As a job seeker you probably have experienced an interview and left with an uncomfortable feeling in your gut. You need a job very quickly, but there was just something about the interviewer or the environment that just seemed off. Maybe the interviewer made you uncomfortable by the questions he asked or the employees you passed in the hallways looked really unhappy or angry. Perhaps the overall environment just felt icky. Well, pay close attention to those feelings. They are raising two very important questions:
- Would you really like working there?
- Would you look forward to going to work each day?
These are serious questions that can impact whether you make the right career decision or not, even if you are badly in need of a job for whatever reason.
No doubt, you have family members who, out of love, strongly encourage you to take a seemingly good job when it’s offered. Enjoying your work doesn’t make up for a lack of income. After all, you have a mortgage, rent and bills to pay, a family to feed—real responsibilities that need to be addressed. Get over it, suck it up, and take the job!
There are other serious considerations, however, that can determine whether you’re suited for the job or if the job is suited to you.
I have interviewed for several jobs over my career that, in hindsight, I knew weren't right for me. The two that I was offered and took didn't last. In one job, I was hired as an office manager at a prestigious children's hospital in the Northeast. In the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), which was about 50 feet away from my desk, lay the sickest children in the Northeast.
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 Working for a hospital, also an experience I had never had, seemed like a noble career. My tasks included preparing budgets, which I had never done before, and managing three office staff members, each of whom had been with the department for at least a decade. Despite the fact that I had little experience in both budgeting and management, they hired me anyway. “Wow!” I thought as I embarked on my noble career in this prestigious children’s hospital ready to help save the world’s children. I didn’t think much about whether I could handle the job without the necessary experience or whether I would be able to work in such a high-stress, tense environment.
Each work day began and ended with a knot in my stomach. The well-experienced staff knew everything about what needed to be done and whom they needed to beg or cajole to get things done. I, on the other hand, knew nothing and no one. After seven weeks of cluelessness and staff resentment, both of which resulted in my occupational paralysis, the department head finally said, "Let's just stop." I don't believe I had ever been more relieved in my life!
I hadn’t listened to the little voice in my head, paid attention to the big knot in my stomach, both of which were clearly saying, “This job is not right for you.”
After I was let go, it didn’t matter to me that I lost a paycheck. What truly mattered was that I didn’t have to go to that miserable work environment anymore. Any feelings of serious discomfort I had turned quickly to major relief. Of course, I knew that I had to find a job immediately to survive. However, I learned a great deal about what not to do in my next job and that was to avoid working at jobs where I didn’t have the necessary experience and to pay attention to those major feelings of discomfort—or so I thought…
Continued in next month’s installment.
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