Glassdoor.com Blog

Looking For Your Dream Job? First Get Optimistic With Your Current Job

Hank Stringer — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:45:56 +0000

A great deal of emphasis has been put on finding your dream job lately. And by lately I mean over the past 12 years or so. I believe strongly that really enjoying what you do is very important to a balanced and happy life and think everyone should strive to find that elusive dream job. Ahhh – there’s the rub, it seems that what makes a dream job so important and such a goal is that it appears few have found that perfect dream job and the rest of us, the majority, want what it seems we can’t have.

As John Sumser has pointed out in his posts there are certainly ways to obtain what seems unobtainable. But again, that seems a recipe for the few while the rest of us get jealous and spend our time dreaming of that wonderful dream job. I wonder if the dream is all it’s made out to be…ever hear “the grass is greener on the other side of the hill”? It’s true and we know it. We accomplish something and begin to look elsewhere – forward or backward for the next great thing or job.

Again, I’m all for dreaming about the perfect job, but let’s consider that maybe our current work can be our dream job. Some of you, or many of you, may think I’m crazy as you sit at the desk at the company you hate, with the boss you dislike doing the job ‘anyone’ could do. I got it, but also believe that getting the right attitude in your current job is very important to landing your dream job.

Maybe our current work can be our dream job.

So here are a few things you can do to make your current position better, insure you have the right attitude and who knows your dream job may surprise you and knock on your door.

List everything you like about your current work. No, not just a couple of things – EVERYTHING YOU LIKE. Negatives not allowed
Describe how you are perceived at work and be truthful. If you don’t like your work it will show as a negative and negative will not help you find your dream job.
List actions you can take to enjoy and appreciate your work. Yep, know it’s hard but why not concentrate on enjoying whatever it is you do.

Ok this may be the Pollyanna approach to some, but whether we like it or not work is work, and no matter what we do we should strive to do it well with a positive attitude and with enjoyment. Cause the people around you, at all levels, will respect your positive attitude enough that they will want whatever it is helping you appreciate and enjoy your work – it’s attitude. And who knows one who appreciates you today may be the one recommending you for your dream job in the future.

Looking For Your Dream Job? First Get Optimistic With Your Current Job is a post from: Glassdoor.com Blog

Dream Your Job: Part 3 – Being Infectious

John Sumser — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:44:39 +0000

Dreaming your job into existence is much more than simply knowing what you want.

There are three legs on the career management stool: understanding, promotion and attraction. Any effective job search, network conversation, cover letter, interview or development plan involves using all three. Understanding means all of the things you do to learn about what you want and where you might do it. Promotion includes everything you do to let people know you’re available and capable. Attraction is the work required to cause opportunity to come to you.

For most of us, thinking about your career or looking for work is anxiety laden and dread inducing. The subject unearths long held insecurities and desperately wants to run back into the closet. Rarely do you hear someone talk about the pleasure they take in finding work.

At the same time, there is extraordinary wisdom in the antiperspirant commercial. If they see you sweat or sense your desperation, the game is over. Being calm is the first half of infectious enthusiasm. Xanax and Prozac sales are surging as a way of mechanically solving some of the problem.

Attracting opportunity begins with being calm and grows to include a level of warmth that calls things into your field of view. If you don’t want the mechanical deadening that comes with prescription drugs, it’s possible to learn to be calm. Routine meditation and breathing exercises are where you start.

As important is being able to consistently deliver warmth in your interactions. Prepare for phone calls by considering a happy thought, smiling deeply and intending to make the other person in the conversation smile. Creating a positive environment and caring for the people who enter it is the sort of good manners that make you an attractive employee.

When you smile during a phone call, the other person can feel it.

The more attention you pay to generating a sense of calm enthusiasm, the more that opportunity will come your way.

Dream Your Job: Part 3 – Being Infectious is a post from: Glassdoor.com Blog

AT&T’s “There’s a Map for That” Lawsuit Against Verizon

Glassdoor Team — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:40:41 +0000

The gloves are off: the media has reported that AT&T is suing Verizon over the company’s “There’s a Map for That” ads with the claim that the spots mislead customers as to AT&Ts overall coverage area, representing only 3G and not wireless coverage overall. While this news is not unexpected, it does come on the heels of disappointing earnings and sluggish customer growth for Verizon as the wireless giant struggles to compete against AT&T and their exclusive deal with Apple and the iPhone. Does this signal a modern day War of the Roses?

