what is one good way to find out how well prospects will do a job?

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Carefully weigh upwards whether to accept a new task offer.

Congratulations – yous got the job! You feel excited, relieved and proud of yourself. And so y'all should. You lot've been offered a job that you actually wanted.

Merely before you lot call to accept, have a minute to re-read the offer letter. This fourth dimension you detect that, although the bacon is satisfactory, the visitor'south pension contributions are lower than y'all starting time idea. You'll likewise be expected to travel overseas for "eight or more than days per month" – more than yous had predictable. And you find out that your line manager volition be the one person who you didn't "connect" with during your interview.

After that day, you see on the news that the company'south share prices have dropped. Suddenly, you feel doubt creeping in. Maybe it's not the job for you after all.

The good news is that you lot stopped to think about your job offering before yous accepted it. Not everyone does!

According to recent data compiled by the U.S. government, the average baby boomer changes jobs 11.7 times during his or her career – that's a lot of job offers. Despite this, writer John Lees found that many people spend longer researching their vacations than they practise evaluating their job offers.

For many of us, a job isn't just a job – it's our career. Information technology's where nosotros spend most of our time and, if we're lucky, it's our passion. So, it makes sense to objectively evaluate any job offers that we receive, even if our initial reaction is to reach for the phone and gleefully accept.

This article will explore the eight key criteria that y'all should consider when evaluating a task offer.

Why Y'all Should Look Earlier You Leap

Any your circumstances, and yet desperate or excited you may feel, it pays to resist the urge to accept the kickoff job offer that comes your fashion. You should consider whatever propositions that you lot receive advisedly.

Many important things rely on yous securing the right job – your happiness, relationships, career prospects and progression, cocky-confidence, well-being, and wellness, to name merely a few. What if you make the wrong pick? You lot might get stuck in a task that you don't really desire, regretting that you never took the fourth dimension to consider it properly.

Requite yourself time to evaluate a job offer objectively and thoroughly, and politely request a minimum of ii days to determine whether information technology'southward really the job for yous. At the same time, remember to be realistic – the offer may not be perfect, and you may have to compromise on certain elements of the job – but your ultimate goal is to progress, and improve on your electric current position.

A good starting signal is to evaluate your job offer against these viii criteria:

1. Enquiry Your Prospective Employer

Your prospective employer has worked difficult to assess your suitability for the job. But have yous thought most whether it is suitable for you?

Take some time to "play detective" before you accept the offer, and investigate whether the organization is the correct fit for y'all. Social media is an excellent source of information, particularly if yous want to appraise public stance of the organization. Read comments well-nigh the company on social networking sites or check out any current news stories most it. Improve still, talk to someone who already works at that place.

Try to gather equally much data as yous can about the arrangement'due south people, its reputation, values, working environment, and culture, and near your potential dominate'south management mode. Could you fit in seamlessly or would it be a culture shock? Would yous be proud to say that you work there?

Another good place to wait is the visitor's most recent almanac study or its quarterly SEC filing. Here you lot tin can notice a wealth of information about its activities – from current projects and profiles of its directors, to corporate values and fiscal accounts. Browse through the company's fiscal reports from the last few years, paying detail attention to its acquirement and profitability, to judge whether it's under whatsoever financial pressure level or if layoffs may be imminent.

Try to find out how stable the company is, what its market position is, and what its future prospects are. You lot may non have a crystal ball, only y'all'll want to feel confident that the organization you're joining isn't about to go bust.

2. Salary

Many people see salary equally the cardinal cistron when they're deciding whether to accept a job offer.

But you demand to evaluate how much your skills and feel are really worth before you accept the bacon that you've been offered. Websites such as vault and glassdoor can give you a skillful thought of the average salary bands inside your industry, position, location, and company.

Information technology'southward also important to consider your future prospects. The bacon on offering might be suitable for now just, without guaranteed annual cost-of-living increases, your income could diminish in real terms over time. If you lot've been offered a commission-based bacon, are the bonus structures realistic? It might exist worth request your prospective employer how often people attain their targets, or whether at that place are any clauses relating to the bonus structure.

3. Benefits and Perks

Benefits can brand up a substantial chunk of your compensation package so it'due south worth assessing this part of your contract carefully, as their value is often less obvious than the value of the bacon.

The salary that y'all've been offered might exist higher than your electric current one, but if your employer's retirement programme contributions are lower, you lot could be worse off in the long term. On the flip-side, a generous benefits package and retirement plan can make up for a lower salary.

Benefits and perks differ from visitor to company so, if details of your package aren't included in your offer letter, inquire to see a full list of the contract terms. Find out what benefits you'll be eligible for (and when), and appraise their value for yous.

Y'all might want to consider the following questions when assessing the value of your benefits packet:

• Leave – What'southward the vacation and sickness allowance?
• Health Saving Account contributions – What are the premiums? Is dental and ophthalmic cover included? When volition y'all be eligible?
• Stock – What stock options are available? Are stock units given as office of a bonus or do y'all have to be working at the organisation for a certain length of time before you are eligible?
• Tuition reimbursement – Will the employer cover your tuition fees if you decide to enroll on relevant paid educational courses?
• Incentives – Is the incentive scheme based on personal achievements or the company'southward wider operation?
• Insurance – What insurance plans are offered? How much will they cost?
• Pension – What contributions will the company brand?
• Profit sharing – Is there a plan to requite employees a share of the visitor's profits?
• Apply of a company auto, cellphone or computer – Are these provided? If so, volition these expenses be tax refundable?
• Other perks – Are any boosted benefits offered, for example gym membership, daycare, travel costs, sabbaticals, etc?

iv. Savings and Expenses

I of the biggest expenses to consider when evaluating a chore offering is your commute. Volition your travel costs increase or decrease?

