3 Signs You Might Be Accepting the Wrong Job

 

Almost nothing is worse than accepting a job that you were excited about, only to come to realize months later that you hate it.

And to make matters worse, when you really think about it, the reasons why you hate it were right in front of you during the interview process.

But you ignored them.

If you are currently in the interview process, then make note of these 3 signs to avoid taking a job you will eventually hate:

 

A sign that you might be accepting the wrong job is you have conflicting communication styles.

For example, you learn your potential boss likes to work via email, but you want to foster a team-based, in-person culture. Or you want to oversee a team that works virtually over Slack and the team you will oversee (if hired) outlined their schedules of in-person team meetings and individual performance update chats.

Or you want a work-anywhere-anytime-just-get-your-work-done culture, but the company values structure – such as the consistent team meeting every Friday at 10am to recap the week and plan the next week.

While you may be hired to establish change, make sure the change you want will be supported by leadership.

 

A sign that you might be accepting the wrong job is the employer is criticizing prior managers during your interview.

Everyone makes mistakes and these errors should be addressed with each employee.

However, having mistakes gossiped about with a candidate on an interview is a sign of a possibly dysfunctional company culture.

It is a fine line to discuss what needs to be fixed by making the hire, which could be a result of a prior manager’s ineptitude or error, and gossiping about someone’s mistakes.

Would you be okay if this discussion happened about you?

That is the litmus test you should apply.

 

A sign that you might be accepting the wrong job is the career acceleration path is not in alignment with your expectations.

Do you want to be promoted every 18-24 months, as you have been? But when you research leaders on LinkedIn and ask about career progression on the interview, you are not seeing many examples of fast, internal promotion, career advancement or succession planning?

They may make an exception for your career aspirations, but you should know going in that it may be an uphill battle.

Many of these signs are also signs for a company to realize the candidate may not be the right fit, too.

The wrong hire is a two way street. Both parties need to look out for these warning signs.

And there are even more warning signs, but I wanted to keep this short for you.

Yet, executives can sometimes gloss over these signs and only focus on the positives.

This is a mistake.

Ignoring the signs can often lead to unhappiness and frustration at the new job.

And in many cases, it was avoidable.

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Be well!

Lisa