Advertising and consumer sentiment aside, we took a close look at how each company’s employees rate their leadership and the organization, and Verizon has a very slight edge over AT&T, although neither company can boast about high numbers of 5-star reviews. Despite outward appearances, based on anonymous reviews these communication giants are suffering from a lack of communication with their employees.

AT&T Reviews – Glassdoor Review

Verizon Reviews – Glassdoor Review

In comparing the CEOs, Verizon’s chief executive Ivan Seidenberg’s 41% approval rating and 26% disapproval rating gives him the advantage in this round. AT&T’s head Randall Stephenson’s approval rating is lower than his disapproval rating – 29% approval, 35% disapproval – which is never a good sign for those at the top. However, employees note that Stephenson does get credit for Apple’s exclusive deal to sell the iPhone, although his management since leaves something to be desired.

The company ratings are on par with each other – both receive a “neutral” rating – Verizon has a 2.9 and AT&T has a 2.7. What is especially telling is how similar employee reviews are regarding the positives and negatives working at each – including the great benefits but lack of communication or focus on employees themselves.

According to Verizon employees, the strategy and layoffs hamper day to day productivity, but the opportunities for training and additional education reflect positively on the company:

Account Manager, Atlanta, GA: “Too much focus on day to day results vs long term strategy and planning.”

Anonymous: “The health plan is great. The training opportunities are great. If you are a self-starter and competent, and meet your deadlines, you are not micro-managed.”

Marketing Manager, Irving, TC: “Hang on to your seat, because there will be a layoff every 6 months. The environment is becoming progressively more cut-throat and less collaborative.”

Systems Analyst & Programmer, Tampa, FL: “Good health package, annual performance based bonus, large and stable company that has its’ hands in everything, they have tuition assistance and also give you full access to a multitude of free elearning courses.”

AT&T employees are somewhat less satisfied with senior leadership, but most reviews note that benefits and advancement opportunities are a boon for the communications company:

Executive Director, Los Angeles,CA: “The people of AT&T are good, decent, hard working, dedicated people who deserve much better than what they’ve gotten. There is horrendous senior leadership at the top.”

Manager of Staff, Redmond, WA: “Upper management doesn’t seem to have a grasp of what is happening at customer level. Resources, promotions and decisions often based on manager to manager relationships and not on sound business reasoning.”

Retail Sales Consultant: “Pay is excellent, training is very helpful, Amazing benifits and compensation!!… They take care of their employees.”

Anonymous, Chicago, IL: “Job Stability, Lure of working with a Fortune 100 company. Good Leadership.”

IPTV Network Analyst, Irving, TX: “Professional advancement and training is top notch. Achievements are recognized, and innovation is encouraged.”

Neither company wins this battle, nor is there a clear front-runner in the ongoing wireless war. We’ll be keeping a close eye on employee sentiment as the lawsuit continues to grab headlines.

If you work inside either of these companies, let us know what you think.

AT&T’s “There’s a Map for That” Lawsuit Against Verizon is a post from: Glassdoor.com Blog

Try A Human Voice In Your Resume

Liz Ryan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:25:37 +0000

A job search is full of obstacles, from unresponsive HR departments to those annoying blind ads that don’t even tell you who the employer is. On top of the roadblocks that a job search imposes on us, here is one more that we create for ourselves: a dry-as-dust, boilerplate resume that sounds exactly like everyone else’s resume does.

It’s easy to see why we’d write a resume in the conventional way, following what I call the ‘Standard Model’. It’s a safe approach, because we’ve already seen a million resumes that read the same way. Here’s an example of a Standard Model resume summary used by one imaginary fellow applying for HR jobs:

Results-oriented HR professional with a bottom-line orientation and strong attention to detail. Team player with excellent communication and organizational skills and experience leading cross-functional teams.

