4 ms·

On some level, you never really know. People often behave differently when interviewing (or trying to close you) than normally, let alone during stressful perio

On some level, you never really know. People often behave differently when interviewing (or trying to close you) than normally, let alone during stressful periods. The low hanging fruit here is: * ALWAYS spend time with your future boss prior to accepting. Ideally try to spend as much time as you reasonably can. If this isn't possible push back pretty hard about why. Your direct manager is usually the biggest reason for your unhappiness at a job. "People don't leave jobs, they leave bosses" is a cliche for a reason. * If people seem unhappy when you interview, don't assume it's just how they feel that day. * Make sure you get a sense for the culture and whether you want to be part of it. If you're not into constant group activity, make sure you're not joining a hyper-intense "everyone hangs out with each other all the time" sort of place. Conversely if you're new in town, don't join a company where everyone is focused on working hyper efficiently and bouncing to go home to their families. Neither is right or wrong, but they can definitely be right or wrong for you. * If you're connected, track down people who left the company and ask about your future boss. Were they hard to work with? Do people like them? If you have friends at the company (ideally, not reporting to your potential boss) ask about how your boss (and the department) is perceived by the rest of the company. * Hit up linkedin and track down ex employees, ideally in the same job role. See where they ended up, and hit them up and ask why. Good luck!

atomic77 11y ago
I think this is among the best answers - getting to know your future boss and coworkers ahead of time is the best way of figuring whether you like these people or not, probably the single most important determiner of your happiness at that job. A good boss knows how important this is and should be equally cautious in bringing you on. If not, a big red flag that you're being brought into a potential sweatshop/sausage factory. A lot of this starts from how you found the position in the first place, and why I believe it's generally better to job hunt at tech meetups and conferences - before you've been thrown into the formalized process of interviewing, you've met these people already in a more natural environment.
mundo 11y ago
> ALWAYS spend time with your future boss prior to accepting. Agreed, this is really effective albeit sadly not very common. You could say something like, "Hey, I thought the interview went really well, but I'd like to get together for an hour or so and just talk about software methodology and about your company's products to see if we're on the same page," but what you're really doing is interviewing your new boss. I don't think any good hiring manager will turn down a request like this.
quanticle 11y ago
ALWAYS spend time with your future boss prior to accepting. Not always possible. For example, at a lot of the larger technology companies, you'll be hired (on paper) by a group manager, who'll then assign you to one of the handful of teams he or she is in charge of. And that's leaving aside stuff like what Facebook does, where you spend 6 weeks "in training" before being assigned to your actual team. Or Google's policy of not informing people what teams they're being hired for. In that situation, my the best thing to ask about is the transfer policy. A bad team is bearable for a finite period of time, if you know there's a fixed path to getting out.
nunez 11y ago
> Hit up linkedin and track down ex employees, ideally in the same job role. See where they ended up, and hit them up and ask why. 100x this. I did this for my last position since a recruiter I've worked with mentioned that the company had some sort of an exodus recently (at that point). The guy not only responded quickly, but gave me a GLOWING review of the place (mind you, he QUIT!) This gave me exactly the confidence I needed to confirm that the job was as cool as I thought it would be, and I was right!

atomic77 11y ago

I think this is among the best answers - getting to know your future boss and coworkers ahead of time is the best way of figuring whether you like these people or not, probably the single most important determiner of your happiness at that job. A good boss knows how important this is and should be equally cautious in bringing you on. If not, a big red flag that you're being brought into a potential sweatshop/sausage factory. A lot of this starts from how you found the position in the first place, and why I believe it's generally better to job hunt at tech meetups and conferences - before you've been thrown into the formalized process of interviewing, you've met these people already in a more natural environment.

mundo 11y ago

> ALWAYS spend time with your future boss prior to accepting. Agreed, this is really effective albeit sadly not very common. You could say something like, "Hey, I thought the interview went really well, but I'd like to get together for an hour or so and just talk about software methodology and about your company's products to see if we're on the same page," but what you're really doing is interviewing your new boss. I don't think any good hiring manager will turn down a request like this.

quanticle 11y ago

ALWAYS spend time with your future boss prior to accepting. Not always possible. For example, at a lot of the larger technology companies, you'll be hired (on paper) by a group manager, who'll then assign you to one of the handful of teams he or she is in charge of. And that's leaving aside stuff like what Facebook does, where you spend 6 weeks "in training" before being assigned to your actual team. Or Google's policy of not informing people what teams they're being hired for. In that situation, my the best thing to ask about is the transfer policy. A bad team is bearable for a finite period of time, if you know there's a fixed path to getting out.

nunez 11y ago

> Hit up linkedin and track down ex employees, ideally in the same job role. See where they ended up, and hit them up and ask why. 100x this. I did this for my last position since a recruiter I've worked with mentioned that the company had some sort of an exodus recently (at that point). The guy not only responded quickly, but gave me a GLOWING review of the place (mind you, he QUIT!) This gave me exactly the confidence I needed to confirm that the job was as cool as I thought it would be, and I was right!