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Look before you leap
When you get a job offer it can be such a relief to feel someone wants you, that there's the temptation to take it without thinking too much about what's involved and how that fits in with your personality, lifestyle and long-term aims. Make yourself think about these things and decide if this is something that will do for now or the real thing. If it's a do-for-now, do you really want to spend a few months, or even years, like that?
Finding yourself in a job that's completely wrong with an employer who's a nightmare is depressingly common. And it's a situation that can be difficult to escape from. Trying to leave after just a few weeks or months might not look good to other employers, and the longer you stay in work you hate the more your confidence and energy is sapped away. It's not always possible to know what the reality of the job you're going for will be, but there's much you can do to minimise the risk of ending up in a place you can't wait escape from.
Investigate the job
While you were busy impressing the interviewers you may not have noticed that they were also trying to make their offer sound attractive. So how can you find out what you're letting yourself in for? First, you need to be sure that the type of work you're going for will suit you and that it lives up to your ideas of what it should be.
- Arrange a period of work shadowing. Many employers are happy to offer a chance to get some first-hand, unpaid experience to those investigating a new career area. It's a great way of getting an insight into any job.
- Failing that, read all you can about it. Not just the glossy brochures that tell you what a great career or employer this is, but information that mentions the negative aspects too. Professional and trade journals are a good place to look. They often have articles and letters written by members doing the job, that show the good and bad sides of occupations they cover.
- Talk to people who are doing the type of work you're after. Most people are happy to help - it's probably a rare treat to find someone who wants to listen to tales of what their working life is like.
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