6 Tips for Investigating a Job Offer

6 Tips for Investigating a Job Offer 6 Tips for Investigating a Job Offer When you finally get a job offer, you might not even think twice before accepting it. After all, isn’t that the goal of all your weeks (and maybe months) of dedicated job searching? But not every job offer is a good one, so you’ll need to really assess it before you sign on the dotted line. Put yourself in a position of power by using these tips to investigate a job offer and decide if it’s right for you. 1. Know your worth. If you’ve been job searching for some time, any job offer might look pretty amazing to you right about now. Thing is, not all companies pay the same for similar job titles. That’s why you should check out what the going rate for your job is with a salary calculator. (Both Glassdoor and PayScale offer tools to help you figure out what you’re worth by looking at your job and where you live.) This can give you a good idea if the offer on the table is one worth accepting. 2. Calculate in the commute. The hiring manager calls you with a bonafide job offer. It’s actually pretty good- so good in fact that you think that commuting might not be so bad after all. Unfortunately, even the most amazing job can turn into a nightmare if you’re stuck in traffic commuting to and from work each and every day. Do a dry run first by commuting to the office at the time when you’d have to be there in the morning and when you’d leave to go home. That could be reason enough to convince you to not take the office-bound job- and find a telecommuting job instead. 3. Research the company. During your job interview, your would-be boss boasted that the company was a leader in its industry, and on the cutting edge of innovation. So why are they letting staff go left and right? Don’t always take what you’re being told during an interview at face value. If you’re offered a job with a company, do some research to see if everything adds up. You can check out its Better Business Bureau rating and search it on social media to see if there are any financial red flags you might need to worry about. After all, if you accept a job offer with one company- and then it goes bankrupt or you’re let go- you’ll have to start your job search all over again. 4. Gain some growth perspective. Every job has its required set of responsibilities. Do the ones presented to you in the job offer sound like something that you’d like to do- every day? Or are there other skills that you’d like to be using but won’t be able to in this new role? Consider what you’ll be doing, day in and day out, and then decide if this would make you happy. Remember, you’re ideally accepting a job offer so that you can stay and grow with the company. If those opportunities don’t exist, the job offer might not be worth your while. 5. Pick apart the personalities. You loved the company you interviewed with- but your prospective boss? Eh, sort of. While a sweet job offer (or even multiple job offers!) might have you wearing professional love goggles, that can wear away quickly once you have to report to a boss who’s not really your cup of tea. Try to determine what your boss’ management style would be, and see if it works for you. That way, you’ll know if you’d be a good match or not. 6. See if the job would be a step up. In a perfect world, each job on your career ladder should be an improved version of your previous one. That could mean anything from better benefits, a superior salary, and great work-life balance while also working in a role that both challenges and inspires you. So give this new job a good assessment to see if it fits your criteria. Go through the pluses and minuses of the position to see if it would really work for you, both now and in the future.