If the position isn't flexible, your new job might crave you to move house. If this is the instance, y'all'll need to take relocation costs, changes to your belongings and taxes, and changes to your insurance rates into business relationship.

Sometimes we forget nearly the subconscious costs of a new chore offering – a new wardrobe, for instance, or insurance cover (if you lot aren't nevertheless eligible for the visitor insurance programme). If you're working from dwelling, will the arrangement provide y'all with decent equipment?

5. Time

The amount of time that your new job will take up (beyond core hours) can be difficult to guess. It might be worth talking to someone who has a similar role in the company to try to understand what workload you may be expected to have on or how much overtime you may accept to piece of work.

If you're paid by the hour, you might welcome the opportunity to piece of work extra time. But if you receive a salary, you may terminate upward resenting working for a visitor that expects yous to put in 12 hours a day just only pays you for eight. If overtime is a regular expectation, information technology could even mean that you end up getting paid less per hr than you do in your current job.

The time it takes to travel to your new chore is as well an of import consideration, particularly if information technology'southward a long or difficult commute. How much of the day volition your new journey accept upward? How reliable is the transport that you'll use? Remember that a lengthy commute might be bearable when y'all're 25, but it can become a burden when you're threescore.

6. Career Path

Getting a new task might be your priority right now, but you still need to think advisedly nigh how it will impact your long-term career prospects.

If you accept a job offer on impulse and it doesn't work out, you might end up desperate to go out. Repeat the same fault once more, and you could find that your résumé becomes littered with several short-lived jobs. This could brand y'all look unreliable to potential employers, leading you fifty-fifty further away from your called career path.

If it's the work itself or the potential career progression on offering that appeals to you lot – rather than the bacon or the benefits – then it'southward especially important to consider how the job volition serve yous and bring y'all closer to achieving your career goals. Enquire yourself whether information technology will challenge you, expose you to new experiences, and enable yous to abound.

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7. Enquiry the Role

Read the job description and person specification once more. You need to feel confident that the work itself is something that you want to do, and that it will give y'all satisfaction.

It's also of import to be certain of exactly what will be expected of you, and that those expectations are realistic. If the job specification seems also long or too short, or if it doesn't match upwardly to the job championship, you might need to go back to the HR department for further clarification.

Tip:

If you're concerned that your skills might not match those listed on the chore specification, it might be worth carrying out a Personal SWOT Analysis to assess how well your cognition and experience marshal with the role requirements. If you feel that yous oversold your abilities in the interview, you could current of air upwardly disappointing your boss, missing targets and feeling stressed. Conversely, if you lot've undersold them, you could become bored and frustrated.

8. Your Values

Take some time to think about your personal values and those of the arrangement. What qualities are important to yous in a prospective employer? Exercise your values align with the company'southward? Perhaps you lot believe passionately in working for a company that has a skilful environmental record or that works closely with certain charities. Is your prospective employer active in supporting the causes that matter most to y'all?

Virtually companies provide data about their vision, values and principles on their website. It might also exist a skillful thought to check out the organization's corporate social responsibleness (CSR) written report, which outlines what it's doing to maintain its values. Y'all can usually download these from companies' websites.

If you even so have any questions concerning the company's values after receiving a chore offer, now's the time to raise them with HR.

Making Your Decision

Once you've finished evaluating your job offer, it's time to make your conclusion.

Some offers are just too good to reject. The pros outweigh the cons, and the new function will provide career progression in the areas that matter to y'all. If this is the example for you, accepting the job might just be the right fashion to go.

Sometimes, all the same, the role might experience like the correct fit, but the offer isn't what you'd hoped for, or a few of the contract terms concern you. In this case, some negotiation might exist in order. People can oft be put off negotiating because they fear that their task offering volition exist retracted but, if your request is reasonable and the company has room for maneuver, you could observe yourself in a better position than you were originally.

If, after weighing everything upwards, the offering still doesn't match your expectations, the best conclusion is probably to turn it downward. Remember to do and then politely. It's always a good idea to stay on good terms – another job might come upward with the organisation in the time to come that is right for you.

Sometimes, however, yous might non have the luxury of being able to say no. If this is the case, consider seeking out alternative options, such as temporary work, or accepting the chore while you lot continue to look for a role that better suits your long-term career goals.

Tip 1:

Beware of "playing difficult ball" with a potential employer. Although negotiation tin can often be productive, asking for likewise much tin backfire if you aren't careful. Make sure that your requests are reasonable, particularly when it comes to your salary expectations.

Tip 2:

Go on the eight evaluation criteria covered in this article in mind as y'all get through the interview process. Exist observant when you're on the company'south premises, so that you can estimate the "mood" of the people who you meet, and whether you'd work well with them. Ask intelligent questions about the 8 criteria listed above at appropriate times during the interview process (although questions virtually the packet might be best kept until later on – you don't want to seem as if you are only interested in the money).

Key Points

The excitement and relief that we feel when nosotros receive a task offer tin can mean that we are often too quick to take. But the risks of saying "yep" to a task that y'all're not suited to, or that could terminate up serving yous badly, might result in you straying from your chosen career path.

It's wise to take the time to objectively assess a task offer, and whether information technology really suits you and your long-term career goals. Remember to look beyond the salary, check through the terms of the offering thoroughly, and assess how the job will impact your life beyond work. Too consider the visitor'south civilization and its values.

In one case you've evaluated your job offer thoroughly, yous will be in a much amend position to judge whether you lot should accept the job, endeavor to negotiate a better deal, or reject the offer completely.

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Source: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/evaluating-job-offer.htm

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