We have read these words ten million times before. When we read them, we get no sense of the person behind the boilerplate language. Is this person creative? Is he smart? We have no idea. The words present a brick wall to the reader. They’re robot words, churned out of the resume-language machine in the sky. We can’t tell whether the resume’s owner is someone who can help us, or someone we’d like to work with every day. We can’t tell anything about him at all. In my opinion, a boilerplate-filled resume is a waste of space.

We can make our resumes more powerful by dropping the boilerplate language in favor of simple, human words that regular people use when they’re not writing resumes. We can write our resume in a human voice that speaks directly to the reader.

Let’s start with the opening words of our resume summary. “Results-oriented professional” is written in a strange kind of governmental/bureaucratic language that has no ‘person’ in it. We know that the phrase “Sally is a sweet girl” refers to Sally in the third person. “I’m left-handed” is written in the first person. What person is used by resume-writers? None at all. ”Results-oriented professional” is neither first-person nor third person. It’s a ghostly kind of no-subject language. Let’s get rid of it, and speak to the reader in the first-person in our resume summary, like this:

As an RA in college and ever since, I’ve loved untangling thorny people problems and helping groups move past differences to beat their goals. I’m an HR Generalist whose strong suit is removing obstacles for the teams I support – from comp snarls and policy confusion to training gaps – and whose passion is building a culture to attract and hang onto the most talented people in our industry.

Now we have a sense of the guy behind the resume – a strong sense of him, in fact. There are zillions of HR people on the job market, but this man knows who he is. He’s an HR guy who loves the employee-relations/generalist side of the HR function. The first-person voice in his resume speaks directly to the reader, and it’s confident. On top of that, this fellow knows what he wants to do and what he’s good at. He is speaking very specifically about his talents without detailing his skills (comp, benefits, HRIS, training) out of context in the usual boring, laundry-list approach.

One more thing — our HR job seeker uses vernacular in his resume summary (slang, in other words). He writes the way he speaks. He says that he’s passionate about helping his employers hang onto talented people, because ‘hang onto’ is the way regular people refer to what HR types call employee retention. This job seeker doesn’t need to use ‘the official words’ in order to feel, or to make himself sound, more professional. He’s professional – he knows it, and it comes through in his description of the work he’s already done. He uses simple English, slangy terms (’beat their goals,” “strong suit”) because it’s a more down-to-earth and confident approach than the Standard Model treatment, a la “Proven track record of success retaining seasoned talent using cross-functional yada yada yada.”

Is the human-voiced approach ten million times stronger than the boilerplate resume summary above? I think so. Most employers – most hiring managers, in particular – will have a strong, positive reaction to a resume summary like this – but not all of them.

Could a more traditional hiring manager or HR person reviewing this HR person’s resume freak out at the use of the first person, the strong branding, and the casual tone? It’s possible. If our HR job seeker’s use of simple human language would get this job seeker tossed out of the promising candidate pile, would he want to work for that company anyway? That’s a question for him or her – and for you.

Try A Human Voice In Your Resume is a post from: Glassdoor.com Blog

How To Evaluate A Job & Career Recruiter

Jeff Hunter — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:54:39 +0000

Liz Ryan brought up a good point last week – corporate recruiting doesn’t often work the way it should. Reactions to corporate recruiting tend to range from “amazingly bad” to a “soul-sucking, dehumanizing experience from hell.” Everyone agrees that things could be done a lot better. But you can make it better.

We have been talking about ways for you to take control of your career, to make sure that you are in the driver’s seat when the email or call comes from a recruiter. But what happens when that first contact actually happens? How can you make sure that this call is actually worth your time? Do you really want to be behind the velvet rope at this particular event?

Every recruiter approaches that first contact differently. Of course we are all looking for relevant qualifications. But experienced recruiters know that experience and education aren’t usually all they are cracked up to be. As we have discussed, the world of work is changing fast. Talking about what you learned 20 years ago at college isn’t quite the hook that it used to be.

Good recruiters avoid the “tell me about yourself” knee-jerk exploratory party-starter questions. They know that time (yours and theirs) is their most limited resource. They want to figure out quickly whether you are worth their time. But don’t forget: you are in control. Your time is even more valuable than theirs. Hanging out on a phone call with a bad recruiter who is wasting your time is like going to the dentist without the fun. You need to be able to evaluate the recruiter, just like they are evaluating you.

