The moment you realise that the place you work in has been wrong from the start is a shocking one. It may occur to you on day one or day 1,001, while you are waiting for the information from Finance that never comes, or snapping your ballpoint pen in frustration as yet another last-minute project is dumped on you. You may even love what you do, if only you were doing it somewhere else. And that is the moment you reach for the job pages.
But choose wisely. Working for a diseased company can decimate your self-confidence and ruin your free time. It can also be a blip on your CV. But what makes a company good to work for? It is not just the job you do, or the benefits such as a pension or free use of a gym. It is also the culture: the attitude, behaviour and expectations of staff, how management treat the minions, and whether that all-important respect for others and their work is evident or invisible.
Louise Wood, 36, spent an unhappy time at a company in the finance sector. "I was outraged by the way the staff treated each other," she says. "Of course, all the hints were there during my interview. I was left in a draughty corridor for an hour, ignored by the reception staff while they whinged about someone. The interviewer was late without an apology or explanation. On the way to the interview room he replied 'bloody fool' audibly to a greeting from a security man. The interviewer's attitude was endemic, and I'm surprised now that I even lasted a year there."
The trick to choosing a place where you will be happy is to be aware of the subtle and not-so-subtle clues that are fired at you during the job-hunting process.
Start with the job ad. If it is shoddy and unprofessional, the company will be, too. If the job description is muddled, then the company doesn't know what the job is. If the company doesn't know, how the heck will you? Read between the lines of the ads that seem smart and positive.
Has the company sent you a timely confirmation of your interview time and date, and directions to its offices? This is shows a thoughtful, professional attitude.
You arrive at the offices. Assess the working atmosphere of the company. Don't just focus on the interviewer, but also on the other staff you see, and the premises.
Joan Mershon, a US-based trainer in employability skills, says "one or two bad points shouldn't put you off, but little things can quickly add up to give a negative picture". If you look carefully you may spot a dozen examples of employee dissatisfaction. If there is a car park, is it scruffy or immaculate? Can you park anywhere, or is there status parking? Are the reception staff friendly and courteous or do they look as if they hate being there?
You could be sneaky and arrive early. Ask to go to the loo. Are you left to wander about looking for it or does someone show you the way? Are the toilets a pleasure to pee in or a hell-hole? You can learn a lot from the attitude a company has to its staff by the state of the toilets. Sloppy, dilapidated premises show that either the company is broke, so your job security is iffy, or the management does not consider its staff are important enough to warrant basic standards.
Job candidates everywhere are advised to be pristine, polite and punctual. But the same goes for the interviewer. If they are late, do they apologise? Do they look scruffy as they shuffle their papers, searching desperately for your name, avoiding your gaze as you struggle with their wet-haddock handshake?
The interviewer will indicate the company's progress on the evolutionary scale of good conduct by how they behave. Does the interviewer ask questions at best irrelevant or at worst insulting? Are they polite to staff members who may interrupt the meeting, or do they take pleasure in badmouthing their colleagues? Are you encouraged to ask questions, and are those questions answered?
But how can you tell that the company is fine but you were unlucky with the interviewer? If you are not invited to meet other staff, why not get a little lost on the way out? Observe how staff interact. Is anybody laughing or is it heads-down intimidation? Are doors closed or open? Is the atmosphere upbeat or downtrodden? Pick a member of staff who looks important, and ask if they could direct you out of the building. Do they fob you off, command an underling to guide you or take you themselves? You may have picked the nicest person in a miserable office, but chances are that a helpful attitude will be a reflection of employee satisfaction. Get talking with someone. Be blunt, and ask what they like or dislike about working there.
If you are still not sure if you'll be happy there, go with your gut feeling. It is hardly ever wrong.
