letter.”
Conclusion
Hopefully you’ll never run into someone as blatant or oblivious as my examples above. Those are meant to be entertaining. Really, though, these are caricatures of the kinds of things that cause us to have doubts, and those doubts are not to be ignored.
I don’t want you to base your decision off of instinct alone, but at least analyze what it was that you were picking up on and what that means to you. And remember, don’t work for someone who recruits via spam.
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14 responses so far ↓
1 Joanne // Oct 8, 2007 at 2:48 pm
That’s a good example of a question to ask. If that were asked to a quality company, besides being able to answer such questions…they’d be pretty impressed!
I’d add to your conclusion by saying that in addition to Intuition, one’s Initiative is rewarded as well. =)
2 Jayne // Oct 8, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Great question, erm, I mean artickul, Chuck!
Loved it, loved it. Stumbled!
3 Frank Roche // Oct 8, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Chuck, this is just brilliant. I was nodding my head in agreement with each point…and laughing along with a few. Really nice piece of work…and great advice for people who are looking. The rescheduling one…beauty. “Don’t bother.” LOL.
4 Bush Mackel // Oct 8, 2007 at 9:33 pm
Good post. Even though it’s hard to do, I love to try and find employees and get the real deal from them. Of course, getting employees to give you the real deal is work in itself.
5 Jen // Oct 9, 2007 at 9:03 am
This sounds famailiar… Anyhow, how about also add in there: “We’ve had someone in your position before, and they didn’t work out, but I’m sure you’ll be fine…it’s a challenge”.
Hope things are going well!!
6 Rick75 // Oct 9, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Nice post, and a clear warning shot to job seekers everywhere! If they can’t give you direct answers to your questions or dance around them, or maybe patronize you with stuff like “Excellent question” after you ask something basic, such as “How many people in the department?”, it should serve as a clear sign that the opportunity is not worth pursuing. The employer’s representatives should be respecting your time commitment as much as you are respecting theirs.
7 Ryan Paugh // Oct 10, 2007 at 9:54 am
Nice post Chuck.
Here’s another pre-warning sign to add to the list:
When you find a job online or in a newspaper be wary of “ENTRY-LEVEL OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE!” just like that, all caps, exclamation points, etc.
It’s basically just powerbait for recent grads. I’ve had friends go to these places and not even find the place until they realize it’s the grimy industrial complex right in front of them.
I’ve also had an experience with this that led me to a pyramid scheme in NYC. I didn’t realize it until after I left the interview and found my potential boss on RipOffReport.com.
8 Chuck Westbrook // Oct 10, 2007 at 11:49 am
@Joanne– True. You’ve got to be willing to go in there and poke around for answers.
@Jayne– Ha! Thanks : ) I did a Google search for “artickul” and this post is now the top non-German website. I bet I’ll get a lot of traffic off of that…
@Frank– I really appreciate that, Frank. At this point, I’m not making any money off of this site, so it’s rewarding when I receive positive feedback (or any feedback, really).
@Bush– How about this question, “May I have the contact information of the most recent employee to quit from this department?” I’d probably never ask it, and they’d probably never give it to you, but I like it anyway.
@Jen, my friend from a former job– It DOES sound familiar…
@Rick75– I walked away from a job that just oozed patronization of new employees. Of course, I took another job that had similar problems but was less obvious about it… Live and learn!
@Ryan– You know, I could do a post on pyramid schemes along these same lines. If it feels sketchy, go do some homework on it for a few hours…
9 JoeDrinker // Oct 10, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Sounds like lessons learned first hand.
Good stuff, Chuck.
JD
10 Chuck Westbrook // Oct 10, 2007 at 6:42 pm
@JoeDrinker– You got it.
11 reasonable robinson // Oct 11, 2007 at 10:43 am
Great subject for a post and you’re absolutely right. How we allow ourselves to let this happen is interesting. I reckon it’s partly to do with the fact that we think we are making a ‘rational’ decision and therefore focus on the objective issues. Our ‘gut -feel’ is important and we should pay attention to it. Also I think we should approach job interviews from position of ’superiority’ by which I mean asking ‘are these people good enough to employ me?’ The use of probing techniques used by good B2B sales people are good here as they are ‘relationship’ led. See SPIN selling to get the gist. Probe probe probe. Having good questions is better than having slick scripted interview answers.
12 Chuck Westbrook // Oct 15, 2007 at 2:22 pm
@Reasonable Robinson– You know, our ‘rational’ decisions are often just ‘rationalizations.’ If we don’t take into account the evidence of our discomfort, we’re not being truly objective. Strange that you have to heed your subjectivity to be objective, but I think that’s true in situations where we really want the job to be a good fit.
13 Paul // Feb 12, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Nice post
14 Blogfest: I Hate Your Job // Mar 8, 2008 at 12:47 am
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