It’s unfortunate, but in a bad economy, there always seems to be a rise in employment “bad boys” who are hiring.
By that I mean companies who take on the persona of those guys us girls learn the hard way NOT to date. These employment bad boys steal your professional heart only to show their ugly side after we get hired. It often ends in a terrible break-up (i.e. getting laid-off, fired unfairly or even having to quit on our own because we just can’t take it anymore).
Here are the three employment bad boys to avoid at all costs:
1. The Sweet-talker: This is the company that tells us how great we are and that they can’t believe how lucky they were to find us. C’mon now! While it’s nice to hear, who are we kidding? There’s plenty of talent out there, we just aren’t that special. But, we love the praise and can’t help but be drawn in to the job where everyone thinks we are the Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt of our profession. However, once we get there, we find out the job isn’t anything like it was described. And those sweet-talking folks who hired us? Turn out to mean and conniving. They figure now that we are on-board, they can show their true selves and save the sappy talk for the next unsuspecting victim.
2. The Aloof Rebel: This is the company that seems almost secretive about what they do. From our very first encounter, we feel like we are pulling teeth to get answers in the interview. Yet something is so mysterious about the environment we feel compelled to take the job to just learn what it is. Sadly, we quickly realize within two weeks on the job that the lack of conversation was just as it appeared – a group of sour people who drone through their work and clearly hate being there. They just knew if they told us the truth we’d run for the hills – so they kept their mouths shut in the interview process in order to get us on board and figured they’d get whatever they could out of us until we finally left…or turned into one of them.
3. The Loveable Dreamer: This company appears full of fun, passionate idea-people. They are all smiles and make it seem like every day is full of birthday parties and intramural Nerf games. They tell us work should be a blast 24/7 – and we believe it. Until we get there and realize the company is financially and organizationally broke, going no-where and full of pretend professionals who are just making the rules up as they go along. We quickly see nothing productive is being accomplished – other than making sure everyone is having a good time. Meanwhile, our paycheck bounces every other week until we finally get a text message one Tuesday letting us know we are out of a job.
Any of us who have been working for 20+ years has encountered one or more of these employment bad boys. And I’m sure we could add a few employment “bad girls” to the mix, too. So, share them below! Tell us, what types of companies should job seekers run from? What are the signs that a company is part of the “bad” club?
J.T. O’Donnell is the founder of CAREEREALISM.com and CEO of CareerHMO.com, a web-based career development company.
Photo credit: Shutterstock
About J.T. O'Donnell
Someone above said to trust your gut. So true. I have said no to some things that MIGHT have led to something better, but my gut said it would be misery in the meantime. Years have passed and I’m still 99% sure that I made the right decision.
If you are being hired for a management position, and the department is staffed with folk who are related to each other or very chummy, make certain the company owner informs the staff WHY you have been hired.
I fell prey to the third option. I wondered why I was hired so quickly. It became apparent after two weeks there were problems when my first expense check bounced but that was a “mistake.” The very day I was there for a full month when I found out my first paycheck was no good. He will never pay me. He is still out there floating around writing bad checks and the Dept of Labor has no interest in making him pay. I am a skilled professional salesperson who happens to be “seasoned” so it has been hard to find a decent position. I have interviewed with these types almost without exception for the past 18 months and yes, worked for option #1 more than once. Why do companies promote people to management positions who haven’t a clue how to manage people?
Ugg, sorry to hear that. It’s true though. Having a low-brow company on your work history can stink. Hopefully, your next employer will help you forget the bad-boy company that burned you!
Thanks for sharing!
I have been unfortunate enough to know one of these companies. From now on it will be eyes open only. Beware the sweet talker. If you even suspect something is foul or mediocre of the company, it probably is. Listen to your inner voice! It will only damage a good resume by working for a company of that low calibre.
I’ve already worked for #1 and #3… less than a year for each. The Dreamer was all hat and no cows, but he could sell anything to anyone. He actually had the staff convinced that we were just weeks away from the breakthrough that was going to catapult his startup to stardom… so completely convinced that several of us worked for him FOR FREE for a while. Until we stopped. Over four years later, his Big Idea is still a Big Washout.
There IS one thing I have learned, and which I will share. Both examples noted above had this in common: the owner of the company expressed a desire to “clone themselves” because they were so busy they couldn’t take care of all the demands on their time. Here is something true: no two people will make ALL the same creative decisions. If one person needs to be sure that all creative decisions are the one he would make, then he will have to lay down parameters for absolutely everything and leave nothing to anyone else’s decision. If he is unable or unwilling to do that, then he needs to accept that some things will be done which may not be EXACTLY what he would do himself. And if THAT is not acceptable, then he needs to stop taking on more projects than he can handle all by himself. But expecting to hire someone who will become simply an extension of himself is unrealistic. He will be disappointed, his employee will be frustrated, and the endeavor will fail. (Substitute “she” as required… “he/she” just gets klutzy!)
I have been in high tech for more than 20 years, and I have encountered ALL of these, and more. The question this article avoids, is, how can we know we’re encountering them until it’s too late? After 20 years, I’ve learned to spot some of them (“did we show you our game room?”), but sometimes, companies just broadside us. And sometimes, because of the economy, we know exactly what we’re getting into, and we have to take it anyway.
So how do you avoid “bad boys “–or at least go into a job with eyes wide open?
1. Ask to see the work space. Don’t let your interviews be confined to the “nice” conference room.
2. Research the company! Find out how they’re doing! Even small startups should have some online paper trail. Look them up on Glassdoor.com, and read with the full understanding that if the posts are totally negative, they were written by someone just laid off or fired, and if they’re glowing, they were probably written by the CEO. Take it at about 50% of face value.
3. Ask subordinates to the hiring manager (if you get to interview with them) how they like working for the boss. Then watch their eyes.
4. If it seems too good to be true, it is. Too much talk of parties and socializing is a cover for a desperate situation. Real companies care about business.
5. If they refer to the company as “family,” just understand your family can’t lay you off, and your real family doesn’t pay you for services rendered. Be realistic.
Oh my gosh Pam, I just read your comment outloud to my co-worker Greg and I’m laughing hysterically – BRILLIANT stuff! So, true. Thank you for contributing this!
“Caveat Emptor” applies to job seekers as much as to consumers.
I have not come across any of three types described, but I have been at interviews that ended up me being the “management consultant for free” — they would ask questions and have you do tasks which had a real value to them and saved them from doing their own research. The funniest one I have come across was the recruitment for a marketing director, a new position. They said they had no marketing vision or experience and needed to recruit someone. After doing a bunch of tasks and analyses, these clever bad boys said what I had produced did not mesh with their vision (!).
I later met two people who had applied for the same fictitious position and their experience was exactly the same as mine. This company is still doing this — they continue to advertise a multitude of jobs that do not exist but they get people to apply and then suck them dry.
Ahh, Ralf – I can relate and should have added that to the list. I recently worked with a team and offered up all sorts of info – even did a slide deck. The partnership didn’t work out, but a little bird has told my all my ideas have magically been implemented. So frustrating! Yes, we should have included the “one-night-stand” bad boy to the list!
Name drop. Tell people who this company is so that others can avoid them.
Its important to remember that – even in these times – the interviewee is interviewing the company too! Its a major commitment to work someplace – kind of like agreeing to date a year based on a first date or two! Make sure you’ll be fulfilled.
Thanks for the reminder.
Rebecca
So true, Rebecca.
Honestly, who agrees to date someone for a year based on one date? Nice analogy and thanks for contributing!