How to Tell if It’s Dead-End Job (Or, Top 10 Reasons to RUN for the Door!)

September 12, 2009 by sparktalk

Article by CAREEREALISM-Approved Expert, Rob Taub

This article was listed as one of the 10 biggest HR stories of 2009 by SmartBrief.

Number 10: The position for which you are interviewing is vacant for a long time. Well-run companies don’t create vacancies. Before letting someone go or sensing if someone wants to go, they will be ready with a replacement.

Number 9: When asked how the company measures its success in the market, the Interviewer offered a self-constructed analysis based purely on unclear assumption, meaning … he’s making it up!

Number 8: Interviewer could offer only vague generalizations about where the company would like to be, concluding with, “Hey, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. The correct thinking: Better improve it before someone else does.

Number 7: When you bring up Internet Marketing or SEO his or her eyes start to close,

Number 6: When asked who they feel are their main competitors, you’re fed the old unsubstantiated line, “We don’t have any”.

Number 5: When you ask how the position has changed over the years the response is, “It hasn’t.”

Number 4: When you ask the interviewer to tell you something about the particulars of the job you hear, “Very steady work; lots of job security”. In other words, you’re not going anywhere from here!

Number 3: When you ask if the Interviewer has any tips before you leave and he or she says, “Just make sure you have some fun out there.”

Number 2: When you ask the interviewer, your would-be boss, how long he or she has been in their job and you hear “since the company started.”

And finally, THE NUMBER 1 REASON YOU WILL KNOW IT’S A DEAD-END JOB AND SHOULD HIGH-TAIL IT TO THE DOOR …When asked if happy with where the company is today, he or she replies, “Hey, it pays the bill at the Club and keeps the kids in tennis lessons!”

Hope this helps!

Rob Taub, a Credentialed Career Master and CAREEREALISM-Approved Career Expert, is a 24-year veteran in the career consulting field who headed the RLS Executive Group, N.E. for RL Stevens & Associates http://interviewing.com, is Principal of RésuméPro Plus http://resumeproplus.com, and Creator of the blog, “The Job Search Corner: Job Searching with Rob” http://jobsearchingwithrob.blogspot.com/ You can view Rob’s full public profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/robtaub /.

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