by Georgia Adamson
Job searching often bears a strong resemblance to dating, and this is particularly true with regard to interviews. Both you and the company tend to “put your best foot forward”-you because you want to land the job, and the company because they want to attract good people. Unfortunately, this can mean that if you, the company or the position has negative aspects, those aspects may not come to light during the interviews.
In fact, one of the most frequent causes of employment disasters is a failure to clarify expectations held by the job-seeker, the employer or both. As noted, each participant in a pre-employment interview has something at stake. If that situation leads one or both of them to communicate expectations inaccurately (or, in some cases, deceptively), problems can follow-possibly as serious as the abrupt resignation or termination of employment.
Some job-seekers don’t believe they have a choice in the matter, especially, for instance, if they’ve been out of work for an extended period or are facing an imminent layoff. However, the reality is that if you don’t gain a clear understanding of what the employer expects from you (the results you will have to produce if hired) and a good grasp of the specific challenges you will have to overcome (limited time, tight budget and so on), you could find disaster staring you in the face once you start.
The same potential difficulty exists if you succeed in convincing the employer that you are the right person for the job although you have reservations about how good a fit you really are. For example, if you withhold information that might influence the employer’s selection, even if you’re not legally required to divulge it, you may have skewed the process.
Besides the unpleasantness of having to resign or being fired from the job within a short time, you also have to deal with how to treat that experience on your resume and in future interviews. Do you pretend it never happened and pray it doesn’t come back to haunt you? Do you try to mask it in the most favorable terms possible and hope the prospective employer will move quickly past it to the wonderful work you did previously?
By far your best bet is to clarify expectations early on – before you’re hired. Ask probing questions to make sure you understand what the employer is aiming for and what you’d have to contend with. If what you learn from this doesn’t match you very well, be up-front with the employer about it. Taking yourself out of the running before either you or the company have wasted precious time will yield the greatest benefit in the long run. First, it eliminates a potentially bad experience. Second, it frees you to concentrate on finding an opportunity that does meet your needs and that allows you to make a valuable contribution. That way, everyone wins.