When To Walk Away From A Job Offer

When you’re working at a job you hate, every other job looks better. They say the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. A lot of unhappy working people fall victim to the ‘grass is greener’ fallacy! They take a job just to get out of the job they hate, and they then learn some things about the new job that make them wonder whether they’ve improved their situation or not.
The same thing happens to job-seekers who aren’t working. They put up with terrible abuse on the job-search trail. They suck it up for weeks while employers go silent, ask them to fill out more and more forms and tests, and pick their brains for free advice on their thorniest business problems.
It’s very hard for a person who isn’t working to imagine that there are jobs not worth taking. At the same time, it’s critical to set a floor for yourself. If you become the doormat job-seeker — and there are a lot of them out there — the worst employers in the market will find you, and they’ll exploit your vulnerability.
If you start a small consulting business, even by just buying business cards as a starting point, you’ll have another small oar in the water. Anything you can do boost your mojo and self-esteem is a good thing to do during a job search. That could be yoga, volunteering, planting a garden, picking up the guitar you put down years ago, or rekindling an old friendship.
No employer on earth will value you more than you value yourself.
Look at poor Meredith, who was so shocked to realize that her own depleted mojo had caused her to drastically undervalue her own services. In her shock, Meredith immediately started looking around for a villain. “I was ripped off!” she told the universe.
Meredith wasn’t ripped off — she got a beautiful gift. She got a year of fantastic experience and mojo-building and now she knows what she will and will not accept compensation-wise.
Pa


My colleague Jim says “These unhappy experiences teach us about our own preferences.” Isn’t that the truth!
There are job offers you should walk away from. Money is only part of the picture. Here are other warning signs to watch for:

They Keep You Waiting in Silence 
Once you are in an active interviewing process, you shouldn’t have to wait more than a week between contacts from the employer. If they think nothing of leaving you to sit and wonder for weeks at a time, what do you think it will be like once you start working with them? Run away from a shop that as doesn’t value your time and interest.
They Can’t Decide What They Want
Business is constantly changing, so employers’ needs are likely to shift at least a bit while you’re interviewing for a job opening. If they can’t settle down and agree among themselves on what they need in a new hire and why, run away! You will never be able to please them when they don’t even know what they’re looking for.
There’s A Disturbance in the Force


You can read the energy when you walk into an office, a factory or a showroom. You can feel the quality of the air. We humans evolved on this planet, and we read energy very well when we focus on it. Trust your gut during the interview process, because if there is dissension on the leadership team or political turmoil just below the surface, it will show itself when you’re physically in the building.
Don’t walk into a snakepit as a new hire — there is no way to win that game!
If you really want the work, negotiate a consulting deal instead. You can always join the company later as a regular employee once the disturbance is sorted out and put to rest.
They’re Playing Games With You
Our client Cecily was interviewing for a VP of Product job. “The CEO says he wants the job to report to him, but with a dotted line to the VP of Engineering,” Cecily told us. “Have you talked to the VP of Engineering about that idea?” we asked her.
“No,” said Cecily. “Is that appropriate?”
“Appropriate for whom?” we asked. “You’re the one who’s going to be walking into that energy field. You met the VP of Engineering, right? Why don’t you call him or her and have a chat?”
Cecily did it. She called Angelo, the VP of Engineering, and said “Angelo, we met for just a few minutes last week. I enjoyed our conversation, but if I join you in this new position, it will be a big shift for me of course and also for you. I wanted to get your thoughts.”


Angelo was straight with Cecily. He said that he thought the CEO was creating a new position, reporting to himself, because he didn’t think Angelo’s team could get the job done. “Our six new product launches last year generated $18M in revenue,  when the plan was $15.5, but I guess our CEO thought we should have beat our own target by a greater margin,” said Angelo.
Whoa, thought Cecily. The last thing I need to do is step into a political firestorm. She called the CEO and bowed out of the interview process, with best wishes for him and the entire team. She took a different job, which was okay — not her dream job.
Six months later the same Engineering VP, Angelo, connected with Cecily on LinkedIn LNKD +1.84%. “I thought you were a sharp person in our first conversation, but you really impressed me with your insight in our second conversation,” he said.
“I’ve left Adamant Systems and I’m working with a vc firm to start something new,” he said. “Would you like to hear more about it? We could use someone like you.”
Tell the truth in your job search. If something feels weird, say so – or at least register that weird feeling in your own mind. Ask every question that’s on your mind before you take the offer, and remember: only the people who get you, deserve you!