You are on the job market.
You apply for roles, get interviewed and get offered the job.
It’s a great feeling.
Ideally you start the job and it all goes well.
Recently I’ve noticed something different with a few clients.
They get the job offer, get started and decide to move on after a relatively short period of time.
The reason – their boss.
When in the job they find that the person who interviewed them wasn’t the same person when the same when they got the job.
Sometimes they expect too much from people too quickly, even though that when starting a job it takes a while to get to your best performance.
Yes you might have qualifications and experience. Equally every organisation is slightly different.
Other times there’s a lack of honest communication on performance and feedback coming left field without any prior warning.
It also can be a lack of clarity on expectations at the outset.
So how do you overcome this?
Do your due diligence on the person who is going to your line manager.
One way to do this ahead of the job interview, see if there’s someone in your network online who is connected to the person who will be your line manager.
Search on sites like Glassdoor where there’s often pretty candid reviews of organisations and bosses.
Ask in the interview about previous postholders, how long they were in the job and their reasons for moving on.
If you feel that’s too aggressive instead ask about how the job had become vacant.
Often the interviewer will say something that makes you to stop and think.
Be really alert and really listen during the interview as interviewers will sometimes say things totally unprompted that are potential red flags.
While you don’t want to be going into the interview with a negative perception, it’s important that you are professional and do your due diligence before accepting a job.
And remember the relationship with your direct boss is vitally important.