Frying pan into the fire

I’ve noticed many clients are nervous about moving jobs. They are worried the new job will turn out to be worse than the old job i.e. the cliché of moving from the frying pan into the fire. But there’s a lot you can do to minimise this risk. In this post I’ll concentrate on using the actual recruitment process to assess a company.

How a company manages the recruitment process is a very good indicator of how they will treat you as an employee. After all if they can’t be bothered to present a good image whilst trying to attract employees, what will they be like when you’re on the payroll? Whilst it can be difficult to ask all the right questions you can use your eyes and ears to learn a lot.
Make sure you use every opportunity to observe what is going on around you. Does your potential new employer

1.Acknowledge your application promptly and professionally?

2. Does the recruitment process appear efficient- i.e. plenty of advance notice of interviews or test times, availability of job descriptions, phone calls returned, clear timetable?

3. Are the receptionist and other people you deal with courteous or unfriendly? Do they appear committed to the company?

4. Are you left waiting beyond your appointed time for interview or test and if so is a sincere apology given

5. While waiting in the reception area, you can often hear the receptionist taking phone calls or dealing with visitors. What kind of queries are being raised? Are there many calls from dissatisfied customers/clients? Is the receptionist able to deal with the calls or is he/she constantly apologising for staff not returning previous calls?

6.What is the atmosphere like in this building, is it busy and efficient, or is the receptionist/people passing though moaning amongst themselves or at anybody else who enters?

7. If interviewed in the office building, is it clean, bright and attractive?

8. If you use the toilets are they clean?

9. If you are not interviewed in the office building, is a reason given?

10. Is the manager you are going to be working to, on the interview panel?

11. Does he/she appear supportive and enthusiastic?

12. Do the other members of the interview panel appear friendly and interested?

13. Does the interview panel appear to operate as a team, indicating good team working in the company or do they appear to be operating independently?
( Tends to indicate intense office politics.)


Whilst I have no academic research to back this up, I’ve noticed companies presenting a good image of themselves during the recruitment process, tend to be well managed and have respect for their employees, with proper training and induction. If your answers to the questions above indicate a poorly run organisation, you may need to do further research to find exactly what you’re taking on before accepting any job offer.

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Thanks to Karin for picture