It seemed like she was going to be an intern forever. She had been interning far longer than she should have been and still couldn’t land a real job. The internship was pretty awesome (i.e., subsidized housing in an awesome city, real experience, and some cool coworkers), but telling people she was an intern was getting old…and so was she.

Out of the blue she got a call from a recruiter, the job seemed great. The recruiter was great. Then she had her second interview with what would be her team. The woman interviewing her was condescending to say the least. The tone of her voice when she asked “Why are you even interested in us?” reminded her of something that would happen in Mean Girls. And the guy, well, it was like he wasn’t even present. She knew she was answering the technical questions correctly, but couldn’t understand what she was missing that was leading to the very short questions and statements from her interviewers. After getting off the call, she knew she had bombed the interview.

 Fast forward 24 hours…

She had a call from the recruiter and he told her the team loved her and they wanted her to do an on-site interview.

Um. Were they in the same interview? She was sure they hated her…

Sometimes when we are interviewing, especially just out of school, we forget that we should be doing some of the interview. You are interviewing your potential employer, just as much as they’re interviewing you. Again, kinda like dating.

Let’s think about it this way. The average (salaried) American works 47 hours a week. With 2 weeks vacation and 6ish holidays, that leaves you 49 working weeks (nope, we didn’t forget to calculate sick time, it’s just usually lumped into your general PTO). That’s 2,303 hours at work a year. With work-life blend and work happy hours, that’s easily like 2700 hours. That’s how many hours you will spend with those people. So you better like them. And you should also really like what you do or know that it’s helping you get to somewhere better.

Do your research. Ask the recruiter if there’s anyone else you can speak to and be prepared to ask questions that will help you make your decision. Do you, your friends, or mentors know anyone who has worked at that company? In this situation, her mentor actually knew someone who had just come from that company. And his advice…Run! And don’t look back.

Make a list. Think about the actual role, the company, and the people. Is this a role that you want to be in? Oh and don’t trust the job description, more to follow in another post. If the role is nothing like what they’ve advertised (which happens), what are other opportunities within that company? Are there developmental opportunities? Are there other career opportunities? And career opportunities do not need to be limited to that particular company, it could mean making a move to a city that will present you with more opportunities (e.g., NYC, Seattle, San Francisco). What about the people? We think that one great way to know whether it’s a group that truly gets along is whether they have inside jokes. One of us made a career decision that came down to this point alone – the stiff crowd versus the crowd that clearly had some inside jokes.

What are the pros and cons? It is like a million hours of your life, but will the benefits outweigh that? Is this an offer that will make or break your career? If it is, you may need to take it. If you do decide to take it, consider what will make it better – what can you negotiate for…and get it in writing (more to follow in another post).

What if you can’t find a reason to take it other than the obvious…cash money. Well, people told us to be picky. Of course we thought, are you crazy? I need to pay my loans! But it’s better to have an internship or a semi-related temp job than to get yourself into a job that isn’t going to help you and also make you miserable. 

Follow your gut. That may mean taking a risk. The ending to the story above is that she didn’t take that job. In fact, she didn’t even waste the company’s time or money and do the on-site interview. The fit wasn’t right for her. Just like everyone had told her, it all worked out. Two months later she was a full-time employee at a better company with a group that made work fun.  

From our experience, don’t forget that you’re doing the interviewing too.

You’ve heard our experience, now let’s hear yours. Have you ever turned down a job because the fit wasn’t right? Have you ever taken a job because you thought you had to?

Oh and the outfits above should not be worn to an interview…