Here are four areas a good recruiter will try to explore in the initial conversation. Turn-about is fair play.

Business Focus: The recruiter needs to quickly determine whether you get ‘how to’ add value to a business, regardless of the type of job. Recruiters are decreasingly interested in a narrowly-focused specialist as it is easier to outsource and automate those kinds of jobs. A good recruiter will be able to tell you how the job they are pitching relates to the success of their business. A good candidate can talk about what kinds of businesses excite them and how they have added value in the past.
Problem Solving: Hiring managers are starting to figure out that no matter how well they plan, s*&t happens. Positions that don’t require good problem solving skills are most likely going to lower cost locations (see a pattern here?). A good recruiter knows how to tell you what kinds of problems this job will likely face and why solving those kinds of problems is important to the business. A good candidate can talk about specific problems they have solved in the past and what those examples demonstrate about the value and importance of their capabilities.
Agility: If there is one thing that is going to be important in any job that stays local, it is going to be agility. Some call this flexibility or adaptability. It all comes down to the same thing: ability to shift gears rapidly, to respond to change gracefully and actually take advantage of the new situation. If a recruiter tells you that this job is stable, challenge them. A stable job can be easily outsourced. If the recruiter is pitching security they probably don’t know what they are talking about (and are therefore wasting your time). Be prepared to talk about how you react to change and have used it to your advantage in the past.
Purpose: We have discussed this at length. Be prepared to answer the lotto question: “If you won the lottery tomorrow, what would you do?” As we have discussed, a good recruiter knows that the specifics of a job can change from day-to-day but that the long-term objectives of the business are likely to stay the same. They need to be able to tell you about what is really important to the business and the management (the “business purpose”). Similarly, you need to apply the lessons we have talked about previously and be able to determine whether the job being discussed is something that is part of your purpose, and not just another way to turn you into a zombie.

Final advice: get to the point, and demand the recruiter do the same. You really don’t want to be getting phone calls, emails and offers from a company that runs a business you are not interested in, can’t tell you what problems you would be expected to solve, isn’t honest about the importance of change, and doesn’t align to your core purpose. You certainly get enough spam already. Put yourself in the driver’s seat, be ready to answer these questions, and be ready to show the recruiter why they should be working for you.

How To Evaluate A Job & Career Recruiter is a post from: Glassdoor.com Blog

Common Cents: Know The Value Of Your Work

Hank Stringer — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:14:24 +0000

The work we have or seek has a value, and though it appears logical for companies to know the specific value each job adds to the company, not all jobs are easy to align with business revenue. Traditionally we consider sales because the position is directly tied to revenue and is easy to measure – we know the value of the salesperson who brings in 150% of quota. But how do companies measure the value of a software tester, a customer service rep, or an HR Generalist?

In our current climate companies are striving to understand costs in order to insure profitability and sadly are making decisions to cut costs before truly understanding the value of a job. Therefore it may be of personal benefit to understand your job’s value for your current company. Or if you are in an interviewing process, understanding the value may be of help in securing the position. For example, consider: Does the position add to the success and profitability of the company? How and how much? It’s a good idea to know, and here are a few suggestions that can help determine the real value.

Learn the financial goals for the company. If you are with a public company the information is available. If you are working for a private company and your management has not shared, go to your management and ask. Letting it be known that you are interested in understanding how your position can help achieve the overall goals of the company is a good thing.

Study the business model assumptions: Every company makes assumptions about their business model and then work hard to prove them by exceeding or doing better. How many clients can one customer service rep handle? How many lines of code can the tester successfully review? Are their assumptions for your position or is the position seen as a cost with no return. Let’s think about that, the HR Generalist may be responsible for 401k administration, benefits and compliance – how in the world do we value? Your company should survey employees and measure retention. High marks and a high retention rate means productivity is consistent and recruiting costs are kept in check, therefore value is added to the bottom line by protecting investment and avoiding costs. Still, many times it is hard to put a number to the value.

