Yewande Jinadu: 6 Things to Consider Before You take That Offer

You may be excited that you have landed a new job or an offer is on the way, but here’s a reminder that not all that glitters is gold.

I saw a post recently on my LinkedIn timeline about a man who rejected an offer and the recruiter was of the opinion that he missed out on a good offer. The truth is that, it’s not every job that you should take… if you have a proper direction for your career. I agree that no job is perfect, but you definitely need to make sure you’re not moving from frying pan to fire. Some people will agree with me that they have made job changes that they regret. It’s not going to speak well on your CV to be job hopper by moving from one job to another. This article is to address people who have offers or are about to be offered a job in a new company. Tips that will help you while before making that job change.

Have a proper understanding of your job tasks
First, picture what your day to day activities will look like. There are some jobs that seem interesting on the outside but without a deep understanding, we may not really know what it entails until we actually start the job.

Put your imagination to use; ask from people who have similar roles in an organization with a similar size. Having a job that you’re not properly engaged, a boring job, a job that you don’t really enjoy is very de-motivating and will make you miserable. Before you know it, you’re back looking for a job AGAIN. Ask yourself, will I enjoy doing this 8 hours of the day for the at least 4 years?

Do NOT take a job in a hurry or out of desperation
Even if you hate your current job or you are just looking out for new opportunities, don’t just accept an offer hurriedly, because the way you rush in is most likely the way you will rush out. Take your time to think. Do not let any employer pressure you into signing an offer immediately. You can tell them that you need few days to think about it and if the employer is too much in a hurry to wait for at least 3 days for you to think about it, then the job is probably not worth it.

Research is important!
Thank God for LinkedIn. Social media has given a lot of job seekers advantage in this present age. Check out key staff on social media platforms, you can check how long employees stays to know the level of attrition in the company. If most of their staff don’t stay for long that may be a red flag. Check out their company page on LinkedIn (if they have one). I don’t think it’s wrong to contact an old staff of the company to just ask harmless questions that will help you make your decision. Check out news about the company from various search engines.

The environment and the culture matters
You have to consider the environment you’re coming from and decide if you would be comfortable with the environment you’re about to go into. Be very observant about how the employees behave too.  The culture of the company can be seen during the first visit, so please take note of little things.
Questions you can ask yourself after observing include: How do the staff liaise with one another and their superiors? Is it a friendly environment? Do the employees look bored at their jobs? Etc. Try and interact with few staff (if you can) and notice their attitude towards you.

Do NOT assume
Assumption is one of the first and greatest key to dissatisfaction in a job. When you negotiate some things during the interview and you’re given an offer letter, do not assume that some things that were discussed or implied would be implemented, because when you resume, the table turns and verbal assumptions can change. This may result in you becoming disgruntled. If some things you negotiated for, are included in the offer letter, please send a mail to clarify. This way the agreement can be documented. Ask questions from the HR manager on various things that are important to you in an employment. Don’t assume that you will get the details in an employee handbook. What if your expectations are not in the handbook or they don’t even have a handbook?

Take Counsel
Finally, do not forsake the counsel of mentors, family members and loved one. If you have a mentor or a senior colleague that you can trust, please tell them about the offer. Tell them your observations and reservation and make sure you listen to their opinion. Don’t just allow what they say come through one ear and go out from the other. Critically take their advice into consideration. A lot of times, we have our minds made up and if someone says something contrary to what we want to hear, we become defensive of the organization. This won’t help us.

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