In November I got the unpleasant news that my office was going to close in 2018. On the plus side, the company gave us almost two full months' notice so we could start getting our resumes up-to-date and looking for work. I've received a couple of offers, but neither of them really felt like the right opportunity for me. One was easy to identify the issues because they were quantifiable (think money, benefits, etc.), but the other was a little trickier.
I went through the full interview process with a medium-sized publicly traded company and I liked almost everything I heard. They used the latest technologies, they had a fun atmosphere, they provided games and drinks and snacks, everybody was really cool, and so on and so on. However, multiple times in the interview they indicated that they are available to work 24/7. The recruiter tried to clarify that they work a pretty standard schedule, but the gut feeling I had remained and I couldn't shake it.
This interview process revealed to me that it's not necessarily what you say, but it's also what you say. What I mean is that during the interview process they told me - I felt in no uncertain terms - that I would need to live and breathe the company if I came on board. That's fine for some people, but that's now what I'm about so it wouldn't have worked for me. Even though they tried to clear it up, even their clarification continued to tell me what I had previously heard.
Ultimately, I might be missing out on a great opportunity, and that would suck. But I'd rather miss out on a company than ignore my gut instinct that says this isn't the right place for me.
Update: I've had a few friends go to work for this company and my suspicions were correct. On top of the 24/7 availability, they have few to no processes (which is a big problem for me). I can confidently say 5 years later that declining this offer was the right move for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment