Career Chaos

JUGGLING JOB OFFERS - WHAT TO DO?

In today's work world, where we expect employers to treat us ethically, a growing number of job candidates (even at the executive level) are facing a huge dilemma - do I take the job offer on the table or hold out for the one I really want?

The Wall Street Journal ran an article January 24 that offered advice from experts on this: "Juggling Two Offers Takes Special Skills." My .02 were included. Although it's easy for all of us "experts" to say what's the right thing to do, until you're facing it yourself, what's most important is hard to define.

One of my local ExecuNet networkers emailed me: "I read your quote a couple of days ago in the WSJ talking about what to do when you get an offer from your second priority employer and have to make a decision. I'm in that position today, and as opposed to letting a soon-to-be-offer go, I intend to take it. It's with (a Fortune 500 company) and is really a pretty good job anyway. Thanks for your advice!"

I hope it works out for this exec. What would you have done?

FLIPPING THE JOB INTERVIEW

Cracking Your Next Company's Culture is a must read for anyone embarking on a job search. Instead of spending all your prep time rehearsing your answers to tough interview questions, read this article and note what you need to do to ask the right questions.

One strategy that grabbed my attention is to ask the interviewer to give an example of how the company "lives and breathes its value statements." Of course, you have know what the company value statements are, so your research is highly critical.

Tired of all those behavioral and situational interview questions? Turn the tables by asking the interviewer to "walk you through a recent initiative." Wow! This is great stuff!