Should I accept the job offer?

Our company sends hundreds of people every month for interviews. Consistently we get feedback from the candidate that they are unsure if they should accept the offered job. It can be very difficult to make a decision that can impact your life for years to come.

Deciding on the right offer to accept should start with eliminating the job offers to stay away from. While you may only get a small window to gather information during your interview, this may be more than enough if you know what clues are important. They all revolve around culture.

1. What is the overall energy of the business when you walk through the door? Are employees frantically buzzing around in a way that seems uncomfortable and disorganized? Do the people in the business (both employees and customers) seem happy and engaged in their activities? Look to see if everyone is productive, or if half the staff is staring bored into space. Try to find sight-line to Management, and decide if they are involved with their employees. Take this all in prior to speaking with anyone. Ask yourself if you feel comfortable with the environment based on your first viewing.
2. Is the company prepared for my arrival? When you enter is the interviewer ready for you, or are you made to wait? If you do have to wait are you given an explanation and is someone inside the business, not necessarily the interviewer, responsible for making sure your interview starts at the first possible opportunity? Immediate action things happen within a business, this is a good test to see how they react to them.
3. Is the interviewer engaged in the interview? Your success as an employee is many times tied to how invested Management is in growing their staff. If a Manager won't invest time in your hiring and vetting, they are never going to spend energy on growing your career. This doesn't mean a Manager can never be interrupted during an interview, again immediate action things come up in a business. You are looking to see if the Manager is intently paying attention to your answers, taking notes on the responses, and is really conversing with you.
4. Are you given the true scope of the position and income? Many companies view interviews as one sided affairs, evaluating the candidate. The place you want to work for sees this as entering a mutually beneficial relationship, and understands that trust through information sharing needs to happen in both directions. You want the interviewer to give a full account of the daily life of the job, many times this includes watching one of their employees work. If the position includes commission or bonus you want more than, "you can earn", or "we've had people make". A company that is serious about transparent with employees will tell you what the average person earns and the type and amount of work they put in to earn the bonus or commission.

While this is not a definitive list of all the pieces to consider in accepting or turning down a job offer, they go along way to establishing the culture of the company and are true indicators of how a company will treat you after you are hired. You want a friendly, energetic place to work with Management invested in your success that are willing to share information to staff.

Hope this helps, and best of luck on the job hunt!