8 Things to Check Before Saying YES to a Job
Work at home jobs or remote work has become immensely popular ever since the global pandemic hit the entire world last spring. Millions of people lost their lives and millions of people lost their jobs. While the ones left in the game figured out to maintain their work life balance with adjusting and learning to work from home, many of us struggled with finding new work.
As many as 89% of people looking for new jobs after they lost theirs owing to covid-19 said that they merely accepted terms of employment and job roles to be able to survive further. Employers all over the world ended up taking advantage of the fact with low pay scales, heavy work hours and blurry lines of difference between work life & home life. Here are 10 thing to look out for before you say Yes!
a) Work Environment & Culture
Employee satisfaction is a huge part of retaining employees. So is for retaining a job for a longer period of time in your career. Job satisfaction is not only a metric for salary increments or promotion cycles but more so about the people you work with, how the company celebrates birthdays and work anniversaries, how the company responds to family emergencies/maternity/paternity requests and the way it treats its outgoing people. You can learn a lot about an organization by knowing whether they genuinely throw a farewell to their employees or the exiting ones are just discarded trash for them.
Your team and how you are treated in emotional times by a company can go a long way to motivate you to work well and be associated with a company for a longer period of time in your career.
b) Work-Life Balance!!
We live in a world where ‘hustling’ is beautified and is shown to be the right way to live your life however, reality does not support 18-hour work days. Our minds and bodies need time for themselves too. Thinking about life specifically in the terms of number of hours worked is not a healthy way to live life. Don’t be afraid to ask about the work-life balance that a company offers.
Think about it this way — a company that frowns upon your need to have work-life balance is not a healthy opportunity for your life. Especially in the times of working from home and not having clear boundaries as to what your work hours are and when your personal time begins, it is important to know about work-life balance.
c) Current Team/Manager
Its easy to figure out company values and principles as they are readily available on the company websites these days however they need not be the values of your immediate supervisor or the people you would be working with everyday.
Being able to make a right decision means to know about the people you would be dealing with on a day to day basis. Try to learn about your immediate supervisor. Ask about your teammates’ names and connect with them via Linkedin.
d) Company growth & attrition rate
Use the opportunity that most interviewers provide to ask questions at the end of the interview. Ask about the attrition rate of the company. This information is usually available online however having this conversation with the interviewer gives you a better chance at a clearer picture. Ask about the company size, increase/decrease in revenue, performance metrics of a company and figure out how they measure their own growth.
A company that uses revenue as the only basis to measure growth has a long way to go. There are other things that matter too.
e) Learning & Growth Opportunities
On the job learning is one of the best sources of widening your skillset. Utilizing the opportunities available at your workplace can go a long way. Make sure that you don’t just take the years of experience with you when you leave but also learn skills that are beyond your general job role scope.
A company that invests in the learning of its employees is a company worth joining. When there are no training opportunities, try to find out about transitional options so to be able to widen your experience within multiple teams while being at the same organization.
f) Transnational Opportunities
Most renowned organizations in this day and age are multi-national corporations. For candidates who consider a career overseas, this question is a must. Discover the opportunities offered by a company to step overseas before you find yourself to be stuck at a place that doesn’t fulfill your needs. Let it be known to the recruiters that your long term goals are important to you.
g) Company Brand Value
Brand value is not just a metric by which the company is judged worldwide but can define the industry for your future opportunities. It is important to join a company that aligns with your industry of choice and holds a reputable brand value. However, this choice can vary from applicant to applicant. You should be able to take the decision based on your personal preference. Analyze what is important to you and effectively join the organization you most align with.
h) Financial Status & Projections of the Company
A poorly funded organization can result in you losing your job any day due to company closure. A company without financial backup almost never survives the harsh effects of a market. Find the information in as much detail as possible about the financial stability of a company before you join them.