Have you ever had a job where you never felt like it was quite right, like something was missing, like things weren’t really as they seemed. Well, I recently was laid off and although I was a bit shocked, there were lots of signs along the way. The problem is, in a down economy I was obligated to keep on riding it out. Strange also is that I was always busy, I always had tight deadlines, sometimes very fair, but other times they should have been tossed out of the window due to the client (that is another matter). If the economy would have been better, I would have heeded these warnings and moved on. One other thing about the whole experience is that I don’t think I ever want to start as a temp, then get hired on full-time. It is just a weird situation. These are ten signs that your company is in trouble and that your job is doomed from the beginning.
- You are never interviewed. I was placed in this job by a temp agency, I had no interview, I just got a call one day and was asked if I could start tomorrow? I agreed, but I was hesitant, it didn’t sound like what I really was looking for, and it was a long commute. Being screened by a recruiter is okay in my opinion, if it is very temporary, but this started as a 6-month contract.
- Your services are needed because three people got up and quit suddenly. Had there been an interview, this would have been a question that I asked. It is always good to know why they need someone. I never really did find out what happened, they probably realized then what took me a year and a half to find out.
- Small incentive programs suddenly go away. We used to have books that the CEO would recommend, and if we read it and could discuss it or tell him that we read it and what we thought about then shortly after a $50 Amazon gift card would appear in your email. It was nice, but without notice it just ended. Cash flow was that bad? Some may think nothing of it, but I was suspicious.
- Monthly All-staff meetings suddenly cease. The CEO used to get excited to talk about business, this is how we are doing, we are growing when others are contracting, etc. Well the past 2 or 3 months these stopped, also the CEO had a blog that he would update monthly, and this stopped in April too.
- None of the chairs match. Ok, I am starting to get picky, but really. I couldn’t stand this. No one had the same chair, and everyone’s chair was pretty much awful. Now, office furniture can be found at auctions or outlets or somewhere that could provide cost-savings, but it never happened. I complained mainly because the chair I had was physically harming me. I developed Carpal Tunnel, and also bruised my nerve near the “funny bone”. It was all because of this terrible chair. I still can’t believe that a company would have dozens of mismatched chairs. To me it was tacky, and furthermore was causing me harm. No one did anything about replacing it, but I did find another one that wasn’t hurting me at least.
- Your requests for software and hardware upgrades are denied. The computer I had was very slow and old. It was literally just handed to me from one of the guys that quit the day before. At least I didn’t have to bring my own. Over a year and 8 months, stuff happens, software improves, computers (PC’s) get bogged down, etc. I dealt with it for awhile, until my computer started running so hot that the hard drive would fail. I had to place it in the freezer to get it to turn back on once. Also, the screen would just randomly go blank, and the only way to fix it was to manually turn it off and back on. When I told them I needed a new one, they just kept ignoring my request.
- All the recent hires are sales people. I didn’t realize this at the time, but if you hire more sales everything else should be growing too. However, the web department didn’t add anyone for a number of months, yet there was a new person every week walking around the office. Which leads me to think that the growth of the company was mismanaged.
- New products are in “beta” for over a year. I’m not sure I can say too much more, but basically the main tool I use everyday was a proprietary CMS. The old version was awful, the new one wasn’t great but it had potential. Unfortunately, the bugs were never aggressively addressed and it was in “beta” forever.
- Company doesn’t offer or match 401k. This could be a sign that the company isn’t willing to invest enough in it’s employees. Either they are too cheap to do so, or just don’t have the capital to do it. Either way, it is one benefit that I would feel strongly about finding.
- Insurance is an HSA. This isn’t too bad if you start a job at the beginning of the year, but if your insurance kicks in during September, and you use $1976 of your $2000 deductible, you are pretty much screwed because on January 1st it resets. This is what happened to me. This could work well if nothing happens to you for a few years, or if you employer is willing to cover more than $500 per year in the HSA account. Also, the cost for a spouse and a child was astronomically more than the cost of insuring just the employee. If you see this on the benefits package, you might one to take a second look.
Was your boss’s name Michael Scott? Seriously though it does sound like a pretty poor structure for a company. It sort of makes me wonder whether the company is headed for bankruptcy. I’m sure that with your diverse skill set, you’ll find a job reasonably soon. Best of luck!