Congratulations – there is a labor shortage and it is a job seeker’s market. Whether you are interviewing for your first job or your fifth, part time, full time, or contract position, the one thing most books and web sites will not teach you is that you must interview the job!
Yes, you may need a new job, the wolf or at least your bill collectors are at the door and Mom and Dad are making maddening remarks about the cost of your college education. Yet there is no time to make a move without carefully looking at a new position to see if it is all that it is advertised to be.
Yes, that is correct – advertised. The very first thing you have to do is read between the lines of any job advertisement or posting. A colleague of mine recently sent me a posting for a public relations job for a not-for-profit and asked me what I thought. It sounded like the most perfect job in the world – a job so great that anyone would salivate over it like a great prime rib dinner. However – wait – buried in the job posting was the line that this would be regarded as an “an integral role in a very lean agency”. My colleague is a seasoned PR professional and was looking for a change, but not to a position where he did not have the right equipment to do the job or would end up paying for supplies for the annual banquet out of his own pocket. I advised him to call and talk to the Human Resource person who, as it turns out, revealed that the agency devoted no money to advertising or marketing and would rely on this creative talent to be “smart enough” to operate on less than a shoestring budget.
My colleague was appalled to find out that the computers at the agency worked on out of date software and did not even have a design program installed on the hard drive. As it turns out, to do the job properly he would have to use his own computer, software, and printer – essentially ‘loaning’ his equipment to the agency. Once this was revealed, he realized that he was beyond the stage where he could do a job on just guts and instinct. He applied elsewhere and now is happily employed at a creative agency that fulfills both his need for a creative talent and a respect for him as a professional to make sure he has the tools he needs to do his job.
You have to remember that job descriptions and postings are now crafted to hide rather than show the job in its true light. You have to – you must – find out what the job is really all about before you can make the decision of whether or not the job is appropriate for you. This includes knowing the mundane parts of the job; just what are you willing to put up with?
When interviewing the job here are some of the other things you should consider and questions you should ask:
- Are you greeted properly when you come for the interview and does the office look well kept and organized. If you have allergies, you have a right to be concerned and ask in the interview about anything you notice from a leaky ceiling to a musty smelling employee break room. Ask for a tour if there is time and to see the space you would be working in. No job is worth losing your health over.
- Is your interviewer on time and how is his or her appearance? You have made the effort. Have they? Do they keep you waiting over 15 minutes or appear disorganized or distracted?
- When talking about the job it is quite all right to ask about your predecessor. Be discreet but find out if you whose shoes you are filling. It is helpful to know if you would be coming in on the heels of well-liked employee who is retiring after 25 years with the company or someone who was let go. Incidentally, if you can find out why the person was let go, this is also good information and may be indicative of management style and personality.
- Be on the look out for illegal questions in disguise. They may not be able to ask your age but they can coyly refer to something, as “you must remember that – it’s your era.”
- As you leave the interview make sure you have a written copy of the job description, the complete name and title of the person who interviewed with you, and any other pertinent information such as the name of your potential supervisor (if you didn’t meet them at this interview) and the company’s correct web address. After you follow up with a thank you for the interview note, make sure you call and take note of how you treated AFTER the interview. Move on to the next interview opportunity if your calls are not returned in a timely manner or if you are cold-shouldered by a receptionist.
Remember how you are treated before, during, and after the interview is a good clue as to how you will be treated on the job. Do your research, take note of your surroundings, and be alert as to interviewer techniques and questions. This way you stand a much better chance of getting a job that is a match for your personality and talents, and one that is a match for your future employer’s as well.
