New Job Opportunity! Great…or Is It?
Unexpectedly. Or expectedly, you’ve got a job offer in the New Year!
How do you proceed professionally and with swagger?
Step 1: Determine If You Want the Job
It’s nice to be wanted. But just because someone offers you a new position which, on the surface, looks like an advancement…check in. Reflect on the opportunity and determine if it would be fun, actualizing, and accretive to you and your family.
This seems like a no-brainer, but it comes with a lot of thought and emotion.
The actualizing part is often the tougher one. Determine where you are professionally and if this mission, which you may not fully know at this point in time, seamlessly continues the professional trajectory you most desire. If you have doubts, stay with them and determine why you have them. Try to predict if these doubts will transition into issues for you in the short or long-term. If you think they will, you may want to stop the process at this point and wait until a better situation arises.
Step 2: Do Your Research
Again, just because they think this is the right opportunity for you, you need to learn whether the company is right for you. You must do your research diligently. Digital tools make it so easy to find out a lot about your possible future, so use them well and thoroughly.
As you begin your diligence on the opportunity, action these steps:
- Examine the company’s public filings, including their 10 Q
- Read the past six months of media articles on the company
- Find out what you can about the person hiring you (make LinkedIn your friend)
- Similarly, find out about the team you’ll be on and/or managing
- Research the top competitors and their differentiators
- Take a stab at doing a brief SWOT analysis
With this research complete, you are ready for an informed conversation about the position. But you’re not done asking questions…
Step 3: Create Interview Probing Questions
Asking the right, insightful questions credentials you. Including details from your research in your questions will impress upon them that you are taking this opportunity seriously.
Here are examples that you can tailor to your opportunity:
- How did you match this opportunity to me?
- From my research it appears that some of the company’s challenges are XYZ, how would you categorize them?
- What’s mission-critical with this position?
- What most challenged the last person who had this position?
- Who are the team members and what experience do they have?
- To action a 90-day plan/finish line, what should occur?
- How should the team and I be perceived in the organization?
Follow these three steps and you should, by the end, know whether this opportunity is your dream job or a nightmare in waiting!
