Ask a Manager

Back in February, a reader wrote in wondering how to avoid inadvertently accepting a job that would expect him to work ridiculously long hours. Here the update:

The contract-to-hire job I was working at the time of my email ended abruptly when I turned down the offer to go full-time. Initially they asked me to extend my contract and keep thinking about it instead of saying no. I was fine with that but was also honest that I probably wouldn’t change my mind. When layoffs were announced a week later, I was an obvious candidate. They gave me an on-the-spot ultimatum and I said no thanks. I have an emergency fund, reasonably-priced COBRA payments (from the previous job) and no debt so it didn’t phase me one bit.

I took a month off and visited friends, worked on some projects and basically slept a lot. I then made my Dice profile visible again and eased into the job hunt (meaning I clicked the visible box and went back to sleep). Two days later, I got a call from a Fortune 500 company in the city where I had been trying to relocate for a job that matched me perfectly. They needed somebody immediately, as in a very brief phone interview at 10 AM Friday, offer at noon and start on Monday.

I figured I would roll the dice since it would allow me to relocate, the money was good and the company would look good on my resume. I didn’t even ask about hours or being on-call. I thought about it but figured it would be more appropriate to wait until the second interview (that never happened). It turns out everyone leaves around 5 PM every day, always takes lunch and there is NO on-call. I stayed until 5:30 one evening because I was in the middle of a problem. A manager actually walked past my desk and asked, “burning the midnight oil?”  Seriously? It’s 5:30!!

I wish I had could say I had a plan others could follow but all I can say is sometimes things work out for the best. I guess the only lesson I learned is that it never would have happened if I didn’t stick to my guns and turn down the job I hated. That’s a tough lesson to pass on to others in this economy.