Look before you leap by Irene Krechowiecka

Don't get stuck in a hellish job. Get all the facts before you commit.

When you get a job offer it can be such a relief to feel someone wants you, that there's the temptation to take it without thinking too much about what's involved and how that fits in with your personality, lifestyle and long-term aims. Make yourself think about these things and decide if this is something that will do for now or the real thing. If it's a do-for-now, do you really want to spend a few months, or even years, like that?

Finding yourself in a job that's completely wrong with an employer who's a nightmare is depressingly common. And it's a situation that can be difficult to escape from. Trying to leave after just a few weeks or months might not look good to other employers, and the longer you stay in work you hate the more your confidence and energy is sapped away. It's not always possible to know what the reality of the job you're going for will be, but there's much you can do to minimise the risk of ending up in a place you can't wait escape from.

Investigate the job

While you were busy impressing the interviewers you may not have noticed that they were also trying to make their offer sound attractive. So how can you find out what you're letting yourself in for? First, you need to be sure that the type of work you're going for will suit you and that it lives up to your ideas of what it should be.

• Arrange a period of work shadowing. Many employers are happy to offer a chance to get some first-hand, unpaid experience to those investigating a new career area. It's a great way of getting an insight into any job.
  
• Failing that, read all you can about it. Not just the glossy brochures that tell you what a great career or employer this is, but information that mentions the negative aspects too. Professional and trade journals are a good place to look. They often have articles and letters written by members doing the job, that show the good and bad sides of occupations they cover.
  
• Talk to people who are doing the type of work you're after. Most people are happy to help - it's probably a rare treat to find someone who wants to listen to tales of what their working life is like.

Investigate the employer

As well as researching what the work involves, you need to find out as much as you can about an employer. It's quite possible to have a job you completely enjoy spoiled by the atmosphere you have to work in.

• The web makes it easier than ever to find information on companies by searching news archives. This works particularly well for large companies because stories about them appear frequently in the national press and media, all of which have well-maintained archives. Many local papers provide something similar for research into small companies.
  
• Listen to what other people say about them. All employers have a reputation. Take note of what that is and compare it to the image they project in their mission statements and annual reports. Although these are usually written in corporate-speak, they may hold clues and give a feel for the ethos of the organisation.
  
• Be choosy about who you apply to. No point in wasting energy trying to impress those who are never going to provide the right environment for you.

Investigate during the interview

In the end, there's no better source of information than your own senses. When you go for an interview, use them.

• Look at the people who work there. Do they appear happy or resentful?
  
• Listen to what they're talking about. Are they motivated or bored by what they're doing?
  
• The hidden areas of a workplace tell you a lot about it, particularly communal areas where people relax together. Are they welcoming and cared for? If they are, it's a good indication of a happy, co-operative staff. If there are no such facilities, it's a telling comment on the way the organisation treats people.
  
• Don't be afraid to ask about staff turnover, but don't be put off if it appears high. Companies that have retention problems may by spurred into examining how they can keep staff. Use the interview to find out how much they really value the people who work for them.

iVillage.co.uk the website for women i Work & Career Page, Look before you leap article. (n.d.) Retrieved March 30, 2005, from http://www.ivillage.co.uk/workcareer/findjob/careerchoice/articles/0,,182_163254-1,00.html