Evaluating a job offer.

I was planning to title this article as “Evaluating a job offer or a job prior to applying..”. I decided to keep it “Evaluating a job offer ..” since it’s difficult for one to evaluate a job on the parameters mentioned below prior to applying for the job. Most of the time an interview interaction with the hiring managers allows you an opportunity to learn more about the job, and thus allows you ample information for decision making on the job. If you are any good and the hiring guys see a potential fitment, you would be landing up the offer , and well then its your turn to decide if you are going to take up the offer to let it go.  (Have you read – Part A: The challenges of evaluating employers and job offers .. & Part B: Evaluating a Prospective Employer ..)

If you are able to ascertain a Job Opening on some of these parameters prior to applying, its better – you don’t have to go through the pain of applying and interviews. One word of caution though , a direct interview is the best way to clarify your doubts and seek answers on any specific aspect of the job.

Now lets take a quick look at these parameters, that can help you evaluate a job better – applicable mostly for managerial, middle management &  senior management professionals. For starters, campus recruits, young professionals – you need to provision mostly for “Learning Opportunities” and “Growth Opportunities”. I have deliberately kept the Compensation aspect out of the decision parameters, since that’s mostly based on market benchmarks, your existing compensation and your bargaining power. We will just focus on the “Job”.

When you are exploring an opportunity – you need to be sure of the following:

  • Job Environment
  • Job Content
  • Freedom to Work
  • Decision Making
  • Challenges

Job Environment: Job Environment is the environment within which the job operates. We have already seen some aspects of this is the previous article. For now this would imply the reporting relationship, peers, reporting style – if its matrix, or direct or functional or geographical etc. or some thing unique to the company. One needs to be comfortable with the reporting mechanisms, communication mechanisms in place.

Job Content: Every job can be classified as an independent contributor, SME, Operations Lead, Team Lead, Business Head etc. . Depending on the role and the seniority – every role would have some of these elements in varying magnitude – strategic thinking, thinking, doing your self, directing your teams to do some thing, coordinating, reviewing , monitoring  , facilitating etc. One needs to see what all comprises and Job, and then evaluate if the same fits with ones expectations from his/her next job. For example – Rita is looking forward to a strategic role in Sales & Marketing. Her expectation is a Head Office kind of role with a key focus on designing and driving strategy for sales and marketing. Now if she chances upon a job titled – Head –  Sales Coordination, which is also a Head Office kind of role but involves mostly data collation, number crunching and analytics. The way the jobs are represented in job descriptions, may give an impression that both the jobs are near similar and require near similar skill sets. Its only when you start exploring and digging deeper you get to learn essential details on the Job Content.

Freedom to Work: Almost all of us appreciate freedom , allowing us to take our own shots at doing things , with focus on delivery. However event at Managerial, Middle Management, and some senior level jobs in most companies the job holders enjoy extremely limited Freedom to Work (this is not a bad sign anyways). For those who are gunning for key roles and are promised “Freedom to Work”, may clarify and get more information on the boundaries within which the job operates. You need to know – what exactly is implied when you are promised Freedom to Work. See if it goes well with your expectations.

Decision Making: Decision making is difficult, and is normally held for responsible positions. You need to be sure of the decision making powers, authority that a position holds. You also need to know the boundaries regarding the delegation of authority etc. The decision making aspects could be as simple as decision making on your approach to work – or could be as challenging as decision making on business strategy, new products, new markets, on budgets and expenses. Decision making related to unchartered territories are related to top level positions, where in one has to decide within lots of limitations. And well with more decision making powers comes more responsibility – you need to see if the decision making aspects of a position suits your appetite as well as capabilities.

Challenges: Most people say that they love challenges – “I need a challenging job “. However some people get a decent kick from challenging jobs, and challenges related to a job and some get kicked out since they were unable to handle challenges. You need to see and clarity – the challenges that come along with a job. For example: Launching a never heard of product in a new market, implementing a performance management system for a old family run business, hiring r & d talent for a life sciences company in a limited budget. Some challenges are thrilling, while other can be threatening. And a mix of having faced these thrilling and threatening challenges can at times put your career track on a serious upswing. However you need to take your pick.

Apart from the above parameters you are welcome to look at the standard aspects of learning opportunities, growth opportunities , compensation etc. , while evaluating a Job.

We welcome your thoughts, additions, suggestions, etc. on the above article.

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Praveen is the Founder & Principal Consultant of KHEdge, a boutique HR & Business Process Advisory firm. Over last 15 years he has advised & worked with promoters, founders, business leaders, HR leaders in areas of - Business Strategy, HR Strategy, Organisation Design etc.

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