How to Choose a Good Employer

A job search seems to focus on your qualifications and securing a good position with a new employer. Many times people forget that part of a job search is finding an employer you want to work for in an environment where you'll be comfortable. Just like finding a good employee, there are tricks to finding a good employer in the job-search process.

Instructions

1. Interview the boss. While a prospective employer is interviewing you for a position, you should also be interviewing him. This is your chance to ask pointed questions that you may not feel comfortable asking once you've established an employee-employer relationship with the organization.

2. Use past experience as a guide. Assuming you've worked somewhere before or are currently working, call on your experience to know what questions to ask about a prospective employer. If you know you're unhappy with the evaluation method at your current job, be sure to ask a prospective employer how evaluations are done. Ask about how interpersonal conflicts are handled, what the overtime policy is, and anything else that may have caused you stress in a previous job.

3. Look them over on a rainy day. When shopping for real estate, if you love a house when the weather is bad, you're going to like it all the time. Rainy days are the worst possible condition for a house. Apply the same logic to choosing a good employer. Ask about worst-case scenarios. Imagine yourself in the new position under the worst possible circumstances and find out how the employer will react.

4. Ask the people who know. No one knows your prospective employer like the people she already employs. Find an opportunity to speak with a couple of her current employees to find out what it's really like to work there. Employees tend to be loyal to the boss, but if things are really bad, they'll tell you. Also, you should be able to judge from their responses if they're comfortable working for this employer.