Prospective new employers - red flags

[Caged]

In the US at least the numbers of people voluntarily leaving their jobs is the highest it's been for nine years, and I think in the sectors that I have exposure to people tend to be ignoring all the gloomy reports about how the economy hasn't really recovered. Changing jobs right now isn't such a bad idea, especially if your salary has been repressed by years of your current employer telling you that business isn't great and so no real terms raises for you this year. Face it - the only way to make up for those lost years of pay rises is to move on.

However, it's reasonable to have concerns about doing this, as even if you have a clear picture of your actual job role, your salary, bonus structure and other perks and benefits, the job itself can still be crap.

What are the obvious things that people need to look/listen out for and take as a sign of running far away? I'm going to be interested in the replies as I thought I did a bit of due diligence to get into my current position, and yet it's pretty poor. And as I'm coming up to two years it's probably time to move on.

 

[Bickaxe]

My job was low paid (no problem, we had a laugh everyday and it was easy work) and I got 2 promotions in 18 months due to not being able to sit still and just get on with it.
Eventually, it took an increased work load and the MD telling us that business is growing and company profits are increasing everywhere (especially our region). Great I thought, they can pay me more.

I then got an abysmal pay rise (so low its pointless even calling it such) following an outstanding performance review (reducing stock holdings, improving the plans we worked to and covering for other staff). I dread to think what others got if they are performing below expectations.

I voiced my concerns about this to my manager and regional director as well as other things and basically got ignored.
It still annoys me as I made major improvements to our region and they were adopted company wide and I got no credit for it.

I left 3 weeks later at the start of their busy period.

We have moved to a new area as we then had the opportunity and whilst I'm currently unemployed (frustrating), I'm nowhere near as stressed.

Was it a good move? I think so, I've heard from one of the guys at Christmas to meet up for a few beers. Since I left, its gone downhill and my old manager is back to his old ways of getting angry at everything.

So if you are told that things are looking great and thats reflected in a low pay rise, I take that as a warning sign.
Bad management thats been in place for years is also a big red marker. The bigger the company, the more likely it is. We moved for this reason so my missus could work for someone who knew what they were doing (change of department).

Having re-read your post, none of that is really relevant.
High staff turnover, long hours, low amount of holidays, compulsory weekend working and obviously salary are my red flags.

 

[dowie]

did you not query why you weren't getting a pay rise with those two promotions rather than having to wait for an annual pay review? Tis bad form for them to expect you to take on more work, take a promotion, more responsibilities etc.. and then not reward you for it. Probably a good thing you left in the long run.

 

[Caged]

I think sometimes especially if you're a bit new to it all you can have a review/promotion and just accept it and by the time you realise that you screwed up it can often be too late.

I left a previous job because I figured that the amount of effort involved in fighting for a token raise to reflect a change in responsibilities an entire year after I realised that I'd been effectively giving away potential earnings would be better spent on moving somewhere with a better attitude. I was right and I nearly doubled my salary.

 

[Ev0]

This is something I've been wrestling with for a little while now, I like my employer and job and arguably my package for the role is nice. Actually thinking about it there's no need to argue it, it is very nice lol.

However to move on here financially it's a ball ache, a promotion process that is hugely costly in time and effort for potentially little gain, which looks a less attractive option when there are competitors out there offering healthy increases on packages.

Struggle I have is I don't really want to leave this company as it's good here and aspects of work/life balance are ideal, especially when for a lot of other companies or positions my location is not ideal. Where I am now I can live where I like and to a large extent work how I like.

Worked my ass off the last year which has been reflected in the performance review for the year getting the top grade, so will be interested to see what 'reward', if any, comes with that when everything gets processed.

Have had a couple of our competitors chasing me for roles they have, until now I've not really been interested but this year could be the year I start talking to them with a bit more enthusiasm...

 

[peterwalkley]

Reviews on glassdoor.com always worth checking out.

 

[A2Z]

My job was low paid (no problem, we had a laugh everyday and it was easy work) and I got 2 promotions in 18 months due to not being able to sit still and just get on with it.
Eventually, it took an increased work load and the MD telling us that business is growing and company profits are increasing everywhere (especially our region). Great I thought, they can pay me more.

I then got an abysmal pay rise (so low its pointless even calling it such) following an outstanding performance review (reducing stock holdings, improving the plans we worked to and covering for other staff). I dread to think what others got if they are performing below expectations.

I voiced my concerns about this to my manager and regional director as well as other things and basically got ignored.
It still annoys me as I made major improvements to our region and they were adopted company wide and I got no credit for it.

I left 3 weeks later at the start of their busy period.

We have moved to a new area as we then had the opportunity and whilst I'm currently unemployed (frustrating), I'm nowhere near as stressed.

Was it a good move? I think so, I've heard from one of the guys at Christmas to meet up for a few beers. Since I left, its gone downhill and my old manager is back to his old ways of getting angry at everything.

So if you are told that things are looking great and thats reflected in a low pay rise, I take that as a warning sign.
Bad management thats been in place for years is also a big red marker. The bigger the company, the more likely it is. We moved for this reason so my missus could work for someone who knew what they were doing (change of department).

Having re-read your post, none of that is really relevant.
High staff turnover, long hours, low amount of holidays, compulsory weekend working and obviously salary are my red flags.

Promotion = pay rise. Why would you wait until a performance review?

 

[Nix]

High staff turnover, long hours, low amount of holidays, compulsory weekend working and obviously salary are my red flags.

Had every single one of those in my last job.

****ing recession. Glad it's behind me now.

 

[HangTime]

My personal opinion is that it is quite difficult to avoid the 'job is crap' situation without doing an excessive amount of 'due diligence' as you put it. Even if you spend dozens of hours on research it is unlikely that can truly prepare you for what the job will be like, what all the personalities you need to deal with will be like, what change the organisation may undertake a year after you join, etc. Sure you might spot warning signs sometimes but if you don't spot the signs there's no guarantee it will all be plain sailing.

I've only once been genuinely scared off a job after interview which was a situation where I didn't believe the structure of the team I'd be placed in was sufficient to cope with the likely demands of the role. Essentially the job was as a 'Project Manager' but where the team was basically me reporting to a Director (based primarily overseas) and a single Analyst Programmer reporting to me, with some various floating/centralised resources we'd engage with. It just looked far too small a team for such a large company (>$8bn gross profit) dealing across multiple countries and I had visions of having to undertake all types of different activities and massive pressure because there would be nobody to support me. It felt like an organisation who's background / industry is very far removed from IT not having matured their IT capability to anywhere near the levels I'd become accustomed to in other sectors.

 

[NickK]

Had every single one of those in my last job.

****ing recession. Glad it's behind me now.

Hmm not really... there's doom and gloom predicted for 2016.. add the new tax changes for the contract market.. only makes it harder as a perm.