What you need to know before accepting a job

As the war for talents continue to heat up in Singapore, many organizations are becoming more creative in their approach to fill up their vacancies. It is no longer just about the job. It became everything else. Things have escalated to an employee courtship. Creating employer branding, making applicant feel special, allocating expensive floor space for swanky chill-out areas in the office are just the tip of the iceberg. As a job seeker, you need to peel away the layer of marketing barrier to get to the core of the position.

Ultimately it is the job that matters so here are five questions to ask your prospective employer before taking that leap of faith.

1. How would you describe a typical day in this position? A job description is adequate in illustrating the entire requirement of the position. However many of them doesn’t provide an insight in the actual weightage of each responsibilities and how frequent each of them would occur. Having a first-hand insight will provide a clearer picture of what to expect when you are in the job.

2. Who would my co-workers be and what are they like? Unless you are joining a new start-up, chances are you will be working with new co-workers. Putting diverse people in the same room and conflict is bound to arise. But having clearer expectations and understandings can provide better preparation and know the kind of characters you will be facing eight hours a day.

3. What do you like about this company? What keeps you here? Everybody works for money but it is the rest that comes along with it that make one chooses their current employment. Knowing what it is will provide insight to the company’s actual beliefs system. And you just need to match them against yours to see if they are a good match.

4. What are the main challenges associated with this position? In all roles, there are people who made it and there are those that didn’t. You want to make sure you are not in the latter. A good idea of the challenges would let you assess if these are within your capability to take them on.

5. (To Line Manager) How would you characterize a successful employee and what are their common qualities? As the saying goes, one doesn’t quit their job. They quit their boss. And this same person will be the key decision maker in your performance appraisal. Knowing their expectations give you better acumen of how to eventually manage your boss.

The employment market is still looking sharp and will continue to be tight. The opportunity to move into another company is never better. But before you jump, make sure you can differentiate the facts from what is on the brochure. 

Adrian Tan, Managing Director, RecruitPlus Consulting Pte Ltd