October Newsletter | Culture Shock: How to Spot a Bad Job Before It Spots You
Culture Shock: How to Spot a Bad Job Before It Spots You
Most of us have been there. We take a job that looks great “on paper” only to find it’s a daily grind of dysfunction. Or worse, we find ourselves in a role that was a perfect fit at one time but that is steadily evolving into a whirlpool of career misery.
Obviously, it makes great sense for professionals to take whatever steps are necessary to avoid bad jobs in bad places. But even the best jobs can turn bad over time, whether it is due to a change in management, market shifts, reorganizations, or financial “belt tightening.”
Most of the miserably employed know that a bad work environment can ruin an otherwise great job. But how do you avoid signing up with the wrong employer? And what do you do if a good job turns bad?
Whether you're job hunting, onboarding, or already knee-deep in dysfunction, here's how to stay sharp and self-protective.
Spot Red Flags Before You're On The Payroll
One of the great things about the internet age is that it is relatively easy to do surface level research on employer culture and leadership. I explored which sites to use in great detail in a previous blog Is There Value in Employer Review Sites?
Cross-reference these review sites for patterns, not just stars. Pay particular attention to comments regarding clarity of expectations, training, feedback frequency and quality, recognition, and growth.
Bear in mind that some employers push their teams to post strong reviews on their favored boards, so doing some leg work on multiple sites is a good idea.
Look for language in reviews and job postings that may suggest you would be in for a chaotic experience such as “comfortable with ambiguity,” “wear many hats,” “hit the road running,” and “self-starter.”
These descriptors may be very appealing to some job seekers and may be essential to success in select environments (think startups), but they can be a potential warning sign for anyone who needs to know what the measures of success in a job are and how the employer will partner with them to drive those wins.
Seek out current and former employees on LinkedIn and ask about their experience. Follow prospective employers on the site to monitor how they characterize themselves.
During job interviews, ask some of my very favorite questions:
· “What does success look like in this role after 6 months?”
· “What challenges will I have to overcome to hit this mark?”
· “How is job performance tracked and communicated here?”
· “What is the typical career path from this position?”
Most people think of negotiations only in terms of compensation and paid time off. Don’t dismiss the idea of haggling over terms of engagement regarding how the job is done and where it may lead. For more on out of the box negotiating points, check out my blog 6 Commonly Missed Opportunities When Negotiating a New Job.
Know that it is perfectly okay to accept a job offer contingent on the opportunity meet with the person who had the role previously or others who could share their employee experience in the proposed role.
Think of this as reverse engineering the reference check process. You get to vet them!
Getting Off To A Strong Start
It is critically important to make sure that you and your boss (and other influencers) are on the same page regarding measures of success and terms of engagement in your new role. If they haven’t defined it, they will have a harder time recognizing it.
You would have a leg up on this if you had already done this in the interview. But even if you did garner some info there, it still makes sense to revisit expectations to make sure nothing has changed.
Document everything. I strongly recommend resubmitting what you have heard in an email to each supervisor or influencer to show that you are clear on what they are looking for and to give them the opportunity to suggest adjustments before you run the risk of going down the wrong path.
I particularly like the 30-60-90 day plan approach laid out by Talent Management Institute and others. If you are not asked to participate in this, propose one.
Track Your Impact
Keep a log of how well you are doing versus agreed upon measures and any factors that may have arisen to impact your progress. When possible, I suggest providing periodic proactive feedback on where you are toward goals and what modifications you are making to your approach to stay on track.
This is a great way to avoid being micromanaged. Proactive updates signal ownership, reducing the need for oversight.
Know that micromanagers often operate from fear, fear that your work won’t reflect well on them. Show them you’ve got a plan, and you’ll earn their trust.
They’ll be thrilled to report confidently on your progress (and their keen awareness as managers) when their own boss comes calling.
Scope creep is when employees are asked to perform duties outside of their core responsibilities. Some curveballs are unavoidable due to business cycles and resource changes. Your willingness to temporarily pick up the slack is just good business.
The issues start when scope creep interferes with the execution of primary duties or when it encroaches on work life balance beyond the norm.
If scope creep becomes chronic, it’s time to renegotiate priorities or boundaries.
Establishing a regular cadence of updates with your boss makes handling this much easier because part of a debrief can include taking on additional responsibilities when asked, how those new duties have impacted execution of the goal, and longer term compromises that will need to be made to handle the new stuff on top of the old.
I have used this technique in my own career, and it has always worked out very, very well.
Try to become comfortable inviting feedback. Don’t wait for your annual performance review to hear about stuff that has bothered your boss for the last twelve months. Don’t be afraid to ask, “where can I do better?” while you still have time in the review period to, well, you know…do better.