So ask: Many times and for many reasons we are not willing to ask for help when in reality people are usually willing to help out. In this case corner the Controller, Accounting Manager or the CFO and let them know you have a question and that you need their help. When they ask why, tell them you want to understand the value your position brings to the company BECAUSE (important) you have some ideas and want to improve the value of your work to the bottom line…help the company out. You will be surprised at what you learn, how you are perceived and how your future ideas may be listened to a little more closely.

So interesting, we started out to prove the value of our position, but in the end by going through the process we may have proven our value to the organization. And that is the point, companies want people who want to improve their lot and in turn the company’s.

And if you’re interviewing pursue the same process. It may be harder to find the right person to answer your questions but if you do before the second interview you will bring information and knowledge to the table that will make you shine!

Common Cents: Know The Value Of Your Work is a post from: Glassdoor.com Blog

Workplace Organization: Are You The Lackey, The Arguer or The Promotable?

John Sumser — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:13:49 +0000

Broken lines, broken strings, broken threads, broken springs,
Broken idols, broken heads, People sleeping in broken beds.
Ain’t no use jiving. Ain’t no use joking. Everything is broken.

Broken bottles, broken plates, broken switches, broken gates,
Broken dishes, broken parts, Streets are filled with broken hearts.
Broken words never meant to be spoken, Everything is broken.

Seem like every time you stop and turn around, Something else just hit the ground
- Bob Dylan

Last week’s debate about the state of corporate recruiting got me thinking. It seems like an awful lot of things are broken. And, it seems like there are a ton of people who want to fix them.

Sometimes it seems like we’re moving from a culture of innovation to a culture of maintenance. Fixing broken stuff is just not the same as imagining new things. There’s a place for both but it’s a real mistake to confuse one with the other.

There are three types of people in any organization: 70% are Lackeys (brown nosers); 20% are Argumentatives (live to disagree with the boss); and 10% are Promotable (know how to give good advice and then go with the decision). This thinking applies to the various broken things in our organizations.

In recent years, the flow of technology and the aging of our society have conspired to create a kind of shell shock. We’ve seen so many new things that we can barely stomach another. At the same time, we’re aging as a culture and therefore less able, or at least less inclined, to adjust to new things.

The result is that people who are introducing new ideas have learned to talk about them as if they were obvious repairs for obviously broken stuff. We’re so tired of the new that when someone approaches us with the requisite evangelism, we flee. That’s how so many things that are way better than they used to be fall into the “broken” category.

When you’re investigating a job possibility, you have to be clear whether you want to be a fixer, a creator or a great worker. Then you have to figure out which one the boss wants. Remember that she’ll most likely see you as a lackey, an argumentative or a Promotable.

If you want to be a creator, consider becoming an entrepreneur. Organizations naturally favor the status quo (there are some counter examples but not many). Being an entrepreneur means that you don’t have to spend as much time persuading people to get started. Think back about the types of people in an organization. If you want to create, you’re likely to be viewed as argumentative and routinely dismissed. Generally, people viewed as argumentative are the first to go during the layoffs.
If you want to improve things, you have to learn how to make a suggestion and then take “No” for an answer. This is what bosses think of as a “Promotable” contributor. In 21st century companies, sticking to your guns after the decision is made makes you an Argumentative. The Promotable worker is like a good hitter in baseball. Each at bat is an opportunity to improve the average. Success once every five at bats is good performance for a major leaguer.
Great workers run the risk of being viewed as Lackies. A positive attitude, the willingness to accept things as they are, the desire to deliver value and the aspiration to do one’s job well may just be seen as ‘brown nosing’. In a large number of companies, long-term survival depends on being a good worker in spite of what the more favored clique thinks of you.

Things are different as your career progresses. It’s traditional for a new manager to immediately reverse the decisions of her predecessor. In the ranks of management, “Everything is Broken” is often the point of departure.

Workplace Organization: Are You The Lackey, The Arguer or The Promotable? is a post from: Glassdoor.com Blog

Can You Visualize Work & Career Goals? Create A Vision Board

Glassdoor Team — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:52:46 +0000

About a year ago, Oprah Winfrey did a show with a panel of psychologists who discussed the power of a vision board. A vision board is a large presentation board that included cut outs of pictures, words or key phrases from magazines, newspapers or anything form of paper to capture something you hope to achieve. (Note: Oprah.com has created an online version as well if that suits you better.) The message from Oprah is part of her overall programming idea to help you ‘live your best life’.

