Would You Take A Job Even Though Your Friends Tell You Not To?

When your friends and family tell you that you don't want to work for a company, would you still accept the job?

I know that the job market has been less than stable lately, and finding a job is tough work. Still, if you were offered a great job and your friends, family or professional network warned you that it was a bad place to work, would you still accept the job offer? It's a tough question.

Finding a job that is a good fit for you is crucial, and it doesn't pay in the long term to take a job where you would be miserable. That being said, if it was the job you had really been wanting, would other peoples' opinions be strong enough to make you change your mind? According to several studies, the majority of people said that yes, they would turn down the offer.

Of course, the question was posed hypothetically in a quick yes or no survey, but my question is, is walking away a good career move?

I don't think so. At least, not always. It could be that the people who had worked for the company in the past had a bad boss or didn't get along with their co-workers. As long as you aren't going to be working for that same bad boss, or even in that department, the problems they faced may not have any relevance on the position you have been offered.

With any sort of information about a company, you have to listen, sometimes really hard, to find out exactly what the problem was. Sometimes, the warnings are worth heading. For example,you hear that the company had been sued several times or has been accused of not treating minority employees fairly or offering them promotions. If you are a member of a minority and want to have long term job security and possibilities for advancement, you might want to really ask yourself if it is the right place for you. On one hand, perhaps they have learned their lesson and are eager to prove that they don't behave that way anymore, or, on the other hand, they might still be practicing their unfair, shaddy business practices.

This is where corporate culture can really work to your advantage. When you research a company, knowing what their value system is and what their culture is all about can help you determine if it will be a good fit for you. As with any other type of advice, you'll have to consider the source. If the people who are warning you about the company are people who worked there many years ago, their experiences might not have much bearing on what yours will be. However, if you are hearing negatives from many recent employees, you might want to ask these questions:

 

 

Remember, this is your career you're thinking about, so accepting a job that you'll be miserable at only postpones your job search, it doesn't end it. If you take a job you hate, it won't be long before you'll be polishing up your resume all over again.

 

What would you do in this situation? Have you ever taken a job that people warned you about? Was it a good choice or a bad one? Let me know in the comments.

 

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for FinancialJobBank. Along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.