Perry Maddox explains what job seekers must research, learn and identify before accepting a job that they might regret.
Last year, I made a major life change.
I left a dream job, moving from one CEO role to another for the first time. It was a big one.
It was just as big for our family. We moved house and put the kids into new schools, new doctors, and new activities. We figured out new taxes, new insurance. A big one.
Brilliantly, I thought I’d found the perfect role for the next decade or two. My next dream job.
Less than 8 months later, I resigned.
Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire.
I’m not here to criticize the organization I just left. Far from it, there are great people doing great work there.
It just wasn’t a fit for me as a leader or a person. Add in some sick kids, and what seemed like a great move quickly became the wrong one.
Here’s the kicker, I was painfully close to spotting the mismatch during the interviews. Two or three words in that process set off tiny alarm bells, but these were fleeting moments amidst the excitement.
That’s the challenge, to make a major life decision based on a handful of 1 hour interviews.
Knowing that no organization or role will ever be perfect, how do you distinguish small irritants in a new role from major deal-breakers?
As a friend reminded me recently, you really need to kick the tires.
Here’s How to Kick the Tires Before Accepting a Job.
It pays to scan several elements before accepting a job. Some can be negotiated, others not. Either way, seek clarity on three main areas.
1. Personal Implications:
- The Basics. Ensure clarity on the salary, the potential for salary growth, benefits, location, hours, title, job description, reporting lines and structure.
- Work & Life. What does this role mean for your commute? Is it remote/hybrid? You may gain or lose hours of your day through commuting. If you are a parent or caregiver, will it work with your caring responsibilities?
2. People & Culture:
- People. Work LinkedIn to find out who their people are, to look for connections, and to get a sense of who your colleagues will be. Have they been there a long time or is this a new team? Is there a pattern of retention and progression, or is this a high-churn environment?
- Culture. How will you feel working here? Speak with contacts you have in or around the organization. Dig deeper through sites such as Glassdoor to learn what employees say about working there. Check out their reviews on Facebook and Google.
- Community. Dig into their socials and head to the comments. Is this a vibrant community, or is there a lack of engagement? Sign up for their newsletter early in the interview process to get a feel for their community.
- Leadership. Check out their leadership page. Is it a diverse or homogenous group? Do they wear ties or smiles in their photos? Find blogs, videos and podcasts from their leaders. Listen for tone of voice and look at body language. Are these nice people, or does that leader ooze ego?
3. Organizational Health:
- Impact. Read their publications – annual reports, statements, program evaluations, etc – online. Be aware that they publish their best. Does their impact add up for the money they spend?
- Finances. Nobody wants to join a failing organization, so do your research. Any decent non-profit will publish its annual finances, and in the business world, there are many ways to gain this insight. For US-based non-profits, find their 990 online to understand their financial health.
- Independent Reviews. In addition to social channels, check out rating independent sites like Charity Navigator, Guidestar, or sector certification bodies.
- Scandal Check. Google them and click the News tab. Scan and scroll back a few pages. Search for social media commentary about them, outside of their handles. Here’s where hidden scandals might surface.
Do This Before Accepting a Job.
After all the interviews, everything changes when you receive an offer:
- You go from answering all the questions to being asked to accept a role.
- A long process becomes a fast decision.
- You go from having no power to having all the power.
While they’ve had weeks to evaluate you, employers don’t want you taking weeks to accept the offer. After the slow build of an application, emails and interviews, in a flash you’ve got a day or two to decide to:
- Make one of the biggest life changes you’ll make,
- Under time pressure,
- Based on a few one or two hour interviews.
For all the jubilation of an offer, these conditions – important, fast, ambiguous – don’t lend themselves to great decision making.
That’s why you can’t wait to kick the tires, friends.
8 Comments
Thank you Perry! This is so insightful. Wishing you the best as you make that next step, whatever that might look like
Thank you, Lombe! It’s great to hear from you, and it looks like you’re in an exciting role these days. Hope you’re most well 🙂
Great insights and learnings from your experience. Thank you so much, Perry. Wishing you the best in your haunt for a new job.
Thank you, friend! I’m glad that this one was a helpful post, and I’ll let you know how the job search goes!
Very insightful piece @Perry, thank you for sharing. At one point I contemplated writing a book/paper/article (up to now, I have never figured out what it should be) about THE COMMON MISTAKES RECRUITERS MAKE. Among the things I wanted to highlight are around setting the right/honest tone right from the advert, asking the right questions and offering the right role to the right candidate. I find your article here very insightful and I would not hesitate to quote you when I finally write my piece! Wishing you the best in your career journey.
That sounds like a heck of a book… boy do I see those mistakes all the time. One of the great joys of working with Restless was getting to hire so many people and learn from so many peers like you on how to do it well… so I’ll keep an eye out for that book/article from you!
Hey Perry, that’s a bummer that it didn’t work out, but thanks for sharing your insights from your experience.
It’s so tricky, and the higher you rise, the bigger the risks, so obviously at the CEO level there’s a million-and-one things that could go wrong, many which are out of your control.
You provide great suggestions on “kicking the tires,” and I feel like the point on “culture” is the most difficult because, as you point out, unless you know someone that that you trust that already works there, you have such limited information and you have to decide if you trust/believe the hiring team and whatever they’ve told you about the culture and people.
You want to believe what you’re told but it’s wise to be skeptical.
Good luck on the job hunt and let’s catch up soon! – Chris
Thank you Chris, and you’ve hit the nail on the head there. Culture is so difficult to assess from the outside, and in the absence of somebody who works there, there’s definitely a bit of luck involved in it. The funny thing was that, on writing this article, I realized I’d done most of the due diligence and still come out on the short end. On balance, though, there were a couple phrases that rung the alert during the interview process. I took a calculated risk, figuring, hey the rest feels good and I’m not going to let a few odd comments sway me unduly. 9 times of out 10, I’d like to think that would be the right approach… but in this one, what I really heard was the tip of the iceberg. Chalk it up to learning, and honestly, it was a great org… just not at a great moment in its life cycle. Onward and upward we go!