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Showing Original Post only (View all)5 Ways to Tell How Well a Potential Employer Would Treat You as an Employee [View all]
I have worked for well over 100 companies so far as a consultant. By about the 20th one, I could tell within 5 minutes of entering their place of business how they were to work for. Here are 5 things you can usually see during an interview or the application process:
1 - The parking lot. Are there many cars there at 7pm? at 7am? Are they the nice new cars of upper management or the patched up, worker bee cars?
2 - Look at the employee lunch or break room. Good signs: a new-ish refrigerator, tables with chairs, free coffee. Bad signs: no real break room, copy machine, fax or files in the break room, signs on the refrigerator warning employees not to eat each others' food.
3 - Look at the cube farm or work area. Good signs: high cube walls, sound absorption is effective, clean floor. Bad signs: small or no cube walls, small stations, noisy, and self-cleaning policy (dirty).
4 - The vibe. Even if you are only there for a 10 minute interview you can usually get the vibe. Look at employee's faces and body language. Don't count the HR people -- they are cheerleaders; look at the people who are doing the job you are applying for.
5 - Look at the mix of employees. Good signs: mature employees in the mix, women in middle and upper management positions, ethnic diversity. Bad signs: few employees over 30, lots of interns, lots of turn over, company owners' relatives and spouses on the payroll.