So why not create a vision board to help you live your best career? Your boss holds you up to goals they want you to achieve throughout a year, so give yourself the same courtesy and figure out what it is you are working toward. We know that you are probably exhausted after a day of work, and that you want to spend time with your family, friends and kids, or just have a few moments to sit on the couch and unwind, but why not give some time, no more than an hour, to visualize and think about where you want to go in your career. What would define achievement to you in your career?

Pull together a stack of magazines, newspapers and favorite websites, and let’s get started. Here are a few things to consider as you flip through the pages of print publications or scan the pages of some of your favorite online sites:

What city offers you a chance to build out your dreams? Cut out an image that best symbolizes that location. For example, let’s say you want to start a business or work for a company in Miami, cut out a picture of the downtown strip.
Do you want to work at a specific company? Feel like you would have a better chance to see your ideas flourish within a certain company? Look for their company logo and print out a copy and paste it to your board.
Do you want to change careers? Look for an image or word that illustrates the area you would like to pursue. Perhaps you want to become a nurse or an architect – try to find some symbol that best captures the career you are dreaming about.
Do you picture working in a certain style workplace? Are you working to be a top notch attorney? Find a picture of a person in a suit in a courtroom or in a law firm office. Do you dream of starting your own website and want a laid back atmosphere? Find a picture of a person in jeans surrounded by computers.
Are there a few words that can inspire you? Research inspirational quotes. For example, maybe Buddha’s wise words will give you the right motivation, he says “Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.” Or, maybe Harding Lawrence’s quote is more moving to you: “Don’t set compensation as a goal. Find work you like and the compensation will follow.”

As Oprah says, the board should capture: What do you want in your life [or career]? What images represent your dreams? What words inspire you to move forward? It doesn’t matter what you put on the board, as long as you remember each aspects’ intention.

Lastly, it’s important to realize that things may not happen overnight, but by placing the vision board in a location that you see frequently, it can serve as a constant reminder of what you are working toward. It may surprise you when you look back a year later as you may have achieved more than you thought.

Can You Visualize Work & Career Goals? Create A Vision Board is a post from: Glassdoor.com Blog

How to Tell the ‘Story of You’ in A Job Interview: Part 1

Rusty Rueff — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:43:02 +0000

So, you have gotten the interview that you desired and you know that you are going to be asked once, twice, maybe five or six times, some question that is like, “so, tell me about you”. You then have five to seven minutes to tell your story. When I interview people I usually give them a chance to tell me about themselves and tell me their story. Of the thousands of interviews I have conducted in my career, I can tell you that few of those stories stand out. And why don’t they? It’s because they are not told as stories. Instead, what I receive is a regurgitation of their resume and a data dump that lasts too long and is far from being interesting. As my mind wanders off to something else, I want so desperately to hear a story of intrigue. Storytelling and narrative is our oldest form of communication. An expert on the impact of storytelling, Andy Goodman, says “storytelling is how we mark our history, establish our identity, and how we remember.” He also says that each of us are the product of a storytelling equation:

Stories you want to tell – Stories nobody wants to hear = Stories you tell…that end up being you

But, if more of us knew how to tell a good story, then we wouldn’t just respond to an interviewer’s opportunity for us to tell our story with just data and facts. Instead, we would take those five to seven minutes and tell a story about ourselves that is unique and unforgettable. There is a structure and art to storytelling that in the context of a job interview we will explore over the next few weeks and by the time we end this series of posts, I hope that each of you will have scripted the powerful and compelling story that is you.

Next week…the six plots that make up your personal career story.

How to Tell the ‘Story of You’ in A Job Interview: Part 1 is a post from: Glassdoor.com Blog

Ten Reasons To Run From A Job Opportunity

Liz Ryan — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:15:04 +0000

One of the worst things that can happen to a talented job seeker is to get caught in the Vortex — that swirling, chaotic place where the hiring-process movement gets to be so fast and furious that it’s hard to keep up with it.

