Choose wisely: 2 things to consider before accepting that job offer
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” — Steve Jobs
A couple of days ago, I came across a LinkedIn article titled “Choosing a University and a Program” published by Rita Orji, PhD, a Computer Science Professor at Dalhousie University. The first sentence read;
Most times, when looking for admissions abroad, prospective students often think that they are at the mercy of the supervisors and hence have no choice but to accept whatever they are offered.
Reading those lines immediately struck a chord with the career discussions I occasionally have with a lot of my peers especially younger graduates searching for jobs. Fresh out of college, many of us had (still have) to go through the “new normal” job search routine. Apply to hundreds of jobs and get hundreds of rejections! Then, desperation slowly begins to set in.
Eventually, comes some positive news! We begin to receive a couple of emails asking for “a convenient time for an interview” — usually from companies or roles we can barely remember applying to. At this point in time, such emails are like huge blessings that we rarely pause to consider if the companies and the roles are what we need, or the right fit for our career. Career fit? That’s out of the question we might say, what matters most is just finding a job, any job! And if we finally get “lucky” to land a job from one of such interviews, there comes our miracle, right? But Rita thinks differently.
No No No, that’s the wrong mindset. It’s a win-win situation. Supervisors (managers) need you as well especially if you are good!
As a young graduate, I have been there myself, and I know how hard it can be to be talking about career fit or what kind of opportunity we need to grow professionally, especially when one is in a desperate situation dealing with rejections upon rejections.
But I see reasons with Rita´s point. For one, every job advertisement is a potential problem to be solved. And while you desperately need a job, a manager who puts out an advertisement for a job opening has a problem he/she needs to solve and also “desperately” needs help, which is why he/she was willing to pay a lot of money for an online ad seeking a solution — you.
Inspired by Rita´s recommendations, I decided to share two things you might also need to think about especially as a young professional when considering a job offer.
1. The Manager: Find a Good Boss!
“BEFORE 30 YEARS OLD, FOLLOW SOMEBODY.” — JACK MA, THE CEO OF ALIBABA
Finding and following the right boss will be everything! This is very important particularly in the early stage of one´s career. In my opinion, it will not so much matter which kind of company you choose to work for, as much as which kind of boss you pick or follow.
WHY IT MIGHT BE MORE IMPORTANT TO PICK A BOSS OVER A JOB/COMPANY
Even in situations where you find yourself in a difficult job or company environment, the right boss will be there to protect and support you to grow as well as help you to develop the skills and expertise you need to succeed. But having the wrong boss in a great company or job will not only frustrate you, but go a long way to demoralize you.
As you will most likely experience in your journey, every company, job or task you will take on will present its unique challenges. But regardless of the obstacles that might come your way, the right boss will be there to help you, teach you, or provide you with the right opportunities to grow and eventually realize your potential.
HOW DO YOU KNOW THE RIGHT BOSS BEFORE YOU ACCEPT A JOB OFFER?
Unfortunately, this is not usually very easy, especially if you have no direct contacts inside the company, or when you have to rely solely on the online application process. But nowadays, there are a variety of online tools offered by different platforms to help with this.
For example, you can use LinkedIn or Xing to search for connections within your network that are in the company and try to reach out to them.
If you trust them to help, you can inform them of your intentions and the role you are interested in. Ask about the hiring manager, the team, or if they could provide you with any helpful suggestions or insights.
Another option could be to go with the flow. You apply to the company and the role that you are interested in, go through the application process until you can speak with the hiring manager. From the first conversations, you might get a sense of what kind of person he/she is and if you will both be a good fit for each other.
2. The Company: Start-Up or Corporate, Company Values and Culture, Purpose, Team Structure and so on.
RESEARCH ON WHAT MAKES PEOPLE HAPPY SHOWS IT´S NOT THINGS. IT´S EXPERIENCES. — MARC BENIOFF, FOUNDER AND CEO, SALESFORCE
Depending on the kind of career you might want to build for yourself, this might be another critical factor to consider thoroughly. There is a lot to unpack here, i.e. The type of company, company values and culture, purpose, team structure, and so on.
In December 2019, I shared my experience about Start-ups and Corporates, and highly recommend it if you need some more insights about deciding the type of company to work for.
Having said that, I believe that the type of company wouldn’t matter so much as choosing the right manager, a great company culture, purpose or team. As I mentioned in the article, in many large organizations, you usually become part of a big bureaucratic machine and have to learn a lot about processes and alignments with several stakeholders and interest groups to get your job done. But in small companies, there are usually fewer stakeholders and fewer hands for a lot of work. Hence, this kind of environment can afford you the opportunity to do (learn) a lot of things within a short period of time.
Finally, I can guarantee you that there is no such thing as “the perfect” boss, job or company, but your decision to settle for a boss, job or company will go a long way to determine how your professional life will pan out. I will conclude by paraphrasing the words of Rita Orji, PhD, who greatly inspired this article;
A rejection is better than a wrong job but accepting a wrong position can mark the beginning of your miseries and change the course of your entire life. It takes time to recover if at all you eventually do!
So please choose wisely!