Build your network: Find allies across teams so that your reputation as an employee is not defined by how you are seen by a single manager. The internal connections made in the current job become doorways to other opportunities as your colleagues navigate their own career advancement.
If You’ve Already Reached The “Toxicity Point”
If you are already in the career misery state, Step One is to find a way to objectively identify the specific factors that are driving distress. Make sure to distinguish between job duties, management issues, company culture, overall industry factors, and lifestyle compromises.
Starting over from scratch may feel tempting, but it’s rarely the most strategic move.
Given that objectivity can be difficult to achieve when under stress it is often best to bring in a confidante who is a bit further removed. A trusted mentor or career coach, like yours truly, can help you sort signal from noise
Whether you should stay or go will depend on which aspect of the career must change.
If your displeasure is driven by the job description only, then it is often possible to get back on track with the current employer either through a conversation with your boss or moving to a more compatible segment.
If the problem is the manager, it may be salvageable to take the advice I share in the previous section about new hires. Or it could be a good idea to bring in HR or look for opportunities elsewhere in the company.
Company culture issues would mean that you need to change employers. A great way to navigate this kind of move is by looking at where former employees of your current employer have gone and ask them how about how they got the role and whether or not they like it.
If the health of the industry is the most important factor, you may be better off looking for a similar role in a new industry to reinvigorate your career.
Lifestyle compromises are probably the most challenging to deal with. Too many hours, not enough pay, inappropriate mix of onsite vs. remote, and unpredictability are the usual culprits.
No matter the reason, miserable workers are always faced with a binary decision to either stay or go.
Stay Ready, So You Don’t Have to Get Ready
If someone were to ask me for the single most important thing to do to maintain control of your career it would be to always be looking outside. By “looking” I mean regularly checking out job boards, maintaining an up to date skillset, knowing your value in the market, and building/maintaining a network of influencers in the event that you need to make that change.
Taking this step will not only enable you to more quickly make a good move if you need to but it will also ensure that you are constantly aware of how well your employer is treating you compared to how others are being valued by competitors.
This type of objective insight empowers workers to know what conversations should be had and better time those conversations to take place before they reach the breaking point.
Doing this type of “career maintenance” takes a bit of effort. But it is nowhere near as hard as launching a job search with out of date documents, antiquated skills, and an obsolete network.
I have seen a very interesting and profound pattern among my alumni clients. Those who take control of their careers and can pull the trigger on a search at any time tend to be treated better by their current bosses, become more attractive to prospective new bosses, and are less likely to be taken advantage of by bosses who feel that they are a dumping ground for endless tasks.
After all, career control isn’t just about options, it’s also about leverage.
Job Guy’s Search Tip of the Month
Certainly, a fair segment of my client alumni population has hired me because they made a bad decision to take on a role that wasn’t the right fit for them. But far more often, the truly miserable job seekers were stuck in a role they once enjoyed but that has turned rancid over time.
Deterioration of job satisfaction can be caused by a number of factors: new bad boss, financial belt-tightening, corporate takeover, overwork, lack of recognition, and weak organizational leadership to name a few.
These jobs can feel like bad marriages, familiar but draining. Part of you hopes things will improve, while another part knows it’s time to move on.
It’s only when the pain of staying becomes greater than the pain of leaving that the escape plan gains momentum.
Smart job seekers start by identifying the specific working conditions that would make a new job a great fit.
But most don’t do this at all because the drive to get the heck out of Dodge City becomes the overwhelming factor. Targeting any port in the storm is a massive and preventable mistake!
For more insights into the most common ways that jobs can turn sour before your eyes, see my most recent blog post: When It’s Them, Not You: Seven Reasons Why Good Jobs Turn Bad.
A Favorite LinkedIn Testimonial
Sean hired Job Guy a few years ago because he had earned several interviews in the past but had not been successful in landing the full time sales jobs he was targeting. To make matters worse, his resume had stopped generating interviews.
Together, we built a dual-track strategy to target both the published and hidden job markets. Within two months of completing the program, Sean landed a great job with a top-tier software development firm. He has been promoted twice since.
“I had been looking for a new job for a while when I found out about John's services. Not only did John totally rewrite my resume, he gave me a plan of attack for networking, interview techniques, and targeting my job search. It requires hard work and dedication, but John's methods produce actual results! If you put in the time with his plan, I believe that you will see positive changes as well. Thanks to John I am working at a new company and couldn't be happier. I would highly recommend John's services for anyone who needs to get back on track in today's work environment.”
Want help navigating your own career crossroads? Let’s talk. I help professionals sort the job from the environment and make smarter career moves. I can be reached through LinkedIn or john@job-guy.com.
