Often people get lost in the excitement of receiving a job offer and forget to consider the finer details, which can actually become major issues once the job starts. Think back to your last job offer: Did you only consider the salary and the hours or did you look deeper into the job? What would you tell your past self now to check, on reflection?
Always consider these factors when making your decision:
- Personal fit - What were your potential employers like during the recruitment process? Were they respectful of your time and friendly? Did they seem to care about you as a person? Did you get to meet the people you will be working with directly? If not, see if you can meet your co-workers and gauge the personal fit. A good manager will let you meet the team to make an informed decision.
- Cultural fit - It might be tempting to pretend you love working in formal, corporate workplaces just to get the job with the big pay-cheque, when in actual fact you thrive in a more relaxed environment with greater flexibility and an emphasis on work-life balance. But think about longevity, it won't be long before you dread going to work and expending all that energy pretending to be someone you're not. Figure out your ideal organisational culture and consider whether the job being offered fits.
- Work environment - Will you be working in a dingy, dark office with no windows and stuffy air? Maybe it’s a noisy, open plan office that caters entirely to extroverts. It’s a good idea to make a time to have a proper look at the actual room you will be working in and see if you can picture yourself there five days a week.
- Commuting can be harder than you think - Anyone who has sat on the motorway in 4pm traffic from Brisbane to the Gold Coast will tell you, sometimes the stress just ain’t worth it! Google Maps might say it's one hour, but in peak traffic that commute could leave you sitting in your car for up to three hours! Not to mention the petrol that will cost you. Suddenly your ‘work’ hours have increased and your travel costs have negated the higher salary that attracted you to the job in the first place. If public transport is not an option you could be stuck with this five days a week. You may also end up being late to work regularly, which could jeopardise your employment.
- Being bored - How tempting is it to accept a job that you have being doing for years but pays more? Or to play it safe in a familiar industry doing a job that you find easy? Not having any challenge or opportunity for progression at work is something to consider very carefully. It might sound relaxing but with nothing to motivate you and no stimulation, you may find yourself very unhappy very quickly at work.
- The future – In the job market, nothing’s forever - especially in the current economic and political climate. Even if you are offered a permanent position you are not safe from redundancy. Sometimes contracts lead to longer term employment than the perceived security of permanent jobs. There are a host of other benefits too. We’ve lost count of the number of people who have powered their career from strength to strength on the back of an initial three month contract. Careers are about choices - look for scope for growth, not safety.
- www.lifehack.org/articles/work/10-things-almost-everyone-forgets-consider-when-accepting-job-offer.html
- www.forbes.com/sites/dailymuse/2014/02/03/5-last-things-to-consider-before-accepting-an-offer
For more tips and advice:
Is your recruiter representing your best interests or just trying to fill the job? A good recruitment consultant will always consider your lifestyle, personality and cultural fit when putting you forward for a job. At Blue Sky Careers we put people first and offer affordable career counselling sessions to help you make the right career decisions.
Contact Roisin now for advice about your job offer!
RSS Feed