Tips for employment in the USA: how to check the employer

There's nothing worse than going through an endless round of interviews, getting the job, and then realizing you've made a terrible mistake. Lifehacker told what you need to know about a potential employer before accepting a job.

Finding a job has become incredibly difficult. These days, companies are taking longer than ever to fill positions. One reason for this change is remote work, which removes geographic barriers and increases the pool of potential candidates. But the main reason why getting a job today has become a nightmare is the “never-ending” interview process.

And it's not just endless meetings with changing groups of people, it's lengthy presentations and subsequent email correspondence. Looking for a job turned into a full-time job.

Therefore, it is extremely important not to waste time. Your time is just as valuable as any potential employer's. If you're going to put in that much effort to find a new job, you better make sure you really want to work there. To do this, you should find out everything you can about your potential new employer.

Mission Statement

First, review the company's mission statement. Even if it's “just a job” for you and you're not looking for a role that aligns with your personal values, you can get a sense of a company's culture by reading its external mission statements. This is usually quite easy to find: many companies have dedicated pages on their official websites. Just enter the company name and the word “mission” into the search. As an alternative Indeed maintains information pages about many companies.

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Employee feedback

If you want to know what awaits you, find out about it from people who have already worked there. Read reviews from current and former employees on websites Glassdoor, Fairygodboss or CareerBliss.

You will gain a complete understanding of the internal culture and day-to-day experience of working in a particular company.

Reviews will give you insight into another important aspect of a new job, the interview process. Reviewing these reviews will help you get an idea of ​​how grueling and difficult the hiring process will be and whether you want to go through with it.

Position history

A key indicator to pay attention to when researching a company is employee turnover. How many employees have recently held the position you are interviewing for? If a company has hired four people for this position in the last year, or if a large number of employees have left after a short tenure, this does not bode well for you. It's common to see expired listings on Indeed and Glassdoor, which will give you an idea of ​​how often the company has had to re-post the job.

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Studying reviews of the company on Glassdoor will also be a good idea. If several former employees have already failed in the position you're considering applying for, it's a sign of poor company culture, lack of support, or unrealistic expectations.

Advantages

People often make the mistake of focusing solely on salary. And while salary is the largest aspect of your compensation, it's not the only part of it.

Learn everything about vacation and paid time off, retirement accounts, health care, bonuses. Also, ask about benefits (pet insurance, free gym memberships, even free meals provided by the company).

Top management stability

You may never interact directly with senior executives (CEO, COO, CIO, etc.), but that doesn't mean executives don't influence your work. Most companies post their manual information directly on their websites, and a quick Google search will usually reveal such information.

What you really want to know is how stable the senior management team is. Look for press releases announcing new senior management appointments. If a company has four CEOs in three years, that's not a good sign. If other managers resigned under the pressure of the scandal, this indicates that the company is not being managed very competently. Even if the job itself seems ideal, moving to an organization that is in turmoil probably isn't the best decision.

Public image

Finally, just Google it. Look for any headlines (ignore press releases or articles on company blogs or websites, as these will obviously be biased). Find out if the company has been sued (especially by former employees) or if it is mired in a nasty labor dispute with a union. Such information will tell you the best way possible about the real affairs of this company.