Avoid buyer's remorse

A new job is like a new relationship: You never know how it's going to work out until you've tried it for a while. And unless you've been a real job-hopper, you don't have a lot of experience choosing a new employer.

Take "Bill," for example. He spent seven years as a network administrator with a large engineering company in the Northeast. He was working his way up the ranks, with his ultimate goal being the MIS director position. However, last summer the company announced it was merging with another firm and moving all operations about 250 miles away.

Bill didn't want to relocate, so his employer offered an attractive incentive bonus if he would stay through the move at the end of 2000. Meanwhile, he started looking at job listings and lined up two interviews.

The first was with an outsourcing company. Bill rejected the job because it involved too much travel. The second was with a small insurance company that had been relying largely on a consulting firm to run its network. After two rounds of interviews, Bill decided to take the job and forfeit his incentive bonus.

With dot-coms crashing and burning, and rumblings of an economic downturn getting louder, it seemed the prudent thing to do. It was also an opportunity to be the biggest IT fish in the pond, albeit a much smaller pond.

Before the first week was out, Bill realized he'd made a mistake. His entire staff - a college student performing desktop support and assorted chores - quit. Bill was told this individual wouldn't be replaced immediately because of a pending merger. Meanwhile, company executives started asking him to empty garbage pails, change light bulbs, do filing, clean the lunchroom and make daily runs to the post office.

When Bill objected, the company chairman replied, "Well, the kid used to do these things, and there's no one else right now." Bill also discovered that the consulting firm he replaced had been a temporary stopgap. His actual predecessor spent 14 years on the job before leaving abruptly after an altercation with management. Bill started looking for another job.

What can you learn from Bill's experience? Professional recruiters say most job-hunters simply don't do enough due diligence.

"Though the market is down, there is still a lot of competition for good people," says Tom Whitley, president of Management Recruiters of Kannapolis, N.C. "The temptation for the hiring companies to paint a rosy picture is very great, and candidates need to be aware of this."

Len Budd, a recruiter with Guidance Group in Haverhill, Mass., concurs. "Look at the company as if you were buying a stock," he advises. "How well is it doing compared to its competitors? Is it in an industry sector that is doing well? What are the analysts saying about it?"

Such information is fairly easy to come by if the company is public, but may require some creative digging if it is not.

If you proceed to the interview stage, Budd says, don't be afraid to turn the table around and ask aggressive questions. It shows you aren't desperate.

"There are very few people who will blatantly answer questions with a lie, but job candidates often fail to ask the right questions," Whitley says. These include:

• Why is this position vacant?
• What happened to the last person? May I talk to that person?
• May I talk to some of the people I will be working with?
• What is your turnover rate?
• Do you have a written job description, and may I have a copy?
• What is the budget for the network?
• If you tell me a year from now that I've done a great job, what will I have done for you?
You can also sleuth out information about internal politics and potential turf wars by asking about organizational structures:
• What is the exact reporting structure?
• Are there any dotted-line reporting relationships?
• Are there other groups in the company that perform the same functions or related ones?

If you can't get answers to these questions, red flags should go up. Be wary if the company seems determined to only interview you after-hours and prevent any contact with rank-and-file employees.

Bill says if he had it to do over again, he would request a third interview in which he would be asking most of the questions. Moreover, he would get a contract or formal offer letter with a detailed job description, and find out about the network budget.

He is using a recruiter this time around, but is skeptical about a lot of the tips that the job gurus post. “For example, they advise you to test-drive the job before you take it, or show up early for the interview and go into a Columbo routine, chatting up people in the lobby or parking lot. These suggestions aren't practical.”

Whitley tells job seekers to rely on common sense and instincts. If you aren't getting the information you request, don't make excuses for the interviewers or fill in the gaps they are leaving. Recognize that good technical people are still at a premium, and look elsewhere.

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Breidenbach is a freelance technology journalist and consultant. She can be reached at sbreidenbach@usa.net.

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