“They want me in New York next week to see the CEO!” you say breathlessly to your roommate.

“Have they told you the title or the salary yet?” your roommate wants to know.

“No, but isn’t it exciting?!” you exclaim.

That’s the Vortex. In the midst of all the phone calls and interviews and paperwork flying around, it’s easy to lose your bearings. You’re so excited and so flattered to be complimented and sought after that you can become disoriented. Then, you might forget that you have a stake in this deal greater than just a job offer.

Accepting the wrong job may be worse than another month or two of unemployment. Taking the wrong job can trash your resume and your emotional health in one fell swoop. If you take a job you hate, will you have energy to work all day in the pit of hell and conduct another stealth job search at night? And how will you explain another job search after only a few months in the new job? For these reasons, it’s important to keep your wits about you and pay close attention to any red flags during the employer-and-candidate tango.

Here are ten warning signs that may signal “Get out of Dodge”:

If you get a call from someone wanting to interview you based on a resume you sent three months ago, you should get some explanation for the delay. No explanation means: “We couldn’t care less about you. You want to come for an interview, or should we call the next person?” If you’re also expected to remember the details of the job you applied for three months ago and if the phone screener is impatient with you for having forgotten the fine points of the role, take warning.
Once you’re phone screened, a face-to-face interview should take place within a week or two. Three, four or five weeks of waiting says: “It’s all about our needs, Bucko. You’re not our highest priority.” A perfectly reasonable question (if you can get anyone live on the phone) is: “What is the time frame for having this new person start?”
It’s normal to have interviews delayed and rescheduled. People are busy – we all understand that. Two or three delays and reschedules for a scheduled interview is a sign of a shoddy selection process. Your time is valuable too.
Likewise, if you’re kept waiting for more than 35 minutes in the reception area or left to languish in a small conference room in a deserted corner of the building, that’s a bad sign. If they treat you this badly when you still have the option to bail, how will they treat you once you’re on the payroll?
If they ask for everything they’ll ever need from you, including your references, a writing sample and a twenty-page questionnaire, before you’ve met anyone in person, you’ve been handed a gift from the universe – namely, the knowledge that you would hate this job if you got it. Run away, because this employer does not value you or your talents. One friend of mine was asked by the HR person (on her first interview) for a voided check from her checkbook – so that in case she was hired, they could start direct deposit on the spot! She wanted to ask the HR lady: “Are you familiar with the concept of identity theft?” but she didn’t – she said “I’m sorry, I left my checkbook at home” and sent a quick ‘thanks but no thanks’ letter once she reached her house.
If the hiring process is rushed, that’s not a good sign. It means that employee turnover is killing them, or that the quality of the hire they’re making now is not all that important – because they think nothing of hiring and firing people on a dime. You’re free to slow down the process, of course, asking for more information and scheduling interviews when it’s convenient for you. If you’re getting pressure at this stage (”The VP is only available at six a.m. on Sunday morning, and only for twenty minutes, so be there early”) it’s your cue to get on the bus, Gus.
If every interview conversation hinges on salary, be wary. Compensation is important, but if everyone you meet with has his or her own spin on why the company pays bupkus but is nonetheless a great place to work, take heed. If cash reserves are low, they can offer you flexibility in hours, and/or let you work from home some or most of the time. Unthinkable? Maybe it’s time for you to think again.
If they won’t let you meet the team members when you ask to, flee. Bosses don’t let unhappy chickens out of their coops to meet prospective new chickens.
If the employer demands your past W-2s as proof of your prior earnings, run away. They’re business people – can’t they determine what you’re worth without relying on some other employer’s practice (and dragging your personal, financial history into it)? You don’t need to work among turkeys like that.
Lastly, if they won’t show you any relevant document you ask for – from the employee handbook to the written sales compensation plan to the medical insurance plan description – take a hike. Life is too short to get caught up with non-legit employers, and sad to say, they exist. A great job where you’re respected is around the next corner and the quicker you leave this Mickey Mouse outfit in a cloud of dust behind you, the sooner you’ll find it.

Ten Reasons To Run From A Job Opportunity is a post from: Glassdoor.com Blog